Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ozexpat]

i hope everyone had a good mothers day. I'm glad the pigs did so well Oz! How many more days until Mrs. Oz comes to visit?

Mrs Oz has been here for 5 days!!

She will leave in a week.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Mrs Oz has been here for 5 days!!

She will leave in a week.

clearly i missed the Mrs Oz is here post.

 

[ozexpat]

today was weigh in for the first batch of piglets

We had a few light piglets that are now catching up nicely. Average weight was 1.1 kg versus an expected 1.3 kg
Now they are 2.5 kg versus an expected 2.6 kg
The boy we chose as the junior boar is a hefty 3.4kg so we are happy with the selection.

I am torn between keeping and selling sows. As it stands, I have just 5 pens in the main piggery and a smaller pen adjacent to it.

The three mammas would have to live together. Pig 3 is a good 50kg heavier than the others and pushed Pig 2 around. Pig 4 is a "maldita" and will probably have it out with Pig 3 and then beat up on Pig 2.

The next 2 pens will be for the 4 growers that are coming into maturity - currently we have them in 2 pens because of sizing. The 4th pen is for the single pig 17 that is pregnant gilt. The final pen will be for the weaned piglets (along with the extra pen outside)

Pig 2 is definitley staying. Her smallest of the 11 was 1.3 kg at birth and average was 1.6 with 11 piglets. I like the uniformity as well as the look of the piglets. Her first litter was 10 piglets with an average of 1.5kg. they weaned above average and the four we kept are 90kg at 145 days - 5 days behind what I was hoping for but an excellent growth rate given the changes in people caring for them and their respective understanding of how to raise pigs. The four girls are slated for AI staggered over the month of July.

If I kept all three Mammas, they would be bred in early June and farrow on October 1.

I have a gilt that is scheduled to deliver on August 9 - plenty of time before the mammas but the 4 new gilts will farrow October 22 - Nov 12 if they get pregnant as planned.

This is going to put a lot of stress on my pens as well as my three farrowing stalls.

By october I am going to need an extension but want to settle down into a scheme of 9 sows using the farrowing pens, three at a time with a week to three in between.

I have to remind myself of the end game - a selection 3 sows producing great boars for breeding and 9 sows producing great quality breeder guilts - with the culls sold as weaners for market.

So as I write and think - one has to go. Pig 3 who had a large but very variable size farrow or pig 4 who is a cross bred that served her purpose from a boar producing stand point but had a very impressive first littler.

One of the things about using shipped semen is that knowing when the pig will be on heat is essential. We use PG600 on gilts to time their first estrus. If they reach menarche first, all bets are off. I cant delay the 4 gilts.

 

[FridayYet]

Get rid of the mean one. If space becomes an issue, you don't want the Maldita attacking her pen mates.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Wisher1000]

Why did you name her Matilda?

 

[ozexpat]

Why did you name her Matilda?

LOL she is a maldita - meaning the brat or naughty. A filipino word adopted from Spanish

But she is a little more nasty than just a maldita when she is upset.

Matilda would be a great name for a pig but I dont name livestock.

 

[Phage]

Quote:
Pig 4 could be called bacon... or sausage??

Why would you keep her if she is nasty and you are short of room?

Do pigs usually pick on each other?

 

[ozexpat]

Pig 4 could be called bacon... or sausage??

Why would you keep her if she is nasty and you are short of room?

Do pigs usually pick on each other?

pigs throw their weight around. The pecking order is normally based on size.

Keeping her would be only be for one round of breeding and purely financial.

Theoretically i can earn 580 dollars from 10 piglets as weaners.

She would require food and housing for 155 days - from wean to wean.

Purchase Price 0 0
Income from 10 piglets 25,000 25,000
Insemination 700 24,300
Vaccinations 1000 23,300
Water and power 500 22,800
155 days feed (525kg) 7800 17,200

So if she has 10 piglets, I make USD390 per per future farrowing. Of course, if she has 12 then we will make USD500

If I sell her now or sell her in 155 days, she will earn the same as a chopped ham pig - around USD230.

 

[perchie.girl]

I would keep her just for her genes... Pigs are notorious at being pushy... as long as people are educated about handling them all should be good.

Only a reader on all subjects ..... never experienced pigs ...

deb

 

[Phage]

So if she has 10 piglets, I make USD390 per per future farrowing. Of course, if she has 12 then we will make USD500

If I sell her now or sell her in 155 days, she will earn the same as a chopped ham pig - around USD230.  

In which case it does seem sensible to keep her for another round if you have the space.
I lost track of pig 4's past reproductive history.