Pig breeding at home - features, breeding and maintenance

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Pig farming at home can not only provide meat supplies for the whole family, but also become a small business that will generate income. This business requires certain knowledge and skills in caring for pets. It is necessary to properly equip the pigsty, choose the right feed, and also decide on the breed of animals.

Breeding basics

These animals grow and gain weight relatively quickly. Thus, in a short time, you can get a pretty good profit. With proper care, a piglet reaches a weight of 100 kg by 6 months. It turns out that the increase is about 80%.

Many are wondering if it is profitable to breed pigs at home. At first glance, it seems that anyone can start this business. But this is far from the case.

If you buy new piglets every time after slaughter, then the profitability of pig breeding at home will soon come to zero. Thus, it is only possible to provide the family with meat. But if there is a goal to turn pig farming into domesticconditions in business, then you need to get your own offspring.

Choosing a breed is half the battle

Before you decide which piglets to buy, you need to find out for what purposes they will be raised. The choice of breed depends on this decision.

They are divided into three groups:

• meat-greasy;
• greasy meat;
• bacon.

This conditional distinction makes it possible to choose the required breed. For example, to raise animals for meat, it is better to purchase Ukrainian steppe or Siberian northern piglets.

Landrace and Duroc breeds make it possible to obtain excellent quality bacon. Now this product is quite in demand in the market. To produce good fat, it is better to pay attention to the Mirgorod and Belarusian breeds.

Business plan

Before you start buying animals, you need to think through all the steps in advance. It is necessary to draw up a business plan for pig farming at home.

It spells out all the items that provide for housekeeping. It should include even the most minimal expenses. If animals are to be bred for profit, then legal documentation needs to be considered.

For a small business, it is better to register as an individual entrepreneur. This form is convenient if the population will be more than 100 individuals.

In another case, it is better to register a household plot, which allows you to trade in surplus grown products.

Bplanned expenses should be included:

• acquisition of building materials;
• buying piglets;
• feed;
• veterinary services;
• payment of utilities;
• cost of heating a pigsty;
• travel costs;
• physical care work;
• paying taxes;
• force majeure (illness and death of livestock);
• expenses for technical equipment and various accessories.

Based on these data, each owner can calculate whether he will be able to receive income that will cover all expenses and still make a profit.

Acquisition of piglets

Most often, in various publications, it is advised to start your business in the spring. At this time, it is already warm outside, and you do not need to spend additional money on heating the pigsty.

But that's not entirely true. This option is convenient for people who buy several animals to grow to get meat for personal needs. And if you plan to start pig farming at home as a business, you will have to work all year round.

Therefore, young livestock can be started at any time, subject to complete and high-quality equipment of pigsties. Piglets are best purchased at the age of 1.5 months. Before buying, you need to look at the sow. In this case, you can approximately determine what kind of offspring will grow.

Purchase of piglets in large numbers should not be done from the hands of the market. Better find a farmfarm, where they can provide all the necessary veterinary documents confirming the he alth and breed of young animals.

Basics of choice

There are several ways to help determine when buying whether a piglet is he althy and how it will develop.

1. It is necessary to take one baby in your arms and press your hand to yourself. Another open lips. The lower and upper teeth must meet, otherwise the piglet is culled. He won't be able to chew his food properly and growth will slow down.
2. A very important factor, especially when choosing a uterus and a boar for breeding livestock, is checking the external genitalia. The male should have uniform sizes of both testicles. The female has the correct location of the nipples and the top of the genital slit is not bent. Otherwise, such a pathology will lead to unfavorable reproduction.
3. It is necessary to watch how piglets eat. They must capture food with their entire mouth. You should also listen to the babies squeal. The sound should be clear and loud.
4. Piglets should not be too thin, but a big belly is a bad sign.
5. It is worth asking the owner what they fed the offspring. If they were supplemented with sweet milk, then there may be problems with food in the future.

These tips will help you choose he althy piglets for home raising. Which will lead to good growth with proper care.

Setting up a pigsty

Depending on the climatic zone and the availability of free space, future breeders should consider a zone for keeping animals. If athere are already utility rooms, then they need to be properly prepared. This will require:

• insulation;;
• ventilation;
• fluid drains;
• floors that are easy to install and remove (should not injure animals);
• good roof;
• no drafts;
• lighting.

The minimum height of the room should be 1.75 m. Now it is quite popular to use polycarbonate as a roof for agricultural buildings. This material protects well from precipitation and transmits sunlight. Thus, you can save a little on lighting.

It is desirable to make floors as filler. Before this, a gravel pad is mounted. In places where animals rest, it is imperative to construct wooden substrates. In this way, hypothermia of animals can be avoided.

Near the feeders it is necessary to provide for the strengthening of the floors. Because while eating, pigs are active and destroy structures. In these places, it is better to cover the floors with metal sheets.

Interior design

Pig farming can become a profitable business at home only with the right approach to business. The internal work on the arrangement of the pigsty will help to simplify the work of caring for animals. This will lead to their good development and rapid weight gain.

The room is divided into several machines. Each must have dimensions of at least 2.7 m by 2.5 m. A pen for the uterus is designed separately. It must be at least 5.5 m2. ATotherwise, the animal will suppress its offspring during farrowing.

The height of the partitions must be at least 1.2 m. In this case, it will be convenient to take care of the animals and they will not be able to leave the machines. Wooden flooring is mounted in the 1 x 2.5 m area. The rest of the space is used to install feeders and a toilet area.

Fattening

It is believed that raising this type of animal is easy. The owners think that it is enough to feed the pigs with the remnants of food from their table. This is a very misconception.

Animals need good nutrition with the necessary amount of vitamins and minerals. Pig farming as a business at home will develop actively with the right approach to fattening.

If more than 5-10 heads are grown on the farm, it is better to use dry feed. In this way, the farmer will be sure that he provides adequate nutrition to the livestock.

You can make a mixed type of diet. Thus, pigs are fed with industrial mixtures and leftover food, greens, and fruits. The ratio should look like this:

• 60% - dry;
• 10% - juicy;
• 5% - herbal flour;
• the rest goes to leftover food and feed of animal origin.

You need to prepare it immediately before feeding. It is necessary to properly steam dry food, grind cereals, crush greens and fruits. So the pigs will be finechew food and enough gain will come.

Pig breeding at home: swine diseases

These animals, like others, are susceptible to various infections. The owners of the following signs can determine that the pig is sick:

• poor appetite;
• sluggishness;
• appearance of skin changes;
• inconsistency in movements;
• convulsions;
• the inability of the animal to stand up.

These symptoms indicate the development of an infection, so a call to the veterinarian should be immediate. Such signs may indicate one of the dangerous diseases:

• swine flu;
• plague;
• pneumonia;
• gastroenteritis;
• worms;
• anemia; furunculosis, etc.

Some infections can affect entire herds on the farm. Therefore, if a diagnosis is not made in time, the disease can lead to the death of all animals. If the veterinarian finds out that the disease is infectious, the sick animal is isolated or slaughtered with further disposal of the carcass.

Some diseases can be transmitted through human contact, so don't be leery of any symptoms of sickness in pigs.

Pig breeding at home: animal breeding

Raising this type of animal for meat does not guarantee successful business development. Very often, farmers are engaged in the trade of piglets. Such activities, with the right approach, bring much more profit.

From whatto start the development of pig breeding in order to get a good offspring? Of course, with the choice of the uterus. The whole result of the work will depend on her he alth and physiology.

From the outside it seems that this option for business development is much easier. There is some truth in this statement, but difficulties will still have to be faced. The pregnant uterus needs very careful care.

The pig should receive only high-quality feed and is in a separate room. Animals reach puberty by the age of 6 months, but mating must be done no earlier than 10.

Pregnancy in sows lasts an average of 110 days. Then comes delivery, which can take 1.5-7 hours. At this time, it is desirable to be near the pig so that it is possible to help her or the piglets.

Features of reproduction

For the first time, the uterus brings no more than 6-7 babies. In subsequent pregnancies, she can give birth to up to 14 piglets. Thus, simple calculations make it clear that this is a very profitable business. Especially taking into account the fact that little waste is spent on food for babies, since they are fed with mother's milk until 1-1.5 months.

Then, after a few weeks, they are gradually accustomed to normal food and can be put up for sale. One sow can give birth twice a year. This is a very tangible advantage of pig farming at home.

It is also very important to keep a good boar on the farm. It will ensure timely fertilization of the uterus and lay infuture offspring their genes. For the breeding process, it is necessary to purchase a thoroughbred boar with ideal physical forms and he alth.

He must be kept separate from the main stock and allowed to the sow only for mating.