First reproductive and productive results on “Ribatejano pig”

The present trail aimed to study the effect of crossbreeding between Alentejano (AL) and Bísaro (BI) swine breeds (“Ribatejano pig”) on some reproductive and productive traits. Nine AL gilts and sows and six BI gilts were crossed with BI and AL boars, respectively. Mating and farrowing dates, prolificacy and litter size at 28d were registered for all sows. The pregnancy length of AL sows was shorter (111±0.4d vs 113.7±0.5d; p=0.002) than the observed on BI females. The BI gilts presented higher prolificacy rate than AL on both total born (11.0±1.0 vs 6.7±0.8; P=0.004) and born alive piglets (10.0±1.0 vs 6.7±0.8; p=0.026). The mortality rate was similar in both genotypes (p=0.255) being on average 12%, therefore at 28d after farrowing the litter size remained higher in BI sows (8.5±0.8 vs 6.1±0.6; p= 0.032). A subset of each genotype (4 gilts) was supervised during farrowing and lactation (until 28d) and piglets were weighed at birth, 24h and 28d of live. Farrowing length was not significantly different (p=0.253) between genotypes, averaging 97±22 min. When compared to ALBI (AL x BI) piglets, the BIAL (BI x AL) piglets were heavier at birth (1402±46g vs 1209±36g; p=0.002). Colostrum intake of piglets per kg of birth weight on the first 24h of life was similar between genotypes (p=0.735) being 289±15g for ALBI and 281±19g for BIAL piglets. The growth rate of piglets from birth to 28d and piglet weight at 28d was not different between genotypes (p=0.161 and p=0.091) averaging 195±6g and 6761±181g, respectively. Litter weight at 28d tended (P=0.06) to be higher on ALBI litters (56.6±4.0kg) than BIAL litters (43.2±4.0kg). This results obtained within the frame of Treasure project* are, at our knowledge, the first data of these crossbred piglets and could be used in future as reference for further studies and also for farmers that may try these cross on a commercial basis.

Clínica médica e cirúrgica em espécies pecuárias

O presente relatório foi elaborado com o objetivo de descrever as atividades desenvolvidas no âmbito do estágio curricular do Mestrado Integrado em Medicina Veterinária pela Universidade de Évora. Numa primeira parte é apresentada a casuística acompanhada ao longo do estágio, com referência mais pormenorizada a alguns dos casos clínicos acompanhados nas diversas áreas de intervenção da clínica de espécies pecuarias. A segunda parte deste relatório é composta por uma breve revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema “Cetose em bovinos”. Termina com um estudo que tem como objetivo principal avaliar a relação entre a ocorrência de cetose e os valores do índice de condição corporal no pré-parto e nas primeiras semanas de lactação. Os resultados não evidenciaram qualquer associação estatisticamente significativa entre os valores do índicie de condição corporal e a prevalência de cetose; Clinical medical and surgery in livestock species Abstract: This report was prepared in order to describe the activities developed during the integrated internship of the master's degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Evora. The first part describes the casuistics followed along the traineeship with more detailed reference to some of the clinical cases assisted in different areas of intervention of clinic livestock species. The second part of this report consists of a brief literature review on the topic "ketosis in cattle". It ends with a study that aims to evaluate the relationship between the occurrence of ketosis and the values of body condition score in antepartum and during the first weeks of lactation. The results did not show any statistically significant association between the values of body condition score and the prevalence of ketosis.