"Variation In Market Hog Weights"

one part of the variation in growth to market weight is due to birth weight -- even if pigs had the same birth weight. over 80 % of the variation in later BW's (160 to 180 days of age) - would exist both due to variation in genetic potential (within and across litters) and random environmental variance.

Paul Walker Thompson - I like your closing May God Bless You Always in the Name of Jesus. I close all my letters with Wishing You God's Best. It is true that with the larger litters we are seeing,13-14 in the US and 14 to 16 in Europe, that the birth weights are decreased, there are more small pigs, and there is more variation in the piglets. I am the creator of Birthright Baby Pig Milk. I believe it is possible to make piglets more uniform at weaning and at finish by targeting the bottom 30% of the piglets by weight with supplementation of Birthright Milk. We have just brought out a Birthright Moveable Cup System which can target individual litters. Milk cups can be moved to the litters of small pigs by weight when the milk system is in operation. Most producers do not want to feed every litter milk. Now they can easily move the milk cups to the litters that need it. They can also control milk costs by setting the number of milk cups which can be used in each farrowing room. Milk cups can be removed for easy cleaning. Wishing You God's Best, John L Vignes Advanced Birthright Nutrition abni@citlink.net

we have found both birth weight and weaning weight to be important factors for later BW's and also the ADG the first two weeks after weaning. Products that can increase the weaning weights of the lighter pigs will decrease the variation in later BW's. IN several data sets were have seen increased variation in birth weight as the total number born increased.

we have found in our past research that pig feed supplemented with 4-6% spray dried plasma for at least the initial two weeks after weaning was effective for not only improving pig growth performance during the stressful post-weaning period but also improving body weight and reducing body weight variation at the end of the nursery period