Category: Pigs

The 3 weeks period immediately after weaning is very critical for the young pigs because a number of stresses may be encountered. After weaners have overcome the stress of weaning and are feeding properly, deworm them for the first time. Group the pigs according to age and size other than age alone. This provides an opportunity to record their feed consumption up to the time of selection at around 5 months and enhances the determination of feed efficiency. If you don’t group your pigs according to age and size, you…

After weaning, sow has lost condition and has a negative energy balance. It should be fed on feed rich in energy and low in protein. This practice is known as flushing. High levels of sugar and starch cause the secretion of digestive fluids, enzymes and hormones such as insulin. An insulin peak stimulates the production of fertility hormones so the sow quickly gets on heat between 3- 14 days after weaning, releases large number of eggs thus large litter size.  I assume that you all know that nursing mothers don’t…

The keeping of accurate records is absolutely essential for the success of any pig enterprise. The pig farm records must be simple, reliable and relevant to enable you evaluating the farm performance. Importance of Record Keeping It gives a clear picture of the type of operations, so that the exact degree of success can be measured. Act as aids to management and financial control. They are used to assess the strength and weakness of a farm and to plan for future activities. Records tell a pig producer what has been…

This is the practice of separating the piglets from their mother. This activity usually exerts stress on the weaned pigs. Weaning is usually done 3- 6 weeks of age depending on the farmer’s level of management as well as his or her objectives. Other changes should be slowly affected at weaning. Don’t not abruptly change the ration but for a few days, continue feeding creep feed mixed with weaner ration and finally eliminate the creep feed completely at about two weeks after week weaning. Deworming should be done two weeks…

The pig farmer, no matter how good, cannot do better than the pig’s genetic potential for production. Improvement in the productive parameters such as litter size, average weight gain, mothering ability and muscling ability can be achieved only through selection of pigs with superior genetic makeup as the parents for the next generation. Since the main objective of pig farming is production of meat, the pig farmers must learn to select those pigs that can be manipulated through breeding and management in order to tap their optimum potential for meat…

The profitability of pig farming is determined to a large extent by the reproductive performance that’s number of piglets born alive/sow/year. This is governed by two factors; litter size and number of litters each produces each year. Gestation length =114 days. Lactation length = 28 days. Weaning to oestrus = 8days. Total       = 150 days. Potential = 2.4 litters/sow/year. Average piglets born alive per litter 14. Therefore, number of piglets / sow / years = 28. Infectious diseases can play a role in reproductive failure but there is a tendency…