First and foremost: Special shout out to K. Blouch's brother who celebrated his 1-year anniversary of receiving a pig aortic valve during his heart surgery on February 28, 2012!
Aortic (heart) valve from a pig
Happy 1 week! That's right! It has been just over 1 week since 14 pink piglets emerged from Peaches' womb. Hard to believe, isn't it? Last week at this time, hundreds of you were streaming the video feed live from your computers and mobile devices as the Maternity Ward at CVHS was full of activity.
But, that raises a question... Where exactly do piglets come from?
Here is the quick version - In a nutshell!
Let's have a talk about 'The Birds and The Bees' in swine terminology. It all starts with a gilt, or in laymen's terms, an immature female pig. When she 'becomes of age' and goes through piggy puberty, her body is ready to produce viable eggs during estrus to begin mating and reproducing. This typically happens for the first time between 6-7 months (150-200 days) of age. Pigs will often give birth to their first litter when they are 1-year old. Once they give birth, they are then considered to be a sow and no longer a gilt.
Most pigs are bred through artificial insemination, meaning the female was bred artificially by a human who uses semen collected from a boar. Why is this done? Selection of the best genetics to improve the offspring born, and to improve the safety on a farm - boars can be very dangerous!
Uterine diagram of a sow showing the insertion of a spirette (or inseminating tube).
This picture shows a side-view of the spirette breeding the sow artificially.
This picture shows a person using the spirette to artificially breed a sow that is in estrus and ready to receive.
After the female pig is bred it takes 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days for her gestation period complete before she gives birth (farrows) 114 days later. Twenty-one days after she gives birth, she will come into heat once again and is ready to re-breed for her next litter. On average, a female pig can give birth to 2.6 litters per years. That's almost 36 piglets a year, if she has 12 per litter!
Fun Fact: Unlike most species of livestock and even humans, boar semen cannot be preserved in liquid nitrogen. For instance, semen from cattle can be collected from a bull and preserved in liquid nitrogen for several weeks. Once a cow or heifer is ready to breed, the semen is simply thawed in a warm water bath and a person artificially inseminates the female.
Pigs on the other hand have very fragile sperm and semen. It cannot be frozen in liquid nitrogen and thawed for later use. Instead, once the semen is collected, it is mixed with stabilizers and extenders (nutrients to feed the sperm) and then placed in a temperature controlled chamber. This chamber mimics the body temperature of a boar. The semen placed in the chamber will remain viable (or alive) for a period of about three (3) days. Then the sperm typically die and the semen become obsolete.
*Special Note about the Live Streaming Video*
Starting on Monday, March 4 there will be no video streaming available Monday-Friday from 7:00 AM - 3:30 PM. Live video feed will be available from 3:30 PM till 7:00 AM daily and all-day on Saturday and Sunday.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause - especially for those of you who use it for teaching and instructional purposes.
However, we encourage you to reference this blog and short video clips in your teaching.
No comments:
Post a Comment