Gilt management — the preparation of replacement breeding females for first farrowing — significantly influences lifetime productivity, longevity, and welfare. Inadequate gilt development leads to poor first-litter performance, leg problems, and early culling.
Gilts that are physically or reproductively immature at first farrowing experience higher rates of prolonged labour, stillbirth, agalactia, and poor maternal behaviour. Early culling due to reproductive failure or lameness means short-lived, productive suffering. Welfare-centred gilt management invests in individual weight monitoring, puberty stimulation using boar exposure, pre-mating body condition optimisation, and structural soundness assessment at entry to the breeding herd. These practices improve individual gilt welfare while reducing involuntary culling rates.