The bidders watch the introduction to the breeding boars. (photo/ Yi Dongming)
On the morning of Nov. 2, the National Breeding Pigs Competition of Hubei Province, an event of the “2022 Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival”, and the 22nd Breeding Pigs Auction Sales (Wuhan, China) were held at the National Breeding Pig Testing Center of HZAU. A Duroc breeding pig from Hubei Longwang Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. was successfully sold at 39,000 yuan (5,540 $) and topped the rest as the "Pig King".
The new "Pig King" － more expensive than last year
287 boars, selected from 19 breeding swine companies in 8 provinces were tested at the Center of Quality Test and Supervision for Breeding Swine Wuhan, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, including Hubei, Henan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Shaanxi and Jiangxi, according to the organizing committee. 16 prime breeding pigs were finally selected for open ascending auction and 114 choice breeding pigs for sealed bid auction, after four-month rigorous monitoring and scientific evaluation, under the identical environment and circumstances.
16 prime breeding pigs debuted on the big screen at the auction. While attentively watching, the potential buyers have already had the best choice in mind. As they made a succession of bids, the auction was turned into a rather intense battle. The dealing prices were climbing rapidly with bidders’ frequent raising their cards one after another.
The auction saved the best for last. A Duroc boar, from Hubei Longwang Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. was ranked “Double First” by experts after the comprehensive index calculation and appearance evaluation, and sold at 39,000 yuan (5,531$) after several bids, thus making it the new "Pig King" this year, whose price is 3000 yuan (426$) more the one last year.
There were 16 prime boars of 29,8000 yuan-worth (42,337$)for open ascending auction, and 58 out of 114 choice breeding pigs for sealed bid auction, with their value of 51,6700 yuan (73,408$).
Genetic evaluation through gene chip
Enterprises were highly motivated to send breeding pigs for testing, leading to a higher number of breeding pigs received than previous years, according to Zhao Shuhong, director of the National Research Center for Livestock Engineering Technology and dean of the School of Animal Science and Technology, School of Animal Medicine of HZAU. Breeding Pigs Competition and Auction Sales and Academic exchanges acted on the spirit of innovation and science and technology. All participating breeding pigs went through genome genetic evaluation through high-density gene chips. Conventional index and genome selection index (GSI) were also provided for reference. In addition, the combination of online and offline auction was adopted, as a new model for breeding pig auctions during the epidemic.
Pig breeding is an important industry related to the national economy and people's livelihood, so acquiring qualified breeding pigs is the most fundamental factor to secure the healthy development of breeding pig industry. It is also the key to improving the core competitiveness of breeding pig industry, according to Shi Jianzhong, an expert from the National Animal Husbandry Station. In order to reduce serious impacts brought by sharp ups and downs of pig prices on residents and farmers, the government has successively introduced a series of measures to stabilize the supply of pork and to promote the high-quality development of breeding pig industry. Holding the National Breeding Pig Competition every year is a practical example to advance the sustainable and healthy development of swine industry. It will play a positive role in deepening the implementation of the national breeding pig genetic improvement plan, accelerating the popularization of qualified breeding pigs, and improving their productivity.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2022/1104/65009.shtml
Translated by: Sun Gaojing
Supervised by: Jin Bei
