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Rearing pigs - A subsidiary enterprise for farmers |
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Increasing human population in the state of Goa. which is around 14 lakhs, demands more food production and transport of essential commodities from the neighbouring states. Majority of the local population are meat consumers. Further around 12 lakhs tourists are visiting the state of Goa every year. Taking into consideration of the minimum requirement around 40 tons of meat /fish products are required per day. Major sources of meat are fish, poultry and pork. Present population of pig in the state of Goa is about 45,000. Mostly these are non-descript with poor growth efficiency and are reared under scavenging conditions. Though pigs are maintained for production of pork, their role in progressive agriculture is not fully recognized. Pigs convert inedible feeds, forages, certain grain by-products, damaged feeds and garbage into valuable nutritious meat. The faeces of pigs are useful in maintaining soil fertility as about 80% of the fertilizing value of the feed is excreted in the faeces and urine. With a small investment on building and equipments, proper feeding and sound disease control programmes the farmer can profitably utilize his time and labour in this subsidiary occupation. The ICAR Research Complex for Goa has studied the performance of cross-bred pigs under local conditions and identified suitable management practices for faster growth rate and better feed efficiency. The following management practices in piggery will help to enhance the productivity. Appropriate housing and equipments for feeding and management of pigs are necessary for enhancement of productivity. Housing provides shelter against inclement weather, prevent diseases, control parasites and save labour. Space requirement for pigs is about 2.0 square meters per pig. Breeding male, pregnant sow and farrowed sows should be kept separately. The pig house should have sufficient light, good ventilation for fresh air and sound flooring. Proper drainage should be provided for maintenance of hygiene. Ample clean water must be available for drinking and cleaning operations.
The animals for developing a herd should be purchased from reliable disease free herd. The animals should be free from physical defects. Gilts should have a minimum of 12 evenly spread functional teats. The indigenous (desi) pigs have been the basis of pig production in the past. It is small in size. They are poor in litter size, birth weight, daily weight gain and feed conversion efficiency. Improved breeds are now being used for grading up the indigenous pig population. The improved breeds which have been tried so far are Large White Yorkshire, Middle White Yorkshire and Landrace. Studies carried out at ICAR Research Complex for Goa have indicated that York shire, Landrace and their crosses with local breeds have performed well in Goa and these two exotic breeds are suitable for crossbreeding. Pig grows fast and is a prolific breeder. farrowing 10-12 piglets at a time. Gilt and boar should be of minimum 6-8 months age and having more than 60 kg body weight at the time of breeding. Gestation period in pigs is 115 to 120 days. Pregnant sows should be separated in farrowing pen at least 15 days before farrowing. Farrowing pens should have guardrails to rest feeding mother and to avoid stamping deaths of piglets. Large scale rearing of pigs under confined condition in the farm needs proper attention in feeding. In addition to feed minerals, vitamins and water are to be provided to the animal to maintain their health and growth. The following feed can be prepared with ingredients available in the local market for feeding the adult animals.
The above ration is to be divided into two parts and given in the morning and evening. Feed is to be mixed with water and given in semisolid form. Nearly 80% of the maintenance expenditure goes for feeding of animals in piggery. Proper attention is to be paid to provide only the required amount of feed to the animal. Use of by-products like, dried cashew apple waste, rice polish, pineapple fruit waste etc. in the ration will help to reduce the feed cost. Vegetable waste, and kitchen waste available from the nearby hotels and other sources can also be fed to the animal as supplement to concentrate feed. Piglets are to be provided with creep feed having 18% crude protein and 3000 kcal energy. Daily feed to be given @ 400-800 gml piglet GN cake : 30 Parts Maize : 40 Parts' Wheat Bran : 28 'Parts Vit:Min mix : 2 Parts Losses from diseases can be a major factor affecting the profits. Proper hygienic practices reduce chances of infections and parasitic infestations to a greater extent. However, there are some common diseases. which should be taken care of Anemia is a very common nutritional disease of piglets. This condition can be prevented and cured by supplying iron either orally or by injection or by painting mammary glands of mother with saturated ferrous sulphate solution. Swine fever is a highly infectious viral disease of pigs. It causes high mortality leading to heavy losses. The disease can be prevented by vaccination. The pigs can be marketed at the age of 6 to 8 months or when , they attain the body weight of 40 kg and above. It should have adequate length and depth of the body, thick well muscled hams and be firm and trim. The technical details for rearing pigs can be sought from Animal Sciences section, ICAR Research Complex for Goa, Ela, Old Goa , 403 402. |
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