Management Practices to Increase Swine Productivity in Mizoram
To obtain maximum return from the pig industry, knowledge about scientific
management of pigs is very much essential.
Giving a good start to piglets
- It is essential for all piglets to take colostrums from the mother. They
will take the first feed within 1 hour after birth. If the sow dies after giving
birth to piglets and no foster mother is available, the litter can be reared by
hand feeding.
- The newborn piglets have to be kept in a warm, clean and dry box with clean
bedding.
- Feeding bottles and teats (nipples) which are thoroughly cleaned between
each feeding can be used to feed the litter.
- Regular feeds must be given at intervals of 1 to 2 hours. A good sow milk
replacer consists of one egg yolk thoroughly mixed with one liter of warm cow
milk.
- Piglets will take milk from the mother until they are 7 weeks old. They will
gradually take less milk and eat more solid feed until they are weaned.
- Piglets of 1 to 2 weeks old age group can be offered a handful of cereal,
sugar or powdered milk to in the begning. The young animals need to be gradually
given standard fresh feed to avoid digestive problems.
Feeding of pigs
In Mizoram, the main ingredients of feed provided to the pigs are, locally
available grasses, Colocasia, Tapioca and sweet potato leaves and tubers along
with small quantity of concentrate. The average feed offered by the
farmer/pig/day is 1.53 kg kitchen waste, 1 kg locally available grasses and 200
g concentrate. The concentrate mixture comprised mainly of wheat bran and rice
polish. The concentrate mixture along with grasses and kitchen waste is boiled
together as slurry and then the prepared feed is offered to pigs twice daily in
nearly equal amounts. No additional feed supplements are given to the pigs by
the farmers.
The pig must always be provided with fresh clean drinking water. A sow with
young will need 20 – 30 liters of water.
Though, the pig is omnivorous and can eat grass and plants, but, pigs will
grow and get fatter quickly if they are fed concentrate feed. Grain, which has
been well ground into meal, is a good feed.
Average feed consumption of pigs at various age groups
|
Age (months)/ category of pig |
Probable live Weight (kg) |
Feed/pig/day (kg) |
1-2
2-3
3-4
4-5
5-6
Pregnant Gilt/Sow
Suckling
Sow
Boar |
15
27
40
50
60
-
-
- |
0.5
1.0
1.25
1.5
2.0
2.3
5.0
2.5 |
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Housing
Pig can be kept alone or in small groups in pig sty, a concrete or solid
floored pen with a low shelter. When building a sty, one should choose an area,
which is never flooded in the rainy season. It should not be too near to houses
as it smells and flies are a nuisance. The floor should be concrete and sloping
away from the sleeping area so that urine flows out and away. The concrete floor
should be laid on a good foundation and will need to be 5 -6 cm thick. If the
concrete is too thin and cracks, the pigs will soon start to dig it up. An
earthen floor cannot be kept clean and will lead to problems with parasites and
other disease.
The walls of the sty need to be fairly smooth so that they can be kept clean.
Cracks in the walls will allow dirt and germs to accumulate. The dung can be
removed every day allowing the pen to be kept clean and avoiding the build up of
waste and smell.
Whatever the housing method is used, piglets should have access to a warm
area, where the sow cannot reach. This is called as creep and piglets can be
given feed here and can lie down without the risk of the mother lying on top of
them. The sow is prevented from entering the creep by placing a temporary wall
of boards or strong rails across part of the shelter. The bottom rail is about
30 cm from the ground allowing the small piglets to pass under it.
Space requirement for pigs
|
Type of animal |
Covered floor
Area/animal (sq.m.) |
Open yard
area/ animal (sq.m.) |
Boar
Furrowing sow
Drysow/Gilt
Weaner/Fattening pig |
6.27-7.5
7.5-9.0
1.8-2.7
0.96-1.8 |
8.8-12.0
8.8-12.0
1.4-1.8
8.8-12.0 |
|
|
Health Care
- All the newly born piglets should be vaccinated atleast against Swine fever
at the age of 2 months.
- Pigs can be infected with a number of worms, which results in poor weight
gain in adults. In young pigs, infection with roundworms can cause diarrhea,
weight loss, lung problems and death. Hence, the piglets should be dewormed
regularly once in every there months. Worms from pigs can cause disease in
human. The eggs of these parasites infect new hosts and can stay in the ground
or the pigsty for up to 5 years. Infected pigs can be easily treated with a
suitable drug. The pregnant sow should be dewormed before giving birth;
otherwise she will pass on infection to her litter.
- The next commonly occurring ailment is skin infection, which may be caused
by several organisms like bacteria, lice, ticks, mites and results in thickening
and crusting of the skin. Mange occurs around the head, ears, legs and tail but
will spread over the body if not treated. The lice feed on the skin and irritate
the pig, which will scratch and can cause wounds, which become infected. The
ticks may carry other infections to the animals.
- Mange is controlled by spraying, dipping or painting the infected areas with
a suitable preparation. The pen and shelter should also be thoroughly cleaned
out and washed down. Treatment should be repeated after 2 weeks. Affected pens
should be thoroughly cleaned.
- In general, illness in pig is characterized by dullness, inappetite,
disinclination to move, rough coat with loss of bloom, constipation or diarrhea.
Once, these symptoms are noticed, veterinarian should be contacted for
treatment
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Reproductive Management
Production depends largely upon reproduction. Pigs usually attain puberty
around 6-11 months of age. It is best to leave one or two initial estrus periods
and breed the gilt in third estrus. The estrus period usually lasts for 3-4
days. The major factor behind the successful pig reproduction is proper
detection of estrus.
Estrus detection needs to be carried out slowly and methodically each and
every day. The general signs of estrus are vocal, frequent urination, elevation
of tail, swollen vulva, pink vaginal mucous membrane, sticky mucus at vulva, bar
biting, climbing, restlessness, pricked ears, loss of appetite, arched back,
tail upright and flicking up and down. Not all the above mentioned signs will be
exhibited by a single female. Different sow exhibit estrus in different way. The
best way to identify heat is to press with palms of both the hands over the loin
region and see the response of female (Backpressure test). If the sow stands
motionless with cocked ear like a sawhorse, it indicates that the sow is in
proper heat. The best time to mate the sow is 12-36 h after onset of heat and if
she is still in heat next day also, rebreeding on second day is advocated to get
higher conception rate and litter size.
The average gestation period of sow is usually 114 days. It is better to keep
the pregnant sows separately. During pregnancy sow will need plenty of feed with
high nutrient (grain and green stuffs) and water. The pen should be kept clean
and the sows should be shifted to farrowing pen 3 weeks before the expected date
of farrowing. The sow should be provided with plenty of clean bedding materials
when farrowing is close. It is better to avoid feeding sow with in 12 h of
farrowing. The sow becomes restless and starts to make a nest within 24 hours of
giving birth. The teat will produce milk when gently squeezed. Blood stained
fluid may be passed from the vagina 1 to 2 hours before birth begins and if
small greenish pellets appear, the first piglets will appear within an hour. The
sow should be closely watched during farrowing. In case of any difficulty in
parturition, the veterinarian should be contacted immediately.
The piglets should be removed as they are farrowed and they should be cleaned
off all mucus to ensure that the breathing passages are clear. Weak piglets
should be guided to suck the mother’s teat. After weaning the piglets, the sow
exhibits estrus with in a week. Hence, early weaning of piglets at about 3-4
weeks may help in reducing the inter farrowing interval.
The following points must be taken care to get the maximum benefits out of
pig rearing
- Proper Feeding
- Proper Housing
- Proper Estrus Detection and Mating
- Proper Care of Pregnant Sow
- Hygienic Farrowing pen
- Proper care of new born piglets
- Early weaning
- Early post partum mating
- Proper health
coverage
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Pubished by :
The Director, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Barapani, Meghalaya
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