Zambia Agribusiness Society

The management of newborn piglets is crucial for ensuring their survival, growth, and overall welfare. This article delves into the various strategies and considerations involved in optimizing the care for piglets from birth through their early life stages. Drawing from recent research and best practices, we'll explore maternal care, post-birth vitality, environmental conditions, nutrition, and social factors that influence piglet outcomes. Key Takeaways Effective maternal care, including assessing sow nursing capacity and implementing cross-fostering strategies, is vital for piglet survival. Post-birth management, such as addressing asphyxia and ensuring colostrum intake, is essential for improving piglet vitality and reducing mortality. Environmental management, including temperature control and sanitation protocols, plays a significant role in the health and development of newborn piglets. Nutritional strategies, including appropriate feeding regimens and the use of supplements,

  Dear fellow pig farmers, If your farm is in any of the categories below, then it’s time to make some adjustment for profitability. 1. If you have more pigs than you can feed properly then they will soon lead you to losses. Make some adjustments, increase the feeds or reduce the number to meet the available feeds. 2. If you are feeding your pigs on good nutritious feeds, but they are not gaining weight (i.e. Commercial breeds gain up to 100kg or above in 6 months from birth.) Then perhaps it’s time to look for a trusted breeder to get you commercial breeds for profitability. "It is said even if you give all the nutrition in the world to a goat, it can never be as fat as an elephant because it only has growth characteristics of a goat." 3. If you have been allowing everyone into your farm it’s time to lock its gate and major on e-commerce or have a sales point away from the pig units to simply avoid losing your farm to infections such as African Swine Fever (Lift

Question : How can one make 5 sows come into heat at the same time to cut costs of transporting semen and AI technician from one location to another?  Answer : You need to take control over your pigs’ oestrus cycles. Remember your female pigs are either gilts or sows. A gilt is a young female that has never given birth. A sow is a reproductively active female pig on a farm. Gilts They come into puberty on average at around 24 weeks! To take control over their cycles, carry out " Boar Exposure ." Boar exposure is creating contact between your gilts and a mature boar for purposes of inducing heat. Procedure 1. Introduce a boar to your gilts (one or in a group of not more than seven) every day. 2. Make sure every gilt in the group smells the boar. Ensure contact between each gilt and the boar. 3. Check for signs of heat each day before introducing the boar to the gilt pen. Don't introduce a boar into gilts on standing heat because they may end up mated by the

Last week we discussed management of newly born piglets . The discussion today is a continuation but focused on management of weaned piglets. Weaning is the process of stopping the piglets from suckling the sow. This is done by removing the sow from the farrowing unit or removing piglets from the sow unit to their new pen. Weaning is the most stressful process to piglets and if not handled well, chances of losing them are very high! This is because: 1. Change of Diet: There is change from liquid to sole dependency on solid diet. When with their mother, piglets are used to a combination of both liquid (sow milk) and solid (Barbistar safe creep feed) diets. A piglet hardly consume 500g of creep feed from its introduction at 6 days to weaning. Therefore less solid food is consumed during suckling. Weaned piglets will be more interested in water in the first few days before good appetite for solid food is developed. This is why providing a consistent access to clean and fresh water

There are various ways of cutting pork; different countries have different methods and produce different cuts. Before instructing a butcher, decide on the sort of size you want your roasts, whether you prefer to have mince or require the butcher to make sausages, if you like chops or would rather have large joints. The butcher will have his favourite way of butchering but you should always discuss your needs with him. In Britain there are four meat categories: 1 . Porker : 55–62kg (120–136lb) for small joints on the bone, sold as fresh meat. 2 . Cutter : 64–82kg (140–180lb) trimmed of fat and skin . 3 . Baconer : 90–100kg (200–220lb) cured. 4 . Heavy hog : 100–125kg (220–275lb) trimmed of fat and skin . 5 . Leg : A prime roasting joint that is usually cut into two pieces – the fillet half leg and the knuckle half leg. Whole legs can be boned and rolled by the butcher to the desired size. 6 . Hind loin : or chump Known as chump chops if the bone remains or steaks if it is

The real reason for engaging in the business of farming is to make profits. But profits don't just come. You have to work it out! One of the best ways to make better profits in livestock and poultry farming is to do away with unnecessary costs. A wise farmer will continually look for ways to cut costs without necessarily reducing the quality of his farm products. Profits boosting ideas in livestock farming Let us look at some ideas that will greatly boost your farm profits in both short and long runs. 1. Strict hygiene/ biosecurity : We cannot overemphasize the need for hygiene in the farming environment. There is no money spent on hygiene that will not turn to gains eventually. Do not give room to dirty attendants and practices; they are profits killers. 2. Preventive health mentality: Always aim to prevent disease outbreak in your farming operations. Strive at all cost to do all necessary preventive practices. It is always better and cheaper to prevent disease than

The teeth of the young pigs are clipped as soon as possible after birth. Piglets are born with eight teeth. Failure to clip the teeth results in teat injury and infection. Teeth clipping also prevents the young pigs injuring themselves while fighting or playing. Why is it so important? Piglets bite the sow (mother) in their fight to get hold of one of her teats and suckle. The pain caused by this disturbs the sow causing her to get up and prevent her young from feeding. The cuts to the sow's udder also allow germs to infect the udder. In their fight to grasp the teat and suckle, piglets will also bite and injure one another. The simple practice of clipping the teeth as soon as possible after birth prevents these problems. When should it be done? The piglet's teeth should be cut six hours after birth. This is meant to allow piglets to take colostrum. Clipping teeth earlier may result in infection. The sow and her young should be separated for as short a time as possible.

After new-born piglets are born, soak the navel of each piglet in an iodine solution to prevent inflammation (omalitis). The piglets should also be aided by putting them onto the udder of their mother. They need to suck from the colostrum (first milk) which helps in fighting impending diseases. Young piglets tend to be anaemic (have a shortage of iron in their blood) because there is less iron in the sow’s milk, and wouldn’t meet the iron needs of the piglets. Piglets suffering from anaemia become pale and their growth rate drops. How to Prevent Anaemia in a Piggery 1.     You can prevent anaemia by putting clean compost or iron-rich soil (red, yellow or brown soil) at the corner of the pen every day. When the piglets eat some of the soil, they will be able to supplement the iron deficient in their mother’s milk. 2.     You can also give the piglets iron injection (Iron D) at the age of 1 to 3 days. Some important operations carried out on piglets are: 1.     Teeth trimming