The efficiency of boars to detect oestrous females housed adjacent to boars

Abstract

Forty-two post-pubertal gilts were observed for a 21-day period under each of three treatments. Treatments 1 and 2 were each housed adjacent to a mature boar and a different boar was used in each treatment to detect oestrous gilts. Treatment 3 was housed away from boars and the back-pressure test was used to detect oestrous gilts. The combined oestrus detection rate for Treatments 1 and 2 was lower (P<0.01) than the detection rate for Treatment 3 (83 and 100%, respectively). However, this low combined detection rate was predominantly due to one of the treatments (74 v. 92%). The results support the contention that the back-pressure test is an efficient test for detecting oestrous gilts that ..