CONTROLLED FARROWING PROGRAM USING A PROSTAGLANDIN ANALOGUE, AY24,655

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Abstract
To eliminate weekend farrowing, sows or gilts reaching days 111, 112 or 113 of gestation by Thursday were given an intramuscular injection of AY24,655, a prostaglandin analogue. Fifty-four of the 58 treated animals began farrowing in 27.2 ± 0.59 h (mean ± SE) and 83% of these did so within the working day on Friday. Gestation length was 112.5 ± 0.09 days for treated animals compared to 114.7 ± 0.20 days for controls (P < 0.01). Forty-five untreated animals farrowing earlier in the week were used as controls. Piglets from sows injected on day 111 of gestation were smaller (P < 0.01) than either those from sows injected on day 112 or from control sows. Survival from birth to weaning and pigs weaned per litter for the treated vs. control litters were 82 vs. 89% (P < 0.05) and 8.4 ± 0.35 vs. 9.7 ± 0.28 (P < 0.01), respectively. Skin flushing and behavioral changes such as chewing and rooting were transient post-injection effects which occurred with varying degrees of severity in a number of animals.

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