Guidelines of PigPerformance Testing in Taiwan
Promulgated by the National Animal Industry Foundation
Amended on March 28th, 2005
Ref. No. Nung-mu 0940121611
1. Thequalification for participating farms
1.1 Purebred pigherd recognized by National Animal Industry Foundation (hereinafterreferred as “the Foundation”) in accordance with the AnimalIndustry Act.
1.2 Farm withsufficient number of registered sows. Yorkshire and Duroc shouldbe at least 30 sows and Landrace should be over 50 sows.
1.3 Farm whosepigs are in good health and are confirmed to have no reportable Type Ainfectious animal diseases within the past three months by local animaldisease prevention center.
2. Enrolment
2.1 All thetesting schedules will be posted by the Foundation on the followingwebsites : http://www.suft.org.tw/ andhttp://www.angrin.tlri.gov.tw/.
2.2 Any qualifiedfarms may request for the Guidelines of pig performance Testing andCurrent Testing Schedule (T/1). Please fill out the TestingSchedule form (T/2) for registration.
2.3 Purebredherds for registration shall be randomly blood sampled for all kind oftests.
2.4 IndividualRecord Forms (T/3) for the tested pigs, Affidavit Paper (T/4) andHealth Certificate (T/5) shall be handed in as the pigs arrived at thetest station. Without doing so, the case shall be dismissed.
2.5 TheFoundation is entitled to trace the pig information from the databankof Livestock Research Institute of Council of Agriculture to suggest orto 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 bebased on the facility capacity. All pig herds registered fortesting are allowed to send piglets for testing. Piglets fortesting shall be aged 18 to 24 days and weighing 6.0 to 9.0 kg..
3.2 Every testing unitshall be two boars of the same litter. For Landrace and Yorkshirebreeds, one unit can be two boars and one gilt of the samelitter. There can only be two testing units per litter.
3.3 If, among samelitter, there is any piglet with defects, such as hereditary hernia oratresia ani or if there are less than 6 surviving piglets in onelitter, the pigs are not qualified for testing.
3.4 If no PedigreeRegistration Certificate of tested pigs is provided within two months,the pigs shall be sent back to the farm. Meantime, a testing feeshall be charged according to the duration the pigs have stayed in thetest station of the Foundation.
3.5 The genotype ofPorcine Stress Syndrome (PSS) of Landrace and of Yorkshire shall beAA. On the other hand, the genotype of Porcine Stress Syndrome(PSS) of Duroc shall be AB or AA. Any pig with genotypes notlisted 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 keptindividually and will be offered 10 kg of preparatory ration. Afterwards, the standardized ration for performance test willsubstitute the original ration. The formula of standardizedration and preparatory ration can be seen in Appendix 1.
4.2 After quarantine observation, individual pig weighing40 + 2 kg (gilts 30 + 2 kg) will start the test till 150 days old tofinish the test. Those pigs weighing 110 kg or less (gilts 90 kg)shall be continuously tested till they are 110 kg (gilts 90 kg) for thegrowth performance test.
4.3 If the breeding pigs are still under 110 + 2 kg at age180 days , the test is considered finished and the pigs shall be judgedas disqualified. (Boars shall be castrated before returned to theowners.) The income from selling the culled pigs shall bereturned to the owner.
4.4 Test pigs are fed ad libitum with pellet ration and thecumulatively consumed feed is computed.
4.5 At the end of test, the backfat thickness shall becalculated by the adjusting formula at the fifth rib, last rib and thelast lumbar vertebra.
4.6 At the end of test, a Performance Index shall be calculated accordingto three traits, average daily gain, average feed efficiency andaverage backfat thickness. All the calculation formulae and theevaluation 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 choleraor foot-and-mouth disease. Other vaccination records should bekept and handed in by the farm veterinarian.
5.2 All pigs shall be dipped and sprayed with disinfectant before enteringthe 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 sametime when tested pigs arrive at the station. The farmveterinarian should complete the form with a signature for the provideddata.
5.4 If a farm has been in the period of reportable animal diseases, farmowners should not send the pigs for testing. If there is anysuspicious case, the test station is authorized to refuse theapplication of any testing pigs.
5.5 When any pig is found out to carry a reportable animal disease, thestation staff should notify the owner and the local disease preventionstation immediately and follow the instruction of animal diseaseprevention specialist.
6. Fees
6.1 At the end of test, the total expenses of ration consumption shall beapportioned among the pig units. One unit is one pig. TheFoundation shall approve the cost according to the test unit and notifythe owner individually. Pigs dismissed from the performance testdue to particular reasons shall be handled in accordance with thefollowing:
6.1.1 No fee shall be chargedif the pig dies before the auction.
6.1.2 If the boar isdisqualified, the owner shall pay (i) the total fee: if the pig hasstayed in the station for more than 3 months; (ii) 3/4 of the totalfee: if the pig has stayed in the station for more than 2 months butless than 90 days; (iii) 1/2 of the total fee: if the pig has stayed inthe station for less than 60 days.
6.2 When an auction is completed, the base price shall goto the owner. If the price is less than NT$200,000, 70% of theexceeded price shall go to the owner and the owner is expected todonate the remaining 30% to the Foundation. If the price ishigher than NT$200,000, 50% of the total price shall go to theowner. The other 50% of the price is expected to be donated tothe Foundation by the owner to help the development of this program.
6.3 If any qualified boar is not sold at the auction, theowner can purchase back the boar with the base price within half anhour after the close of auction. If the owner fails to do so,other farmers can purchase the boar with the base price after theowner, after half an hour following the close of auction. The unsoldboar shall be culled by the Foundation (Boars shall be castrated withmedical injection). The funds obtained from culling the boarsshall belong to the original owners.
7. Auction
7.1 At the end of the test, qualified boars withperformance index over 100 shall be sold in auction. The baseprice shall be determined by the Team for Genetic Improvement ofBreeding Pig of the Foundation. The boars with performance indexbetween 90 to 100 can be withdrawn by the owner uponnotification. If the owner fails to do so, the boar shall beculled by the Foundation. (Boars shall be castrated with medicalinjection.) The funds obtained from culling the boars shallbelong to the original owners.
7.2 The agenda of the auction shall be scheduled in advanceand released in public. The pedigree, performance data andpictures of qualified boars shall be published on the web before theauction begins for pig breeders’ reference.
7.3 The Foundation shall send the auction catalogue toswine farms and related institutes. The auction catalogue shallinclude the detailed information of tested pigs and the regulations forauction and bidding. (The detail regulations will be set upsubsequently.)
7.4 If the sold boars suffers from reproductive defects(including no sexual desire, azoospermia, low semen quantity) andare not likely to be cured, the purchaser might file an application tothe Foundation for assistance/solution of the problem before the boaris 10-month-old.
7.5 The auction shall be suspended when the governmentdecrees that pig movement and shipping be put under control.
8. Other Related Regulations
8.1 The format of all certificates, papers, forms andrecords stated in this Rule shall be designed by the Foundation.
8.2 This Rule shall be put into force after being examinedby the Team for Genetic Improvement of Breeding Pig of the Foundationand after being reported to Council of Agriculture for reference, soshall the amendment of it.
