Monday, February 4, 2013

Aspects that Hog Raisers Should Learn About

By Lianne Derocco


Before you should start operating a swine farm that is small enough for your pigs, you should first learn some very important concerns. Among those that you should research on are feeding, veterinary care, swine waste management, and housing. You may not be able to learn all these immediately but you could start with the ideas below.

Many farmers say that it is healthy for pigs to roam around freely which is why it would be advantageous to a big area that is fenced well. Even as the pigs are given the opportunity to find shades for themselves, it is still necessary for you to ensure access to food and water as well as shelter. It would be wise to build pig arks, with its quantity based on the number of animals in the fenced area, as a protection from heat and rain. An ark may just be a half tube that is made of metal sheets supported by wood, with bedding for the animals.

You may decide to build a pen or a sty. It is best that you construct a sty that is on a high ground that it would be easily flooded and it should be far from your home so that you would not have to deal with the bad smell it makes naturally. The floor of the sty should be concrete so that it would be easy to clean and it should be sloping also so that the urine goes directly to the drains. There should be beddings provided to the pigs.

Pigs in general have huge appetites. These do not just get contented with the food that they find among the grasses and plants that are in the fenced area that they are in but would also visit the troughs often to check out if these have food. You need to purchase feeds and then mix these with the food scraps that you have in the kitchen in a manner that would be healthy for the pigs. You also need to give clean drinking water to the pigs.

Veterinary checkups should be made regular so that you could make sure that the pigs are healthy and that the right vaccinations are conducted. Because of this, you may have to find yourself a veterinarian that could regularly visit your farm and do the necessary checkups as well as treatment for those pigs that are sick.

Dealing with animal waste is another big issue, as swine do produce quite a bit of waste. At a small pig farm, the waste is typically stored in a deep pit containment system. This needs to be treated regularly to maintain a proper balance; otherwise you will end up with too much sludge, as well at top-level crusting. This poses serious health risks, increases odors and also increases the amount of flies around the waste pit.

Agra Sphere is one good product that you could use to prevent swine waste issues. This effectively deters crusting and effectively slows sludge buildup because it contains active and good bacteria. You do not have to mix it either, as it begins to biodegrade and the bacteria in Agra Spheres begins to grow and balance out the agricultural waste. With the nutrient value that it provides, Agra Sphere makes the waste good for fertilizing purposes.




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