No heat: what's wrong?

There are a number of questions you have to ask first. Are the gilts over 200 days old? Have they had good boar exposure for three weeks? Have you tried flush feeding? If the gilts are condition score of 4 or more, sometimes they delay because they are too fat. Are they raised indoors or out? The cold weather could effect them. My last resort is to use PG600 then 10 days later hit them again. After that if they do not come into heat I would get rid of them because they may never come in. I have seen it more common now days that gilts do not come into heat in all breeds. I think it might be due to the fact of these extra lean genetics. I have noticed it in sows also that if you do not keep a certain amount of fat on them they are real hard to get to cycle properly. That may be hard for some of these genetics. You look at a good condtioned sow and think there is alot of fat there but when you do a ultrasound scan you might only find .5 of backfat. Sows and gilts should be around .6 to .8 for breeding. Roy

My friend: I have to agree with Roy that there's a lot of possibillities that cause the anoestrus, especially inactive or cystic ovaries. In your case I think inactive ovaries. I also used and can recommend to you PG600, with good result especially in gilt for A.I. In case of sows, the results are not constant. As a conclusion, I recommend to use this hormonal product if the mannagement and the feeding are OK, to start the ovarian activity. Remember, inactive ovaries are most frequently in young animals, and cystic ones equally in all age groups. BUT not all cysts causes anoestrus. Best wishes, Istvan D.

Apart from other fellows answers, nutrition specifically mineral deficiency especially calcium and phosphorus, not only that but also inbreeding, inbred offspring always have a lot of deformations including infertility.

There have been some interesting suggestions. I hear this story too many times. There are probably three basic things to concentrate on, before you even talk about breeding. 1. Genetics 2. Proper nutrition 3. Pen conditions, handling, and flushing at proper time. I think that gilts in some sort of isolation area, to properly expose them to the new environment is also beneficial. Management understanding and setting this system so that new gilts enter at the required age. Look more at the weight than the age. Good genetics will bring the age with the weight. Proper growth and body developement is required in a good gilt. Flushing at the proper time will help. Flushing at the wrong time probably means management has not been trained in this area. One reason why some producers complain about gilt costs is that their barn managers handle this area incorrectly. It can be a terrible waste of money. Managing this specific area properly usually results in a very well run barn. To give specific consul, I would need to know more. If you want to contact me for further information you may.