Abstract
A retrospective study was conducted on a large piggery in southern Trinidad to evaluate reproductive performance. Data were collected on 635 females and 1284 farrowings. Results for all traits studied were comparable to data from North American herds. Number of piglets born, number born alive, litter birth weight, number of piglets weaned, and litter 21-day weight averaged 10.2, 10.1, 15.1 kg, 9.0, and 44.7 kg, respectively, over five parities. Weaning-toremating intervals were less than seven days for all parities, except Parity l, because of the practice on this farm of not mating at the first oestrus following a first litter. Annual sow productivity was 20.5 piglets weaned sow-1 yr-1 and non-productive days (NPD) averaged 48.4 days sow-1 yr-1. Thirty per cent of the NPD were due to the weaning-to-remating interval (14.7 days). Despite the satisfactory performance of the herd in this study, it is still important to quantify the other components of NPD so that further progress can be achieved.
