Piggie escaped out the back of my property and gorged herself on the corn that my neighbor put out for deer. A policeman happened to drive by as I was coercing them back onto the property, but he was nice enough to get out and help, rather than write me a ticket. They also turn over anything with water in it in order to make a mud bath, making it difficult to provide them with a fresh, clean supply for drinking.
There were more mornings than I care to remember when the sound of oinking outside my bedroom window meant the pigs had once again torn through my latest efforts to reinforce the fence and were tearing up the yard.
Years later I still have nightmares about it. I could see making a modest living at it had I taken out a second mortgage on my home to scale up the business, but I had other interests that I wanted to pursue. I had pork roasts, ribs, and sausage coming out my ears, but the nearest USDA-licensed facility I could find that actually made bacon was more than a two-hour drive from my farm. The price they charged to cure such small quantities of pork was almost as much as buying bacon at the store.
Plus, I learned that my pigs hardly had enough of a belly to make bacon, despite how much I fed them — bacon is made exclusively from pork belly, which only develops on such young pigs if you stuff them with corn-based feed.
Brian Barth is a contributing editor at Modern Farmer. He used to raise goats, chickens, pigs, and other critters on his farm in Georgia. But now he just writes about farming. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Raising pigs is easier than what you described. Your priorities and preparation were completely off. You, essentially, think that a domesticated animal will remain domesticated after you return them to their natural wild habitat.
I grew up raising pigs on a small farm. After ten years of submarines and retiring from the Navy, I chose to live at the end of a dirt road, on top of a hill. I would do something I had never done before and build a house from the wood on my 40 acres and live where I could see no one and no one could see me.
Had to cut in a road, harvest logs, turn them into lumber and build a post and beam house. In the process logs would be piled up next to the town road then sawed and moved to my building site. I have been raising Nubian goats for all of my dairy and cheese needs for about 6 years now knew nothing about farming before hand just jumped into it. I just dropped my 3rd attempt at raising a feeder pig off at freezer camp and I feel like I finally figured out what the heck I am doing.
At first I had these ideals about raising Guinea Hogs because they seemed perfect for me, but I came the realization that I could never slaughter those pigs myself and with such a low weight it would be a real expenditure to … Read more ». I read your story. I come from a farming background and we did raise hundreds of pigs. I have enough feed for 3 more weeks. Each has their own name and respond Each can come inside the house and hang out….
We set up an electric fence, which is hands down the best type of fencing for pigs. She, like yours, had them in the wild and all was well. We had a predator problem with our chickens and got nervous so moved her and the piglets to the … Read more ». Lots of experiences on here! I too had 5 acres and wanted pigs to overcome a fear I had of pigs when I was a child. My goal was to raise pigs n sell them locally. So I went looking for what I call breeder pets and would keep them n sell all the piglets, so I found a sow and a boar.
And I found them. IT was a long time ago but I think I found … Read more ». I have a mini house pig. Love her to pieces but will not eat her. They are strong, she moves my furniture around to find food under it. I will walk in the living room and the furniture will be all over the place. Hand mating refers to a process that can be described as supervised natural mating. Similar to pen mating, a boar is utilized to deliver semen to the sow through natural cover.
However, when using hand mating, one boar is penned with one sow, and the animal caretaker monitors the event, being sure to comingle the boar and sow repeatedly over days and carefully recording each mating event. Finally, artificial insemination AI is the most commonly used technique by pig producers. Utilization of AI requires that semen be collected from the boar by a human handler.
The semen is then processed and packaged, then shipped for use on sow farms. Boars that reside on sow farms are then used predominantly for heat detection, and secondarily if at all used for breeding. The primary benefit of AI is the ability to obtain choice genetics for low costs and to readily add genetic variation to your herd.
Unlike a cattle herd, however, use of AI does not remove the need to have a boar on farm. Uniquely, reproductive performance of gilts and sows still benefits tremendously from having a boar on farm. Allowing interaction between a boar and sow for estrus detection is still considered a best management practice among pig producers. Temperature, ventilation, aggression, body condition, and nutrition management are all very important aspects to proper care of the reproductive herd. Aggression management is of particular importance when housing sows in groups.
While being social animals, pigs are traditionally aggressive towards each other when first placed in group housing or with new animals. Fighting is very common within the first 2 weeks of mixing placing pigs in a pen together , and injuries can be severe. Gilts and young sows tend to be less aggressive than mature sows, many producers house them separately to minimize fighting in this susceptible group and improve longevity in the herd.
Temperature, ventilation, body condition, and nutrition management of reproductive stock should also be closely considered, individually and as they interact with each other.
As temperature changes across seasons, so will the need to adjust ventilation and nutrition. Body condition scoring is used to make these estimations, however it is only a tool and needs to be considered in respect to current diet, temperature, and ventilation status of the barn at any time.
There are many contributing factors into longevity, including genetics, the impact of development, body condition score, nutrition, and health. Generally speaking, longevity is prioritized as a target for herd improvement through genetic selection and animal development to breeding.
Genetic selection for longevity focuses on reducing culling rates due to structural induced lameness and reproductive failure. Heritability for longevity, however, is fairly low, with studies reporting Landrace longevity heritability to be 0.
Gilt and boar development is also highly impactful on longevity of those animals through their productive time in the herd. However, little research is available on specific recommendations for gilt development, outside of prioritizing calcium and phosphorus in the diet for bone development.
Some studies have reported gilts fed a higher energy diet during rearing may promote excessive weight gain and increased culling due to lameness, however, gilts with higher backfat tend to reach puberty earlier as well, further improving reproductive performance.
Ultimately, while more research is conducted, good record-keeping on reasons for culling sows will move your sow herd performance closer to your reproductive goals. Some of the records for culling are largely based on acknowledging why the pig was culled. Culling decisions can be classified in this manner:. This overview is just a taste of herd reproductive management for pig producers.
Based on the goals of your program, this information should help guide you to begin planning your reproductive herd management program. For more information or assistance in building your program, see these Extension resources below, or reach out to Penn State Extension educators and specialists for assistance.
Let's Stay Connected. By entering your email, you consent to receive communications from Penn State Extension. View our privacy policy. Thank you for your submission! Home Swine Reproductive Herd Management. Swine Reproductive Herd Management. This article gives an overview of the basics of reproductive herd management in pigs. Litter of pigs, S. Kelly Penn State. Measuring Reproductive Performance The reproductive herd is for the multiplication of maternal and paternal lines that are prized for economically valuable reproductive traits, or, traits that generate desirable offspring reliably.
Commonly, these records are collected to measure productivity in the reproductive herd can be defined as follows: Litter size: The number of pigs per litter. As the number of pigs born per litter increase, generally there is an increase in the number of pigs born alive and the number of pigs weaned.
This number is currently scrutinized as a primary economical focus, as in recent years there has been evidence of reduced birth weights due to increased litter sizes, which is associated with increased mortality rates and decreased growth rates in offspring.
However, in the same period of time, offspring have been selected and now grow at the fastest rate in history, mortality rates have generally remained the same. Litter size remains a top priority for most pig producers. Total born, born alive : total born is the total number of pigs a sow has, including born alive, stillborn, and mummies. The number born alive is all piglets born alive, excluding number of pigs born still stillborn , fully developed but not alive at birth and mummies partially decomposed due to death early in gestation and before full development.
To avoid that natural reluctance in pigs forced to leave a familiar environment, attach a temporary 5 m of stout plywood to the pens near the door. He is a distraction and can even be considered by the pigs as a threat. To comment, login here Or register to be able to comment. Stay up-to-date Expert opinion Jul 16, 1 comment Tips and tricks for moving pigs around.
John Gadd Topic: Pig Management. He has some practical tips as to what to do — and what not. Moving pigs inside a barn can be a frustrating business in case the animals are recalcitrant.
Photo: Bert Jansen. Related tags: Pig Housing systems Sow Research. One comment. Kim Geurts. Good article! It is also important to have proper lighting in the alleyways.
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