Evaluation of the impact of reproductive technologies on the genetic improvement and profit of pig production systems

Boar utilization efficiency and fertility play a significant role on the productivity and profitability of the U.S. pig industry. The impact of artificial insemination technique, semen preparation, and selection for semen traits on profitability and complementary financial indicators was evaluated under a comprehensive range of productive and reproductive circumstances. Net profit was 2.2% to 2.6% higher in intra-uterine and deep intra-uterine relative to conventional artificial insemination with fresh semen and slightly higher with frozen semen. The differences in net profit between fresh and frozen semen were driven by differences in variable costs and ranged from -5.3% (conventional AI) to -24.7% (deep intra-uterine AI). Overall, insemination technique and semen preparation had a non-linear effect on profit. A subsequent study evaluated the impact of boar selection strategies including four semen traits in addition to standard paternal and maternal traits on genetic improvement and profit of the enterprise. A first-in-kind derivation of the economic weight of semen traits was undertaken. Genetic gains for paternal and maternal traits were higher in the four and three-way schemes, respectively. The selection strategy including the four semen traits is recommended because this approach enables genetic gains for these traits without compromising the genetic gains for maternal traits and with minimal losses in genetic gains for paternal traits. Three boar semen collections per week offered the highest return on investment. The selection strategy including semen traits had higher net profit (P-value < 0.0001) than the traditional strategy. Intra-uterine insemination allowed a further reduction on the number of boars maintained, lowered total cost, and increased net profit relative to conventional insemination. These studies demonstrate the potential genetic and financial benefits derived from efficient boar use through combination of reproductive techniques and collection frequencies; and selection strategies including semen traits