# Sow rebreeding



## FL.Boy (Dec 17, 2007)

How many weeks after giving birth does a sow go in to heat again?


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

It is not dependent on birth rather on weaning. In sows weaned at 21 to 35 days heat usually occurs in 5 to 7 days after weaning.

Jim


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

About 3 days. Then about 21 days repeated again after that if she doesn't take. If the sow is in good condition you can breed her right back. I have some sows who breed within a few days of farrowing. That shortens the entire cycle up and they have almost an extra litter per year. This appears to be a strongly genetic characteristic. They are strong sows that keep their condition so I'm not worried about them. A bunch of gorny hals they are.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org


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## 99RB (Apr 5, 2008)

they can rebreed before they wean
prescense of a boar helps
comes in a can


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## RedHogs (Jul 7, 2006)

> About 3 days. Then about 21 days repeated again after that if she doesn't take. If the sow is in good condition you can breed her right back. I have some sows who breed within a few days of farrowing. That shortens the entire cycle up and they have almost an extra litter per year. This appears to be a strongly genetic characteristic. They are strong sows that keep their condition so I'm not worried about them. A bunch of gorny hals they are





> they can rebreed before they wean
> prescense of a boar helps
> comes in a can


AH YES, the perpetual motion of hog production theory......

This is some of the most dangerous advice being advertised as fact I've seen on here..... but every newbie pig breeder has got to make these mistakes.... I have and paid the cost.

The process they are talking about is lactational ovulation, google this and you will read numerous studies on this problem.... every farmer tries his best to get his NPD's as low as possible (non productive days), but at what cost...

the hog industry is a multi-billion dollar collection of farmers, doctors, colleges and vets..... 

this is not a new idea, Every show hog breeder that spends huge sums on money on a sow wants to get as many litters as possible, even when warned not to do it I tried, I read the papers... but I felt lucky

Around 99-2000, I would take the pigglets off the good sow and farm them out to other sows and put her back in the breeding shed.... bingo, a good heat.... I did this with all my good sows.... My litter sizes, my 21 day weights all suffered, then these sows stopped cycling reguraly, they required more feed to maintian body condition...In short, I was burning their candle at both ends, and burned them out fast.

Boar stimulation and weaning early or small litters, even group housing will cause this, this raises the question why farms spend so much money trying to prevent this glorious event...

The answer is the old timers have been in the business long enough to see the consequences down the road, they have made the mistakes and learned from them.... sows are delicate in sense that only when in proper condition will they breed and milk out correctly.... I have learned two *fat* litters of 14 and a fat sow every year will beat three skinny litters of 10 every time.

Of course I have contradicted _the master_, and will now be flamed.... but that is to be expected.... It makes no sense until you have tried and failed that slow and steady actually will win the race in this case.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Redhogs you said what I had been told. 

An older gentleman who had raised feeder pigs told me that when feeders were high they would pull the pigs of off a sow overnight and get her to come into heat and breed her. He said the sows burned up pretty fast but by then the feeder market had tanked so they just started over.


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## ThailandFarm (Jul 17, 2017)

RedHogs said:


> AH YES, the perpetual motion of hog production theory......
> 
> This is some of the most dangerous advice being advertised as fact I've seen on here..... but every newbie pig breeder has got to make these mistakes.... I have and paid the cost.
> 
> ...


Actually what you say makes the most sense, ANY body can only handle so much, and giving them the natural amount of turn around time seems like it would keep them producing better and longer, and paying off more in the long run. Thanks for this information/advice


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

RedHogs said:


> AH YES, the perpetual motion of hog production theory......
> 
> This is some of the most dangerous advice being advertised as fact I've seen on here..... but every newbie pig breeder has got to make these mistakes.... I have and paid the cost.
> 
> ...



On avg. how long does your sows continue to produce (Years) Commercial operations don't keep their sows very long.


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## Jamie Sadler (Apr 19, 2017)

RedHogs said:


> AH YES, the perpetual motion of hog production theory......
> 
> This is some of the most dangerous advice being advertised as fact I've seen on here..... but every newbie pig breeder has got to make these mistakes.... I have and paid the cost.
> 
> ...


This seems to be the go to method for a lot of pig farmers. We don't do this. We breed once a year. I think it ultimately depends on if you are raising production pigs or not. We are not. We prefer a quality over quantity method; not to say that production pigs dont have good quality.


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## Wanda (Dec 19, 2002)

gerold said:


> On avg. how long does your sows continue to produce (Years) Commercial operations don't keep their sows very long.



He has not been online since May of 2011.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

gerold said:


> On avg. how long does your sows continue to produce (Years) Commercial operations don't keep their sows very long.


On average four years but that short time is because I cull the sows since there is always some better up and coming sow who wants that slot in the breeding herd. I have had quite a few sows over six years and a few at eight and nine years producing strong litters.

-Walter


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