So you’ve spent the hours in the farrowing room ensuring that you’re gilt had a successful first litter or your long-time, faithful sow had another healthy bunch. Now what? Next comes registering your Berkshire litter to have the proof that they are 100% Berkshire pigs. 

Things You’ll Need: 

1. The owner’s herdmark and breeder number.

2.Ownership of the sow, the sow must be in your name 

3.Registration number of the sire: This can be found through the online pedigree search, the owner of the boar or the ABA office.

4.Registration number of the dam: This can be found on her pedigree, through the online pedigree search or the ABA office. 

5.A.I. Certificate: This can be ordered from the boar stud. If you are the owner of the boar, you must send in DNA before registering. The DNA and stress test requirements must be fulfilled by using the ABA blotter card. 

6.Ear Notches: Of the sire, dam, and each pig in the litter that you are registering 

7.Other Litter Information: farrowing date, number born, number alive 

Litter Application 

Once you’ve gathered the information listed above, you’re now ready to begin filling out the litter application. You can do this either online or through the paper application, both can be found on our website. 

Tips for filling out the application:

1.If this if your first litter, put 1 in the litter number box. 

2. It is optional to choose the names of the boars and gilts within the litter. If you choose not to enter a name, the boars will be given the name of the sire and the gilts will take the dam’s registered name. 

3.If a boar is castrated, please denote this next to that pig’s ear notch with an “x”. 

4.The last five boxes are optional information:

a. “After Transfer” means the number of pigs that the sow has raised if pigs from another litter had to be transferred on to the sow. 

b. “Number Weighed” is the number of pigs that were weighed when the 21 Day Information was gathered. This number should be how many pigs were weaned. 

c. “Litter Weight” is the sum of the weight of all of the pigs in the litter. This weight should be taken and calculated between 14 and 28 days of age. 

d. “Parity” is the number of litters that the sow has farrowed. 

Cost for Litter Registration

It’s important to complete the litter application within 90 days of the litter being born. This ensures that you receive your pedigrees in a timely manner and will have those pedigrees if you need to transfer any pigs. 

Each litter under 90 days of age is $18 for ABA members and $36 for non-members for the first 100 litters per year. If your litter is over 90 days of age at the time of registration, members pay $36 per litter and non-members pay $72. 

Farrowing litters is an exciting time and we want to help make the process as easy as possible! If you have any questions when completing your litter application, please contact the ABA office by phone or email, katie@americanberkshire.com. 

Find more information about registering Berkshire litters here.