Gilt management using Matrix

Matrix has been used to help manage groups of gilts on farm. Some of the advantages of synchronizing gilts include hitting gilt mating targets within a defined period, and increasing lactation length in first parity sows. In the past few years, there has been renewed interest, even in large farms, in delivering larger batches of pigs to nursery or wean to finish facilities. With the continued evolution of swine diseases in breed to wean facilities, there seem to be some health advantages to switching from weekly batches to biweekly or monthly batches.

In this presentation, I will talk about the use of matrix in gilt programs, and how to improve the synchronization of gilts to help hit batch mating targets. We will discuss different batch groups and the advantages and disadvantages of each in a production system.