silly question, more ribs!
OK pig rearing 101, pigs are unusual in that they can vary
in the number of ribs, ranging from 13 to 17 ribs, so why breed ones that have
only 13 when you can grow pigs with 16 or 17 ribs? that is the question that
Jeff Braun, a farmer in Mount Gambier, South Australia who has bred pigs for the
past 30 years asked himself, and this is the answer he came up with,
'a sow has double the butter fat and double the milk solids
in its milk compared to a dairy cow and when we look at the 21-day litter
weights we are now achieving, it has to produce more milk solids in a day than
the best dairy cows in the world', Mr Braun said, 'we can alter the length and
the capacity of that udder as we change the length of the middle, by selecting
for sows with 16 to 17 ribs we can get 30 per cent more udder capacity, most
sows at Myora Farm now deliver 21-day litter weights of more than 100
kilograms, Europe is typically averaging 80 kilograms, this has enabled us to
now produce a 100 kg live weight animal by 16 weeks of age, which is also some
of the highest growth rates of animals in the world', as a bonus all Myora Farm
pigs are also resistant to E. coli and the next goal is to eliminate all
respiratory diseases, along with the need to administer vaccinations,
like I said at the beginning, more ribs, bring them on!
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