Early Gestation Building 

In this building on the pig unit:

• Sows are weaned into this building in pens of up to eight sows, and stay until they're moved into the late gestation building next door, at nine weeks of gestation.
• They are in similar pens to the late gestation building, with a straw pen and free-access stalls, and they stay with the same sows until they re-enter the forrowing room.
• Five to seven days after weaning sows will come to heat, and will be artifically inseminated (AI'd)
• The sows are taken to the service stalls and a boar is put in front of them. Any sows that stand (completely motionless to back pressure) are AI'd, and then again 24 hours later if they are still standing.
• The semen is bought from the breeding company and has to be kept in a special chiller at 17°C. The semen is viable for about five days as it is mixed with a diluent solution containing nutrients to preserve it.
• Four weeks after AI the sows are scanned using an ultrasound scanner to determine if they are pregnant. Our conception rate is over 90%.