Commercial application of reducing semen concentration per dose and single sire evaluation - Amanda Williams, PIC, from the 2011 The Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, September 17-20, 2011, St Paul, MN, USA.

1. Commercial application of
reducing dose concentration
and single sire matings
Amanda Williams Minton1, Alicia Johnson2, Darran Miller2, Troy
Werner2, Nick Holden2, Jennifer Patterson3, Michael Dyck3, and George
Foxcroft3
1PIC North America, Hendersonville, TN; 2Holden Farms, Northfield, MN;
3Swine Reproduction-Development Program, Swine Research & Technology
Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB

2. Goal of a commercial production system:
lbs pork produced
Cost produce pork
Create more value and
Improve the bottom line

3. How improve a pig’s value?
Strategically use genetically superior animals
A high indexing terminal boar is superior to his
counterparts (i.e. lower indexing boars).
1. Better feed conversion
2. Fewer days to market
3. Decreased mortality

4. How improve a pig’s value?
A high indexing terminal boar
passes these traits on to his progeny.
1. Better feed conversion
2. Fewer days to market
3. Decreased mortality
Increase $$ per pig produced

5. Improvements in the last 10 years?
Sow Farm
1. Gilt development and management
2. Lactation and gestation feeding strategies
3. Managing sow body condition
4. Length of lactation
5. Putting the right people in place

6. Improvements in the last 10 years?
Boar Stud
1. Accuracy of semen concentration?
2. Assessment of sperm?
3. Confidence in boar studs?
Not much change in semen concentration
and utilization of boars…

7. Time to focus on the boar
Countries routinely use 2 billion total
Primary driver is Genetics
Use fewer, higher indexing boars
Increase value of the progeny
Reduce genetic lag
Take advantage of genomics

8. Trial
• Objective: Decrease semen concentration
and use single sire matings to improve the
use of genetically superior sire line boars

9. Materials & Methods
• Boars started on trial as enter the stud
– Ejaculates processed 2 billion viable
– Fifty single sire matings
– Pooled after 50 matings
• Sows from two farms
– WEI d 3 to 6
– Multiparous sows
– Conventional AI
• Data collected for
– Pregnancy rate, farrowing rate and litter size

10. Trial
• Phases of the trial:
1) SSM with 2B viable cells and multiple doses
2) SSM with 1.5B viable IUI and multiple doses
3) Single fixed-time AI with 1.5B viable IUI
• Results presented from 5 groups

11. % of sows
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0%
1
PR
2
3
4
5
FR
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
FR 92.2%
PR 93.8%
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Boar
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Pregnancy and farrowing rates
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51

12. Number of pigs
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
1 16
TB
2
3
4
5
BA
6
7
8
9
10
TB 13.08
BA 11.90
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Boar
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
Total born and born alive per litter
47
48
49
50
51

13. Number of pigs
0
2
4
6
10
12
14
16
8
1
TB
2
3
4
5
6
BA
7
8
9
10
11
PR
12
13
14
15
FR
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Data combined
23
24
25
26
Boar
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
RT
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
60%
70%
80%
90%
50%
100%
% of sows

14. Boar EBV
100
120
140
160
0
20
60
80
40
43
45
EBV
2
9
38
40
44
30
39
11
46
26
34
12
17
18
Fecundity index
28
23
27
29
31
33
19
3
EBV and Fertility
5
8
41
16
Boar
1
42
35
47
10
22
6
7
50
21
36
14
20
25
51
24
49
37
32
13
48
15
4
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Fecundity index (100*FR*BA)

15. Fecundity index (100*FR*BA)
1000
1200
1400
200
400
600
800
0
7
1
26
35
32
22
9
25
6
11
23
21
Fecundity index
29
18
24
20
27
4
$$
33
31
15
37
5
17
Value of progeny
30
50
14
Boar
38
36
19
44
10
51
8
12
46
34
49
13
3
2
16
39
42
48
40
47
28
45
43
41
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
$14,000
Value for pigs produced

16. Implications
• Identified boars with poor fertility
• Performance no different from prior 6 mos
• Boars should be removed considering
index and fertility
• Successfully use boars at 2 billion cells
• Use fewer boars to disseminate superior
genetics
• Applicable to sire and maternal lines

17. GENETIC VALUE: SIRE LINE MODEL

18. Boar Categories
• Top 50% boars = AI boars
• Top 25% boars = CBVPlus
• Value difference between AI sired progeny
and CBVPlus = $1.30 to 1.70 more per pig
• Value additive to the model

19. Sire Line Model
Ave. Index = 107
Diff =
18.8
Ave. Index = 126
Cull 50% 50%
100 115

20. How does this change?
• Reducing semen concentration from 3 to 2
billion reduces boars needed by 33%
• AI boars needed = 34% (50% x 67%) of
boars available
50% AI and 50% CBVPlus

21. Sire Line Model: 2 billion
Ave. Index = 113
Diff = 16
Ave. Index = 129
Cull 50% 50%
108 119

22. Impact on average index?
• Average AI boar improves from 107 to 113
or 6 index points
• Average CBVPlus boar improves from 126 to
129 or 3 index points

23. Change in traits
AI CBVplus
FCR -0.0067 -0.0033
Days -0.256 -0.128
Backfat (mm) -0.150 -0.075
Loin Depth (mm) 0.107 0.054
Pre wean Mort (%) -0.141 -0.070
Nurs Mort (%) -0.062 -0.031
Fin Mort (%) -0.064 -0.032
$ value/pig $0.54 $0.27

24. Reduction to 1 billion per dose
• IUI with 1 billion brings effective reduction
of boars by 67%
• AI boars needed = 17% (50% x 33%) of
boars available
– 50% AI and 50% CBVPlus

25. Sire Line Model: 1 billion
Avg. Index = 122
Diff = 14
Avg. Index = 136
Cull
50% 50%
119 128

26. Reduction to 1 billion per dose
• Average AI boar improves from 113 to 122
or 9 index points
• Average CBVPlus boar improves from 129 to
136 or 7 index points

27. Reduction to 1 billion per dose
AI CBVplus
FCR -0.0100 -0.0078
Days -0.385 -0.300
Backfat (mm) -0.225 -0.175
Loin Depth (mm) 0.161 0.125
Pre wean Mort (%) -0.212 -0.165
Nurs Mort (%) -0.093 -0.072
Fin Mort (%) -0.096 -0.075
$ value $0.78 $0.61

28. TOTAL Reduction from 3 to 1 billion
AI CBVPlus
FCR -0.0168 -0.0112
Days -0.642 -0.428
Backfat (mm) -0.365 -0.250
Loin Depth (mm) 0.269 0.179
Pre wean Mort (%) -0.354 -0.236
Nurs Mort (%) -0.155 -0.104
Fin Mort (%) -0.161 -0.107
$ value $1.31 $0.87

29. Genetic Value
• In order for genetic value to be realized long
term all customers need to reduce semen
concentration

30. Future Implications
1. Fewer boars sold by suppliers
because demand is less
2. Improvement index short-term unless
strategy adopted by all producers
3. Selection intensity improves significantly
for large index improvements to occur

31. Key Message
Strategically use genetically
superior boars
Semen concentration
Number boars needed
Genetic index
$0.87 to $1.31 per pig

32. Acknowledgements