You were asking about…Pigs

Housing: Where Do Pigs Live?

Most pigs in Ontario are kept in barns to provide protection from predators, extreme weather, parasites and disease. All the pigs in Canada are kept in barns in the winter. Barns maintain an optimal environment with ventilation systems that control humidity and temperature. Strict sanitation and restricted farm entry programs are designed to help farmers maintain optimal animal health and biosecurity.

Pigs can be aggressive by nature and competitive for food and space, so the animals are often kept either individually or in small groups to ensure their social and nutritional needs are met.

After sows (mature females over 6 months of age) farrow (give birth), the sow and piglets are kept in farrowing pens – specially designed stalls that give piglets access to nurse while allowing them a place to sleep and exercise so that the sow won’t accidentally lie on them. The sow’s movement is restricted – she has sufficient room to stand up, lie down, and move back and forth while small pens on either side protect the piglets for their first two to four weeks.

Today’s farming methods strive to ensure a consistent, top quality food product for the consumer by raising animals in a clean and well-managed environment. A farmer’s goal is to maintain high husbandry standards while keeping production costs economical. Modern hog farming uses husbandry practices in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Recommended Code of Practice, developed in 1984 by farmers, government, animal protection groups, researchers, and processors. Copies may be found at www.livestockwelfare.com.

Nutrition: What Do Pigs Eat?

Pigs are omnivores (they eat a diet of animal and plant origin) and they were originally kept on the farm to make good use of the feed scraps from the household, barnyard and fields.

Today’s commercially raised pigs are fed grain-based, nutritionally balanced rations that are often in a pelleted form, similar to dog kibble. These complete rations are typically based on corn, soybean and barley with vitamins and minerals added to balance dietary requirements for each stage of growth and reproduction.

Weanling pigs will consume approximately ½ kg of pelleted feed every day, while market hogs (growing pigs) will eat approximately 2 kg per day. A pig going to market will eat 280 kg of feed in its lifetime, which translates to 3.7 kg of feed for every 1 kg of pork on your plate.

A pig will drink between 5 to 7 litres of water every day (about the same amount it takes to brush your teeth if you leave the tap running.)

One pig will produce about 3.5 litres of manure each day, which provides valuable nutrients to be recycled back to the land as a natural fertilizer for the next field crop. For more information on hog farming and the environment, visit: www.farmtofork.ca

Animal Health & Biosecurity

Some farmers might ask you to take a shower or put on plastic boots over your shoes before you go into their barn. Other farms do not allow any visitors at all, people or animals. These protocols are part of what is called 'biosecurity', and it's one part of a herd health program that helps to keep pigs healthy. Not allowing visitors into the barn helps to keep germs or sickness out. Farmers do treat animals with medications when they are sick, but prefer prevention over treatment.

About the Life Cycle of Pigs…

Piglets: from birth to approximately 3 weeks of age, a piglet grows from a birth weight of 1-2 kg to 7 kg while drinking the sow’s milk. They are given mineral and vitamin supplements and are vaccinated against disease. Their razor sharp milk teeth they are born with are usually clipped off by the farmer soon after birth to prevent them from biting the sow while nursing. Many farms also trim the end of the piglet’s tails off where there are no nerves at the same time to prevent ‘tail-biting’ later in life– a habit of pigs that may cause discomfort and sickness to their pen-pals later on. Males piglets are also castrated at this time.

Weanling pigs: from 3 to 12 weeks of age, young pigs still require warmer facilities than the older pigs. They are kept in small groups, in barns or pens, at warm temperatures designed for weanling pigs as they grow from 7 kg to 37 kg. Many farms specialize in raising weanling pigs, and practice what is called “all-in/all-out” management – where the entire barn is filled with weanlings in one day, and emptied when they are 12 weeks old. This allows the farmer to thoroughly clean and disinfect the barn before the next group of weanlings come in to help keep piglets healthy.

Grower/Finisher pigs: from 12 weeks of age to 6 months old, barrows (neutered males) and gilts (young females) are sorted to pens according to their size, gender and temperament, where they will grow to reach a market weight of 100-110 kg.

Breeding Stock: The best pigs are kept to replace animals in the herd; sows may end up back in the breeding barn, producing 2 litters of 8-12 piglets per year with a gestation (pregnancy) of 115 days (easy to remember as 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days). Mature sows can reach 200 kg in size.

Most breeding is now done by artificial insemination with fresh or frozen semen, meaning that boars (mature male pigs) are often kept at separate breeding stations. This allows farmers to select the best genetic lines from around the world to achieve their production goals. Boars can weigh over 270 kg.

Breeds

Pig breeds come in all sizes, including the small pygmy hog, which stands 1 foot tall at the shoulder and weighs 13 pounds. There are over 29 breeds of domestic pigs raised around the world. The most popular commercially raised pigs in Ontario are crossbred (incorporate two or more purebred lines) mainly descended from Landrace & Yorkshire lines. They are usually pink but they do come in other colours, for example, black and white pigs descend from such breeds as Hampshire and red pigs come from Duroc lines. For information on breeds of pigs visit: www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/swine/

Off To Market

When the time comes to ship to market, market hogs are loaded on specially designed trucks under strict guidelines for transportation, regulated under the Federal Health of Animals Act and the new Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Livestock: Transport. For more information visit http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/animalcare/transportation.html

Most market ready hogs in Ontario are sold through contracts, and some by auction, all brokered through the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board. The market is not supply-managed which means that prices fluctuate according to the normal market forces of supply and demand. A levy is collected by Ontario Pork from each hog sold to fund them to provide services to pork producers such as industry representation, marketing, research and promotions.