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