Management requirements are less demanding; nevertheless they must be provided with ample protection against pests and diseases and fed in accordance with their requirements.
Deworm pigs one or two weeks after weaning.
Vaccinate pigs one or two weeks after weaning or one week after de-worming.
Sell or butcher pigs when they reach profitable market size of at least 80 kilogram. Slow-growing pigs despite good feeding and management should be disposed immediately. Keeping them longer is uneconomical.
It is important to know information on the prevailing market prices of pork. It is also important to know the exact weights of the live animals and sell the pigs on weight basis.
Prepare farrowing materials and equipment before farrowing dates.
Using a clean dry cloth wipe the mucous membrane and other birth material from the mouth and nose of new born pigs. Assist the piglet in breathing by swinging its head down or slapping it for a few seconds.
Tie string around umbilical cord two inches from the base and cut with a sharp pair of surgical scissors. Do not pull the cord away from the body while cutting so as not to cause hernia. Dip injured tip of cord into bottle of tincture of iodine.
Place piglets in piglet box underneath a heater. Whenever necessary, a 100-watt bulb is enough to provide the desired temperature. This can be changed to a 50-watt bulb after 14 days of brooding.
Cut the needle teeth. This is done by holding the pig firmly by one hand with three fingers supporting the jaw and the thumb pressing against the back of the neck. Insert the forefinger to one side of the mouth just behind the needle teeth reaching for the tip of the tongue. With a side- cutting nipper or ordinary nail cutter cut close to the gum level. Do not make a slanted cut or leave jagged edges for these are likely to cause injuries to the gums and tongue of the piglet and teats of the mother. Clean and disinfect nipper before working with another piglet.
Let the piglets suck the first milk (colostrums). Colostrum contains anti- bodies needed by the baby pigs to fight against diseases during the early life.
Iron reserves in the body of a newborn piglet is consumed in a week's time. Injection of commercial iron Dextran is necessary to prevent piglet or newborn anemia. Repeat administration 14 days after birth or as soon as symptoms are detected.
Wean piglets at four to six weeks of age. When weaning is done earlier than 56 days, a sow can farrow from four to five times in two years since sows usually come in heat from three to seven days after weaning. The proper procedure in weaning is to remove the sow, leaving the piglets in familiar surroundings.
It is also important that all other routinely management practices like deworming, castration, and ear notching or tattooing are carried out before weaning.
Regulate free feed intake of gilts or sows immediately after breeding to prevent them from becoming too fat. Obesity of pregnant sows may result to a fewer number of pigs farrowed. Also, they may suffer from farrowing complications.
Keep the pregnant sow in an environment ideal for better conception. Sprinkle water on the sows when the weather is too hot or whenever necessary.
To avoid constipation, provide a healthy but a laxative ration. Provide plenty of water and newly harvested green feeds such as camote vines, kangkong, paragrass and water lily.
Deworm sows and gilts against internal parasites and treat external parasites 14 days before expected date of farrowing.
In commercial operations, the sow should be transferred to the farrowing house one week before farrowing to provide her time to adjust to new environment.
On the average, a sow will farrow in 114 days after a successful mating.The usual range is 109-119 days. Watch out for the following signs: the abdomen swells; the sow becomes restless and nervous; the vulva is swollen with possible mucus discharge;and milk is present in the teats if pressed
Attend to the sow during birth because this is the most crucial time in the life of the newborn piglets.
Full-feed the sow or gilt with a high-energy ration for about two weeks before mating to ensure maximum ovulation rate.
Observe proper time of mating to ensure maximum litter size. A sow is in heat if she exhibits one or more of the following symptoms: swelling and reddening of the vulva; mucous discharge from the vulva; restlessness and grunts frequently; mounting other pigs; frequent urination and cocks her ears frequently.
Mate each gilt or sow twice to the same boar in one heat period with an interval of 12 to 25 hours.
A boar-to-sow ration of 1:25 - 30 is generally recommended.
Generally, boars should be four to six months old at the time of selection- Whatever systems of operation, hog houses must be constructed properly to ensure maximum performance of the pigs. A good hog house may not improve the health conditions of the animals but a poor one will certainly increase disease problem easily.
For a small or backyard operations, cheap and locally available materials may be used such as bamboo and nipa.
Hog houses should be constructed on a slightly sloping and well-drained area so that it will not become too muddy and convenient to work in.
Permanent hog houses should have concrete floors for easy cleaning and to minimize the occurrence of parasites and diseases. Concrete floors must not be too rough to cause foot and leg problems nor too smooth to be slippery when wet.
Provide the pig house with the proper equipment such as feeders and drinking troughs are best made of concrete although other materials may be used. Some people use discarded automobile or truck tires cut in halves.
Slide 1
Age and Size of Animals
Pen Size/
Dimension (cm)
Height of
Ceiling (cm)
Height of Door (m)
Feeder Space (cm)
Partition Wall (m)
Before Farrowing
Gilts
2.00
3.0
1.0
35-45
1.20
Sows
2.70
3.0
1.0
45-50
1.20-1.50
After Farrowing
Young Sows
Solid Flooring
4.12
3.0
1.0
35-45
1.20
Slated Flooring
3.00
3.0
1.0
45-50
1.20
Mature Sows
Solid Flooring
5.62
3.0
1.0
45-50
1.20
Slatted Flooring
3.96
3.0
1.0
45-50
1.20
Herd Sows
2.70
3.0
1.0
40-50
1.20-1.50
Boar Pens with Matting
6.00
3.0
1.0
40-50
1.20-1.50
Area
Weaning Pen
Solid Flooring
0.40
3.0
0.6
20
0.75
Slatted Flooring
0.20-0.30
3.0
0.6
20
0.75
Growing-Finishing
23-60 kg
0.60-0.70
3.0
1.0
25
1.0
60-90 kg
0.90-1.00
3.0
1.0
27-30
1.0
In bigger operations, farrowing stalls are important to reduce piglet mortality due to crushing of piglets.
Heat lamp or electric brooders are needed for survival of newborn pigs. In places where the use of heat lamps is not possible, a box lined with old sacks or thickly bedded straw,rice hull or saw dust can keep the pigs warm and comfortable.
When selecting breeder sows on the basis of physical appearance, consider the following:
The gilt should have well-developed udder with a minimum of six pairs of properly spaced function teats. A sow with poor udder development is likely to have poor milking capacity.
Choose those which do not have inverted teats for such teats are inherited and do not secrete milk.
A long body is more desirable in sows because it provides more space for udder development.
The body should have uniform width from front to rear.
Good development of the ham, loin and shoulder is required of a breeding animal.
Must have sound and well-placed feet and legs. Animals with medium short feet and short upright pasterns are preferable.
Make it a point to select the biggest animals within a litter.
Female breeders should come from a litter of eight or more good-sized piglets with high survivability.
Do not keep gilts that come from sows in which agalactia (failure to secrete milk) have been observed.
Select vigorous and hardy pigs from a healthy litter in a herd raised under good swine sanitation.
Do not keep gilts or boars from lifters that have physical abnormalities. These may be inherited.
Most of the factors in the selection of gilt or sow also apply in the selection of a boar. However, the following pointers should also be considered:
Masculinity, both in appearance and action, should predominate in the make-up of any boar.
The primary sex organs should be clearly visible and be well-developed. Select only those boars whose testicles are of equal size.
Select a boar which has been proven and tested for boars with traits that can overcome the defects of the herd. Minor defects in the boar may be ignored provided that they are not present among the sows.
This guide to swine raising except for the pictures is also distributed and reproduced by the Department of Agriculture - Livestock Division, Farmers Information Technology Services Section at Father Selga Street, Davao City There are many imported breeds in the country today and it’s sometimes difficult to determine the best breed most suited to our conditions. Here is a guide to help you select the breed to raise depending on your purpose, money and experience. YORKSHIRE OR LARGEWHITE
Yorkshires are entirely white with medium, erect ears. Sows have superior mothering ability, farrow and wean large lifters and are excellent milkers. They adapt well to confinement but not to rugged conditions. Slaughter animals yield a high dressing percentage, produce fine quality meat and compare favorably with other breeds in growth and economy of gains.
LANDRACE
Landrace are white, have short legs and medium to large drooping ears. The sows are noted for their excellence in mothering ability and litter size. They are heavy milkers and produce pigs with superior rate of growth and efficiency in feed utilization. When crossed with other breeds, they produce pigs of highly acceptable carcass quality. They are however, weak on the feet and legs and have problems adapting to rugged conditions. Such defects should be corrected by proper selection and breeding.
DUROC The Duroc color is of varying shades of red. The sows are prolific and are good mothers. They produce pigs that are superior in growth rate, feed conversion, and their performance under rugged conditions is better than any of the white breeds-
HAMPSHIRE Hampshire are black with a white belt around the shoulder and body. They are generally short legged and lack body thickness. The sows have a reputation of weaning a high percentage of the pigs farrowed and are able to adapt to very rugged conditions. The growth rate, however has generally been average or below.
BERKSHIRE Berkshires are black with six white points - four white feet, some white in face and tail. The ears are erect and inclined forward as the animal grows older. They are known for their style, meatiness and good adaptability to rugged conditions. They have desirable length, depth and balance of body but lack good growth and efficiency in converting feed to weigh gain. The sows are not as prolific as the other breeds.
PlETRAIN
The Pietrain is a very meaty type of pig with spotted black and white color. It has well-shaped hams, loin and shoulders. Ears are erect. The carcass has a high lean meat percentage, but it has a poor body constitution. Feed efficiency is not really good and they are a little bit slow grower. This breed is also highly susceptible to stress. Thus, Pietrain is only worthwhile in crosses but not as purebreds.
PHILIPPINE NATIVE PIG The Philippine Native pig is either black or black with a white belly. Varieties include Ilocos and Jalajala. The Berkjala, Diani, Kaman, Koronadel and Libtong breeds were all developed from this breed. It is now thought to be extinct.The breed is very prolific; in average the gilts could exhibit signs of sexual maturity as young as 4 to 5 months. They have a low feed conversion ratio. Growing swine reach 60 kilos during the 6 to 8 months fattening period. This breed is popular throughout the Philippines for Lechon (broiled whole pig).
I found this interesting article from ATTRA’s Organic Matters publication series. ATTRA is a project of the National Center for Appropriate Center for Technology in the US. Here's the link and an excerpt from the article.
"When it comes to organic livestock, hog production appears to be relatively unexplored territory. With few good guidelines or precedents to follow, it is useful to consider the animals’ natural behaviors so that the appropriateness of different housing options, herd management schemes, and so forth, can be assessed."
