Pigs used in intensive farming are characterized by their high productive efficiency. These pig types must have a very intense productive and reproductive cycle.
The high number of offspring per birth, the short generation interval and the high heritability of economic interest characters, have made it possible to obtain spectacular genetic progress in recent decades and the development of swine genetics.
Pig Genetics allows, in intensive pig production, to use crossbred females and sometimes also crossbred males. The reason is two fold:
- High costs of Genetic improvement is lowered.
- Certain advantages that crossbred animals present are taken advantage off.
Although two, three or four breeds can be used in crosses, crossbreeding with three breeds is the most widespread in swine genetics. The most used breeds are usually Landrace and Large White to produce the hybrid female, but for the finishing male there is a remarkable variety of options depending on the destination of the product( usually a Duroc, Pietrain or TN70 male is advised).
In pig Genetic improvement programs there are:
- Maternal lines that, although they are also selected for productive characteristics, their selection is predominantly for reproductive characteristics and maternal aptitude.
- Paternal lines, selected for production characters and meat quality.
In general, in the first stage of a three-way cross (although there can be four if four lines are involved), two maternal lines give rise to a crossed female that is later mated or inseminated with a male from a paternal line( Duroc, Pietrain, TN70).
There are some animals that we call grandmothers and great-grandmothers (also grandfathers and great-grandfathers) that would be purebred, while hybrid animals appear in the production stratum.
Hybrid animals are the mothers that produce the piglets that will go to the slaughterhouse and, likewise, the piglets themselves, since they are the result of covering these hybrid mothers with semen from males of another or other breeds.
The reason for using crossbred animals is to take advantage of the complementarity of the breeds (some are better as mothers, while others provide, for example, greater muscular development), as well as the hybrid vigor, that provides a plus to the prolificacy of crossbred females and piglet survival.
Focusing on obtaining greater economic performance from the Pigs, characteristics of economic importance are selected, those that, when improved, represent a greater profit for the producer.
The main characteristics or variables to be selected in pigs are classified as: reproductive, morphological, production and carcass.
- Reproductive, some pigs can give higher number or litter size hence advisable to keep such crosses.
- Morphology, some pigs are statured, Long and tall to be used as breeding stock.
- Production, some pigs are good mothers and can keep all litters to weaning and such breeds must be kept for success.
- Carcass, at the end the meat matters most. Raise pigs with muscular genetics to maximize ur profit.
Note: The best pig for meat production is the ( Large white X Landrace) female crossed. Example is a CG36 bred with Duroc, Pietrain or TN70 male.