SUISAG has built up an independent and at the same time unique breeding program with pig producers over recent decades. Breeders are provided with a high-quality range of E. coli resistant dam and sire line genetics. Sows are particularly suitable for free farrowing, which has been standard in Switzerland for over 10 years.
The two SUISAG damlines “Swiss Large White” and “Swiss Landrace” are characterised by their good fertility and their very good mothering ability.
With a proportion of almost 50%, the breeding focus is placed on the field of reproduction.
Behaviour
Fertility/piglets
Health
Performance properties
Data taken from the Swiss herdbook – yearly evaluation in 2020
| Reproduction per sow & year | Swiss Large White breed average | Best quarter of Swiss Large White breed |
|---|---|---|
| Number of breeding sows | 9'084 | 3'335 |
| Number of litters | 2.35 | 2.4 |
| Number of piglets born alive | 30.9 | 32.52 |
| Number of weaned piglets | 27.59 | 29.49 |
Breeding practice
Breeding goal of Swiss Large White
Fertility/piglets
Health
Performance properties:
Data taken from the Swiss herdbook – yearly evaluation in 2020
| Reproduction per sow & year | Swiss Landrace breed average | Best quarter of Swiss Landrace breed |
|---|---|---|
| Number of breeding sows | 1’457 | 398 |
| Number of litters | 2.37 | 2.39 |
| Number of piglets born alive | 30.78 | 31.45 |
| Number of weaned piglets | 26.96 | 28.39 |
Breeding practice
Breeding goal Swiss Landrace
The sireline is geared towards optimum finishing and carcass performance. Meat and fat quality also play a central role. SUISAG terminal sires are tested extensively for many characteristics from the breeding to production stages. They must undergo extensive fullsib performance and progeny tests. Only homozygous stress-resistant end products are used in Switzerland, which leads to enhanced meat quality. Sirelines are systematically bred and selected on homozygous E. coli F18 and F4.
The SUISAG range of semen includes the three sire lines: Premo®, Duroc and Piétrain.
Meat quality
Productivity
Health
Breeding practice
Breeding goal PREMO®
Average offspring performance from the end product test of the active SUISAG AI boar according to boar breed (30.09.2022)
| breed | test station at Sempach | slaughterhouse | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pigs | DG | FC | MEM | IMF | DL | pigs | ADG | LMC | |
| PREMO® | 247 | 1031 | 2.44 | 45.7 | 1.89 | 2.84 | 1535 | 665 | 57.6 |
| Duroc | 155 | 1021 | 2.55 | 44.3 | 2.10 | 2.90 | 1078 | 670 | 56.5 |
| Pietrain | 172 | 971 | 2.45 | 50.2 | 1.50 | 3.56 | 1060 | 641 | 57.7 |
test station = MLP at Sempach, DG = daily gain on test, FC = feed conversion, Loin = size of the loin, IMF = intramuscular fat content in the loin, DL = drip loss, ADG = daily gain from birth to slaugther, LMC = lean meat content
Only the results of AI boars which have at least 30 descendants with slaughterhouse data and 4 test animals from the test station at Sempach are published here. The worst AI boars based on the end product index (EPI) are slaughtered.
Meat quality
Productivity
Quantity/quality of meat
Productivity
SUISAG is committed to a strong Swiss breeding program. With its specialised dam and sire lines, breeding-related issues focus on treating key issues and developing them further.
The performance of an animal is influenced by its genes (DNA). Every breeder wants to know as early and as precisely as possible which animals have the best genes so that the next generation can be produced with these breeding animals.
Information about an animal’s genetic disposition is obtained through an estimation of breeding values. The performance of the animal itself, its relatives and possible descendants is taken into consideration. In the genomically optimized estimation of breeding values, such performance data is also supplemented with direct information about the genes of the animal. For this purpose, the DNA of the animals is read at 60,000 positions (single-nucleotide polymorphism, SNP).
Due to this SNP data, young, untested full siblings also receive different genomically optimised breeding values because the DNA of the full siblings is different. Hence the use of genomically optimised breeding values means that animals can be selected in a better and more well-founded way for breeding purposes
In the Swiss Large White dam line, all active AI boars have long been homozygous resistant.
Moreover, breeding and selection in the sirelines has also focused systematically on homozygous E. coli F18 resistance for several years; and recently on E. coli F4 resistance.
Coli bacteria attach themselves to the intestinal wall of the piglets. They secrete their toxins into the bloodstream of the animal, causing the piglets to fall ill.
The various coli bacteria attach themselves in different ways. In technical language, this is referred to as “fimbriae type”. Coli bacteria of fimbriae type 18 (F18) are one of the main causes of oedema disease or deduction.
In the 1990s, the Swiss University for Science and Technology Zurich discovered a natural mutation in the pig genome. In the case of homozygous animals (CF18 = A/A), the intestinal wall is slightly different to that of susceptible pigs. As a result, E. coli F18 bacteria can no longer attach themselves to the intestinal wall of resistant piglets.
With DNA typing, direct checks can be carried out in the genes of the piglet to ascertain whether it is resistant to E. coli F18 bacteria. In the nucleus breeding farms, the results of these genotypings are included in subsequent selection decisions and breeding measures are taken specifically to counter the susceptible allele.
All active AI boars in the Swiss Large White line have long been homozygous resistant; this is now also true of the entire sow population.
A systematic early genotyping of piglets also takes place in the Landrace breed. As a result, most boars and about 50% of the gilts are now homozygous resistant.
Moreover, breeding and selection in the sirelines has also focused systematically on homozygous E. coli F18 resistance for several years; and recently on E. coli F4 resistance. Today, only homozygous E. coli F18 resistant PREMO® boars (A/A) and increasingly homozygous E. coli F4 resistant boars are purchased for AI use. Some homozygous resistant boars also feature in the SUISAG Duroc and SUISAG Piétrain breeds.
Selection based on E. coli F4 resistance commenced in the PREMO®, Duroc and Piétrain breeds in 2018.
A key feature of Swiss pig breeding is its strong focus on meat quality.
Meat quality properties were first included in breeding goals in the 1970s. Systematic stress remediation of Swiss pig breeds, the increase in intramuscular fat content (IMF) and the reduction of drip loss (DL) are important milestones on the path to achieving an even higher quality of Swiss pork. Additional features are considered in pursuing this quality strategy.
Meat quality - measurement and breeding activities:
Each year at the Sempach test station (MLP), various meat quality characteristics are routinely recorded from over 3,500 tested slaugthered pigs in order to allow them to be incorporated into the estimation of breeding values.
PREMO® is a terminal sireline with enormous focus on meat quality. It is therefore ideal for quality meat labels.
