Conditioning of culled sows for the salami production

Culled gilts and sows fulfil the higher age (>270 days) and weight (­150 kg LW) required for the production of high quality salami. In a feeding trial involving 52 culled gilts and sows, a “salami feed” (11,8 MJ DE, 0,8 g PUFA/MJ DE, 193 mg vit. E) was tested with respect to the duration needed to also attain the desired finishing condition and back fat quality characterized by a low polyunsaturated fatty acid content (PUFA) and by a fat score of below 60. Sows were progressively allocated to the salami diet fed semi ad libitum. and were slaughtered batch-wise. This resulted in a wide range of litter number, slaughter weight and days on trial. During the conditioning period lasting on average 39 days, the sows ingested 3.88 kg of feed per day realizing a weight gain of 26 kg at a mean growth rate of 750 g/day. Compared to eight control sows without salami diet, mean fat score of back fat was lowered from 64.4 to 56.6, 85 % of treated sows were below a fat score of 60. The Ranzimat-value of 17.1 h underlines a good oxidation stability. The lowest fat scores were found after having fed at least 125 kg of salami feed during 35 – 55 days and gaining at least 20 kg of body weight. As sows conditioned for the salami production get a much higher price, the current price structure makes it profitable to finish culled sows prior to slaughter with a feed containing not more than 0.8 g of PUFA/MJ DE.