Key Technical Points and Rearing Management Methods for Piglet Cultivation
In order to enable sow farmers to fully master piglet cultivation techniques, increase the survival rate of newborn piglets and weaning litter weight, and truly obtain better benefits from sow rearing and piglet cultivation, careful guidance was provided to pig farming demonstration households: from sow feeding to newborn piglet care, from piglet feed attraction and supplementary feeding to castration and epidemic prevention, every technical step was taught one by one.
????I. Do a Good Job in Sow Feeding
Replacement gilts can be raised like fattening pigs, mated at eight months of age, and after the first litter, a decision is made whether to keep or cull them.
1. Feeding principles: ① High lactation, low gestation. During pregnancy, feed as with general fattening pigs; during lactation, feed particularly well. ② High-low-high feeding method. Feed well during the first month of pregnancy, near farrowing and after farrowing; during mid-pregnancy, feed as with fattening pigs. Pregnant sows in good body condition should have their feed reduced 5 days before and after farrowing, which can prevent lactating sows from developing postpartum anorexia.
2. Sow feed formulas
(1) Pregnant sows: corn 40%, broad beans (roasted) 4%, soybeans (roasted) 3%, rice bran 25%, rapeseed cake 7%, wheat bran 22%, bone meal 2%, salt 0.4%, Kunxing brand additive 0.2%.
(2) Lactating sow formula: corn 40%, wheat 17%, broad beans (roasted) 5%, rice bran or wheat bran 21%, rapeseed cake 15%, bone meal 2%, salt 0.5%, Kunxing brand additive 0.2%.
3. Feed a combination of concentrate, roughage, green feed and by-products (distiller's grains, residues). Keeping green feed available year-round not only saves concentrate but also increases conception rate and litter size. During pregnancy, green feed and by-products are predominant; during lactation, compound feed is predominant, with more green feed and an appropriate amount of by-products, fed 2-3 times a day.
????II. Do a Good Job in the Care of Newborn Piglets
Based on the expected farrowing date (114 days) and signs of impending farrowing, make preparations for assisting the birth.
1. Disinfect the pigpen, add chopped short clean dry straw, and have someone on duty. Before farrowing, wash and dry the sow's teats and vulva.
2. Umbilical cord cutting. After the piglet is born, wipe the mucus from the mouth and nose with a dry towel, then wipe the whole body dry. Ten minutes after birth, when the umbilical cord stops pulsating, the cord can be cut. Cut it at a point three finger-widths from the piglet's abdomen, and disinfect the cut surface with 5% iodine tincture.
3. Fixing the teats. The front three pairs of teats have the highest milk yield. To ensure even growth of the whole litter, artificially help fix the teats: forcibly fix the large, strong piglets on the rear teats, and let the small, weak ones go to the front three pairs of teats on their own. After 3 days, they will no longer change.
4. Preventing crushing: The risk of crushing piglets to death is greatest within three days after birth and must not be neglected. Methods to prevent crushing:
(1) Set piglet-protecting bricks along the side walls of the sow's bed;
(2) When the sow returns to the pig bed and lies down after eating and defecating, piglets are easily crushed to death. Therefore, someone should be on duty within three days;
(3) Bedding straw should be chopped short and not laid too thick. If it is too long and too thick, it can easily cover the piglets, trip them, or prevent the sow from seeing the piglets when lying down or prevent the piglets from running away, resulting in crushing to death.
(4) Prevent the sow from being startled and trampling piglets to death.
5. Keeping warm: In the piglet warming box or creep-feeding area, install a 150-200 watt infrared lamp, or adopt seasonal farrowing to avoid farrowing in winter (mainly by implementing planned mating).
6. Prevent the sow from biting and eating piglets. The prevention method is to provide sufficient drinking water before and after farrowing, and resolutely prevent the sow from eating afterbirth and dirty water. A sow that has eaten piglets once is difficult to cure of the bad habit and must be resolutely culled.
7. Prevent anemia and prevent white scour. Piglets should be injected with an iron-copper mixture 2-3 days after birth, or fed the iron-copper mixture once each on days 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.
Preparation method of iron-copper mixture: ferrous sulfate 2.5 grams, copper sulfate 1 gram, cold boiled water 1000 milliliters. Feed 1-2 milliliters per piglet each time.
?III. Do a Good Job in Early Feed Attraction for Piglets
Early feed attraction and supplementary feeding are the central links in piglet cultivation. Based on piglet habits such as liking to root in the ground and strong imitation, various feed attraction methods can be used.
Age to start feed attraction: 7-8 days after birth.
Feed attraction foods: soybeans, peas, corn, wheat, etc., roasted until fragrant, crushed, and sweetened, or use creep feed for suckling piglets with some sugar added.
Feed attraction methods: The prerequisite for feed attraction is a sanitary pen. Mix the above feed attraction materials with water until moist, scatter them on the ground, and let the sow root and eat them; the piglets will imitate. This should be done multiple times every day. If the sow's milk is too good and the piglets are difficult to train, mix the sweetened feed attraction material into a paste and forcibly stuff it into each piglet's mouth one by one with a finger. After several times, the piglets will go root and eat on their own. They must learn to eat by themselves within no more than 15 days.
????IV. Do a Good Job in Supplementary Feeding of Piglets
1. Feed: For piglet supplementary feed, creep feed for suckling piglets can be purchased, or farmers with the conditions can also prepare it themselves. Reference formula: corn 48%, broad beans (roasted yellow) 12%, soybeans (roasted) 8%, wheat bran 16%, rapeseed cake 4%, silkworm pupae (or fish meal) 10%, bone meal 1.5%, salt 0.3%, additive 0.3%, swine multivitamin 0.01%.
Daily feed amount per piglet: start at 0.1 kg, gradually increase, and by 50 days of age it can be increased to 0.5 kg.
2. Supplementary feeding methods: Compound feed can be fed as dry powder or mixed moist, but do not mix it thin. Green feed should be tender, chopped and mixed with feed, or it can be provided separately. Supplement feed 4-5 times daily.
3. Separate feeding of sow and piglets. Set up a creep-feeding area in the sanitary pen, leaving holes for piglets to enter and exit. Piglets can freely enter to eat, and the sow cannot get it. If there is no creep-feeding area, supplementary feeding can still be done, except that most of the nutritious creep feed will be eaten by the sow, which is uneconomical; if piglets eat sow feed, weight gain will be somewhat slower.
In addition, ensure clean drinking water is always available in the trough for piglets. If conditions permit, hydrochloric acid can be added to the drinking water of piglets from 3-20 days of age (water 1000 milliliters, hydrochloric acid 8-10 milliliters), which can supplement gastric acid and improve digestion and disease resistance.
????V. Do a Good Job in Piglet Castration, Epidemic Prevention Injection, Weaning and Deworming.
1. Castration: 35-40 days of age.
2. Epidemic prevention injection: paratyphoid vaccine: 45 days of age; swine fever vaccine: at weaning.
3. Weaning: 50-60 days of age, can be decided according to the piglets' cultivation situation. At weaning, it is best not to move the piglets out of the pen; the sow can be driven away and kept in another pen. The advantage is that no environmental impact is produced and the piglets do not lose body condition.
4. Deworming: 50-90 days of age. Deworming essence can be applied to the ears, 1 milliliter per 10 kg body weight; albendazole 50-100 milligrams per 10 kg body weight mixed into feed. Zhu Jianyun