Starting a Pig Farm - A Collection of Articles on Selection, Grazing and General Management of the Herd , livre ebook

Read Books Ltd. - Various Authors

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17 pages

English

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“Starting a Pig Farm” is a fantastic collection of vintage articles on the subject of keeping pigs, dealing with every aspect from buying and housing to marketing and beyond. This book contains a wealth of timeless, practical information that will be of considerable utility to anyone with an interest in keeping pigs for pleasure or for profit. Perfect for those with little previous experience. Contents include: “Making A Start”, “The Breed”, “Courtesy Berkshire News”, “Courtesy Berkshire News”, “Courtesy United Duroc Record Association”, “The Individual Pig”, “Starting An Outdoor Herd”, “The Only Answer”, “Breed To Buy?”, “Best Bet”, “Much In Favour”, “Laying The Foundations Of The Herd”, “Backyard Pig Keeping”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on pig farming.

Sujets

Agronomie

Agronomy for Sustainable Development

Agriculture

Engineering

Technology

Sciences et techniques

Animal Husbandry

Informations

Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	31 mai 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781473391154
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0350€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Starting a Pig Farm
-
A Collection of Articles on Selection, Grazing and General Management of the Herd
By
Various Authors
Contents
Home Pork Production . John Smedley
The Breed
The Individual Pig
Outdoor Pig Keeping . Ken Bolton
T HE O NLY A NSWER
B REED TO B UY ?
B EST B ET
M UCH IN F AVOUR
S LIDING S CALE
M AIN C ONCERN
R OTATIONAL G RAZING
N O F ORTUNE
The Handbook of Modern Pig Farming . H M Rikard-Bell
The Right Way to Pig Keeping and Breeding . Alan Morley
MAKING A START
F OR A BEGINNING it will be necessary to buy one or two pigs. Whether one or two will depend largely on the quantity of food available. It is practically very little more work to care for two pigs than for one. These pigs can be bought of any good farmer, but the man who is well-known as a pig breeder is likely to have better bred and selected shotes than the scrub farmer who keeps scrub hogs. These pigs should cost anywhere between $2 and $15 each, depending on age and quality, also a good deal on the standards prevailing locally. They should be taken soon after weaning at an age varying from three to ten months. It is not good business, as a rule, to buy pigs at a year old or more, the reason being that the best growth and the cheapest poundage are usually acquired by young stock. Usually the best growth period is between one and two years, and the man who keeps only one or two pigs just for family meat, will find it desirable in most cases to butcher his pork at one year of age, or even a little less.

F IG . 1-THE PET PIG
In choosing a pig for fattening, one of the first decisions that has to be faced relates to the sex. The female pig (gilt or sow) is a safe choice if the intention is to fatten and butcher an animal at one year of age or under. The male (boar) should never be chosen for this requirement, only for breeding purposes. However, a young barrow (castrated male) is best of all. Every man who handles and breeds hogs will doubtless have barrows for sale. If the male pigs are castrated quite early before weaning or even at two or three days old, their growth is never checked. On the contrary they fatten with special rapidity. They are notably quiet and peaceable and easy to handle. Let the amateur begin his pig raising, therefore, with barrows unless there is some good reason for choosing the gilt.
Of course if he is ambitious and intends to breed hogs for himself, perhaps for his neighbors, too, he will have to have some sows. If he is keeping only one or two he need not buy a boar, a good, well-bred boar being comparatively expensive, but can depend on hiring, or even borrowing, a boar from some neighbor at those rare times when he is required.
It may be well, however, to register here a word of caution. While there is no secret or unduly complicated technic in breeding hogs the beginner would better defer his efforts in this line until he has had some experience in the feeding and general management of his two or three pork producing pigs.
The Breed
The beginner and the amateur of course are not greatly interested in breeds. Nevertheless it will be advisable for them to learn something about this part of the story before they go very far. Even if only a single pig is to be kept, a good one is much to be preferred to a poor one. In this connection, well developed specimens of any good breed are much to be preferred to scrubs.
Amongst professional hog breeders and extensive farmers, the subject of breeds cuts a very large figure. There are many debates, some of them rather acrimonious, with reference to the merits of the leading breeds, but for the beginner any one of the standard breeds will be satisfactory.