Farrowing Hogs On Pasture

This video is created by Farm Builder

This is a great video that FarmBuilder put out on their YouTube channel. I love how it explains in a fairly short video how they run their operation. It is great to see how the hogs can be farrowed on pasture. One thing to keep in mind if a person is interested in this type of system is to make sure the winter won't impede on the health of the piglets and their mothers. As you can see there is no snow in the the video and this happens during the Spring months. Also depending on your location you may only be able to farrow once a year when using the system. Just some things to keep in mind.

Another thing I am glad he touched on was the genetics of the sows and how he doesn't necessarily have a favorite breed, they need to be able to produce the way he wants them to. He goes into detail of their selection criteria at FarmBuilder. This is an important decision you as a producer need to decide. Is it worth keeping sows and or gilts to breeding them yourself to get the desired traits you want and to keep the best genetics in your herd. The great thing about genetics is when a person holds the animals to a certain standard, there are some animals that will be able to tolerate these standards and the others will fail. This is how you make the selection for the type of herd you want because eventually your herd will become more uniform and produce better quality animals, which in return will cost you less in inputs and generate a greater return. He also goes into describing how on their farm they go from using a netted wire to only use a single strand of wire to keep the hogs in. This is one of the traits he selects for. In the video he mentions, if a hog continues to get out and does not respect the wire, they get shipped to market. He does not want these genetics in his herd. Another great item to select for his docility or temperament of the animal. Growing up on a farm myself, if any animals acted up they were usually gone the very next day. You do not want aggressive animals on your farm in the event you have customers with children visiting who don't know a thing about your animals and are attacked or harmed in some way. This is not good for business and you will be liable for any injury on your farm.

Lastly, I found it helpful how he went and showed us the actual structure he built for wintering and farrowing of his gilts. This doesn't seem to be a very expensive structure to build, because remember if you are just starting out it is very important to remember cash flow. Even established farmer are always looking for ways to improve the operation and add more to their bottom line. While we are on the topic of structure, earlier in the video he showed the shade structure he uses once the animal have grown and during the warmer months. Again a simple structure with very little input cost.

As always I hope you have enjoyed this article. If you liked this article and want to stay up to date with other article, please subscribe below. Also make sure to check out FarmBuilder’s Youtube channel. Thanks again, we will talk to you soon.

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