Genetic course of live weight and feed intake over an 8-week test period

The major costs in producing pork are feed costs and the costs associated with the time taken to reach a desired slaughter weight. Pig breeding programs aim towards reducing these costs by selecting the most efficient pig. Selection of breeding pigs can be based on the ratio between growth and feed intake, where these traits are measured over a fixed weight- or time-interval. If there are any differences between animals in performance patterns during the test period, they are not taken into account when animals are selected using this strategy.

The phenotype of a pig changes during growth and ageing, pigs become heavier and eat more as they get older. There is supporting evidence that the ways in which pigs both eat and grow are partly caused by genetics. There is increasing interest in genetic parameters that describe performance patterns during growth and ageing. The use of scale-equipped electronic feeder stations enables collection of data on daily feed intake (DFI) and live weight (WT). This data provides information about performance patterns of pigs for DFI and WT, enabling the investigation of selection strategies for growth and/or feed intake patterns.