The ANPSTAND Operative Group, of which Magapor is part, works on a seminal quality standard for boar studs in Spain, which allows to unify the procedures and criteria for swine artificial insemination and to specify the minimum characteristics to be met in the doses produced.
According to Raúl Sánchez, a researcher at INIA, 47% of the boar studs have their own quality seals to guarantee the insemination procedures. The objective is to create a single common certification that guarantees a set of minimum requirements in the facilities; the handling of animals, or matters such as biosecurity, animal welfare, health and hygiene or the environment.
The unification of criteria, in which selected pig breeders, boar studs and researchers work, will impact, said Sánchez, in 75% of the doses of pig semen produced throughout the country and 63% of the boar studs recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture. It is expected that these percentages will increase as other boar studs adhere to the standard after its launch.
Spain, international reference point
Technological development and research in swine artificial insemination “has been a determining factor to create pioneering materials or methodologies, which have made Spain an international benchmark in the field”. In this sense, the boar studs are working in lines of research such as: the cryopreservation of semen, karyotype of animals or in new techniques of evaluation of the semen quality.
In 2019, 9.68 million of insemination doses were sold, according to the data collected in the survey carried out by the ANPSTAND among the ANPS partner centers.
Artificial insemination has many advantages such as an intense sanitary control, a rapid diffusion of genetic progress, the optimization of reproductive management and a reduction of the economic costs of farms. The benefits begin in boar studs and farms, which increase their competitiveness, and have an impact on the economic development of the rural areas in which they are established and, therefore, on the whole society.
ANPSTAND
It is an Operative Group led by the National Association of Selected Pigs (ANPS), which is made up of farmers and companies that are dedicated to the selection and improvement of pure-bred pigs and hybridization. Its objective is to define and implement a seminal quality standard for boar studs in Spain, and contemplates studies, tests, protocols and manuals of action that will allow to continue leading Spanish swine production worldwide.
ANPSTAND constitutes a clear commitment of the sector, which voluntarily decides to refine and standardize artificial insemination processes.
