Livestock - Pig Breeds and Production Systems

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Pig Production Cycle

  • The whole cycle lasts around 148 days
  • 5 days from weaning to service
  • 115 days gestation (3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days)
  • 28 days suckling
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Pig Production Systems: Intensive: Slatted Pens

  • pigs are inquisitive andthis system gives them nothing to do
  • tail biting due to boredom
    • tails cut off or teeth clipped
  • keep pigs clean
    • reduces salmonella risk
  • easy to maintain
  • cheap and efficient
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Pig Production Systems: Intensive: Sow Stalls

  • less space
    • cheaper
  • prevents sows fighting for food
  • sows can be given more or less food according to requirements
  • prevents sow exercising, socialising and foraging
  • sow cannot turn around for weeks or months on end
  • sow cannot urinate or eliminate faeces away from her lying area which is natural behaviour
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Pig Production Systems: Intensive: Farrowing Crate

  • prevents mother properly interacting with young
  • prevents nest-building before birth
    • risk of stress and still births
  • caged sows are less content and produce less milk
    • piglets may starve
  • prevent sow rolling on young
  • economical on space
  • piglets produced cheaply
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Pig Production: Intensive-enriched: free-farrowing

  • gives sow freedom of movement
  • designed to reduce piglet crushing without confining sow
  • more milk production
    • piglets grow healthier and quicker
  • some systems more expensive
  • requires good management to keep piglets alive
  • pigs still bred indoors without access to natural environment
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Pig Production: Intensive-enriched: straw beds

  • comfortable bed
  • fresh straw added frequently means piglets will spend hours foraging
  • some straw-based systems keep tails on pigs without risk of tail biting
  • expensive and requires extra labour to handle
  • system can be more difficult to keep clean
  • pigs can't go outside
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Pig Production Systems: Free-range: Free-range

  • free to go outside with greater enrichment
  • cheap to set up since no building only simple huts
  • extra labour required is good for rural employment
  • pigs consume additional feed
  • requires extra labour so adds cost
  • pigs plough up ground so that nutrients run off into the water supply
  • working in all weathers makes stock tasks more challenging
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Pig Production Systems: Free-range: Organic

  • piglets stay longer with mother
    • more used to solid foods by the time they are weaned
  • british organic piglets kept free-range
  • free of mutilation such as castration, tail and tooth clipping
  • consume signifcantly more food
  • people have to eat less meat due to reduced productivity
  • sold at a higher price due to land, labour, feed and length of time in the system
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Pig Breeds

  • e.g., Danish Landrace, Large White, Duroc
  • Most pigs that are commercially used are hybrids.
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Pig Breeds: Large White

  • most popular UK purebred orginating from Yorkshire
  • slightly dished faces
  • pricked ears
  • white
  • large litters
  • good milk production
  • good mothers
  • commonly used in indoor intensive systems
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Pig Breeds: Landrace

  • 2nd most popular UK breed
  • long in body
  • white
  • lopped ears
  • docile
  • large litters
  • commonly used in indoor intensive systems
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Pig Breeds: Duroc

  • most popular in the USA
  • commonly used
  • colour varies, light gold to dark red
  • lopped ears
  • good mothers
  • prolific
  • good eating, redder meat
  • poor feed conversion
  • indoor and outdoor systems
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