Pigs in General

Pigs in General

1. Newborn Care

   • Preferred environmental temperature 80-90 F
     • Need heat in nursery!
   • Clip needle teeth, iron injections within 24 hours of birth
     • Oral iron supplements becoming more popular
   • Ear notch, tail dock
   • Castrate at least 1 week before weaning (best at 1 week of age)

2. Timeline

   • Weaning at ~3 weeks (approx. 10 lbs)
     • Moved into nursery until 8-12 weeks
       • Growers (porkers) approximately 40-90 lbs
         • Finishers approximately 90-220+ lbs
           • Market weight hogs weight about 260-290 lbs
             • Mature sow or boar weigh from 350-800 lbs
               • Preferred environmental temperature 60-75 F
               • Most sows culled by 4th-5th parity
               • Boars culled by 1.5-2 years
               • Cull 35% annually, mainly for reproductive failure

3. Reproduction

   • Gilts normally bred at 7-8 months
     • 2nd estrus
     • Around 300-350 lbs
   • Gestation 113-115 days
   • Return to estrus in about a week if using the 3 week weaning program
   • Expect 3-5% death loss for breeding stock

4. Production Parameters

   • Farrowing rate 88.6%
   • Livebirths/litter: 12.8
   • Litters farrowed/sow/year: 2.4
   • Pre-weaning losses: 12%
   • Days to market
     • Target: 165 days
     • Average: 200 days
   • Ideal ADG
     • First 2 months: .88-1 lb
     • 2-6 months: 1.62-1.81
     • Entire production length: 1.7 lbs/day

5. Blood Sampling

   • Anterior Vena Cava
   • Jugular vein
   • Ear vein
   • Tail (adults only)
   • Orbital sinus

6. Assess environment

   • Drafts, humidity, temperature, dust, gases
   • Heater function, flooring design
   • Dunging in sleeping/eating area; piling up in pen
   • Density?
     • 15-20 per pen in nursery
     • 30-40 per pen in finishing area

7. Production Systems

   • Conventional
     • Farrow to finish
   • Specialized (farrowing/weaner/grower/finisher)
     • Isowean three site production system
       • Site 1: Breeding/gestation/farrowing
       • Site 2: Nursery (pigs weaned at 17-21 days)
       • Site 3: Grower/finisher
   • Medicated early weaning (MEW)
     • Pigs weaned at 4-5 days
     • Medicated continuously until 10-20 days
     • Sows also medicated for the 5 days preceding delivery, until piglets are removed
     • Piglets kept in isolated nursery til they are 5-8 weeks
       • Prevents exposure to pathogens from older animals
       • After, transferred to separate grow-out facility
   • Specific Pathogen Free (SPF)
     • Herds created from Caesarian-derived piglets
     • Eliminates certain pathogens such as Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, swine dysentery, atrophic rhinitis