The whole industry attended: veterinaries, agricultural coordination specialists, feed and premix producers, genetics companies, etc. Over a quarter of all participants were breeders.

All regions of France were represented and their various perspectives led to interesting debates and discussions all throughout the day.

As a leader in reproduction Ceva has set itself the task of developing technologies and innovation by pushing the boundaries of past gains and habits, to create tomorrow’s control of reproduction. The aim of this day was to bring the industry’s actors together to exchange their know-how and technical achievements in the various fields that impact reproduction.

Summary of presentations

For the first presentation of the morning Philippe Leneveu from ISPAIA gave a thorough review of the consequences of hyperprolifitiy and heterogeneity. Nathalie Quiniou from IFIP then spoke about the range of avenues explored, Isabelle Delaunay (IFIP) detailed the genetic component of sow feed and selection axes over the past few years. Fabrice Robert (CCPA-Deltavit) demonstrated that, although stillbirth is widespread the individual causes of stillbirth vary greatly from one farm to another, and solutions must be case-specific. In response to this presentation Laurent Werner (Cristal network) presented a benefit/risk approach to the onset of labour in sows. Estelle Beauville, from CHU Rennes, spoke about the monitoring of labour in women and medicinal aid practices in human gynaecology, how the practice of menstrual synchrony of gilts can generally improve the homogeneity of piglets in a litter at the time of weaning by having births occur at the same time.

Ceva main products used to control reproduction in sows:

• ALTRESYN® is a progestagen used to cause menstrual synchrony
• ALFABEDYL® is a synthetic prostaglandin use induce labour
• ENZAPROST® T, natural prostaglandin, is a non-antibiotic solution used to manage puerperal problems
• FERTIPIG®, serum and chorionic gonadotropin is used to synchronise menstruation in sows and treat anoestrus
• OCYTOVEM®, oxytocin, used to stimulate labour

*ISPAIA: Institute of Higher Education in Animal Production and Food