Electronic swine ID applied to running GTTT (technical slow-herd management system) pig farming systems

Over 2005-2006, the IFIP (French pork industry Institute) led a project supervised by the French pig farming Institute in partnership with the Brittany-centred chambers of commerce to analyse the potential benefits of using electronic ID tagging in pig farms. The aim of the system is to cutting out manual data inputs to lighten the farmer's workload and guarantee that reliable information is gathered. These trials showed that electronically tagging sows and using tag reader-interfaced PDAs makes it possible to record reliable GTTT data without complications. Nevertheless, we have to continue intelligence-gathering on this issue industry-wide, i.e. in partnership with both producers and users, in order to prepare this technology for widespread deployment in sow herds.