Resumen

SABALLO, Antonio J; LOPEZ-ORTEGA, Aura  y  MARQUEZ, Adelys A. Causes of discarding pigs in farms of central western region of Venezuela during the 1996-2002 period. Zootecnia Trop. [online]. 2007, vol.25, n.3, pp.179-187. ISSN 0798-7269.

ABSTRACT To determine the causes of discarding pigs in farms in the western region of Venezuela was the aim of this study. Data were collected from 6565 (F1 Landrace x Largewhite) sows discarded during 1996-2002 period from five farms that fulfilled the following criteria of quality: inventory of sows, record of complete cycles and not been in stage of foundation, repopulation or expansion, and also with a maximum of 5% of events as mounts, farrowing and weaning not registered. Data were analyzed by statistic description of variables, distributed according to the number of farrowing. A total of 21 causes of elimination were established and grouped in six discarding reasons: reproduction, locomotion, age, production, disease, and death. The latter cause was 5.4%, while reproduction reached the highest value (41.3%) which mainly affected females with 0, 1, or 2 farrowing. Locomotion represented 18.5% of discarding, especially in the groups of 1 and 7-8 farrowing; the fallen sows were 55.8% within this category. By age were eliminated 17.9% of the sows, mainly in animals with more than 6 farrowing. Production represented 10.5%, focused in reduced number of weaned pigs/year, especially in sows of 3 to 5 farrowing. In conclusion, there was an elevated value of discarding due to reproductive reasons which decrease the productive indexes (low number of farrowing, amount of weaned pigs, and permanence in farm). It is necessary to establish handling programs that reduce discarding by reproductive causes in order to optimize the productivity

Palabras clave : discarding causes; sows; productive index; reproductive index; litter size.