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The decision to cull a sow from the breeding herd typically occurs after weaning due to poor lactation performance, lameness or if she fails to breed or conceive. Once the decision to cull a sow from the breeding herd has been made, a producer must decide to either immediately market the sow or to increase marketable body weight by feeding her for a period of time. The decision to feed cull sows to add additional body weight is not a simple decision. Many factors such as current cull sow market prices, available housing space, feed cost, and health of the animal contribute to this decision [1]. Revenue from marketing cull sows contributes to the profitability of pork operations, therefore much care should be placed on deciding when to market cull sows.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kenneth_stalder/207/
This report is published as Fitzgerald, R. F., K. J. Stalder, and J. M. DeRouchey. 2010. Cull sow feeding management. In: National Swine Nutrition Guide. Ed. D. Meisinger. Pork Industry Gateway (PIG). Fact Sheet PIG 07-01-14. U.S. Pork Center of Excellence. Ames, IA, pp. 145-149. Posted with permission.