Genetic evaluation system of Piétrain boars in crossbreeding in Wallonia

In order to better meet the current demand, genetic evaluations are no longer carried out in purebred breeding, but by crossing stress-resistant Landrace Belgian sows from the Animal Production and Nutrition Department of the Walloon Agricultural Research Center (CRA-w) , with Piétrain boars from the Walloon breeders and the insemination center of the province of Liège. All the boars from the Belgian Piétrain program will participate to these genetic evaluations.

The animals obtained by this crossing are of a genetic type corresponding to the slaughterpigs.

The piglets born at CRA-w are transferred to our Cerexhe-Heuseux test station for fattening from 20 to 110 kg thanks to a two-phase feeding.

During this period, the animals are weighed and their food consumption controlled several times.

Before being slaughtered, they are weighed one last time and measured using the Pig-Log. All these measures as well as the results of slaughterings are transmitted to the geneticists of the Gembloux AgroBio Tech zootechnology unit. They therefore calculate the results per father for different characteristics specific to the production of pigs (meat, live weight, consumption index, percentage of meat, fat thickness, etc.)
When a group of pigs is slaughtered, the results of all the boars are recalculated, taking into account a large number of parameters.

The latest results are published on the website of the pig service of the awé asbl.