How old is too old for gilts first breeding?

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scottherbert
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How old is too old for gilts first breeding?

Post by scottherbert » Wed Nov 25, 2020 2:54 pm

Just wondered, I just butchered a gilt that was just over 2 years old and never took. Tried live cover and A.I., used Matrix and P.G. 600, all to no avail. She cycled, accepted the boars, just never got pregnant. I have heard that some people have successfully bred 1 1/2 year old gilts. I also raise sheep, and with them, if a ewe is not bred by the time she is about 1 1/2 years old, she will usually never come into heat again, so I just wondered if something similar occurred with pigs.

Too late for this one, but I am interested in how long to try with a gilt before she goes to freezer camp.

Thanks

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HogDoc
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Re: How old is too old for gilts first breeding?

Post by HogDoc » Sat Nov 28, 2020 3:16 pm

You're a lot more patient than I am. If they don't settle after two tries they are sausage. With some really clubby ones we might wait for that first service but even then they should only get two bites at the apple.
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craiglibby
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Re: How old is too old for gilts first breeding?

Post by craiglibby » Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:49 am

We have a gilt that we just bred a little over a few weeks ago. She's almost a year and a half old (born 6/11/2019), and when we bred her, she settled, first time, no problem. She's had regular, steady heat cycles, and it's been easy to know when she was in heat. With everything you mentioned about your situation, I would think you should have caught her at some point, so I wonder if your gilt might have had some medical issue that prevented her from getting pregnant. ???

scottherbert
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Re: How old is too old for gilts first breeding?

Post by scottherbert » Mon Nov 30, 2020 7:29 pm

She cycled but never took. We had her with a boar the first number of times that later proved unproductive, and may have given her something, but I don't know what. Afterwards, we tried to A.I. her after the Matrix and P.G. 600, and again nothing. We now have 2 more that are just under a year and a half that are out of a very good sow. We A.I.ed them a month and a half ago, and at least one seems to have stuck, I am still not sure of the other one.

We have had a history of trouble getting sows and gilts to stick lately, actually after that boar I mentioned earlier. We went through the whole shebang of using mycotoxin binders, vaccinating for PRRS, Lepto and Parvo. They are all in good condition, not too fat, not too thin. Nobody has shown any signs of illness, although the single sow (out of 11) that was successfully bred for summer (A.I., NOT the boar!) had most of her litter stillborn (no mummies) which points to Lepto. She had been vaccinated, but afterwards we used Farrowsure Gold B which is supposed to cover one more strain.

Currently it looks as if at least 7 or 8 out of the 11 are bred, so the measures we took have had some success. Time will tell for the rest. We do have a new boar coming up that should be ready to breed by March, we have high hopes for him.

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Re: How old is too old for gilts first breeding?

Post by craiglibby » Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:38 am

Wow. Sounds like you really have had quite a time with breeding. I'm sorry to hear about that. The frustration never seems to end. It certainly seems like anything happening in 2020 is just bound to have problems involved.
Farrowsure Gold B is definitely a good idea. What were you using prior to that for vaccinations? Do you have a specific vaccine protocol in place?
If it was just one of them that you were having problems with, I would suspect something in particular with that sow/gilt, such as cysts or something of that nature. However, if they are good in their body condition, given the fact that it seems to be a number of them from the same litter having multiple problems, I would lean more toward virus/disease/illness of some kind that affected the group as a whole, or possibly even something genetic.

scottherbert
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Re: How old is too old for gilts first breeding?

Post by scottherbert » Mon Dec 07, 2020 6:17 pm

Previously I used either Leptoferm or farrowsure Gold (not the "B"). I have always vaccinated for the usual suspects, Myco and Circo. Now I have added PRRS even though there have been no cases in my area and none of my pigs have shown any signs of illness of any kind, except that one boar who died suddenly. I have a few sows that have done really well in the past that I tend to hesitate before saying I will turn them over. I also have a few gilts coming up that I have hopes for.

Others have said I should depopulate and start over, but being on fixed income that is easier said than done. It also makes it imperative that I produce pigs to be able to feed them!!! I have some good sows pregnant now, and will evaluate replacement gilts as always.

2020??? As good fo an excuse as any. Aliens and my ex-wife placing a curse on me have been mentioned too! I even went so far as contacting the former owner of the place to see if the ground had been poisoned or something! Did pretty good until I moved them all into a new barn.

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