A longitudinal study of sows and boars raised by smallholder farmers in the Philippines.
We conducted a longitudinal study to obtain baseline information about the health and productivity of sows and boars raised by smallholder-pig raisers in the Philippines, and test constraints and opportunities to smallholder-sow production that had been identified previously in a cross-sectional study [More, S.J., Lee, J.-A.L.M., Lañada, E.B., Taveros, A.A., Cotiw-an, B.S., 1999. Weight-for-age of growing pigs raised by smallholder farmers in the Philippines. Prev. Vet. Med. 41, 151-169]. Over 12-18 months, we collected data during monthly on-farm visits about 213 sows raised in 119 herds at 2 sites and 32 boars in 31 herds at 1 site. Sow reproductive performance was low and boars were used only infrequently (an average of 0.9 services/month). Using repeated-measure analyses, we identified sow nutrition and piglet care (such as provision of creep feed and unrestricted access to the sow) as important husbandry issues associated with increased sow productivity.
Lañada
Eugene B
EB
Department of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Visayas State College of Agriculture, Baybay, 6521 Leyte Province, The Philippines.
Lee
Jenny-Ann L M
JA
More
Simon J
SJ
Cotiw-an
Basito S
BS
Taveros
Alberto A
AA
D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D005260:Female; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010679:Philippines; D012098:Reproduction; D013552:Swine / Q000502:physiology*; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology