Summary of Pig Farming Experience: Sharing Practical Breeding Methods and Techniques
Summary of Pig Farming Experience
My pig farming manual will be available to everyone around New Year's Day. For now, I am collecting some practical materials to share with everyone.
Chapter Six Appendix and Tables
Section Nine Summary of Farming Experience from the Livestock Breeders Forum
(Thanks to friends on the forum! All experience is for reference only! Everything should be based on your own actual situation.)
I. About Tail Biting The author has raised more than 30 sows and has been farming pigs for over ten years. Below are a few small methods I have summarized during my farming process. I am now sharing them with everyone, hoping they can be helpful to pig friends troubled by this issue. Everyone knows that even if pigs have their tails docked, tail biting still occurs from time to time. My method: an appropriate amount of asphalt kept ready, an appropriate amount of diesel kept ready, and an appropriate amount of crushed Tianying chili pepper powder kept ready. Put the asphalt in a container and heat it over fire until melted, add diesel and Tianying chili pepper powder and mix evenly. Before the asphalt solidifies, dip the mixture onto the tail of the bitten pig. This way, the peculiar smell of diesel plus the spiciness of the Tianying chili pepper will make tail-biting pigs sigh at the tail and give up.
II. About Merging Sows into the Same Pen 1 This method is suitable for pig friends who urgently need the pen First use fine iron wire and No. 8 galvanized wire to make a pig-muzzle-shaped harness and keep it ready. Drive the two sows to be merged into one pen. After the stronger and weaker ones are distinguished (this is key), put the pre-prepared harness on the mouth of the stronger one and secure it. This way it cannot bite the other pig, and it will keep shaking its head and rubbing against the ground, with no time to fight. 2 This method is suitable for pig friends who do not urgently need the pen Separate the middle of a large pen with an iron fence (this is key). Drive the two sows to be merged into the two small pens on either side of the iron fence. Let them become familiar with each other inside for 4-5 days, then merge them together. They will be like old acquaintances, neither biting nor quarreling. I have such a "unity and friendship pen." III. Clever Cleaning of the Pig Pen Floor After Finishing Pigs Are Sent to Market After finishing pigs are sent to market, the thick layer of manure crust on the floor of the empty pen is the most headache-inducing thing (pig friends who flush the pen with water every day and those with fully slatted floors in finishing barns may not have this trouble). Sometimes just one pen can make you grimace and sweat all over. My approach is: 1-2 days before the finishing pigs are sent to market, splash water on the floor of the pig house, then put in some balls, empty drink bottles, and other playthings. Using the pigs' desire to explore, let them compete for the toys, plus trampling, rooting, and the soaking of water (if the manure crust is too thick, splash water several more times), the manure crust on the floor will quickly be loosened, and then it can be shoveled away with a flat shovel. This saves time and effort. You may want to try it.
IV. A Little Experience on Treating Sudden Neurological Symptoms in Piglets After Weaning
Weaned piglets sometimes suddenly show symptoms such as limb paralysis and convulsions. For pigs with such neurological symptoms, it is not easy to determine on site whether it is pseudorabies, streptococcosis, edema disease, listeriosis, or other diseases that can cause neurological symptoms. One can only use drugs for treatment based on experience. The common treatment method is symptomatic treatment: sulfadiazine sodium, diclofenac sodium, amikacin, pefloxacin mesylate, etc. The treatment effect is ordinary and the mortality rate is very high. In practice, for pigs whose neurological symptoms are not easy to distinguish by cause, I use antibiotics for anti-inflammatory treatment. The formula is: ceftriaxone sodium 10 mg/kg body weight + astragalus polysaccharide 0.2 mL/kg body weight + dexamethasone 5 mg (human-use 1 mL 5 mg), inject once. Generally, within 6-12 hours there is improvement or recovery to the same condition as a healthy pig, then the next day inject the above drugs once more for maintenance. Before finding some more effective methods, you may want to try this treatment method.
V. Sows Farrowing During the Day
Many sows give birth at night, which brings a lot of inconvenience to management. Cloprostenol sodium can achieve the goal of synchronized farrowing, but when to inject and where to inject are very key issues. The instructions for cloprostenol sodium say to use intramuscular injection, but do not explain the injection time. However, practice has shown that the effect is indeed not very ideal. According to my own practice, the injection time should be controlled at 6 p.m., and the best injection site is subcutaneous injection on the inner vulva of the sow. 98% can farrow the next day! Calculate the time yourself; generally farrowing occurs twenty hours after injection. Injection site: beside the sow's vulva, dosage one mL (this site can reduce the dosage), and it takes effect quickly.
VI. Causes Affecting Semen Quality.
From those engaged in artificial insemination, I learned: after a boar has a febrile disease, it is generally best not to breed within one month, because within one month after the boar has a fever, sperm motility is less than 30%. This has a certain relationship with semen maturation. About 8 weeks or so.
VII. Piglets Begin to Have Diarrhea Three Days After Birth
Piglets begin to have diarrhea three days after birth. Yellow watery stool. Within one week, the whole litter of piglets dies one after another. Using anti-diarrheal drugs such as piglet Guonailing, lomefloxacin, colistin sulfate, framycetin, and Chuansaining was ineffective. I heard a friend say: 20-30 days before farrowing, inject the sow with 50 doses of swine fever vaccine for immunization, and it is effective. With the attitude of giving it a try, I used 50 doses/head of swine fever vaccine for sows 20 days before farrowing, diluted with 1 vial of 10 mL levamisole. As a result, the piglets indeed no longer had diarrhea, and the mortality rate was also very low. From an immunological perspective, I do not know the principle behind this. I offer this experience to everyone. I hope to receive guidance from peers, and at the same time hope to give friends a little inspiration and help. Thank you, peers, for participating in the discussion.
VIII. Injecting Finishing Pigs
We once required that pigs below the nursery stage be picked up when injected, and that replacement pigs be restrained when injected, but for finishing pigs in the intermediate stage, how can injections both ensure the injection effect and save time? It is unrealistic to restrain finishing pigs like replacement pigs, because the number is too large and it would cost too much labor; while if injections are given hastily, some pigs will often fail to be injected or the effect will be unsatisfactory, so finding an operable method is very necessary. In production, we handle it this way: in a small pen, several keepers use an iron railing to squeeze the pigs into a corner or against the side. Because pigs are not easy to move when squeezed together, especially when their heads all have to be raised, it is very easy to restrain the site and inject; larger nursery pigs can also be handled this way.
IX. Supplemental Feeding for Suckling Piglets
Books always emphasize the benefits of supplemental feeding during the suckling period, but it often happens that piglets still do not know how to eat feed after weaning, causing post-weaning diarrhea and serious weight loss. This is because supplemental feeding during the suckling piglet stage was not done properly. In production, we have summarized the following supplemental feeding methods for reference: 1. Cobblestone method: Put a few clean cobblestones in the piglets' creep feeder. Because piglets have exploratory behavior and are interested in foreign objects, they will go root at the cobblestones and unknowingly eat feed; on farms where cobblestones are not easy to find, clean penicillin bottles can also be used as substitutes, and they also have a certain effect. 2. Hanging bottle method: Hang a plastic bottle of a special color above the creep feeder. When piglets root at the bottle, they will smell the feed and develop a desire to eat. 3. Smearing method: Smearing feed into piglets' mouths is the most effective existing method; the simplest way to smear feed is, when piglets are sleeping, the keeper gently walks over, uses one hand to open the piglet's mouth, and uses a finger of the other hand to dip paste-like feed and smear it into the piglet's mouth; when smearing, it is not necessary to smear all pigs, two to three in a litter is enough, and do not wake the piglets while smearing; this operation does not take much effort and is easy for keepers to accept.
X. Catching Piglets Under the Farrowing Crate
In pig production, operational techniques also have a great impact on production. Although there is not much high technical content, mastering them can greatly reduce workload and allow limited time to be used in more important places; starting today, I will successively introduce some techniques I have mastered in production to pig farming friends. I. Catching Piglets Under the Farrowing Crate This is a problem every farrowing house worker encounters. Piglets fall from the farrowing crate to the ground, and keepers chase around the crate trying to catch the piglets, often sweating all over without catching them; or they simply do not catch them and wait until the piglets fall asleep on the ground. Neither of the above two situations is advisable. The first method costs too much labor, and the second harms the piglets, because the piglets cannot nurse for a long time and at the same time contact dirty objects under the farrowing crate, making infection very easy. Our method is: catch one piglet from the same litter as the piglet on the ground and place it on the ground. Hold the piglet's hind leg with the left hand, and squat on the side of that piglet's farrowing crate. The escaped piglet, hearing the calls of the same-litter piglet and seeing the same-litter piglet, will actively move toward the other piglet. When the piglet runs to a suitable distance, the keeper suddenly reaches out the right hand and catches it; in this way, the escaped piglet can be "brought to justice" in a very short time.
XI. Blood Collection from Piglets
Antibody monitoring is an important part of disease diagnosis, and antibody monitoring requires collecting pig blood for testing; blood collection is relatively easy for heavier sows because their blood vessels are thicker and can be easily found, but the blood vessels of small piglets in the farrowing house or nursery are very thin and extremely difficult to find, and even if found, blood collection is very slow, which troubles many technicians. Here I introduce the anterior vena cava blood collection method, which can solve this problem. The method is as follows: Fix the pig facing upward, with the whole body in a straight line, and raise the forelimbs. This way, two obvious small fossae will appear on the chest. Insert the needle from these two fossae diagonally toward the top of the opposite shoulder joint, directly seeking the anterior vena cava sinus. If skilled, enough blood can be collected in a few seconds. Blood can also be collected while standing or suspended upside down; refer to the figure below: Note: Use a suitable needle when collecting blood. For pigs within ten kg, a 38 mm long fine needle is enough. For pigs over one hundred jin, the needle should preferably be longer; using a dedicated blood collection needle is easier.
XII. Manure Cleaning
Cleaning manure in nursery pens in winter Many people schedule manure cleaning after going to work and adding feed. This work is fine in summer and autumn when the temperature difference inside and outside the house is small, but it is not suitable in cold winter when the temperature difference inside and outside the house is large, because manure cleaning releases many harmful gases, and with a large temperature difference inside and outside, opening windows for ventilation often creates drafty wind and causes respiratory diseases in pigs; not ventilating will lead to too many harmful gases inside the house, and together with harmful gases accumulating overnight inside the house, oxygen will be seriously insufficient, which will also damage the pigs' respiratory tract. Therefore, we believe that in winter, manure cleaning in nursery pens should be scheduled for the period near noon when the temperature difference inside and outside the house becomes smaller, and windows should be opened for ventilation first, then manure cleaning should begin. This is also because ventilation requires a process of opening windows from small to large; if the weather is suitable, flushing under the slatted floor with water in the afternoon and then ventilating to dry can ensure that pigs breathe fresh air all night, which is very beneficial for preventing respiratory diseases. Cleaning manure for sows in gestation stalls Manure cleaning for sows in gestation stalls is relatively easy, and in summer when water flushing is possible, it is even easier to operate; but in winter when water flushing is not possible, attention must be paid to the manure cleaning method, otherwise pigs will have black bottoms. Manure cleaning method: each time while feeding, turn off the water. Immediately after adding feed, clean manure. First scrape the manure outside the gestation stall. After most of the manure has been cleaned, open the valve and let water run. This has the effect of keeping the house dry. Because pigs generally will not lie down easily without drinking water, this makes our work easier. Catching manure from sows in farrowing crates The greatest danger of diarrhea in piglets in the farrowing house comes from Escherichia coli, and sow manure is the breeding ground for Escherichia coli. If piglets do not come into contact with sow manure, the possibility of illness is much smaller, so some pig farms have adopted the practice of catching sow manure, that is, manure does not contact the slatted floor and is caught by people. Many people think this is a lot of work and there is no time to do it, but on careful consideration, it is operable. It is not necessary to catch manure from every pig, but it is possible for some pigs, and catching manure reduces the cleaning and scrubbing after manure falls to the floor. The key is to master the operating procedure. Our method is before each feeding, first mix the feed into wet feed. When the pigs hear the sound of mixing feed, they will stand up and wait. At this time, do not feed first; instead, take a manure shovel and move behind the sows. When a sow shows signs of defecating, immediately run over and catch the manure. In this way, within ten to twenty minutes, most sows will defecate, and then feeding begins.
XIII. The Knowledge of Driving Pigs
Some people may ask, who does not know how to drive pigs? But if you work at a pig farm for a long time, you will find that if methods are not paid attention to, driving pigs can be very tiring, and pigs may even knock people over, and some people get injured because of this. In fact, the principle of pig farming is very simple; it is mainly about understanding the biological characteristics of pigs: 1. Pigs have eyes: so pigs will not bump into walls, but pigs' eyesight is not good, and they cannot clearly see what the wall is made of, so even a cloth wall can turn pigs back (but do not let the pigs touch it, otherwise the pigs will rush through). 2. Pigs have good hearing: when driving pigs, use a longer pole to strike the ground, and the pigs will obey when they hear the sound; if there is sound behind, they move forward, and if there is sound on the left, they turn right. 3. Pigs follow the group: driving a large group of pigs is easier than driving one pig, so when selling pigs, maintaining the pigs' formation is very key. Therefore, when driving pigs, the following methods can be adopted: 1. Design a path for the pigs: that is, whether entering the pig house or loading for sale, there is a human-designed path. The walls of this path should preferably be fixed, sturdy walls; if not, temporary walls can be used, such as replacing them with iron railings, using long strips of colored striped cloth (feed packaging bags can also be sewn into long strips of cloth), or using other opaque boards, so that the pigs see that only going forward is correct. This way, pigs will generally follow the path designed for them; this method is more practical when transferring sows between groups. 2. Temporary wall: that is, the pigs cannot see the road ahead. This is often used when blocking pigs back. Special pig-driving boards, iron railings, and wooden boards can all be used. If there is really nothing suitable at hand, one person squatting down can also make pigs of smaller body weight (within one hundred kg) turn back; never stand with legs spread apart to block pigs, otherwise the pig will pass between your legs and knock you head over heels. 3. Shouting instead of hitting: when a person shouts from behind, pigs often move forward; but if a person uses very thin wooden sticks to hit the pigs without giving them clear instructions, the pigs often do not know what to do and frequently turn back, making them even harder to drive. 4. Driving sows that have just farrowed: sows protect their piglets and generally do not want to leave after farrowing; but if one of their piglets is held in front and the sow is allowed to smell it, the sow will very easily follow the person carrying the piglet. 5. Driving finishing pigs out for sale: if the pigs in the same pen are uneven and the customer requires uniformity, then pigs must be selected from the pen. At this time, if a long strip of cloth is used to envelop the selected pig, it can be driven out very easily, reducing the workload of catching pigs. Or use a feed bag to cover the head of the pig to be driven and pull it out by the tail. There are still many methods for driving pigs. I am merely throwing out a brick to attract jade, and I hope pig friends can add more after reading.
XIV. Three-Point Positioning
The three-point positioning of eating, defecating, and sleeping is very important for the management of finishing pigs. The following methods can be used for reference:
First, feed positioning: scatter some feed where the pigs are accurately determined to lie down. Pigs generally do not defecate or urinate on feed, but they will lie down on it;
Second, manure positioning: first put some dirty objects where the pigs should defecate and urinate. Because pigs have a characteristic of liking cleanliness, they will actively go there;
Third, nighttime positioning: spend a little time at night to rouse pigs that are lying in the wrong place and drive them to the area where they should lie down, until they settle down and sleep well;
Fourth, water positioning: put some water where the pigs defecate and urinate, even occupying most of the pen area, forcing the pigs into a very small area. After the pigs have fixed their lying-down location, gradually remove the water.
Fifth, wooden board positioning: generally when piglets are transferred from the nursery to the finishing house, the temperature drops to varying degrees; in addition, nursery houses mostly have slatted floors, while finishing houses mostly have concrete floors, and sometimes the floor is still wet, so the pigs feel colder; lay a wooden board for the pigs where positioning is needed. The pigs will actively lie on it and therefore will not defecate or urinate on it.
Sixth, wall corner positioning: newly transferred piglets generally like to lie in windproof places, so wall corners and wall sides become places where pigs position themselves to lie down; therefore, for newly transferred pigs, we need to design walls or wall corners for them; if pigs need to lie near the doorway, then block the doorway with a wooden board or other object, and the pigs will also actively go there to lie down.
Seventh, pen division positioning: for pig houses with inner and outer rooms, the two can be separated when the pigs enter the house. After the pigs have moved around in the outer room and become familiar with it, drive the pigs into the inner room before dark. Because before entering the inner room, the pigs mostly defecate and urinate in the outer room, this also forms a habit.
XV. Several Techniques for Enticing Piglets to Eat
Feeding sweet food: Piglets like sweet food. When starting to entice 7-10-day-old piglets to eat, choose sweet, crisp feed with good palatability, such as cutting sweet pumpkin and carrots into small pieces, or spraying cooked wheat grains, grain kernels, peas, corn, soybeans, sorghum, etc. with sugar water or saccharin water, coating them with a layer of compound feed or mixing in a little green feed, and placing them between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. in places piglets often go, letting them eat freely. Enticing with soil: Piglets begin to grow teeth at 7-10 days of age, their gums itch, and they like to chew or root in soil. At this time, cooked granular feed can be scattered on fresh red clay, letting piglets root in the soil while eating feed. Older leading younger: Piglets have the habit of imitating each other and competing for food. Piglets that have already learned to eat feed and piglets that have not yet learned to eat feed can be put together for feeding. Using piglets' habits of mutual imitation and competition for food can quickly entice piglets that do not know how to eat feed to eat. Feeding with iron sheets: scatter the enticement feed on iron sheets or place it in shallow metal trays, using piglets' habit of liking to lick and chew metal to achieve the purpose of enticement. Give little and add frequently: Piglets have the characteristic that "when feed is little they scramble for it, when feed is much they tire of it," so enticement feed should be given little and added frequently, to encourage piglets to eat more feed without wasting feed. Separate mother and young: during the enticement period, separate the sow and piglets, letting the piglets eat feed first and then nurse. The interval is generally 1-2 hours.
XVI. Classification of Aggressive Behavior
1. Social aggression, which is to establish rank. 2. Territorial aggression. 3. Aggression caused by pain; any animal, if suffering severe pain, will inevitably attempt revenge. 4. Aggression caused by fear, that is, passive attack. 5. Stress-induced aggression. 6. Parental aggression, for example, female animals become more aggressive and attack more strongly than usual to protect their young. 7. Sexual aggression; during mating, females are often severely bitten by males, such as cats and mink. This behavior also has biological significance. Of course, it also includes aggression over competition for mates. 8. Predatory aggression, better called predation behavior, is generally not considered aggressive behavior. However, under human influence, the predatory behavior of some domestic animals becomes direct attacks on people, such as dogs.
XVII. Saving Feed
Moderate particle size. Piglets should use a 1.0 screen, sows should use 3.0. Finishing pigs should use 2.0. Too large is not easy to digest and lowers feed-to-weight ratio; too small easily causes gastric ulcers.
Feed less and add frequently. Especially for nursery pigs, this can reduce waste and increase feed intake.
Feed in the trough. It is not contaminated by manure and reduces waste from trampling.
Modify the trough. Install horizontal bars to prevent scrambling for food. A trapezoid that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom is best, in line with pig ergonomics. Recommended top width 40, bottom width 20 cm, depth 10 cm; the outer edge is high to prevent rooting feed outward, and the inner edge is low for easy feeding by pigs.
When processing feed, appropriately add green feed, fermented feed, etc. to improve palatability, preferably wet-mixed. Reduce dust.
For three-point positioning, sawdust and the like can be used instead of feed for positioning.
Feed according to the pigs. After finishing pigs are fed once, observe whether some finish first, indicating the feed was little; add appropriately more.
Clean up leftover feed regularly; some sow troughs even become moldy. Make sure no feed is left by the end of the day. At the same time, clean feed on the aisle and brick walls.
Finally, it is recommended to use the same trough for water and feed. According to experiments, this is the most economical and practical new equipment. It can increase daily weight gain and lower the feed-to-meat ratio.
XVIII. When Should Piglets Be Weaned (Daoliu)
We should first determine the goal: when to wean. If another pig farm weans at 28 days, should we also wean at 28 days? I. Predetermining weaning time. I remind those who have pigs! Dividing by number of days is not my first choice; it is only used because it is convenient for expression. The timing of weaning depends on the degree of change in the piglets' intestinal tract. We can judge this by observing the piglets' feces and changes in their independent living habits.
Personally, I feel that dividing by body weight is also an option. If piglets reach 16 jin at 28 days, they can be completely weaned. If they reach it at 25 days, they can also be weaned. But first they must know how to eat feed. After weaning, they will eat more feed and grow faster.
Prevention of Pig Diseases
(Frontline pig farming content written by Daoliu on the forum)
Every time I go online, I argue a bit with several guys who loudly shout "prevention first." Hehe, in my view, many are brothers without much practical experience, yet they clamor loudly. My personal views on pig disease prevention:
1. Density: absolutely the top priority!!! I relatively insist that each pig must have no less than 2 sq m of space. When the overall pig herd is greater than 500, each pig should be guaranteed no less than 3 sq m.
2. Temperature difference: temperature is not the key; the key is temperature difference. The temperature difference must not change by more than 0.1 degrees every 10 minutes. Exceeding 0.3 degrees will definitely cause trouble.
3. Hygiene: keepers must make every pen of pigs defecate at fixed points, to ensure that daily pen flushing wets only one corner of the pig pen, avoiding chilling from wetness. The places where pigs sleep and eat should be swept with a broom and must not be wet.
4. Disinfection: this is a chicken-rib procedure. In principle, the advantages of disinfection outweigh the disadvantages. But note that so-called disinfection must not cause humidity and temperature to go out of control! Disinfection around the pig house is more important than disinfection inside the house.
5. Ventilation: reasonable ventilation is actually very difficult to achieve. This requires keepers to regard themselves as pigs and constantly adjust the ventilation method according to time and place, but the premise of ventilation is that the temperature difference must not go out of control.
6. Medication for health care: personally, I completely resist it. Whether it is pulse dosing of antibiotics or Chinese medicines such as astragalus, I resolutely resist them. Since the concept of "medicine" began, it has been defined as used for treating disease, not preventing disease. Moreover, the selection of drugs, before there is a purpose, also appears rather absurd.
7. Vaccines: when the quality of veterinary vaccines is guaranteed like human vaccines, when information on the distribution and spread of infectious diseases is sufficiently unobstructed, and when various detection methods are sufficiently advanced and convenient, vaccines are unquestionable; otherwise, there is nothing to discuss.
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Very practical. Learned.
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Practice brings true knowledge. It is still better to have practice.
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Feels quite practical, thank you.
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Thanks for sharing. It is still better to practice.
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OP, I have bookmarked this, hehe.
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Feels quite practical.
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6. Medication for health care: personally, I completely resist it. Whether it is pulse dosing of antibiotics or Chinese medicines such as astragalus, I resolutely resist them. Since the concept of "medicine" began, it has been defined as used for treating disease, not preventing disease. Moreover, the selection of drugs, before there is a purpose, also appears rather absurd.
Astragalus should be able to be added appropriately. There should be no problem, right? It improves immunity.
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Learned........
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Learn and learn.
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Not a bad post. Learned.
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Very good, thank you.
Chapter Six Appendix and Tables
Section Nine Summary of Farming Experience from the Livestock Breeders Forum
(Thanks to friends on the forum! All experience is for reference only! Everything should be based on your own actual situation.)
I. About Tail Biting The author has raised more than 30 sows and has been farming pigs for over ten years. Below are a few small methods I have summarized during my farming process. I am now sharing them with everyone, hoping they can be helpful to pig friends troubled by this issue. Everyone knows that even if pigs have their tails docked, tail biting still occurs from time to time. My method: an appropriate amount of asphalt kept ready, an appropriate amount of diesel kept ready, and an appropriate amount of crushed Tianying chili pepper powder kept ready. Put the asphalt in a container and heat it over fire until melted, add diesel and Tianying chili pepper powder and mix evenly. Before the asphalt solidifies, dip the mixture onto the tail of the bitten pig. This way, the peculiar smell of diesel plus the spiciness of the Tianying chili pepper will make tail-biting pigs sigh at the tail and give up.
II. About Merging Sows into the Same Pen 1 This method is suitable for pig friends who urgently need the pen First use fine iron wire and No. 8 galvanized wire to make a pig-muzzle-shaped harness and keep it ready. Drive the two sows to be merged into one pen. After the stronger and weaker ones are distinguished (this is key), put the pre-prepared harness on the mouth of the stronger one and secure it. This way it cannot bite the other pig, and it will keep shaking its head and rubbing against the ground, with no time to fight. 2 This method is suitable for pig friends who do not urgently need the pen Separate the middle of a large pen with an iron fence (this is key). Drive the two sows to be merged into the two small pens on either side of the iron fence. Let them become familiar with each other inside for 4-5 days, then merge them together. They will be like old acquaintances, neither biting nor quarreling. I have such a "unity and friendship pen." III. Clever Cleaning of the Pig Pen Floor After Finishing Pigs Are Sent to Market After finishing pigs are sent to market, the thick layer of manure crust on the floor of the empty pen is the most headache-inducing thing (pig friends who flush the pen with water every day and those with fully slatted floors in finishing barns may not have this trouble). Sometimes just one pen can make you grimace and sweat all over. My approach is: 1-2 days before the finishing pigs are sent to market, splash water on the floor of the pig house, then put in some balls, empty drink bottles, and other playthings. Using the pigs' desire to explore, let them compete for the toys, plus trampling, rooting, and the soaking of water (if the manure crust is too thick, splash water several more times), the manure crust on the floor will quickly be loosened, and then it can be shoveled away with a flat shovel. This saves time and effort. You may want to try it.
IV. A Little Experience on Treating Sudden Neurological Symptoms in Piglets After Weaning
Weaned piglets sometimes suddenly show symptoms such as limb paralysis and convulsions. For pigs with such neurological symptoms, it is not easy to determine on site whether it is pseudorabies, streptococcosis, edema disease, listeriosis, or other diseases that can cause neurological symptoms. One can only use drugs for treatment based on experience. The common treatment method is symptomatic treatment: sulfadiazine sodium, diclofenac sodium, amikacin, pefloxacin mesylate, etc. The treatment effect is ordinary and the mortality rate is very high. In practice, for pigs whose neurological symptoms are not easy to distinguish by cause, I use antibiotics for anti-inflammatory treatment. The formula is: ceftriaxone sodium 10 mg/kg body weight + astragalus polysaccharide 0.2 mL/kg body weight + dexamethasone 5 mg (human-use 1 mL 5 mg), inject once. Generally, within 6-12 hours there is improvement or recovery to the same condition as a healthy pig, then the next day inject the above drugs once more for maintenance. Before finding some more effective methods, you may want to try this treatment method.
V. Sows Farrowing During the Day
Many sows give birth at night, which brings a lot of inconvenience to management. Cloprostenol sodium can achieve the goal of synchronized farrowing, but when to inject and where to inject are very key issues. The instructions for cloprostenol sodium say to use intramuscular injection, but do not explain the injection time. However, practice has shown that the effect is indeed not very ideal. According to my own practice, the injection time should be controlled at 6 p.m., and the best injection site is subcutaneous injection on the inner vulva of the sow. 98% can farrow the next day! Calculate the time yourself; generally farrowing occurs twenty hours after injection. Injection site: beside the sow's vulva, dosage one mL (this site can reduce the dosage), and it takes effect quickly.
VI. Causes Affecting Semen Quality.
From those engaged in artificial insemination, I learned: after a boar has a febrile disease, it is generally best not to breed within one month, because within one month after the boar has a fever, sperm motility is less than 30%. This has a certain relationship with semen maturation. About 8 weeks or so.
VII. Piglets Begin to Have Diarrhea Three Days After Birth
Piglets begin to have diarrhea three days after birth. Yellow watery stool. Within one week, the whole litter of piglets dies one after another. Using anti-diarrheal drugs such as piglet Guonailing, lomefloxacin, colistin sulfate, framycetin, and Chuansaining was ineffective. I heard a friend say: 20-30 days before farrowing, inject the sow with 50 doses of swine fever vaccine for immunization, and it is effective. With the attitude of giving it a try, I used 50 doses/head of swine fever vaccine for sows 20 days before farrowing, diluted with 1 vial of 10 mL levamisole. As a result, the piglets indeed no longer had diarrhea, and the mortality rate was also very low. From an immunological perspective, I do not know the principle behind this. I offer this experience to everyone. I hope to receive guidance from peers, and at the same time hope to give friends a little inspiration and help. Thank you, peers, for participating in the discussion.
VIII. Injecting Finishing Pigs
We once required that pigs below the nursery stage be picked up when injected, and that replacement pigs be restrained when injected, but for finishing pigs in the intermediate stage, how can injections both ensure the injection effect and save time? It is unrealistic to restrain finishing pigs like replacement pigs, because the number is too large and it would cost too much labor; while if injections are given hastily, some pigs will often fail to be injected or the effect will be unsatisfactory, so finding an operable method is very necessary. In production, we handle it this way: in a small pen, several keepers use an iron railing to squeeze the pigs into a corner or against the side. Because pigs are not easy to move when squeezed together, especially when their heads all have to be raised, it is very easy to restrain the site and inject; larger nursery pigs can also be handled this way.
IX. Supplemental Feeding for Suckling Piglets
Books always emphasize the benefits of supplemental feeding during the suckling period, but it often happens that piglets still do not know how to eat feed after weaning, causing post-weaning diarrhea and serious weight loss. This is because supplemental feeding during the suckling piglet stage was not done properly. In production, we have summarized the following supplemental feeding methods for reference: 1. Cobblestone method: Put a few clean cobblestones in the piglets' creep feeder. Because piglets have exploratory behavior and are interested in foreign objects, they will go root at the cobblestones and unknowingly eat feed; on farms where cobblestones are not easy to find, clean penicillin bottles can also be used as substitutes, and they also have a certain effect. 2. Hanging bottle method: Hang a plastic bottle of a special color above the creep feeder. When piglets root at the bottle, they will smell the feed and develop a desire to eat. 3. Smearing method: Smearing feed into piglets' mouths is the most effective existing method; the simplest way to smear feed is, when piglets are sleeping, the keeper gently walks over, uses one hand to open the piglet's mouth, and uses a finger of the other hand to dip paste-like feed and smear it into the piglet's mouth; when smearing, it is not necessary to smear all pigs, two to three in a litter is enough, and do not wake the piglets while smearing; this operation does not take much effort and is easy for keepers to accept.
X. Catching Piglets Under the Farrowing Crate
In pig production, operational techniques also have a great impact on production. Although there is not much high technical content, mastering them can greatly reduce workload and allow limited time to be used in more important places; starting today, I will successively introduce some techniques I have mastered in production to pig farming friends. I. Catching Piglets Under the Farrowing Crate This is a problem every farrowing house worker encounters. Piglets fall from the farrowing crate to the ground, and keepers chase around the crate trying to catch the piglets, often sweating all over without catching them; or they simply do not catch them and wait until the piglets fall asleep on the ground. Neither of the above two situations is advisable. The first method costs too much labor, and the second harms the piglets, because the piglets cannot nurse for a long time and at the same time contact dirty objects under the farrowing crate, making infection very easy. Our method is: catch one piglet from the same litter as the piglet on the ground and place it on the ground. Hold the piglet's hind leg with the left hand, and squat on the side of that piglet's farrowing crate. The escaped piglet, hearing the calls of the same-litter piglet and seeing the same-litter piglet, will actively move toward the other piglet. When the piglet runs to a suitable distance, the keeper suddenly reaches out the right hand and catches it; in this way, the escaped piglet can be "brought to justice" in a very short time.
XI. Blood Collection from Piglets
Antibody monitoring is an important part of disease diagnosis, and antibody monitoring requires collecting pig blood for testing; blood collection is relatively easy for heavier sows because their blood vessels are thicker and can be easily found, but the blood vessels of small piglets in the farrowing house or nursery are very thin and extremely difficult to find, and even if found, blood collection is very slow, which troubles many technicians. Here I introduce the anterior vena cava blood collection method, which can solve this problem. The method is as follows: Fix the pig facing upward, with the whole body in a straight line, and raise the forelimbs. This way, two obvious small fossae will appear on the chest. Insert the needle from these two fossae diagonally toward the top of the opposite shoulder joint, directly seeking the anterior vena cava sinus. If skilled, enough blood can be collected in a few seconds. Blood can also be collected while standing or suspended upside down; refer to the figure below: Note: Use a suitable needle when collecting blood. For pigs within ten kg, a 38 mm long fine needle is enough. For pigs over one hundred jin, the needle should preferably be longer; using a dedicated blood collection needle is easier.
XII. Manure Cleaning
Cleaning manure in nursery pens in winter Many people schedule manure cleaning after going to work and adding feed. This work is fine in summer and autumn when the temperature difference inside and outside the house is small, but it is not suitable in cold winter when the temperature difference inside and outside the house is large, because manure cleaning releases many harmful gases, and with a large temperature difference inside and outside, opening windows for ventilation often creates drafty wind and causes respiratory diseases in pigs; not ventilating will lead to too many harmful gases inside the house, and together with harmful gases accumulating overnight inside the house, oxygen will be seriously insufficient, which will also damage the pigs' respiratory tract. Therefore, we believe that in winter, manure cleaning in nursery pens should be scheduled for the period near noon when the temperature difference inside and outside the house becomes smaller, and windows should be opened for ventilation first, then manure cleaning should begin. This is also because ventilation requires a process of opening windows from small to large; if the weather is suitable, flushing under the slatted floor with water in the afternoon and then ventilating to dry can ensure that pigs breathe fresh air all night, which is very beneficial for preventing respiratory diseases. Cleaning manure for sows in gestation stalls Manure cleaning for sows in gestation stalls is relatively easy, and in summer when water flushing is possible, it is even easier to operate; but in winter when water flushing is not possible, attention must be paid to the manure cleaning method, otherwise pigs will have black bottoms. Manure cleaning method: each time while feeding, turn off the water. Immediately after adding feed, clean manure. First scrape the manure outside the gestation stall. After most of the manure has been cleaned, open the valve and let water run. This has the effect of keeping the house dry. Because pigs generally will not lie down easily without drinking water, this makes our work easier. Catching manure from sows in farrowing crates The greatest danger of diarrhea in piglets in the farrowing house comes from Escherichia coli, and sow manure is the breeding ground for Escherichia coli. If piglets do not come into contact with sow manure, the possibility of illness is much smaller, so some pig farms have adopted the practice of catching sow manure, that is, manure does not contact the slatted floor and is caught by people. Many people think this is a lot of work and there is no time to do it, but on careful consideration, it is operable. It is not necessary to catch manure from every pig, but it is possible for some pigs, and catching manure reduces the cleaning and scrubbing after manure falls to the floor. The key is to master the operating procedure. Our method is before each feeding, first mix the feed into wet feed. When the pigs hear the sound of mixing feed, they will stand up and wait. At this time, do not feed first; instead, take a manure shovel and move behind the sows. When a sow shows signs of defecating, immediately run over and catch the manure. In this way, within ten to twenty minutes, most sows will defecate, and then feeding begins.
XIII. The Knowledge of Driving Pigs
Some people may ask, who does not know how to drive pigs? But if you work at a pig farm for a long time, you will find that if methods are not paid attention to, driving pigs can be very tiring, and pigs may even knock people over, and some people get injured because of this. In fact, the principle of pig farming is very simple; it is mainly about understanding the biological characteristics of pigs: 1. Pigs have eyes: so pigs will not bump into walls, but pigs' eyesight is not good, and they cannot clearly see what the wall is made of, so even a cloth wall can turn pigs back (but do not let the pigs touch it, otherwise the pigs will rush through). 2. Pigs have good hearing: when driving pigs, use a longer pole to strike the ground, and the pigs will obey when they hear the sound; if there is sound behind, they move forward, and if there is sound on the left, they turn right. 3. Pigs follow the group: driving a large group of pigs is easier than driving one pig, so when selling pigs, maintaining the pigs' formation is very key. Therefore, when driving pigs, the following methods can be adopted: 1. Design a path for the pigs: that is, whether entering the pig house or loading for sale, there is a human-designed path. The walls of this path should preferably be fixed, sturdy walls; if not, temporary walls can be used, such as replacing them with iron railings, using long strips of colored striped cloth (feed packaging bags can also be sewn into long strips of cloth), or using other opaque boards, so that the pigs see that only going forward is correct. This way, pigs will generally follow the path designed for them; this method is more practical when transferring sows between groups. 2. Temporary wall: that is, the pigs cannot see the road ahead. This is often used when blocking pigs back. Special pig-driving boards, iron railings, and wooden boards can all be used. If there is really nothing suitable at hand, one person squatting down can also make pigs of smaller body weight (within one hundred kg) turn back; never stand with legs spread apart to block pigs, otherwise the pig will pass between your legs and knock you head over heels. 3. Shouting instead of hitting: when a person shouts from behind, pigs often move forward; but if a person uses very thin wooden sticks to hit the pigs without giving them clear instructions, the pigs often do not know what to do and frequently turn back, making them even harder to drive. 4. Driving sows that have just farrowed: sows protect their piglets and generally do not want to leave after farrowing; but if one of their piglets is held in front and the sow is allowed to smell it, the sow will very easily follow the person carrying the piglet. 5. Driving finishing pigs out for sale: if the pigs in the same pen are uneven and the customer requires uniformity, then pigs must be selected from the pen. At this time, if a long strip of cloth is used to envelop the selected pig, it can be driven out very easily, reducing the workload of catching pigs. Or use a feed bag to cover the head of the pig to be driven and pull it out by the tail. There are still many methods for driving pigs. I am merely throwing out a brick to attract jade, and I hope pig friends can add more after reading.
XIV. Three-Point Positioning
The three-point positioning of eating, defecating, and sleeping is very important for the management of finishing pigs. The following methods can be used for reference:
First, feed positioning: scatter some feed where the pigs are accurately determined to lie down. Pigs generally do not defecate or urinate on feed, but they will lie down on it;
Second, manure positioning: first put some dirty objects where the pigs should defecate and urinate. Because pigs have a characteristic of liking cleanliness, they will actively go there;
Third, nighttime positioning: spend a little time at night to rouse pigs that are lying in the wrong place and drive them to the area where they should lie down, until they settle down and sleep well;
Fourth, water positioning: put some water where the pigs defecate and urinate, even occupying most of the pen area, forcing the pigs into a very small area. After the pigs have fixed their lying-down location, gradually remove the water.
Fifth, wooden board positioning: generally when piglets are transferred from the nursery to the finishing house, the temperature drops to varying degrees; in addition, nursery houses mostly have slatted floors, while finishing houses mostly have concrete floors, and sometimes the floor is still wet, so the pigs feel colder; lay a wooden board for the pigs where positioning is needed. The pigs will actively lie on it and therefore will not defecate or urinate on it.
Sixth, wall corner positioning: newly transferred piglets generally like to lie in windproof places, so wall corners and wall sides become places where pigs position themselves to lie down; therefore, for newly transferred pigs, we need to design walls or wall corners for them; if pigs need to lie near the doorway, then block the doorway with a wooden board or other object, and the pigs will also actively go there to lie down.
Seventh, pen division positioning: for pig houses with inner and outer rooms, the two can be separated when the pigs enter the house. After the pigs have moved around in the outer room and become familiar with it, drive the pigs into the inner room before dark. Because before entering the inner room, the pigs mostly defecate and urinate in the outer room, this also forms a habit.
XV. Several Techniques for Enticing Piglets to Eat
Feeding sweet food: Piglets like sweet food. When starting to entice 7-10-day-old piglets to eat, choose sweet, crisp feed with good palatability, such as cutting sweet pumpkin and carrots into small pieces, or spraying cooked wheat grains, grain kernels, peas, corn, soybeans, sorghum, etc. with sugar water or saccharin water, coating them with a layer of compound feed or mixing in a little green feed, and placing them between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. in places piglets often go, letting them eat freely. Enticing with soil: Piglets begin to grow teeth at 7-10 days of age, their gums itch, and they like to chew or root in soil. At this time, cooked granular feed can be scattered on fresh red clay, letting piglets root in the soil while eating feed. Older leading younger: Piglets have the habit of imitating each other and competing for food. Piglets that have already learned to eat feed and piglets that have not yet learned to eat feed can be put together for feeding. Using piglets' habits of mutual imitation and competition for food can quickly entice piglets that do not know how to eat feed to eat. Feeding with iron sheets: scatter the enticement feed on iron sheets or place it in shallow metal trays, using piglets' habit of liking to lick and chew metal to achieve the purpose of enticement. Give little and add frequently: Piglets have the characteristic that "when feed is little they scramble for it, when feed is much they tire of it," so enticement feed should be given little and added frequently, to encourage piglets to eat more feed without wasting feed. Separate mother and young: during the enticement period, separate the sow and piglets, letting the piglets eat feed first and then nurse. The interval is generally 1-2 hours.
XVI. Classification of Aggressive Behavior
1. Social aggression, which is to establish rank. 2. Territorial aggression. 3. Aggression caused by pain; any animal, if suffering severe pain, will inevitably attempt revenge. 4. Aggression caused by fear, that is, passive attack. 5. Stress-induced aggression. 6. Parental aggression, for example, female animals become more aggressive and attack more strongly than usual to protect their young. 7. Sexual aggression; during mating, females are often severely bitten by males, such as cats and mink. This behavior also has biological significance. Of course, it also includes aggression over competition for mates. 8. Predatory aggression, better called predation behavior, is generally not considered aggressive behavior. However, under human influence, the predatory behavior of some domestic animals becomes direct attacks on people, such as dogs.
XVII. Saving Feed
Moderate particle size. Piglets should use a 1.0 screen, sows should use 3.0. Finishing pigs should use 2.0. Too large is not easy to digest and lowers feed-to-weight ratio; too small easily causes gastric ulcers.
Feed less and add frequently. Especially for nursery pigs, this can reduce waste and increase feed intake.
Feed in the trough. It is not contaminated by manure and reduces waste from trampling.
Modify the trough. Install horizontal bars to prevent scrambling for food. A trapezoid that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom is best, in line with pig ergonomics. Recommended top width 40, bottom width 20 cm, depth 10 cm; the outer edge is high to prevent rooting feed outward, and the inner edge is low for easy feeding by pigs.
When processing feed, appropriately add green feed, fermented feed, etc. to improve palatability, preferably wet-mixed. Reduce dust.
For three-point positioning, sawdust and the like can be used instead of feed for positioning.
Feed according to the pigs. After finishing pigs are fed once, observe whether some finish first, indicating the feed was little; add appropriately more.
Clean up leftover feed regularly; some sow troughs even become moldy. Make sure no feed is left by the end of the day. At the same time, clean feed on the aisle and brick walls.
Finally, it is recommended to use the same trough for water and feed. According to experiments, this is the most economical and practical new equipment. It can increase daily weight gain and lower the feed-to-meat ratio.
XVIII. When Should Piglets Be Weaned (Daoliu)
We should first determine the goal: when to wean. If another pig farm weans at 28 days, should we also wean at 28 days? I. Predetermining weaning time. I remind those who have pigs! Dividing by number of days is not my first choice; it is only used because it is convenient for expression. The timing of weaning depends on the degree of change in the piglets' intestinal tract. We can judge this by observing the piglets' feces and changes in their independent living habits.
Personally, I feel that dividing by body weight is also an option. If piglets reach 16 jin at 28 days, they can be completely weaned. If they reach it at 25 days, they can also be weaned. But first they must know how to eat feed. After weaning, they will eat more feed and grow faster.
Prevention of Pig Diseases
(Frontline pig farming content written by Daoliu on the forum)
Every time I go online, I argue a bit with several guys who loudly shout "prevention first." Hehe, in my view, many are brothers without much practical experience, yet they clamor loudly. My personal views on pig disease prevention:
1. Density: absolutely the top priority!!! I relatively insist that each pig must have no less than 2 sq m of space. When the overall pig herd is greater than 500, each pig should be guaranteed no less than 3 sq m.
2. Temperature difference: temperature is not the key; the key is temperature difference. The temperature difference must not change by more than 0.1 degrees every 10 minutes. Exceeding 0.3 degrees will definitely cause trouble.
3. Hygiene: keepers must make every pen of pigs defecate at fixed points, to ensure that daily pen flushing wets only one corner of the pig pen, avoiding chilling from wetness. The places where pigs sleep and eat should be swept with a broom and must not be wet.
4. Disinfection: this is a chicken-rib procedure. In principle, the advantages of disinfection outweigh the disadvantages. But note that so-called disinfection must not cause humidity and temperature to go out of control! Disinfection around the pig house is more important than disinfection inside the house.
5. Ventilation: reasonable ventilation is actually very difficult to achieve. This requires keepers to regard themselves as pigs and constantly adjust the ventilation method according to time and place, but the premise of ventilation is that the temperature difference must not go out of control.
6. Medication for health care: personally, I completely resist it. Whether it is pulse dosing of antibiotics or Chinese medicines such as astragalus, I resolutely resist them. Since the concept of "medicine" began, it has been defined as used for treating disease, not preventing disease. Moreover, the selection of drugs, before there is a purpose, also appears rather absurd.
7. Vaccines: when the quality of veterinary vaccines is guaranteed like human vaccines, when information on the distribution and spread of infectious diseases is sufficiently unobstructed, and when various detection methods are sufficiently advanced and convenient, vaccines are unquestionable; otherwise, there is nothing to discuss.
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Very practical. Learned.
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Practice brings true knowledge. It is still better to have practice.
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Feels quite practical, thank you.
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Thanks for sharing. It is still better to practice.
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OP, I have bookmarked this, hehe.
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Feels quite practical.
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6. Medication for health care: personally, I completely resist it. Whether it is pulse dosing of antibiotics or Chinese medicines such as astragalus, I resolutely resist them. Since the concept of "medicine" began, it has been defined as used for treating disease, not preventing disease. Moreover, the selection of drugs, before there is a purpose, also appears rather absurd.
Astragalus should be able to be added appropriately. There should be no problem, right? It improves immunity.
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Learned........
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Learn and learn.
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Not a bad post. Learned.
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Very good, thank you.