Genetic Progress

Table 1 shows the genetic progress per trait for each of the three breeds in the breeding programme in the period 2008-2012 and the average for a D(LY) finisher for that same period.

Progress in feed conversion is 0.036 for a finisher, mainly attributed to progress in Duroc.

Production Level

In the past year, 4,672 boars were performance-tested at Bøgildgård, of which 2,164 were Duroc boars. In nucleus breeding herds, more than 32,000 boars and 43,000 females were performance-tested Average production levels are shown in Tables 2 to 4.

As shown in Table 5, Large White produced 12.9 1ive piglets on day 5 (LP5), compared with 12.1 for Landrace. The figures are based on an average of purebred litters used for breeding.

AI Boars

Average time in production for all three breeds remains largely the same as last year. The average index level for Duroc boards has dropped by 0.2 index points, while the index for Landrace and Large White boars have increased by 2.2 and 3.9 index points, respectively.

Sale of Semen

A total of 4,580,000 doses of Duroc semen were sold in Denmark in 2012, which is a slight increase from 2011 (Table 7). Sale of Duroc semen outside Denmark continues to increase; in 2012, sales reached 714,000 doses, which is an eight per cent increase from 2011.

Sale of semen from the white breeds is calculated in the number of production sows that are inseminated with semen from DanAvI boars. This segment has increased drastically over the last years, and in 2012 Danish Landrace and Large White boars serviced 250,000 sows abroad.

Sale of Breeding Stock

Sale of hybrids is increasing nationally as well as internationally. Export of hybrid gilts increased by 17 per cent, whereby the export of hybrid gilts now accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total sales (Figure 1).

Royal ties

The total income from gene fees currently amounts to DKK83 million a year. These fees cover a large part of the research activities at the Pig Research Centre.

Nearly 50 per cent of the fees originate from sale of genetic material abroad and there are no indications that this percentage is about to drop. Put differently, a large part of the research activities and the administration of the breeding programme is financed by foreign pig producers (Table 7).

April 2013