Pigs 101 (A Start)

[RedBullHorn]

IA...could i impose on you to indicate only the feed you use to raise from 16 kg to grow out

as in how many No. 1/2/3/4 and 5... Thks

[IsaanAussie]

IA...could i impose on you to indicate only the feed you use to raise from 16 kg to grow out

as in how many No. 1/2/3/4 and 5... Thks

RBH,

I would be more than interested in comparison with your own numbers, or of anyone else who cares to post their numbers.

These are the best average figures I can offer, hope they answer your questions. I dont record every feed but the totals used and spot checks seem to lineup fairly well. I also note that I often will hold a litter back on a higher grade if a few are smaller or slower, usually on 954. Equally I seem to get stuck with part bags which I will finish off which raises the average numbers for the smaller pigs, but only marginally.

Feed used per pig Jan 2011.pdf

Isaan Aussie

[RedBullHorn]

My numbers on feed...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/382108-pig-farm-how-to/page__view__findpost__p__4144721

[IsaanAussie]

RBH,

This is an interesting comparison indeed, with not a lot of difference in total cost. I must update my sow costs but there will not be a lot of difference in the overall numbers. You are growing yours out faster than me, and my feed bill is slightly lower.

But I must add that I have had some under performances in recent litter sizes, so at the moment I would have to say that grow finish operations are in front. Hopefully my next lot will be better and then I can refute this comment. However Fruity seems to be going extremely well with his farrow to wean operation, so maybe its just me?

Muck or money, as Fruity says, well I have a firm grip on the shovel at the moment

IA

[Will4uk]

We have a lot of land in Surin, family keeping pigs (30) already not quite up to standard i would like! I enjoy getting involved with it and one day hope to get more involved. Where does somebody start with this? Is there any guys out here willing to advise with start up costs? profits? any advise welcome really.

[IsaanAussie]

We have a lot of land in Surin, family keeping pigs (30) already not quite up to standard i would like! I enjoy getting involved with it and one day hope to get more involved. Where does somebody start with this? Is there any guys out here willing to advise with start up costs? profits? any advise welcome really.

Sure, many of us around prepared to help. I'm in Sisaket come take a look and we can talk about options

Isaan Aussie

[RedBullHorn]

Excellent post RBH,

There is little formal market information around but what you describe here probably demonstrates the model in most if not all areas for the independant farmers.

Wouldnt it be great to generate some form of matrix to piece it all together? Radiate out from the feed mills and corporate farms and in towards the slaughter houses and packing plants. Then add all the wholesalers directly linked to the corporates. Then all the "usual guy" suppliers who are linked to the wholesalers could be overlaid on that.

You would generate a picture of just how the pie is cut up and how few crumbs are left for anyone outside the "club".

Isaan Aussie

Hi IA... as for the whole layout from

feed manufacturer - feed supplier - wholesaler - slaughter house - talat retailer - consumer,

i have all their figures, it is not a subject i wish to tell openly.

Between, i'm doing business exporting live pigs now.

[shaggy1969]

Hi there folks,

I am new to this site and would like to introduce myself to you all and hopefully get some advice from you all in the future.

My name is Craig (Shaggy) and my wife is called Wichuda.We started pig farming (small scale) 2 years ago.We still have a lot to learn,

so any tips would be gratefully appreciated.I think that the main problem that we have come across is keeping our pigs cool in summer!!

We learned this in the 1st year so i made a water tower with a roof and that seemed to keep our water cool and when it is really hot they

get a shower,does anybody know of anything else that we can do to help our pigs.

Many thanks Shaggy :jap:

[IsaanAussie]

Welcome Shaggy,

Tower looks great. First thought is roof ventilation. It looks like your sty roof has a solid ridge capping and the pitch is fairly flat. You might want to look at using your tower building skills and building a few cupolas along the ridge line to establish natural convection. Alternately using spinning vents. Having open walls you wont gain much using fans except a higher power bill.

My sty has a tin roof as well but I get a good draft under the roof due to the raised roof over the centre aisle. So while the pigs are cool the roof surface above them is still hot. I have once or twice splashed myself with hose water that hit the roof before it hit me. Talk about a hot shower!

Isaan Aussie

[shaggy1969]

Hi IsaanAussie,

Thank you for the sound advice,I was looking at the photo of your sty that you posted with admiration and envy!!! and to tell you the truth i wished that i had seen it sooner because

i have just recently started building a new sty and wished i had incorporated the raised central roof into my design.I am hoping that the height of my roof will be enough to keep our grunters cool

(height at ridge 5 mtrs),what do you think?but a few spinning vents couldnt do any harm and i suppose they would also help some gases to escape.

May i ask you how long you have been pig farming?and did you farm pigs in Oz?For me and my wife this is a new venture and adventure...to tell you the truth the only contact i had with pigs before was on my cutting block (5 years pig butcher)...and my wife was an office clerk,but we love animals and are trying our best to make a life out of farming...learning by our mistakes .Or should i say that my wife is learning because i am still based in the Netherlands for the next few years

Regards, Shaggy

[IsaanAussie]

Hey Shaggy,

Impressie piece of roofing! At 5 metres, that ridge is only a few hundred mms below mine, it should be fine. But you will need to ventilate it.

From your photos I'm guessing your post layout is similar to mine, basically 4*3 metres. so I have 3 at 4 metres by 7 at 3 metres. To that I added two more rows of posts a metre inside the middle 4 metre run. That means I have 5 metre deep pens each side and a 2 metre wide centre aisle (less the feeders which are in the aisle not the pens). The upper floor is 4 metres wide, so it is supported by 4 posts with heavy load capacity on the outer edges. I hope you can understand all of that.

Anyway the point is your could still build a mezzanine floor down the centre if you wished by adding similar posts in the centre aisle and a floor structure. Whilst you wont get the upper floor cross airflow that I do, the floor upstairs will assist in forming a venturi effect to draw air in from the sides and up along under the roof exhausting at the ridge.

On the experience side, I'm like you a new chum, only two and a half here. Family was involved back home a long time ago and eight years web surfing over the time here. Our initial idea here was to involve the wife youngest brother who wished to get into the business, a brother in law as well. That has all changed as neither understands words like work or clean and thankfully both have moved on to other things. Family issues have been my biggest drawback.

You have two advantages, one your wife will probably handle any such problems easier with you not around. Secondly changes are easier to fix when the budget can be renewed by outside income. You way may well be better.

Now my turn, what are you doing with wastes from the sty?

Isaan Aussie

[shaggy1969]

Hey IsaanAussie,

Very good idea about the mezzanine floor,i did see in your photo that you had your water containers inside the building but i thought that it was just a raised platform and didnt realise that it ran the whole length of your building.I dont think that i will be incorporating into my building but i do like the idea of it....plus i would never get any work done because i think i would spend most of my time up there looking down and admiring my pigs .

My post lay out is not quite as symmetrical as yours,this is the plan of my posts...it may seem a little strange but i designed it around the gestation and farrowing crates.

Total area will be 23 mtr x14.4 mtr,not including the building for me and my wife (6 x 8 mtrs but may become 8 x 8) and the pig food storage room (6 x 8 mtrs)

Sorry about the amount of diagrams in this post,but sometimes it is easier to show a plan than explain it

After seeing your building i figured that you had been farming for longer than 2.5 years,you really have been busy and done a lot in a short time!!! Do you do everything by yourself now?Touch wood i have managed to get my brother in law to work for me part time,he and his wife ask me if they could borrow 20,00 baht last year from me......i am not greedy,but i am also not stupid...hence they got their money and he payed it back through work ...and boy oh boy can that man work...thankfully a top asset.

Regarding wastes from my sty,well atm we are running off the water onto part off the the rice paddy and also into a pond that has catfish in and the solid matter we put with our duck/chicken manure mixed with rice husk and then either get used on our or the families land of gets sold per sack.....what do you do with yours?

Shaggy

[IsaanAussie]

WOW Shaggy,

Great stuff! You have twice the farrowing capacity I have. That is some breeding facility. Looks like around 32 sows? What are you going to do with the weaners?

The full length upper floor is now partly occupied with straw bales (170) , which I moved yesterday. Lucky as we had our first rain last night. So I cant look down on those pigs anymore. Ultimately I will build feed storage bins in upstairs over each pens feeders so I can dispense directly into the feeders without buckets and bags downstairs.

I dry muck out and compost the lot, What little waste water there is goes into septic tanks, through a solids filters, then soak away drains. Occassionally I pump some output water into the pond to feed the water lettuce and the fish.

Do I do it all? No not always, I was, but now have a guy works for me most of the time. I get the occassional day labourer in the odd jobs etc..

Isaan Aussie

[shaggy1969]

Hey IsaanAussie,

It's not quite as big as you think,i have only room for 24 sows and 2 boars in the next building ,24 gestation crates and 8 farrowing crates,2 pens 3 x 3.5 for the boars,1 pen 6 x 4.5 for gilts/quarantined new sow and 2 more pens 5.35 x 6 for the weaners, but i think that i may use these 2 pens for fattening pigs in the beginning from our own weaners because i will not be jumping in at the deep end with 24 sows.We have doing everything in stages and we still have a lot to learn so i think it will be wise to build up from 8-16 and then finally max out at 24.

Hehehee who am i kidding....max out at 24 !!! i have already got the plans for my 4th building in my head,but not on paper yet ...but before i can run i must learn to walk

What do you do with the waste in your septic tanks??do you sell it?and what is water lettuce? am i missing out on something here?got to google that one.

What type of fish do you keep?we have a small pond in the middle of our duck enclosure with catfish and another that i got dug out last year that now has Tilapia in it..

Regarding our weaners,at the moment we only have 5 sows consisting of 3 Pietrain+Landrace,1 Large White+Danish Landrace and a Duroc that we call Marissa and so we do not have many piglets,so far we have sold them all in full litters regardless of weight and i heard tonight i heard from my wife that she has sold 17 piglets (2 litters) to someone that she knows through a Thai pig website ,my wife is good friends with the webmaster from that site so that is good networking on her behalf.We have also had many offers from the locals,but they only want to take 2 or 3 at a time....but we have also had requests for 40 per month,but with only 5 sows that would be a little difficult at this moment in time.

We have also 1 more pen,that i made for wild pigs and runts that nobody wanted to buy (slow feed for our own usage)...but again i learned from my own mistake and this year before rainy season start i will need to extent the roof

Shaggy

[IsaanAussie]

You Old Shaggy Dog You,

Now you have me gob-smacked. I amazed by it all. Learn to walk? How big is all this going to get?

Septic tank waste. The plan is to pump out the sediment from each septic tank as required into the end filter boxes which are filled with carbonised rice husk. Then empty the entire filter box into composting boxes or windrows of straw. Since there is very little waste going into the septic tanks, other than water, these take months to build up sediments. I have had the tanks pumped out while I was "bedding in" the system and the tanker sold the contents to local farmers.

Currently there are three interlinked septic tanks on each side of the sty. Each tank holds about 1500 litres when at normal operating level. I have yet to decide on the design final for filter boxes as they have to be easy to empty out. So the soak away system which will link both sides of the sty, remains 60 odd metres of open trench and a stack of concrete rings that will form distribution pits at the pipe junctions. Must get on with that!

The septic tanks were sized on the assumption of 15 litres of wash water per pig per day and a hydraulic retention of 5 to 7 days. I don't use anywhere near that much water but others do. After dry muckout I use a 3/4 inch gravity feed hose to wash the floors when needed. But I have walked in when someone else was "helping" and to find he was using the 1", 80 litres a minute water supply from the well pump and just washing everything into the tanks. Just the situation I designed the system for, but not the intended way it is to be used. TIT

Water lettuce, I tried growing on the pond this last year for the first time. I wanted to see what would happen, how fast would it grow and would the pigs eat it, that sort of stuff. So I filled a plastic bag with a few handfuls and took it home. Dumped these few small plants in the pond and six weeks later the pond was almost choked with it. The pigs would get very noisey every lunch time when they expected their fresh salads on time. Pigs will eat any amount of the stuff in preference to other feeds. The water was not turbid anymore, and the catfish happy. But it became a large daily task to harvest the stuff.

I had been pumping water from the distribution pits on the output side of the septic tanks into the pond to get some life happening without dumping in solids. When I stopped feeding the pond the then giant water lettuce slowly died off. A new flush of growth has started which I can only assume is being feed by the remains of the parent crop.

The DM nutrient value of water lettuce is high. Sun dried it reduces to about 5% and can be crumbled up by hand. I have used this in compost and it decomposes very quickly. I am still yet to try using it to make dried molasses as an energy feed component and as fertiliser.

I have some background materials, which I think I may have posted before? Let me know if you want those. I am interested in trying duckweed and have only just managed to get some which the wife is maintaining until I can figure out where to put it.

Again great stuff Shaggy. Nothing Shabby.

Isaan Aussie

[RedBullHorn]

Great posts...great read !

[IsaanAussie]

Transporting pigs is always an issue. Starting with getting them into the box without a pile of anxiety all round. The guy photographed here seems to follow my thoughts that pigs can fly. He just nets them with his motorcycle as they fly by.

Moo Bin Dai

Isaan Aussie

[shaggy1969]

Hey IsaanAussie

How big is all this going to get? i don't know to tell you the truth! How long is a piece of string? lol...

if it was left too my imagination then i would say that i would like astronauts whilst orbiting earth to look out their window and say " isn't that Shaggy's farm down there " ....but in reality i will be happy with 75 sows and maybe a couple of buildings for fattening pigs,another 2 ponds (1 with a duck home on it),a mixed fruit tree orchard and last but not least a buffalo that i would probably name ' Bob '............aaaarrrgghhhh!!!! stop it Shaggy (note to myself) ....almost broke out into a sprint there, 1st learn to walk...

Septic tanks and the like....still need to do my homework on that one big time,my idea was an open slurry pit running off into the pond when full.This is where your duckweed could come in very handy as it apparently

is the best water natural purifier that there is and also Tilapia love it ( protein levels as high as 35-45 %.).... that's going on my little ladies list of ' things to do '.

What do you do with your piglets?do you sell them or fatten them up yourself and then sell them? i don't know if you know of this website http://www.mooyaso.net/ ...it is a Thai farmers pig website ,the web master is the guy that my wife is friends with and he is also guy that we bought our sows from that we have now (12 week old when they came to our farm).We were pretty lucky to get them because he has a waiting list and up to now it seems everyone wants to buy our piglets because they are associated with his name.I went down to his farm last year because my wife had told me so much about him and how great he and his farm was,but i was really disappointed when i got there because basically it was an old Thai style pen but i can't knock the guy because he does breed some good pigs.......I dont know how far along you are with Thai reading and writing (in my case,i ask and the wife translates for me) but i do think this site is worth a look and also good for keeping up to date from inside the Thai pig farming scene,

Another thing we are busy with at the moment,(or should i say my wonderful little wife is busy with) is a 'Standard Farm' training course,which i think is basically the same as an ISO certificate.Which will mean that we will be approved as a good quality pig farm and hopefully will make it better/easier to export.

Another future idea we have is to open a ' farm shop ' selling pork,chickens,duck,eggs and fish...i quite like the idea of this and my past experience as a butcher in a bacon factory would come in very handy.

Will accept any information that you have my friend...what a stroke of luck this was for me finding this site and your topic page and also all the other member on the Farming in Thailand forum who are willing to share their experiences and information...i only hope that soon i can repay you all with my own good advice and tips...many thanks

Old Shaggy Dog

[IsaanAussie]

Shaggy,

Perhaps your dreams could include beaming pigs up to the space station? Hehehe Good for you!

Piglets. What I have done with them to date is a long sad story which I will leave untold. The intention was to run full farrow to finish from day 1, well it didn't work out that way. My planning has always been to sell 75% of weaned piglets by nursery exit holding back the best 10 with breeding herd potential, ultimately keeping 4 gilts which would be bred and used as replacements in the farrowing area for returns in the current batch of sows. Should they not be needed, they can be sold as pregnant gilts or held until weaning if more piglets are required.

My dream is to build a grow finish facility on other land we have and transform a couple of the four grower pens I have into farrowing space.

On water lettuce, beware there is a trap if you are using tilapia. Do not let it takeover the pond, aeration will be a major issue. Doesnt seem a problem for catfish. There is a balance point, where the insect life skimming over the pond is maximised and everything is in balance. That is hard to keep constant without a lot of work. Yes the water lettuce is great be there is a cost.

Traditional Thai pig farms, Uhmmm ... I know a few, they seem to fall into two categories, those that clean regularly and those that dont. As ramshackle as some are, when the pigs are clean they do well.

Dealing with the wastes. In most things I deal with the most important first and to me this issue is high on the list. I would much prefer to deal with fresh manure than a slurry tank. Dry muckout is added chore to some but it is a means of collecting the most valuable resource, the urine, liquid nitrogen. Rice hull bedding is the easiest way to keep the floors clean, the manure wet and in small pieces so it composts quickly, odour controlled and urine inside the pen. My pens have a step-down level as the wet or dunging area and the front end of the stays dry on most ocassions if the number of pigs is right.

I looked very seriously at biogas and came to the conclusion it was too hard at my scale and didnt see enough use or market. There is methane produced from the septic system, surprisingly quite a look considering it is mostly suspended solids only that enter it. I have included gas trapping in the plumbing so I could mounting gas collectors on the tanks in the future.

Farm shop. Yeap, got one of those. Come over and give me a few butchering and bacon lessons. Have run all sorts to market tests and there are possibilities.

In closing, sharing basics openly isn't a problem. No need to thank me for that. Many of us do it gladly. More explicit details usually are available offline.

Isaan Aussie

[lucky2103]

Just wanted to inform that effective from next Monday, March 21th, Betagro and Balance will further increase prices for their feed by 5 Baht for most pigs and chicken feed.

[shaggy1969]

IsaanAussie

A pig beamer..lol,what a crackling idea !!!! that is also going on my wife's list of ' things to do '

Your breeding/finishing plan sounded good,shame that it didn't work out for you.I am curious to know why not but i respect your right of privacy.I had a good start to the day today this morning.I received an SMS from my wife as usual, but this 0ne included news of 11 piglets born at 04.00am and all are strong and healthy...phew !!

So that is it for now,our 1st attempt at breeding is over for now,all sows delivered successfully ! apart from 1 that had problems birthing and i think as result of that she rejected her babies (1 still born and 2 piglets). The other 4 sows gave us in total 39 piglets (7,10,11,11),it would of been 41 but 2 died due to being stood on by the sow.All in all i am very happy because this is our very 1st time that we have bred our own piglets.My wife also told me today on the phone that 4 local farmers have been to the farm today to try and buy the 17 other piglets we have already sold via the website.

Thanks for the tip about the problem with water lettuce and Tilapia,i still need to do some research about this and will not put any into our bigger pond atm.The duckweed does sound interesting for our smaller pond tho seeing as it is in the middle of our duck enclosure and our pond has catfish in it...the only problem i can think of is how to get it growing in the pond,i mean it wouldn't stand a chance of reproducing with 100 ducks and 1000 catfish all trying to get at it.Maybe the answer is to grow it in mass outside the pond in some old concrete containers with have and then introduce it on mass to the pond.

I do have a question for you....you have been breeding Duroc's now for 2.5 years and have gone through all seasons and change in temperature,has the the change in weather/temperature had any effect on your litter sizes?

Biogas.been thinking about this one also for some time now and i would like to try and make a usage of it also.One idea i had was to try and rig up a radiator fueled by biogas for my piglets in the winter months,or as a fuel for cooking with. As they say....the only thing that you can not use or sell from a pig is it's squeal.

How long have you been doing your farm shop and what products are you selling? and if it is not too rude to ask how is it going?

I would be happy to share my butchering skills with you...but i would need to practice a while before i do because i havn't had a boning knife in my hand for many a year,i exchanged my chain mail glove for a welding glove 12 years ago but i am sure that it wouldn't take long before it all came back to me.

I was looking at your photos from inside you pig house that you showed in an earlier post .Did you do the pipe bending yourself?It looked very professional !! do you have a history in metal work?

Shaggy

[IsaanAussie]

Shaggy,

Quick answers this morning:

I do have a question for you....you have been breeding Duroc's now for 2.5 years and have gone through all seasons and change in temperature,has the the change in weather/temperature had any effect on your litter sizes?

Yes, but due to factors I didn't mention before more than weather directly.

Biogas.been thinking about this one also for some time now and i would like to try and make a usage of it also.One idea i had was to try and rig up a radiator fueled by biogas for my piglets in the winter months,or as a fuel for cooking with. As they say....the only thing that you can not use or sell from a pig is it's squeal.

Storage, methane and Thais do mix, explosively... I am concerned about corrosion and convinced scrubbed and compressing the gas properly beyond local capability. Storage in inner tubes excites as much as a triple stage compressor and burn out engines...

How long have you been doing your farm shop and what products are you selling? and if it is not too rude to ask how is it going?

Started when we moved here, about 18 months. Eggs always sell because locals know they are fresh and no-one here seems to know how to tell they are not. Bacon and hams are OK it distance delivering doesnt kill it, havent tried selling meat other than to the locals. It is either a one meal sized sale or on the tick until the next rice harvest. Other issue is lack of time and family assistance. One a few ocassions I have sold select cuts to farang retailers and processors. All in all profit has been about 10% above Live pig returns. So in summary, as a market test or ocassional basis, OK, to make a living, doubt it.

I would be happy to share my butchering skills with you...but i would need to practice a while before i do because i havn't had a boning knife in my hand for many a year,i exchanged my chain mail glove for a welding glove 12 years ago but i am sure that it wouldn't take long before it all came back to me.

Try slowly and a plastic glove. Welding gloves, interesting...

I was looking at your photos from inside you pig house that you showed in an earlier post .Did you do the pipe bending yourself?It looked very professional !! do you have a history in metal work?

Jack of all trades master of none. Yes, fabrication, toolmaking, design studio..... and of course Thailand pig farming and structural fabrication

Isaan Aussie

[shaggy1969]

IsaanAussie,

Jack of all trades,master of none....tool maker and fabricator are on my list very highly regarded assets,so i think that you are being very modest about your capabilities and skills my friend.I have been working with steel for the last 12 years, making office furniture( bending,brazing,mig,tig and grinding) and i still do not class myself as a fabricator.I see now why your building is of a very high standard.

I made the mistake of showing my wife your building today (i hope you dont mind)....and i got my ear chewed off because your style off design was what she had been trying to explain to me .....unfortunately she did this when the builders were putting the roof sheeting on and not before i had design the roof frame.....but we both agreed that with the next building this will be incorporated into the design.

We also talked about additional pig food sources, ie: duckweed and water lettuce. My wife asked if you cooked the water lettuce 1st or do you give it to your pigs raw? she asked this because she had also done some research about water lettuce and she told me that many water plants carry a parasite called Liver fluke and it can affect the growing of fattening pigs.Other plants we talked about today were water hyacinth and gauge (Thai call it krathin ).The water hyacinth was a new one for me (again a plant that will quickly over run your pond if not controlled well) but the krathin i have know about for 2 years....my 1st experience with this plant made me dance like a mad man while collecting it.....not because the plant has musical qualities,no...it was more due to the fact the that i had disturbed an ant nest with my foraging and they decided to pay me back by swarming over my feet and legs ,my wife and little niece found this greatly amusing at the time and they asked me where i had learned to dance as a mad man !!!! It was not funny for me at the time but reflecting back on that moment it must of been very funny to see.

I was reading a previous post of mine again (post #78) and i hope that you or other members of TV that happen to read my post dont think that i was being facetious about my comment (but in reality i will be happy with 75 sows and maybe a couple of buildings for fattening pigs,another 2 ponds (1 with a duck home on it),a mixed fruit tree orchard and last but not least a buffalo that i would probably name ' Bob),I know that i am a newbie to farming in Thailand and i also realise that many of you here have devoted many years and money to become farmers....For me it will mean at least another 5 years away from my wife and as much overtime as my body can handle to reach my goal/dream of being together with my wife in LOS.So i do have very much respect for all you falang farmers that have walked the walk !!!!

Shaggy

P.s sorry about my grammar,i have been in Holland for too long now and have become very rusty with writing in my own language

[IsaanAussie]

Shaggy,

My skill level? Try "incompotent perfectionist", give anything a shot, that is more like it.

Pig feed. I figure we can worry a lot for nothing. If you look around your sty, you will see scorpions, spiders, chickens, maybe a duck or two, even a snake. Plenty of potential threats. I feed the water lettuce raw, if the plants are large then I break off the root system. To me the answer is keep the pigs and their environment clean.

Isaan Aussie

[shaggy1969]

IsaanAussie,

I am in total agreement with you about clean environment,and yes we did used to have chickens and ducks getting into the pens and doing their business in there.That is why we made 2 separate enclosures for the chickens and ducks.Regarding the water lettuce,i guess you are correct in what you say....i think that because me and my wife are fairly new to this game we maybe worry too much.

We do have a small problem that maybe you could give us some advice with,we have a Duroc gilt that is almost a year old now and has shown no signs of coming on heat.Seeing as we do not have a boar to help induce this,is are there any other ways to help this along?

Shaggy

[IsaanAussie]

We do have a small problem that maybe you could give us some advice with,we have a Duroc gilt that is almost a year old now and has shown no signs of coming on heat.Seeing as we do not have a boar to help induce this,is are there any other ways to help this along?

Shaggy

Shaggy,

At a year old she is getting to be a big pig and an expensive one. Time to make a decision. Now I have gilts that are very difficult to pick their seasons. One that didnt vocalise, no mounting, no swelling, ate normally. Without a boar very hard. We have boars and heat check twice a day. Finally resolved for my gilt that she was only receptive for 8 to 12 hours, easy to miss. The boar was the only one that knew.

You can get a hormone treatment that will bring a gilt into season within 3 to 5 days. It cost about 250 baht per dose. Gestvet or something like that. Ihad a vet get me some for 4 gilts but it was a complete failure, he never explained what was wrong.

Isaan Aussie

[shaggy1969]

IsaanAussie,

thanks,will pass on the info to my missus about the hormone treatment (Gestvet),or maybe borrow a boar from our neighbour to try and get her fruited up.We actually won her at a CPF meeting and the plan was to fatten her up to use at our wedding....but everybody fell in love with her because of her good nature (me also), so we decided that she was a 'good luck pig ' for our farm (i know,crazy eh!!!) and would try and get some babies out of her.

what's not to love about her?

[IsaanAussie]

IsaanAussie,

thanks,will pass on the info to my missus about the hormone treatment (Gestvet),or maybe borrow a boar from our neighbour to try and get her fruited up.We actually won her at a CPF meeting and the plan was to fatten her up to use at our wedding....but everybody fell in love with her because of her good nature (me also), so we decided that she was a 'good luck pig ' for our farm (i know,crazy eh!!!) and would try and get some babies out of her.

what's not to love about her?

What's not to love about any of them at that size? Especially one that has a name, really Shaggy! Does Marrisa get tucked into bed at night?

Still as a gilt she will come into season quickly if placed in a pen next to a boar where they can see and smell each other. Nose contact is good.

One word of caution, biosecurity. Be careful if the boar is regularly used for serving other farms sows. You dont want anything more than you bargained for coming back into your herd.

[shaggy1969]

IsaanAussie

Yep,it's a fair cop....busted!!! (i'm not going to tell you that the others have got names also ).You are correct with what you say to be careful about what boar we bring into our farm,but the farm we have already used has proved to be good so far. Up until now we have only impregnated our gilts by means of artificial insemination...apart from our 1st sow Lyndylou (name was the wife's idea,honest). Hope everything is well with you and your farm .

Shaggy

[IsaanAussie]

The attached file is an article on coping with the PRRS virus. Perhaps the "worst" is over, but the problem will not go away. This article gives a good perspective on the strains of the virus and its proliferation within a breeding pyramid and the effects of introducing external strains. Reality here is there is little chance you will avoid the virus long term unless you live in a completely self contained system.

Coping with PRRS Virus.doc

Isaan Aussie