Guidelines of Pig Performance Testing in TaiwanPromulgated by the National Animal Industry Foundation
Amended on July 18th, 2014
Ref. No. Nung-mu 1030721548
1. The qualification for participating farms
1.1 Purebred pig herd recognized by National Animal Industry Foundation (hereinafter referred as “the Foundation”) in accordance with the Animal Industry Act.
1.2 Farm with sufficient number of registered sows. Yorkshire and Duroc should be at least 30 sows and Landrace should be over 50 sows.
1.3 Farm whose pigs are in good health and are confirmed to have no reportable Type A infectious animal diseases within the past three months by local animal disease prevention center.
1.4 New participating farm should have the certification for pig farming with available documents on site.
2. Enrolment
2.1 All the testing schedules will be posted by the Foundation on the following websites :
http://www.angrin.tlri.gov.tw/. 2.2 Any qualified farms may request for the Guidelines of pig performance Testing and Current Testing Schedule (T/1). Please fill out the Testing Schedule form (T/2) for registration.
2.3 Purebred herds for registration shall be randomly blood sampled for all kind of tests.
2.4 Individual Record Forms (T/3) for the tested pigs, Affidavit Paper (T/4) and Health Certificate (T/5) shall be handed in as the pigs arrived at the test station. Without doing so, the case shall be dismissed.
2.5 The Foundation is entitled to trace the pig information from the databank of Livestock Research Institute of Council of Agriculture to suggest or to assign certain farms to send pigs for testing.
3. Rule of testing
3.1 Each year, the frequency of Pig Performance Testing held by the Foundation will be based on the facility capacity. All pig herds registered for testing are allowed to send piglets for testing. Piglets for testing shall be aged 15 to 21 days and weighing 5.0 to 9.0 kg..
3.2 Each testing unit shall be three to five male piglets of the same litter and it can only one female per litter.
3.3 If, among same litter, there is any piglet with defects, such as hereditary hernia or atresia ani or if there are less than 6 surviving piglets in one litter, the pigs are not qualified for testing. No acceptance on Landrace and Yorkshire piglets with 6 teats or less on either side. No acceptance on Duroc piglets with 5 teats or less on either side.
3.4 If no Pedigree Registration Certificate of tested pigs is provided within two months, the pigs shall be sent back to the farm. Meantime, a testing fee shall be charged according to the duration the pigs have stayed in the test station of the Foundation.
3.5 The genotype of Porcine Stress Syndrome (PSS) shall be normal AA in Landrace, Yorkshire, Duroc, Berkshire, TLRI Black Nm. 1, Meishan and KHAPS Black. Any pig with PSS genotypes not AA shall be disqualified and a testing fee shall be charged.
3.6 The genotype of Heart Fatty Acid Binding Protein (HFABP) shall be HH6, HL5, HL4 and HL3 in Duroc. Any pig with HFABP genotypes not listed shall be disqualified and a testing fee shall be charged.
4. The testing procedure and evaluation
4.1 Every pig in the test station shall be kept individually and will be offered 10 kg of preparatory ration. Afterwards, the standardized ration for performance test will substitute the original ration. The formula of standardized ration and preparatory ration can be seen in Appendix 1.
4.2 After quarantine observation, individual pig weighing 40 + 2 kg (gilts 30 + 2 kg) will start the test till 150 days old to finish the test. Those pigs weighing 107 kg or less (gilts 97 kg) shall be continuously tested till they are 107 kg (gilts 97 kg) for the growth performance test. The testing period for Berkshire, TLRI Black No.1 and Meishan breed is from 80 to 180 days of age.
4.3 If the breeding pigs are still under 107 kg (gilts 97 kg) at 168 days of age, the test is considered finished and the pigs shall be judged as disqualified. (Boars shall be castrated before returned to the owners.) The income from selling the culled pigs shall be returned to the owner.
4.4 Test pigs are fed ad libitum with pellet ration and the cumulatively consumed feed is computed.
4.5 At the end of test, the backfat thickness shall be calculated by the adjusting formula at the fifth rib, last rib and the last lumbar vertebra.
4.6 At the end of test, a Performance Index shall be calculated according to three traits, average daily gain, average feed efficiency and average backfat thickness. All the calculation formulae and the evaluation methods of Performance Testing can be seen in Appendix 2.
5. Disease prevention and hygiene
5.1 Before the test, the pigs shall not be vaccinated against hog cholera or foot-and-mouth disease. Other vaccination records should be kept and handed in by the farm veterinarian.
5.2 All pigs shall be dipped and sprayed with disinfectant before entering the test station. No persons, vehicles, objects or equipment are allowed to enter the test farm without permission.
5.3 Health Certificate for Tested Pigs (T/5) shall be handed in at the same time when tested pigs arrive at the station. The farm veterinarian should complete the form with a signature for the provided data.
5.4 If a farm has been in the period of reportable animal diseases, farm owners should not send the pigs for testing. If there is any suspicious case, the test station is authorized to refuse the application of any testing pigs.
5.5 When any pig is found out to carry a reportable animal disease, the station staff should notify the owner and the local disease prevention station immediately and follow the instruction of animal disease prevention specialist.
6. Fees
6.1 At the end of test, the total expenses of ration consumption shall be apportioned among the pig units. One unit is one pig. The Foundation shall approve the cost according to the test unit and notify the owner individually. Pigs dismissed from the performance test due to particular reasons shall be handled in accordance with the following:
6.1.1 No fee shall be charged if the pig dies before the auction.
6.1.2 If the boar is disqualified, the owner shall pay (i) the total fee: if the pig has stayed in the station for more than 3 months; (ii) 3/4 of the total fee: if the pig has stayed in the station for more than 2 months but less than 90 days; (iii) 1/2 of the total fee: if the pig has stayed in the station for less than 60 days.
6.2 When an auction is completed, the base price shall go to the owner. The 70% of the exceeded price shall go to the owner and the owner is expected to donate the remaining 30% to the Foundation to help the development of this program.
6.3 If any qualified boar is not sold at the auction, the owner can purchase back the boar with the base price within half an hour after the close of auction. If the owner fails to do so, other farmers can purchase the boar with the base price after the owner, after half an hour following the close of auction. The unsold boar shall be culled by the Foundation (Boars shall be castrated with medical injection). The funds obtained from culling the boars shall belong to the original owners.
7. Auction
7.1 At the end of the test, qualified boars with performance index over 100 shall be sold in auction. The base price shall be determined by the Team for Genetic Improvement of Breeding Pig of the Foundation. The boars with performance index between 90 to 100 can be withdrawn by the owner upon notification. If the owner fails to do so, the boar shall be culled by the Foundation. (Boars shall be castrated with medical injection.) The funds obtained from culling the boars shall belong to the original owners.
7.2 The agenda of the auction shall be scheduled in advance and released in public. The pedigree, performance data and pictures of qualified boars shall be published on the web before the auction begins for pig breeders’ reference.
7.3 The Foundation shall send the auction catalogue to swine farms and related institutes. The auction catalogue shall include the detailed information of tested pigs and the regulations for auction and bidding. (The detail regulations will be set up subsequently.)
7.4 If the sold boars suffers from reproductive defects (including no sexual desire, azoospermia, low semen quantity) and are not likely to be cured, the purchaser might file an application to the Foundation for assistance/solution of the problem before the boar is 10-month-old.
7.5 The auction shall be suspended when the government decrees that pig movement and shipping be put under control.
8. Other Related Regulations
8.1 The format of all certificates, papers, forms and records stated in this Rule shall be designed by the Foundation.
8.2 This Rule shall be put into force after being examined by the Team for Genetic Improvement of Breeding Pig of the Foundation and after being reported to Council of Agriculture for reference, so shall the amendment of it.
