Swine Science Terminology

Intro Lab PowerPoint

Non-castrated, male pig

Boar

Female pig that has given birth at least once

Sow

Female pig that has never given birth

Gilt

Baby pig

Piglet

Castrated, male pig

Barrow

Reference to the number of farrowings a sow has had

Parity

A sow that is nursing a litter that is not her own

Nurse sow

A planned exposure of a specific disease to a group of pigs

Natural Planned Exposure (NPE/Feedback)

WEI stands for…

Wean to estrus interval, time from weaning until estrus

GDU means…

Gilt developer unit, facility to raise gilts to be used for reproduction

NIP means…

Not in pig, not pregnant

Percent of sows that farrowed/sows that were bred

Farrowing rate

Percent of sows that are pregnant / sows that were bred

Conception rate

Parturition/Farrowing is….

the act of giving birth

Gestation is also known as…

Pregnancy

HNS stands for…

Heat no serve, showed estrus but was not bred

BCS stands for..

Body condition score, the evaluation of fat coverage and condition

Using a sterile glove to manually assist in delivering a piglet from the sow

Sleeving

Hormone that causes milk release

Oxytocin

Hormone that kills the corpus luteum to trigger farrowing

Lutylase

Evaluating sows during the farrowing process and assisting as needed

Monitoring

The reproductive or intestinal tract is expelled from the body

Prolapse

Agalactia is the…

Lack of milk production

Infection of the mammary system

Mastitis

Counting the number of functional teats (milk producing)

Teat count

Movement of nursing pigs to another sow

Cross-fostering

The act of a sow attacking her piglets

Savaging

The weight of the animal after organs, blood, and head are removed

Carcass weight

The weight of a live animal

Live weight

How is dressing percent calculated?

Carcass weight/live wight x 100

To split the genders into male and female

Split sex

Pigs that will not be raised for reproduction but will go to harvest

Terminal

Pigs that will be raised for reproduction are called…

Maternal

To wean a sow and give her another litter of pigs to raise for a week or two

Bump wean

To wean part of the pigs from a sow and then wait a few days to wean the rest of the pigs from that sow

Split wean

A pig with a skin infection (staphylococcus)

Greasy pig

The first diet fed to pigs while they are still nursing on a sow

Creep diet

The muscular portion of the reproductive tract that separates the uterus from the vagina

Cervix

The organ in the sow where embryos develop during gestation

Uterus

The organ of a sow that produces the egg for fertilization

Ovary

The organ of a boar that produces sperm

Testicle

The male gamete cell

Sperm

The female gamete cell

Egg

The process to place semen into a female without the direct use of a male

Artificial insemination (AI)

There are two types of AI, what are they and give brief descriptions.

Traditional is where a breeding catheter is placed into the cervix. IntraUterine is where the breeding catheter is placed into the cervix and a second catheter is placed into the uterus.

An aliquot of something

Dose

A plastic tube that is used to transport liquid (semen)

Catheter/Rod

An area to keep pigs until they have been cleared for health before being introduced into the herd

Isolation

The process of removing suckling piglets from the sow

weaning

The process of taking pigs to harvest

Marketing

Reference to an animal that dies

Mortality

Reference to an animal that is ill

Morbidity

The process of humanely taking an animal’s life

Euthanasia

An animal that cannot bear weight on their legs

Downer

The small pig in the group

Tail ender

A wound on the tail that occurred from another pig biting that pig

Tail bite

The phase from 50 to 150 lbs

Grower

The phase from 150 lbs to market weight

Finisher

The phase from weaning (12lbs) to around 50 lbs

Nursery

Mixing of feed and water together into a substance like oatmeal to encourage pigs to eat

Gruel

Disease that can be passed between species

zoonotic

An object in which a pathogen can be transported on

Fomite

An animal that can transmit disease between animals

Vector

The processes associated with reducing disease transmission

Biosecurity

The process of taking a market weight hog for human consumption

Harvesting

DOA stands for

Dead on arrival

To open a deceased animal to evaluate potential cause of death and to take samples for further evaluation

Posting/necropsy

To collect a blood sample from a pig

Bleed pigs

How long is gestation?

16 weeks, 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 114-117 days

How many days do they lactate?

18-25 days

How many days after weaning until next estrus

4-5 days

How long is the estrous cycle?

21 days

How many weeks spent in the nursery?

6 weeks

How many weeks in the grower phase?

9 weeks

How many weeks in the finisher phase?

6 weeks

How many weeks from wean to finish?

20-24

On average, pigs will market at _______ days post-wean

150-154 days