Body Surface Area of Female Swine

Knowledge of the surface area over which heat exchange occurs is crucial to understanding thermal relations between swine and their environments. Brody's equation is generally used for predicting swine surface area from body weight. However, our 36 direct measurements of surface area on five Hampshire-Yorkshire and four Duroc gilts, ranging in weight from 30 to 123 kg, yielded estimates which all fell below the surface area as predicted by Brody's equation. This finding was confirmed photogrammetrically. The results indicate that our formula—(surface area in cm2)=734 (body weight in kg).656—predicts surface area of female swine of the current “meat type” more accurately than does Brody's formula.