Pigs 101 (A Start)

[revar]

yeah. but keep trying to find new buyers. we now got people driving 100+km to buy our pigs. just because of quality. yor feed shop might be able to help u find other buyers too.

[pigeonjake]

also just keep your etes open when out and about, when you see a pig truck with the cages stop them, thats how we found our best buyer, just ask them nothing to loose

[Robert24]

cp farms here sell 69. local sarakorn farm sells at 67. hence our 64. moo baan do 62 here now. but there arent any lol. i put my price 3 bath below sarakorn as a standard. the market guys get a first time try it out discount. (2pigs).

Good price. We just got 60 from our buyer. Even though he admits that our pork has superior meat to fat ratio than most of his other suppliers he doesn't see the need to pay more. Unfortunately that is the problem when there is only one buyer in our area... No competition.

selling at a fair price can be a headache. you need to shop around in advance. if you sell at 60, they have a huge margin.

CP by the way have now a new program. It's not like their previous contract farming. You can do one time contract, you buy their food and pigs and they guarantee to buy it back. Last time I was in touch with them, they offered the pigs for 1400 baht and guaranteed the CP published price -2 baht when you sell. But you have to buy and use CP food. Something to think about...

[pigeonjake]

cp farms here sell 69. local sarakorn farm sells at 67. hence our 64. moo baan do 62 here now. but there arent any lol. i put my price 3 bath below sarakorn as a standard. the market guys get a first time try it out discount. (2pigs).

Good price. We just got 60 from our buyer. Even though he admits that our pork has superior meat to fat ratio than most of his other suppliers he doesn't see the need to pay more. Unfortunately that is the problem when there is only one buyer in our area... No competition.

selling at a fair price can be a headache. you need to shop around in advance. if you sell at 60, they have a huge margin.

CP by the way have now a new program. It's not like their previous contract farming. You can do one time contract, you buy their food and pigs and they guarantee to buy it back. Last time I was in touch with them, they offered the pigs for 1400 baht and guaranteed the CP published price -2 baht when you sell. But you have to buy and use CP food. Something to think about...

i buy my feed direct from the mill at cost price,

i dont know the price of cp feed but i would think they arnt going to let you have it at cost,

[Robert24]

cp farms here sell 69. local sarakorn farm sells at 67. hence our 64. moo baan do 62 here now. but there arent any lol. i put my price 3 bath below sarakorn as a standard. the market guys get a first time try it out discount. (2pigs).

Good price. We just got 60 from our buyer. Even though he admits that our pork has superior meat to fat ratio than most of his other suppliers he doesn't see the need to pay more. Unfortunately that is the problem when there is only one buyer in our area... No competition.

selling at a fair price can be a headache. you need to shop around in advance. if you sell at 60, they have a huge margin.

CP by the way have now a new program. It's not like their previous contract farming. You can do one time contract, you buy their food and pigs and they guarantee to buy it back. Last time I was in touch with them, they offered the pigs for 1400 baht and guaranteed the CP published price -2 baht when you sell. But you have to buy and use CP food. Something to think about...

i buy my feed direct from the mill at cost price,

i dont know the price of cp feed but i would think they arnt going to let you have it at cost,

sure not. CP will make a lot profit on the food. Not sure if they allow you to mix it with other food though.

When you say you buy your food from the mill at cost, you mean you buy ready mix food from their factory at cost price from the food producer? Appreciate if you can give me some insight. I buy Hyfeed ready mix food and mix it with rice. It costs me about 2200-2400 baht per pig.

[Snoozy]

I don't even know where to start... other than to say I think I have a steep learning curve ahead of me. Here is some background into my predicament... I returned to Thailand in Nov to find that my girlfriend, and her mom (I think mainly her mom... as my gf has a good job at a school) decided to take out a loan and build a small pig farm. I can't attest to what was going through their minds, other than trying to earn an income. What I've learned since then, is that I know nothing about pigs (well, I already knew that), and that they know just a tad bit more than I do. Which is scary. With that said, I love their work ethic and to not have a fear of trying to better their lives. In Nov/Dec they bought 2 batches (?) of piglets, 12 in one group and 13 in another (paid 1,400 baht per pig...don't know the weight), and 4 sows. They have been feeding them a commercial food, I don't know the brand, and I don't know the cost. But I will soon. I'm not sure when they bred the sows, probably late Jan or early Feb.

Well, here it is 6-7 months later... they have sold the 25 pigs they initially bought for 65 baht a kilo, and have been paid close to 130,000 baht. The problem I have, and I guess it is just my thinking, but they don't have any cost analysis in place. I ask if they made a profit... and I get "I don't know", which drives me crazy because I don't understand how anyone could run a business without knowing their expenditures. But the worst of it right now, is they were banking on the 4 sows they bred to provide the next group of pigs to raise. Three of the sows gave birth to 35 piglets. Sadly, 22 of them have already died. For reasons they don't know or understand. They think it is because it was too hot. I think it was a combination of heat and disease, and an inadequate space for them to be born. Sow number 4 is supposed to give birth on June 10th. My gf's mother has been there (the piggery is at a different location) 24/7 since the birthing process began.

So here I am, willing to learn as much as I can. They do know about shots, teeth, castration, types of food to buy at various growth stages... but I don't think they know about space requirements, farrowing pens or farrowing crates, general sanitary practices, and how to plan and design a space. Then toss in a way to keep track of how much they are spending. They already want to expand the growing out area, I think I read .7 square meter per pig... but first things first.

I realize this is very open ended, but if anyone has any links, or any info you would be willing to share, I am all ears. I truly want to get involved with the venture, but want to do it informed.

We are located in Chiang Rai, about 10-12 minutes from the city center. Lastly, if anyone is in that area... do you know where I can buy a farrowing crate, feeders, water nipples and things like that?

[thoongfoned]

I don't even know where to start... other than to say I think I have a steep learning curve ahead of me. Here is some background into my predicament... I returned to Thailand in Nov to find that my girlfriend, and her mom (I think mainly her mom... as my gf has a good job at a school) decided to take out a loan and build a small pig farm. I can't attest to what was going through their minds, other than trying to earn an income. What I've learned since then, is that I know nothing about pigs (well, I already knew that), and that they know just a tad bit more than I do. Which is scary. With that said, I love their work ethic and to not have a fear of trying to better their lives. In Nov/Dec they bought 2 batches (?) of piglets, 12 in one group and 13 in another (paid 1,400 baht per pig...don't know the weight), and 4 sows. They have been feeding them a commercial food, I don't know the brand, and I don't know the cost. But I will soon. I'm not sure when they bred the sows, probably late Jan or early Feb.

Well, here it is 6-7 months later... they have sold the 25 pigs they initially bought for 65 baht a kilo, and have been paid close to 130,000 baht. The problem I have, and I guess it is just my thinking, but they don't have any cost analysis in place. I ask if they made a profit... and I get "I don't know", which drives me crazy because I don't understand how anyone could run a business without knowing their expenditures. But the worst of it right now, is they were banking on the 4 sows they bred to provide the next group of pigs to raise. Three of the sows gave birth to 35 piglets. Sadly, 22 of them have already died. For reasons they don't know or understand. They think it is because it was too hot. I think it was a combination of heat and disease, and an inadequate space for them to be born. Sow number 4 is supposed to give birth on June 10th. My gf's mother has been there (the piggery is at a different location) 24/7 since the birthing process began.

So here I am, willing to learn as much as I can. They do know about shots, teeth, castration, types of food to buy at various growth stages... but I don't think they know about space requirements, farrowing pens or farrowing crates, general sanitary practices, and how to plan and design a space. Then toss in a way to keep track of how much they are spending. They already want to expand the growing out area, I think I read .7 square meter per pig... but first things first.

I realize this is very open ended, but if anyone has any links, or any info you would be willing to share, I am all ears. I truly want to get involved with the venture, but want to do it informed.

We are located in Chiang Rai, about 10-12 minutes from the city center. Lastly, if anyone is in that area... do you know where I can buy a farrowing crate, feeders, water nipples and things like that?

well.......... they done ok on the finishing side of things, good really . try and get everything ready for the coming birth. clean dry area for the piglets, a box of some sort that you can heat with say a 100watt bulb, try and teach the piglets to go sleep in this box.ie lock them in afew times till they learn. have meds to hand if problems happen............ go to the larger feed shops in your area, they will have plenty of stuff for you to buy.ie meds or farm stuff.......... make sure there is good clean water for the mums.......... try and have a look around to see if you can spot why the piglets are dieing like this? heat will not be aproblem for them, they like like it warm. check what amount of feed the mums are being given, tooo much in the early days is not good. how old are the mums (parity) fat thin ect...... when the new piglets are born check that the mum has milk. try and spend as much time with the piglets-mum as poss in the first few days, try and stop the crushing and make sure the piglets look-are ok.

record keeping................ what can you expect. if you partner works at a school at least she has money coming in every month, worst case she can always service the loan with said income. give it time, you never know they might even get you living at the farm full time.

good luck. oh yes and start getting the two mums that do not have piglets now ready to get back into the heat.

[Snoozy]

I don't even know where to start... other than to say I think I have a steep learning curve ahead of me. Here is some background into my predicament... I returned to Thailand in Nov to find that my girlfriend, and her mom (I think mainly her mom... as my gf has a good job at a school) decided to take out a loan and build a small pig farm. I can't attest to what was going through their minds, other than trying to earn an income. What I've learned since then, is that I know nothing about pigs (well, I already knew that), and that they know just a tad bit more than I do. Which is scary. With that said, I love their work ethic and to not have a fear of trying to better their lives. In Nov/Dec they bought 2 batches (?) of piglets, 12 in one group and 13 in another (paid 1,400 baht per pig...don't know the weight), and 4 sows. They have been feeding them a commercial food, I don't know the brand, and I don't know the cost. But I will soon. I'm not sure when they bred the sows, probably late Jan or early Feb.

Well, here it is 6-7 months later... they have sold the 25 pigs they initially bought for 65 baht a kilo, and have been paid close to 130,000 baht. The problem I have, and I guess it is just my thinking, but they don't have any cost analysis in place. I ask if they made a profit... and I get "I don't know", which drives me crazy because I don't understand how anyone could run a business without knowing their expenditures. But the worst of it right now, is they were banking on the 4 sows they bred to provide the next group of pigs to raise. Three of the sows gave birth to 35 piglets. Sadly, 22 of them have already died. For reasons they don't know or understand. They think it is because it was too hot. I think it was a combination of heat and disease, and an inadequate space for them to be born. Sow number 4 is supposed to give birth on June 10th. My gf's mother has been there (the piggery is at a different location) 24/7 since the birthing process began.

So here I am, willing to learn as much as I can. They do know about shots, teeth, castration, types of food to buy at various growth stages... but I don't think they know about space requirements, farrowing pens or farrowing crates, general sanitary practices, and how to plan and design a space. Then toss in a way to keep track of how much they are spending. They already want to expand the growing out area, I think I read .7 square meter per pig... but first things first.

I realize this is very open ended, but if anyone has any links, or any info you would be willing to share, I am all ears. I truly want to get involved with the venture, but want to do it informed.

We are located in Chiang Rai, about 10-12 minutes from the city center. Lastly, if anyone is in that area... do you know where I can buy a farrowing crate, feeders, water nipples and things like that?

well.......... they done ok on the finishing side of things, good really . try and get everything ready for the coming birth. clean dry area for the piglets, a box of some sort that you can heat with say a 100watt bulb, try and teach the piglets to go sleep in this box.ie lock them in afew times till they learn. have meds to hand if problems happen............ go to the larger feed shops in your area, they will have plenty of stuff for you to buy.ie meds or farm stuff.......... make sure there is good clean water for the mums.......... try and have a look around to see if you can spot why the piglets are dieing like this? heat will not be aproblem for them, they like like it warm. check what amount of feed the mums are being given, tooo much in the early days is not good. how old are the mums (parity) fat thin ect...... when the new piglets are born check that the mum has milk. try and spend as much time with the piglets-mum as poss in the first few days, try and stop the crushing and make sure the piglets look-are ok.

record keeping................ what can you expect. if you partner works at a school at least she has money coming in every month, worst case she can always service the loan with said income. give it time, you never know they might even get you living at the farm full time.

good luck. oh yes and start getting the two mums that do not have piglets now ready to get back into the heat.

Thanks... well, so far now... most of the babies that were born have died. I was there yesterday, and they only have 3 left of the 36 that were born. The fourth pig should be giving birth on June 10th. It is frustrating for so many reasons, and I think most of those are knowledge based. I have gone to the shop where they buy feed, (CP brand) and the woman who works there just seems to take the money, she doesn't seem too involved in anything else. I'll ask my gf to question her, maybe she knows more than what it appears.... I hope so. As far as feed goes, I think they are feeding the moms the same amount as they always have. I haven't been around pigs, so I'm not a good judge as to how fat they should look... to me, they look fine, not overly fat or thin. The water they use now is pumped from the ground (as of yesterday), and is groundwater that originates from the Kok river here in Chiang Rai. Previously, they had been giving the sows water out of a slightly stocked fish pond. The same water was given to all of the pigs, with no apparent problems. I think the next step is to buy a farrowing crate, or to somehow move the last pregnant sow to an area that can be cleaned, and one where the piglets have access to her... without getting crushed. When I talked to my gf, she didn't indicate that any had died from crushing though, they just seemed to get sick. Once I get a handle on how to properly raise pigs, requirements, sanitation practices, I will be much more involved. One question comes to mind though, do you think that having other animals (a few chickens or ducks) that can wander through the pig area could be a problem in terms of disease transmission (I tend to think it is, but don't really know)? I have also read that some pig farms have a one entrance, one exit design where there is a foot dip you have to step into every time you enter the facility to keep pathogens at bay.

Thanks again for your input.

[pigeonjake]

did they inject with iron on birth?

have they kept pigs before,?

and as for saying the feed lady dosnt care,, well i would think she would want you to have pigs, she sells you the feed, she isnt a vet she sells feed, try and find a vet near to you, they are about,

we cant really give advice without seeing what is going on,

as for chickens running about, some say its bad, i have a few chickens running about, i think they do more good then harmas they eat scorpians and a scorpian bite will kill a pig no matter how big it is,

some say they can transmit disease, yes they could be so can wild birds so you are going to have to fully enclose if you go down that route,

there will be many factors why you are loosing piglets not just crushing, i would ask if they injected with iron at birth,

did the piglets look yellowish?

[thoongfoned]

ok, how long ago were the piglets born that are dead. where at the mo are the sows giving birth. get sick ie pooing? before the piglets die do they show any signs that's things are not good, paddling while laying on their sides and show white foam in the mouth? are the piglets bloated? thin fat ect....... you get the idea, try and find the reason for the deaths.......

on the food what we do is. last 10 or so days before birth, cut food back to 2kg a day. then once birthing is complete start at day one with only 1kg, day 2 2kg ect.... until day seven then they can eat as much as they like. (not all in one go) this way they do not produce toooo much milk for the little piglets, if the milk does not get sucked out it can block the "pipes" then the nipple will be come dry, then piglets will die...... the first 24 hour of milk are very important, must have! ect...

look back afew pages on here and you will see some photos of a birthing area by raver I think, a small block room, good to have something like this....

I would say best if you can stop other animals "coming in" limit the people in too, always where boots that only go in the farm ect.... again that's only what I would say.........

if you start buying birthing crates ect... these have to be "housed" ie off the ground ect.... not something that can be done in five minutes, and then there is the cost factor. google some pigs sites, and have a look about, plenty of reading on the wed. good luck.

[revar]

I am using pens and not cages to breed piglets. heres my input.

if young piglets die there can be many reasons.

assuming that they were born healthy and its not a crushibg problem i can think of the following common reasons:

1) malnutrition.

- pregnant sows need different food than finishing pigs. when they give milk they need other food again.

- a week before birth give the sow a 10cc catosal injection to stimulate metabolism andmilk production.

- during the first 24 hours the newborn need to drink at least every 2 hours. during this time the milk contains a substance which develops their imune system and antibodies. if they dont drink enough of this first milk they will often die sooner or later. even if they survive they stay very suspecticle to disease.

2) draft and cold

newborn piglets (and realy all pigs) get a cold very easily.

there should absolutely be no draft or wind in their pen. there must be a closed heated area where they can go sleep after drinking. put straw on the ground there too. during the first 2 days i also put straw in the mothers pen because they havent learned yet to go sleep in 'their room'. u much teach them that by placing them in there after they drink.

the sleeping area must be heated at night the first 3 nights.

3) iron deficiency

young piglets dont have enough iron in their blood to last more then a few days. only later they will get that from feed.

they will need a 2cc iron injection on day 2 or 3.

(iron is needed for the blood to cary oxygen,)

4) on day 0,1or 2 most farms clip the teeth and tail of the piglets. giving them a 1cc penstrep injection to prevent infection also combats other deseases.

5) poisoning

the pen must be cleaned daily. mold develops quickly in thailand and is deadly.

6) diarea

diarea is another reason many young piglets die.

if not caused by poisoning its often because the intestines havent properly developed.

to develop strong , efficient intestines piglets need to suckle e ough of the first 24-hour milk, drink mothers milk as long as possible ( minimum 2 weeks, but i do 4 weeks) and be gradually be introduced to solid food. ( i make it available from day 7 ) using EM in their water helps a lot in this too.

7) birthing problems.

u should help the sow when shes giving birth. if the piglet stays too long in the birth canal or get strangled by the 'cord' she may be born weak. wiping them dry. getting them breathing etc is also important.

[pigeonjake]

great advice from raver,

i would add also, not to let them eat to much solid feed while young as this can course scowers, (pooing,)

this is one of the main courses in my opinion of piglet losses when first weened, dont let them eat to much, it will scower them, and this leads to dihydration, then you will have to give electrolites, just the same as us, when im sweating to much i take electrolites a little sashe of orange flavoured drink to give me the salts back im sweating away,

we had them provided in africa when i worked there,

but like raver says they must be warm and get that colosteral milk from there mum, same with any animal the first milk is vital,

as you will see on our pictures we bed all are new piglets when they come to us on straw for a month till they go to the growout pens, they will bury themselfs in it and keep warm, play in it and get strong, its natural,

just my thoughts, but we all tend to do things a little diofferent, and being in thailand there is more to look out for,

[Snoozy]

did they inject with iron on birth?

have they kept pigs before,?

and as for saying the feed lady dosnt care,, well i would think she would want you to have pigs, she sells you the feed, she isnt a vet she sells feed, try and find a vet near to you, they are about,

we cant really give advice without seeing what is going on,

as for chickens running about, some say its bad, i have a few chickens running about, i think they do more good then harmas they eat scorpians and a scorpian bite will kill a pig no matter how big it is,

some say they can transmit disease, yes they could be so can wild birds so you are going to have to fully enclose if you go down that route,

there will be many factors why you are loosing piglets not just crushing, i would ask if they injected with iron at birth,

did the piglets look yellowish?

I don't believe they injected the piglets at birth, but with that said, we visited a man's farm that is selling off his sows and farrowing crates as he is getting out of the business. He gave them two bottles, one of injectible iron, and another of injectable vitamins, Hopefully he can be a wealth of information for them, unfortunately he speaks only Thai, so I can't play 20 questions. No, they have not raised pigs before... I believe the mom must know a little about it though, but my gf knows relatively little... but she is learning quickly. I was in Chiang Mai when most of the babies had died, I have not been there to actually see them. The only ones I've seen are the three living ones, which are now about a week old.

They did buy a farrowing crate/pen from him, and will pick it up tomorrow. I mentioned that they should clean it thoroughly at their home, disinfect it, then bring it to where they have the pigs. Don't know if that is sound advice or not, but I'd hate to bring in someone else's potential problems, as I think some preventative maintenance is always a good thing. I don't think the feed lady doesn't care, I've just never seen her offer any help. I know she was asked if they knew of a source for crates/pens, and all she said was they don't sell them... end of discussion, lol. Anyway, thanks for asking about the iron... I wouldn't have known otherwise. Like I said, I'm up for both the challenge and the learning curve!

[Snoozy]

I am using pens and not cages to breed piglets. heres my input.

if young piglets die there can be many reasons.

assuming that they were born healthy and its not a crushibg problem i can think of the following common reasons:

1) malnutrition.

- pregnant sows need different food than finishing pigs. when they give milk they need other food again.

- a week before birth give the sow a 10cc catosal injection to stimulate metabolism andmilk production.

- during the first 24 hours the newborn need to drink at least every 2 hours. during this time the milk contains a substance which develops their imune system and antibodies. if they dont drink enough of this first milk they will often die sooner or later. even if they survive they stay very suspecticle to disease.

2) draft and cold

newborn piglets (and realy all pigs) get a cold very easily.

there should absolutely be no draft or wind in their pen. there must be a closed heated area where they can go sleep after drinking. put straw on the ground there too. during the first 2 days i also put straw in the mothers pen because they havent learned yet to go sleep in 'their room'. u much teach them that by placing them in there after they drink.

the sleeping area must be heated at night the first 3 nights.

3) iron deficiency

young piglets dont have enough iron in their blood to last more then a few days. only later they will get that from feed.

they will need a 2cc iron injection on day 2 or 3.

(iron is needed for the blood to cary oxygen,)

4) on day 0,1or 2 most farms clip the teeth and tail of the piglets. giving them a 1cc penstrep injection to prevent infection also combats other deseases.

5) poisoning

the pen must be cleaned daily. mold develops quickly in thailand and is deadly.

6) diarea

diarea is another reason many young piglets die.

if not caused by poisoning its often because the intestines havent properly developed.

to develop strong , efficient intestines piglets need to suckle e ough of the first 24-hour milk, drink mothers milk as long as possible ( minimum 2 weeks, but i do 4 weeks) and be gradually be introduced to solid food. ( i make it available from day 7 ) using EM in their water helps a lot in this too.

7) birthing problems.

u should help the sow when shes giving birth. if the piglet stays too long in the birth canal or get strangled by the 'cord' she may be born weak. wiping them dry. getting them breathing etc is also important.

Thanks Raver, those were some of the milestones and other bits of info I'm looking for. I'd like to try to establish a timeline that can be used as a guide, and this is a good start. I think this was the first time giving birth for all of the pigs, but I'm not totally sure. I have never been around breeding sized sows before, and didn't realize how big they can be until this afternoon when we went to some other guy's farm that is slowly closing up and I saw his. Our sows seemed about half the size to two-thirds of his which leads me to think that maybe they weren't ready... not sure about that though. Also, when looking at the one sow that has the three surviving babies, it doesn't look like she is loaded with milk... and the other two sows don't look like they even had babies. So now I wonder if malnutrition was the culprit. I can't remember on which pig it was (I think the first to give birth), but my gf mentioned via chat that the babies would eat (meaning suckle). I will be living here full time in about two months, and will be able to have first hand infor, instead of poorly translated infor to post, lol.

Look forward to figuring out some sort of timeline for the shots, teeth and tail clipping, castration, breeding and so forth. That plus when to feed supplements, how much to feed, and so forth and so on.

Thanks again for you advice.

[revar]

snoozy. use these 2 months to read through this whole tread. everything uneed toknow is here !

i love livin here and raising piglets and pigs is the best way tomake an income in myopinion.use the information here.common sense and DO NOT ACCEPT 'THIS IS HOW THAIS DO IT' arguments.

my other advise would be to ask ur gf not to invest in equipment until.u done this and are here. you gotto look at the market first before u decide how toproceed. until you have a reputation or many buyers, doing it like others in the area do, is a sure way tolose money. the buyer is king. u gotto find ur niche.

in my case thats high quality pigs with low fat and much red meat. lots of others raise pigs on ram but butchers have found that my meat sells first and at higher prices.

if u got the money to build a 100+sow , 600 finishing pig farm. thats not important.but if u start smaller scale and still want to make a reglar income , think things through first.

[Snoozy]

snoozy. use these 2 months to read through this whole tread. everything uneed toknow is here !

i love livin here and raising piglets and pigs is the best way tomake an income in myopinion.use the information here.common sense and DO NOT ACCEPT 'THIS IS HOW THAIS DO IT' arguments.

my other advise would be to ask ur gf not to invest in equipment until.u done this and are here. you gotto look at the market first before u decide how toproceed. until you have a reputation or many buyers, doing it like others in the area do, is a sure way tolose money. the buyer is king. u gotto find ur niche.

in my case thats high quality pigs with low fat and much red meat. lots of others raise pigs on ram but butchers have found that my meat sells first and at higher prices.

if u got the money to build a 100+sow , 600 finishing pig farm. thats not important.but if u start smaller scale and still want to make a reglar income , think things through first.

Thanks again Revar... I agree with proceeding with caution. They, the mom and gf (who is kind of a non-working partner since she works full time at a school) are already into this a bit. They bought another dozen piglets to grow out two days ago, and have close to another dozen of various ages. They also have four more young sows (to eventually breed) to add the the 4 adults that just had (ok, three of them, the 4th is due in two days) babies. I'm busy trying to learn. I'd really like to see this fourth litter survive, and will pass on the info you provided to me regarding shots and care for the first week or so. I think they just bought a farrowing crate today, didn't see any money change hands, but that is the impression I got... and has been kind of confirmed in a roundabout way, lol. They don't have room to grow out more than I'd say 40-50 pigs at a time right now, so diving in much deeper than this isn't an option at this point. Eventually if they get it down, they have room to probably double their size, but that will be about it.

They have confidence growing them out, having just sold 25 pigs within the last 2 weeks for close to 130,000 baht. But again, at this point, with no record keeping... I have no idea if they made a profit. I guess time will tell how this venture will go. So far, I'm only into it for a small amount money wise ($350)... and that was to buy fill dirt. They have not asked for help, and seem to want to do this on their own, and to learn as much as they can to become somewhat successful.

Will post questions as they arise... thanks to the group for the advice!

[pigeonjake]

little video of the 33 new pigs we collected today,

my god they are nice piglets,

https://youtu.be/mO24ltS1qJQ

[thoongfoned]

lookin good jake, are you doing farms stays now then?

[pigeonjake]

not so much a farm stay but people if they want can come and look at a thai/ falang working farm,

ive said on our website, this isnt a farm stay, its a working farm, we dont have a pool and all that, its a working farm were people can come and ask questions about setting up a farm,

ask me what they want and if i can help i will,

like ive said on the website, we know the score, man meets a girl, she wants him to buy loads of land, ect ect,

well they could come here, the girls wont like a lot of what i would have to say but that isnt a problem i dont want loads of falang spending lots of money they dont need to,

we do all we do on 2 rai, our house cost just over a million and only just, but its nice, this is what i want people to see,

when we first met i built a 8x5 condo on our land, that is now our bedroom with the rest of the house built round it, we lived in that for 3 years building things up steady, this is what i want to get through to people,

dont go running in buying 100s of rai and a 10 million house, walk before you start running,

im no web builder but the site is coming along ok, i think so anyway, we have people waiting to come so things seam to be going ok,

its thaifarmlife.com,

jake

[thoongfoned]

the joy of the night time birth! over the last week we have had afew give birth during the late night-morning. been lucky over the last month or so, all day time births.

one starts last night at 8 ish, couple out in 2 hours, gonna be a long birth, check on it at 1am still no more out! electric goes off at 3am, have to get up anyway, turn tractor on for the fans, see said mum standing up, out one shoots (piglet) on the floor out side the cage. great mum!, she finished about 6am, 8 born all alive. parity 3 this pig, never more than 8 alive born, should have taken her out the farm before (cull) all being well this will be her last time. she has now only just started to let them drink milk too, (not good mum) so I have now filled her up with some over piglets from different mums, leave her with 12 to make full use of her milk.

had another one yesterday long labour, pig is sick anyway, bad leg ect.... 12 plus hours, first few out very small 1kg ish, thought this is gonna be a total loss (love these ones) but ended with 16 born alive and 2 mummified, so lucky.

most births are under or around the 4 hour mark, the quickest I have seen was the other night when I was pulling them all out, 14 born alive in about 30 minutes, now this I don't mind for night time work!

only one birth scheduled for today, I hope its out during the day!

[revar]

a couple of hours old these 12. always get 12 or 13 from this mum within 2 hrs.

my home made baby boxes can be seen in the background

[revar]

forgot the picture lol

[snowandpigs]

hi forum,,good input from site as always ,,, anyone looking to buy piglets in udon , nong khai, kong kean area's ,, I have quality litters available at fairly short notice ,for further details please call chris on 0885386465 ,cheers, have a good day all

[Snoozy]

When injecting the newborn piglets with iron, should you use a new unused needle for every piglet? Or can you use the same needle? I assume it would be a fresh needle for every injection, but I'm not sure, so that is why I ask. My gf told me that a vet came a few months ago to inject an antibiotic to the pigs they were growing out... she said he used the same needle on all of the pigs, which to me, doesn't sound safe. But again, I don't really know.

So as it stands... the first three sows gave birth, 35 piglets in all. Only three piglets survived (from one sow), and now are 2-3 weeks old...and seem to be doing fine. The last sow gave birth two days ago to 11 piglets. All have been injected with iron, and have been given some vitamins orally. Mother seems fine, babies are eating and active. Teeth and tails have been clipped. No mortality yet, and I hope it stays that way.

[thoongfoned]

When injecting the newborn piglets with iron, should you use a new unused needle for every piglet? Or can you use the same needle? I assume it would be a fresh needle for every injection, but I'm not sure, so that is why I ask. My gf told me that a vet came a few months ago to inject an antibiotic to the pigs they were growing out... she said he used the same needle on all of the pigs, which to me, doesn't sound safe. But again, I don't really know.

So as it stands... the first three sows gave birth, 35 piglets in all. Only three piglets survived (from one sow), and now are 2-3 weeks old...and seem to be doing fine. The last sow gave birth two days ago to 11 piglets. All have been injected with iron, and have been given some vitamins orally. Mother seems fine, babies are eating and active. Teeth and tails have been clipped. No mortality yet, and I hope it stays that way.

no use the same needle as long as its sharp. doing well on the numbers born, doing good work on the AI, should get better numbers on the second litters too. good luck with the current litter.....

[pigeonjake]

yep good luck,

i agree about as long as the niddle is sharp,

but what i do is leave a needle in the top of the bottle to fill the syringe, take the syringe off that niddle and put the niddle on that im going to inject with,

i used to do it with my pigeons in the uk, a vet told me to do it that way to stop putting anything into the bottle,

jake

[Snoozy]

I have read to inject the piglets in the neck muscle and not the ham, as it can damage the sciatic nerve... and stain the meat. I have tried to explain this to the gf, but the language barrier is too difficult, lol.

With that said, in in real life... I don't know if injecting in the neck vs ham is the standard practice. What do you guys do? I also read that you should use a 1/2 inch (1.27cm) 18-20 gauge needle. She has so far used a number 21, but it looks to be over an inch long. I don't know how far she is poking that thing in there either.

Thanks again for the advice.

[revar]

yes inject in neck. use 1/2 inch tor piglets under 30 kg. 1" over. needle goes all the way in at straith angle for most medicines.

[thoongfoned]

first six months of work almost completed, wean the last lot end of the month, then bonus time! produced (weaned) the same amount there or about as the last 2 years, but with 6 percent less mums. have improved the still born rate by approx. 30 percent and the weaned numbers are a little higher, all helps! but the kg are down. still really trying with the AI, a little better this period but by only 0.8 percent ect, want to achieve plus 90 percent every month but easier said then done...... up to mid October works already "standing" in the farm, could be a busy six months, fingers crossed.

had a mum "abort" last week (first one this year) 28 day to go! would have been a record for us if she had made it through, 24 aborted!!!! 4 of these were mummified. could not believe she had so many, she was a very large pig parity 4 or 5 not sure now. she just stopped eating and then.... oh well she is in a better place now..........

happy piggin.....

[ddeellbbooyy]

Hi all has anyone ever worked out how much one pig costs per upbringing ( birth to slaughter house ) and second question what's the average weight of pig going to slaughter.