W W W . S W I N E I T .
C O M
THE CALIPER
FACTSHEET
Márcio Gonçalves, Jamil Faccin,
Iana Ferreira and Mark Knauer
“The sow caliper is the technology that has
brought the most value to our business. The
art of feeding was taken away and made a
science of feeding. That’s what I appreciate
the most. We are full-feeding sows in
lactation now, so we’re taking all the
guesswork out of step feeding. We’ve taken
the guesswork out of feeding the sows in
gestation because we’ve got to hit a certain
body score. It’s brought a discipline to the
system and has saved us millions of dollars
implementing that simple technology.”
Dave Wade - The Hanor Company
THE CALIPER FACTSHEET
The visual body condition score (BCS) method is subjective and
prone to personal biases or perceptions. Thus, an objective tool such
as the caliper adds tremendous value to a production system by
eliminating the farm-to-farm variation, protocol drift, and
internal/external expert opinions.
Additionally, it requires much less training and experience compared
to other methods. Lean mass seems to be more important than fat
for subsequent performance and longevity (Schenkel et al., 2010;
Thomas et al., 2018).
KEY ASPECTS
• Thin sows should obviously be avoided due to animal welfare and
reproductive performance. However, fat sows are often ignored by
inexperience (and experienced)
staff members. Fat sows have
increased stillborns, reduced
colostrum production, lactation
intake, milk production, and
retention rate in the herd. Each fat
sow can cost anywhere from $10 to
$20 per year to the system.
• Caliper was validated with large white and landrace crosses.
Therefore, should be applicable for majority of the genetic lines in
the market.
• Caliper and visual body condition score require 5 seconds per sow
while backfat measurement requires 14 seconds per sow.
• Caliper works on gilts as well. Generally, if gilts measure just into
the “fat” range that is fine as they have not had a lactation yet to
lose condition. Assuming you do not go below 1.8 kg/d (4 lb/d) of a
corn-soy diet for gilts [whereas may go down to 1.6 kg/d (3.5 lb) on
sows], most of your gilts that read “fat” would get 1.8 kg/d (4 lb/d).
• Caliper has not been validated in boar studs yet.
PRACTICAL TIPS
• Evaluating sow body condition with the caliper need to be a weekly
routine at the farm (different breeding group every week). Evaluate
body condition after breeding, at d 28, 60, and 90 of gestation.
• In electronic sow feeding systems, once you get your feeding level
perfected you may be able to set a feeding level at breeding and for
the most part let them go with few checks throughout gestation.
n = 2460 sows; Bryan and Knauer, 2014
• Do not press the tips of the caliper into the sow’s back. The caliper
would measure “artificially thin” sows.
• Do not move the stickers up or down without a large-scale,
designed study to back it up.
• To avoid injuries, put your finger inside the designed holes.
SOW BODY CONDITION METHODS:
ACCURACY AND TIME EFFICIENCY MATRIX
Body
weight
Ultrasound
Caliper
level ycaruccA
backfat
Heart girth
(gilts)
Visual body
condition
Time efficiency
USING THE KNAUER SOW BODY
CONDITION CALIPER 3.0
1. Use your hand to palpate the
sow’s last rib. After you measure
numerous sows, you should be
able to guesstimate last rib
location.
2. At the sow’s last rib, use one
hand to place the middle of the
caliper on the sow’s backbone.
Do not press the tips of the
caliper into the sow.
USING THE KNAUER SOW BODY
CONDITION CALIPER 3.0
3. Make sure the caliper is correctly aligned.
4. Read the caliper measurement.
REFERENCES
Bryan, M. and M. Knauer. 2014 (Abstr.). Relationships between sow
body condition with subsequent reproductive performance. J. Anim.
Sci. 92(Suppl. 2):25.
Schenkel, A. C., M. L. Bernardi, F. P. Bortolozzo, and Ivo Wentz. "Body
reserve mobilization during lactation in first parity sows and its effect
on second litter size." Livestock Science 132, no. 1-3 (2010): 165-172.
Thomas, L. L., L. K. Herd, B. D. Goodband, S. S. Dritz, M. D. Tokach, J.
C. Woodworth, J. M. DeRouchey, M. A. D. Goncalves, and D. B. Jones.
Effects of Increasing Standardized Ileal Digestible Lysine during
Gestation on Growth and Reproductive Performance of Gilts and
Sows Under Commercial Conditions. Journal of Animal Science 96,
no. suppl_2 (2018): 169-170.
Version 09302020
