X15 is alive – a industrialised procedure
X15 is a male piglet. His existence began on 2.3.09 as his mother was artificially inseminated. In pig breeding farms sows are used as reproductive machines. Their natural cycles are controlled on mass by hormone injection which ensure the timing of their fertility and which are used as little as 4 to 7 days after her last piglets were taken away from her.
Then they are artificially inseminated with boars’ sperm.
To maximize fertilization taking place, sows are often arificially inseminated twice within a 12 hour period. A breeding sow can become pregnant approximately twice a year, so X15 will be born after a pregnancy of around 114 days into a completely sterile environment. He or she will be separated from the mother after three weeks, a time where naturally piglets still suckle.
X15 will live in this unit until he or she reaches the rearing weight of 110 kg.
