Keeping pigs at home
Keeping pigs at home is profitable, albeit somewhat troublesome. But, as they say, you can't easily pull a fish out of the pond, and even less so you can't raise a healthy, well-fed pig. There is no need to talk about the taste of pork for a long time. This product is delicious in any form: boiled, fried, smoked, salted. Pork is good for home canning and freezing. In addition, pig meat is characterized by a high content of complete protein, iron, amino acids, B vitamins.
Maintenance and care of pigs
Features of the content
The benefits of raising pigs at home hardly need further comment.
Compared to other meat breeds of domestic animals, pigs are highly fertile and gain weight relatively quickly.
So, under the condition of good maintenance from a healthy sow in only 1 farrowing, it is quite possible to get up to 1.5 dozen piglets. And if we take into account the fact that with proper care and timely weaning of piglets from a mother, a sow can piglet twice a year, then after simple arithmetic calculations, we can say that in 12 months a responsible pig breeder will probably receive up to 3 dozen piglets.
To obtain the optimal result from pig feeding, you need to decide on its breed. They choose it, depending on the desired result, the climatic conditions of the location of the farm and the personal preferences of the pig breeder. So, for example, Hungarian Mangalitsa is suitable for those who prefer meat with large layers of bacon, but the meat of Korean and Vietnamese pigs is leaner. So that novice pig breeders do not get into a mess and make a purchase profitably and wisely, it is better to contact specialized breeding farms or farmers with a good reputation.
Newly acquired babies are transported in bags or baskets for a short distance and in special cages for a long distance. Upon arrival of a new pet at the farm, he needs to be allocated a separate room in which the pig will have to stay for several weeks. These precautions help to identify possible diseases of the baby in time and prevent infection of other inhabitants of the farm.
To raise a healthy fattened pig, it is necessary to comply with some of the mandatory conditions for its keeping:
- specially equipped room;
- provision of conditions for walking;
- proper care;
- balanced diet;
- prevention and treatment of diseases.
Room for content
Now let's look at how to properly keep pigs in subsidiary households. Before bringing the piglets to his farm, the owner has to go through the construction of a pigsty or re-equipment of existing sheds, which is quite troublesome for novice pig breeders.
According to sanitary standards, the pigsty should be spacious enough, warm and dry.
Particular attention must be paid to ventilation.To ensure normal ventilation, it is enough to use a conventional household exhaust system and not forget about ventilation, for which windows are needed in the room.
The optimum air temperature in the pigsty should be at around 20 ° C. To ensure a favorable temperature regime in winter, it is necessary to insulate the roof, floor and walls. Electric heaters can also be used in winter. For additional heating of small pigs, it is recommended to use infrared lamps.
It is better to make the floor in the pigsty concrete, followed by insulation with straw, sawdust or hay. Under no circumstances should animals slip on the flooring and high humidity of the floor. To facilitate cleaning in the pigsty, the floor is made with a slight slope towards the back wall. There should also be grooves for the drainage of urine and manure. In the front sector of the pigsty, it is advisable to make containers for feed and water.
In order to provide the pig with normal maintenance and care, it is necessary to equip pens in the pigsty in which the pigs will be located. For sows and boars, veterinarians recommend providing individual pens. In the photo and video of large pigsties, it is noticeable that up to 25 young animals can be accommodated in one pen. In general, the area norm in the machine for an individual weighing up to 100 kg is slightly more than 1 sq. m.
Walking features
To maintain health and ensure normal weight gain, pigs need exercise in the fresh air - walking.
Depending on the climatic characteristics of the region and the personal preferences of the pig breeder, there are several main ways of keeping pigs. In regions with a mild climate, the free-range method of raising animals prevails. For this, the machines are equipped in such a way that the livestock can freely get out to the walking area. The site itself is divided into several sections, each of which is connected by a passage to a certain machine.
In regions with a harsher climate, the pigs are kept for free-range. Its technology lies in the fact that the main time of the day "pigs" are in the machines, in which there are special manholes with small doors. These manholes lead to a walking area, where the livestock are released in the summer or with the onset of favorable weather for walking.
After the walk, the pigs are herded back into the pen. On large pig farms with modern technologies of multi-tiered or tiered-cage keeping of animals, the free-range method of keeping animals prevails.
In order to carry out repairs, disinfection and other hygiene procedures in the pigsty, its inhabitants are often temporarily transferred to the so-called summer camps. They are pens with shelter from the sun and rain. In the corrals, special areas with a hard surface are equipped, on which drinkers and feeders are placed. In the photo and video of such camps, it can be seen that the walking areas are areas covered with young grass, where animals are free grazing. Such maintenance is called camp-pasture and is carried out mainly in the summer, but in no case in the cold season.
Free or street content has its advantages:
- The pig independently chooses food for itself, which is rich in vitamins and other useful substances. During the period of grazing on the street, the need for special feed additives disappears by itself.
- Movement has a positive effect on the skeleton of the pig and its muscles, and also prevents excessive accumulation of fat mass.
- Free grazing has a beneficial effect on the fertility of sows and the development of young sows.
Care
Let's consider some of the features of caring for pigs and piglets in a household. First of all, it should be noted that pigs are characterized by a fairly rapid weight gain.With an initial weight of a newborn piglet from 1 to 1.5 kg, already in the first 7 days of its life, it becomes almost 2 times heavier, and with correct and timely weaning from a sow, which is carried out at the end of the 2nd month of life of babies, soon the weight of weaners increases 20 times. If you properly care for the pig, then in 12 months you can grow an animal whose weight will exceed the original by almost 140 times, and this is, no less than 140 kg.
To obtain such results, proper care of the pigs and the housing in which they are located is extremely important. According to sanitary standards, the air humidity in the pigsty should be no more than 85%, and its optimal indicator is at the level of 70%. Drafts, low temperatures and high humidity are categorically contraindicated for both piglets of the first months of life and for adults. The minimum temperature in the room where the piglets grow up should not fall below 22 ° C. For adults, this figure is 16 ° C.
When raising pigs at home, special attention should be paid to the cleanliness of the premises where they are kept.
Pigsty cleanings should be regular and thorough. Once a month, it is necessary to carry out a general cleaning, followed by disinfection and disinsection of the premises. After each feeding, it is necessary to clean the feeders well, and once every 7 days, rinse them using lye. Drinking bowls also must not be forgotten: the water in them must be changed regularly.
Feeding
In addition to proper management and good care of pigs, it is extremely important to adhere to the basic rules of animal feeding. The undoubted advantage of breeding pigs at home is the optimal use of the resulting feed, which the pig absorbs more than a third. Compared to sheep and cows, a pig spends 30% less feed per kilogram of growth, which is quite significant, especially for novice pig breeders. The slaughter yield of the animal reaches 85%, and this is a fairly high figure.
In order for pigs to grow quickly and develop well, they need a regular balanced diet.
Until small piglets reach 3 months of age, they are fed 5 times a day. For young animals who are already 3 months old, it is enough to receive food 4 times a day. Adults and suckling sows eat three times a day.
Since pigs are herbivores, their diet is based on plant products. The calculation of the daily feeding rate of a pig depends on its age, breed and how much it weighs. In order for the pigs to quickly gain weight, their meat is tasty, and the fat is dense and grainy, the following food groups should be included in the diet:
- Cereals. It can be peas, millet, barley.
- Juicy vegetables and root vegetables such as pumpkin, sugar beets, potatoes, carrots.
- Greens. You can use nettle, clover, alfalfa.
- Roughage. These include hay dust from leguminous herbs.
- Waste meat and dairy products.
There are several ways to feed pigs. The diet of dry-fed pigs consists of specialized dry foods. They contain all vitamins and minerals necessary for the growth of a pig. The advantage of this feeding method is its simplicity and quick weight gain by the livestock. In addition, dry feed significantly saves the pig breeder's time, has a long shelf life and contributes to the normal digestion of the pig.
Liquid feeding is used in many private households. The diet of a pig with such feeding consists of self-prepared feed mixtures with the addition of yogurt and liquid food waste. Wet feeding involves the use of dishes prepared by mixing boiled potatoes, herbs, vegetables, cake and food waste.Those pig breeders who grow green feed and vegetables on their backyards prefer wet and liquid feeding of pigs.
Diseases
Pigs, like all animals, are susceptible to various diseases. To avoid them, and if this is not possible, then at least to identify them at an early stage, it is important for pig breeders not to forget about hygiene measures in the pigsties and regular inspections of the livestock. Let's consider the most common diseases of pigs:
- Digestive upset is most common in young piglets.
- Another disease that pigs are prone to is erysipelas. Rodents or other pigs can carry the disease. Symptoms include fever, decreased appetite, thirst, constipation, or diarrhea.
- Leptospirosis is characterized by an increase in body temperature, a disorder of the nervous system, a decrease in appetite, and the presence of blood and pus in the urine. This disease is also dangerous for humans.
- Swine fever affects the circulatory system, lungs, and intestines. This is a very dangerous and almost incurable disease with a fatal outcome.