Articles - Management

In the previous piece of advice we saw that in small farms it could be interesting to maintain a certain order when entering the sows in the farrowing quarters depending on their parturition. Nevertheless, in big farms or in farms that group together many farrowings at the same time we will have to think about the order in another way, because if the farrowing quarters are not very big we will have the same batch of sows housed in several rooms.

The European Declaration on alternatives to the castration of pigs is a declaration that is a voluntary agreement in which, for the first time, the European swine farmers have manifested a proactive stance with the aim of presenting a solution, from the swine sector, to a social demand.

Lasso the pig with a metallic cable lasso and hold the end of the cable to a pen door or divider.

The losses due to diarrhoea problems appear concentrated, basically, during the first week in the weaners stage, whilst in the farms that have not suffered diarrhoea problems, the mortality is distibuted more evenly.

If once we have evened out the litters a sow farrows during the late evening, what do we do?

We hold the legs of the piglets together with plastic straps, avoiding that they move apart from each other.

We analyze a real case, and we will check out how a partial analysis of the data can give place to erroneous conclusions.

We are going to see a practical example of how to even out litters after the farrowings in a quick way and minimizing the swappings of piglets.

We are going to save money in heating during the weaners stage guaranteeing the thermal comfort of the piglets by creating two environments in the weaners stage defining an area for the nest and an outside area.

In this second article we are going to analyze the causes of these locomotive system disorders and the treatments to avoid them or to minimize their effects.

Apple juice is the favourite kind of juice for the sows during the training sessions.

Locomotor problems are serious, multi-factorial problems that aren’t well registered on farms, but for the most part are correctable.

Can we get to know if the behaviour, from the sanitary point of view, of a certain batch of animals during their growth stage is being correct? How can we achieve this?

To keep the piglets clean and to ensure their wellbeing during the carrying out of different handling procedures or the relocation of animals.

When the farrowings are programmed, their supervision has to be one of the main tasks in the farrowing quarters. The rest of the tasks must be organized in such a way that we can exert the maximum control over the programmed sows.

Short weaning to service interval isn’t always a synonym for good management, since we have to take into consideration not only average number of days, but also the effect on the percentage of distribution after returns.

The aim of this trick is to identify quickly and practically, the age of piglets and pigs just by looking at the color of their ear tag.

It would be so nice if the sows could warn us when there are problems when they are giving birth to their piglets during labour! This seems impossible… Or maybe it is not so.

The goal is that the sows always have access to a good amount of fresh drinking water in the farrowing quarters.

In the previous chapter we saw how level litters by size. Now we will see how to do it by number.

In the previous chapter we discussed the ideal time to level out litters of newborn piglets. Here's how to do it.

With the high prolificacy of sows nowadays, leveling out litters is one of the most hands-on jobs on the farms of today. It is one of the first steps to start lactation successfully.

We have seen the importance of obtaining a sufficient dose of quality colostrum to generate the newborn’s defenses as well as the conflict that this can suppose when we level the litters after birth. Now lets take a look at the importance of rapidly obtaining colostrum and milk to ensure energy supply and minimize temperature loss.

The ingestion of Ig in sufficient quantity is the first priority. So much so that it even comes before the factor that seems most important: the feed supply.