Routine Farm Operations at Pig Farm

Routine Farm Operations at Pig Farm

Jai Bhagwan^1, Mahavir Chaudhari²,  Hardeep Kalkal³

¹Assistant Professor, ² Extension Specialist, Pashu Vigyan Kendra, Sirsa,  Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar, ³ Extension Specialist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirsa (CCS HAU Hisar)

India has population of pig is 9.06 million as per current census of 2019-20 and declined by 12 percent as compared to previous census. The declining trend in pig population needs to be addressed by state and center agencies to fill the gap of various issues faced by the farmer’s community. The vast majority of individuals in the North Eastern Region are not vegetarians, and a sizable portion of them eat pork. Only 38.42% of India’s total pig population is in the NE Region. In the NE Region, there is a rising demand for animal protein but due to lack of organized and scientific practices this meat market is not up to the mark. Only the meat-producing animals, such as sheep, goats, and chickens, are unable to meet the demand for animal protein. As a result, there is a significant role for pork in India. The pig plays a significant part in raising meat production because of several biological benefits like prolificacy, faster growth, short generation intervals and dressing percentage.

There are various routine farm operations which need to be addressed during care and management at pig farm:

Care and management: It is recommended to remove the waste twice daily, in the morning and evening. At feeding time, check all the animals and remove any pigs that are ill, not eating, or not being thrifty from the herd while providing veterinarian care. Breeding animals may be provided with a place to wallowing during hot weather. Wallowing is not necessary for fattener pigs since it results in a modest drop in growth rate and feed conversion efficiency.

Care of Piglets

• Take care of new born piglets by providing guard rails.
• Treat /disinfect the navel cord with tincture of iodine as soon as it is cut with a sharp knife.
• Feed on mothers’ milk for first 6-8 weeks along with creep feed.
• Protect the piglets against extreme weather conditions, particularly during the first two months.
• Needle teeth should be clipped shortly after birth.
• Vaccinate the piglets as per recommended vaccination schedule.
• Supplementation of Iron to prevent piglet anemia is necessary.
• The piglets meant for sale as breeder stock must be reared properly.
• Male piglets not selected for breeding should be castrated preferably at the age of 3-4 weeks which will prevent the boar odour in the cooked meat thus it enables production of quality meat.
• Additional feed requirements of lactating sow must be ensured for proper nursing of all the piglets born.

Routinue care of Piglets

Processing piglets includes clipping teeth, clipping and treating the umbilical cord, iron administration, tail docking, identification, treating splay legged piglets, providing supplemental nutrients, and castration. These skills can be performed in different ways and in the sequence of personal preference. Some producers elect not to perform all these procedures, or they prefer to delay some of them for three to four days to reduce stress on the very fragile one-day-old piglet. Those who operate pasture farrowing systems tend to do all their processing of piglets during the first day after farrowing, because the piglets are easier to catch. Producers recording mortality rates from birth to weaning in excess of 15% may consider delaying teeth clipping, tail docking, and castration of smaller piglets for a few days.

 Feeding

The quality and quantity of feed provided to the pigs affects both the productivity and reproductivity of a pig farm. About 70 to 75 percent of the overall expense of raising hogs goes toward feeding them. The profitability of the pig farm is based on the quality of the carcass produced for the market. Pigs are monogastric animals and can utilize fibrous food only to a limited extent. Part of the protein in the diet of pig should come from animal source such as fish, meat etc. Feeding based on swill (kitchen waste including left over human food, vegetables, meat and fish cuttings) is recommended as pig rearing based on commercial feed is not economical. On an average, pig requires 4-8 kg swill per day. All categories of pigs can be given small quantity of green fodder or may be sent to pasture. A balanced diet includes enough clean water, carbs, proteins, fat, minerals, and vitamins. Common feed materials include maize, wheat bran, rice polish, broken rice, ground nut cake, fish meal, mineral mixture, and salt.

 Record keeping:

Record keeping of farm activities is most important for evaluation as well as for the improvement of the production. Recording of reproductive, productive performances of pigs treatment/vaccination, feed, labor etc. are very essential. Recording of pedigree are the prerequisite information for formulation of breeding plan in a farm.

 Culling of pigs:

Culling is one of the important aspects of management. The unproductive and under productive animals in the farm should immediately be culled from the herd. Pigs suffering from such diseases which is incurable or takes longer time to cure should also be culled. Excess boars may be castrated or culled.

Following conditions may warrant for culling of pig:

1. Sows having vices, such as biting of piglets, carelessness for young piglets should be culled.
2. Piglets having defects like Artesia ani, Prolapsed, Hernia, and Blindness etc. should be culled.
3. Piglets having poor stunted growth should be culled.
4. Gilts having delayed sexual maturity, infertile, failure to conceive, longer farrowing interval, consistently smaller litter size at birth and at weaning should be culled.
5. Sows completing fourth farrowing should be culled by maintaining replacement.
6. Boars having maximum weight and unable to breed should be culled with proper replacement.

Health care management

Maintaining good health and farm hygiene not only aids in gaining a better body weight but also provides pig farmers with a satisfactory return and consumers with safe meat. Healthy living prevents disease: The farm owner’s first and foremost responsibility should be to maintain a clean and hygienic environment both in the pig pen and across the farm grounds. The region close to the farm home shouldn’t have any standing water. In order to prevent mosquito bites, the farm should also be given mosquito-proof netting that can be used at night. Daily floor cleaning should occur twice. Use a disinfectant in the morning, such as potassium permanganate. There is a provision for foot traffic at the farm house’s entrance.

Vaccination Schedule at Pig Farm

Disease-related losses have a significant impact on profits. Infectious and parasitic infestations are less likely to arise when proper hygiene procedures are followed. High mortality is caused by the highly contagious viral illnesses FMD and swine fever that affect pigs. By following the recommended schedule for vaccinations, infections can be avoided.

Castration:

All male piglets in the farm meant for fattening should be castrated. Castration should be done 10 days before or after the date of weaning to avoid extra stress at weaning. Castrated males grow faster and fat deposition is slightly higher than the uncastrated one. Castrated males are devoid of boar tan.

Piglet Identification

In some pork producing operations, it is important that piglets be permanently identified at birth. Options for permanent identification included ear notching or tattooing. Ear notching is the more common method.

 Incidence of agalactic (no milk) condition of Sow: Just after farrowing, few sows may show no milk in their teat. Agalactic condition in sow is due to either infectious cause (teats smeared with faeces may lead to this condition), hormonal or nutritional. Frequent removal of faeces from farrowing pen right from two weeks before farrowing till weaning stage can avoid smearing teats with faeces.

Flushing

After weaning, the sow should be flushed, or placed on a more nourishing diet, to help her gain weight between 0.5 and 0.7 kg per day. She should then mate during the following heat cycle. This can be done by providing an extra 0.5–0.7 kg of grains every day before to mating. To improve the ovulation rate in gilts and sows (ovulation rate is connected to the likelihood of having more piglets in the following farrowing), the energy content in the diet must be raised.

Breeding chart

Deworming schedule for pig

Pregnant sows should be dewormed about a week or ten days prior to expected date of farrowing. The same is to be given to piglets when they are a month old. Later the frequency can be decided by the Veterinarian on the basis of sty condition and prevalence of worm infestation in a given area.

Integrated farming

Pigs can be efficiently incorporated into a biogas plant to provide the farmers’ needs for cooking and lighting. The system’s total efficiency can be increased by integrating it with agricultural and fish culture. In dried form or as compost, pig manure is a good organic manure.

Overview of the Pig Farming Practices in India: Issues & National Action Plan on Pig Farming

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