Methodology for calculating feeding rate for farrowing sows and physical standards at first insemination

Agricultural production in Ukraine, especially livestock products, does not fully meet the needs of the population and industry for raw materials. This is not only an important state-economic problem, but also a socio-political task, the solution of which is aimed at providing the population with stable food supplies. Creating a meat balance in the country primarily depends on increasing the production of all types of meat, including pork. And this is not only because pig farming is one of the early-maturing branches of livestock farming with a high fertility rate of sows, but also because the total energy of feed fed to farm animals and poultry is converted into food products for humans from pork 20 %, milk – 15 %, eggs – 7 %, chicken – 5 %, beef and lamb – 4 %. With intensive management of the industry, 2–2.5 tons of pork can be obtained from one sow per year, spending 4–4.5 tons of feed units on the production of 1 centner of product. Obtaining and growing highly productive young animals, which is where any technology begins, is still quite a complex and the most responsible part of the overall chain of technological elements of pork production. It is possible to grow the most well-developed and healthy piglets, capable of providing high growth energy, not only through the rational use of breeding stock and sows, but also by creating appropriate conditions for feeding, caring for and keeping piglets during their development. The efficiency of pig farming in Ukraine depends on providing pig herds with premises, feed, the use of advanced technologies optimal for each farm, rational organization of pig farmers' labor, and veterinary well-being in the herd. The valuable economically useful characteristics of pigs guarantee their superiority in meat production compared to other types of farm animals. Therefore, it is no coincidence that over the past 15 years in countries with developed livestock farming (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary) the growth of meat production has occurred mainly due to the intensive development of pig farming. In these countries, the share of pork in total meat production is over 50 %. Currently, a number of domestic and foreign pig breeds are used in the country. Most of them are well adapted to local feeding and housing conditions, and have high productivity. On average, for all highly productive pig genotypes, the age of reaching a live weight of 100 kg reaches 170–195 days with an average daily gain of 650–850 g and feed consumption per 1 kg of live weight gain of 3.6–4.1 k. units. The article presents a methodology for calculating the nutrient needs of farrowing sows depending on their genotype. Attention is drawn to the fact that the increase in the level of lean meat (the amount of protein deposition in the animal's body) of new genotypes of pigs occurs with the phenomena of a decrease in the thickness of the fat and a higher live weight of sows. According to the calculations of physical and technological parameters, carried out using the NRC methodology (2012), the importance of maintaining the thickness of fat and live weight of animals of each genetics is justified. It was concluded that regardless of the genotype of the animals, physiological maturity of repair pigs is reached at the age of 240 days.