Journey of G2 to Swine Farm by Jean K

Sustainable swine farming

msleongyien — 2020-08-19 03:55:38 UTC

Sustainable swine farming is a multidimensional approach which covers 3 major dimensions to meets the current needs without compromising the ability of future generations (Schodl, Klein and Winckler, 2017).

3 dimensions include:

Economic
Environment
Social

Animal welfare

henrickchow1999 — 2020-08-22 02:35:28 UTC

Animals should be treated and respected as citizens in the EARTH, as they ask no QUESTION and no CRITICISMS to us, with a soul of full loyalty and gratitude once being loved (Eliot, 2016; Heriot, 2012).

Why Animal Welfare in Swine Farm?

henrickchow1999 — 2020-08-22 05:16:54 UTC

Swine is also one of the God's creature that we should take care of.
Reduce stress, injury and disease cause.
Which enhance swine performance in terms of longevity, reproduction, growth rate and meat quality
This in turn increase the farmers' income and livelihood.

SWINE PRODUCTION IN MALAYSIA...

williechin99 — 2020-08-27 08:16:32 UTC

In Malaysia, the commercialized swine farms were started from the year 1950s (DVS Malaysia, 2013). The culture of swine rearing was maintained by mostly the Malaysian chinese citizen in Malaysia, the reason for this is the swine meat is one of the “ protagonist food materials” in Chinese traditional recipes. The pork-based food materials is a forbidden for Islamic citizens and Islamic citizens contribute 62% of population in Malaysia. Therefore, the current situation of self sufficiency level of pork production in Malaysia is as high as 96% for the local demand because the swine industry can only focus on the minority in Malaysia (Singh and Fong, 2016). In 2018, the swine industry contributes around 1.8 million of GDP in Malaysia agriculture sector (DOSM, 2019).

Main swine breeds in Malaysia (National Pork Board, 2020)

williechin99 — 2020-08-27 08:29:19 UTC

khaixin — 2020-08-27 14:09:35 UTC

Types of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) in swine farm

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-27 14:51:09 UTC

Main inputs in pig production：

khaixin — 2020-08-27 15:29:57 UTC

Breeding stock (Gilt, sow and boar)
Feed (Grain, protein supplements, minerals and vitamins)
Water for cleaning and drinking
Preventive medicines & therapeutic drugs
Housing and materials input
Management and husbandry
Waste removal (Pollution control, recycling) (Taigaides, 1992)

khaixin — 2020-08-27 15:41:38 UTC

1) Breeding/Mating

khaixin — 2020-08-27 15:48:37 UTC

Introduce gilts which reach sexual maturity (5-6 months old) to boar.

During this period (10-30 days), boar will be exposed to gilts to induce estrus in gilts.

Gilts will be only mated with boar in the 2^nd or 3^rdestrus ( or 30-34 weeks old of gilts).

Otherwise, only small amount of eggs will be produced, resulting in small litter. Besides, gilts are still young to become pregnant will become stress and lead to poor growth, resulting in difficulties in rearing the litter.

For sows, they will also be exposed to boar to determine whether they are on heat or not.
The mating period for the sows will usually last from the day of weaning the previous litter until the day of conception.

Usually, the sows with the good physical conditions will come into estrus cycle again 3-7 days post-weaning of the previous litter.

Mating methods

1. Mating naturally
2. Artificial insemination

Estrus (on heat) in sows

khaixin — 2020-08-27 15:59:37 UTC

Detection of estrus in sows:

Swelling and reddening of vulvaa
Mucous discharge from vulvaa
Mounting behavior in sows
Exhibit 'standing reflex' (stand immobilized to prepare being mounted by boar) when the boar is nearby.

Estrus: last for 40 hours in gilts while 55 hours in sows
Estrous cycle: 18-24 days (Belstra et al., 2007)

2) Gestation

khaixin — 2020-08-27 16:52:31 UTC

When there is successful conception, the pregnant sow will be moved into the individual and dry gestation area.

During this period, the sow should be individually confined to:
1. Prevent fighting with other sows which might cause embryo loss resulted from fighting.
2. Restrict her activity and feed consumption.

Gestation period: 116 days (5 months + 5 weeks + 5 days)

(Taigaides, 1992)

3) Birth/Farrowing

khaixin — 2020-08-27 16:53:24 UTC

Pregnant sow will be moved into birth shed (individual farrowing pen) 1 week before delivery.
In each birth event,

8 to 12 piglets are born.
Each piglet is about 1.5-2 kg in weight.

4) Lactation

khaixin — 2020-08-27 16:53:51 UTC

The mother will still remain in farrowing pen, nursing the litter for 3-5 weeks.

5) Weaning

khaixin — 2020-08-27 16:54:29 UTC

Piglets will be moved to weaning barn for 30-60 days to reach 20 kg

During weaning period, the piglet will be fed with formulated feed (milk + oaks + water) in the adjusted feeder for the ease of feeding in piglets
Mat feeding during the first week of weaning for 4-6 times per day
This period is the most stressful period for the piglets, thus more care is needed.
When the environmental conditions in weaning barn is comfortable for human, it is also suitable for piglets.
If piglet falls in illness, move to the isolation pen for special care.

Sows will be sent back to breeding pens
In the end of the weaning period, some of the best female weaners are kept as replacements for the sows and constitute the herd of gilts (Taigaides, 1992).

6) Growing/Finishing

khaixin — 2020-08-27 16:54:42 UTC

When the growers reach BW up to 55 kg, they will be moved into grower pens

Growers will be fed with high protein food

The finisher will be raised until 75-100 kg (about 5-6 months after weaning) and will be sold to the market.

When slaughtered, the carcass weight of the porkers is approximately 70% of live weight.

How animal welfare can be implemented in swine industry?

henrickchow1999 — 2020-08-27 16:57:46 UTC

Readily and safe access to food and water

Swine saves energy from moving far away to obtain food and water.
Clean food and water will reduce the risk from getting pathogenic diseases such as pneumonia, pseudorabies and swine dysentery.

Freedom of movement

Provide flexible movement of swine in the farm can enhance their physical fitness as well as reduce their opportunities from getting injuries and abrasions

Good ventilation and temperature control system

Reduce stress which in turn enhance the swine's appetite.
Improve immune system and maintaining good health condition to fight against disease.

Rapid identification and treatment of injury and disease caused

Prevent disease transmission to other healthy swine.
Minimize unnecessary extra treatment expense and production losses.

khaixin — 2020-08-27 16:58:52 UTC

Pigs are gregarious animals.

Their social structure is based on the dominant-subordinate relationship to establish hierarchy.
When the resources are limited, pigs will follow the hierarchy order to access to the food.

When mixing the unfamiliar pigs together in the farm, they will fight to establish the dominance-subordinate relationship.
Aggression in pigs is one of the welfare concerns as fighting causes stress and injuries, leading to pain and death to the injured pigs.
In order to reduce the aggressiveness in pigs (Llonch, Mainaum, Temple and Manteca, 2017):

1. Reduce stock density.
2.Facilitate the access to resources (e.g. feed)
3. Minimizing changes in social structure of pigs,
4. Develop the pens in the design which ease for the aggression receiver hiding or escaping from the aggressor.

In Vitro Production (IVP) of embryo

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-27 17:06:58 UTC

khaixin — 2020-08-27 17:28:15 UTC

The worker is performing the back-pressure test in the presence of the boar to determine the estrus of sow by pressing the backside of the sow (Knauer, See and Cassady, 2014).

In Vitro Maturation (IVM)

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-27 18:16:03 UTC

The harvesting of immature oocytes from the ovaries and maturing them for about 44 hours in tissue culture medium.

Culture media:

CO₂- 5%
Temperature - 39˚C
Supplemented with porcine follicular fluid (pFF) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-27 18:20:28 UTC

The mature oocyte is fertilized by sperm in an artificial environment.

In Vitro Culture (IVC)

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-27 18:22:05 UTC

The zygote is cultured in vitro under formulated media and develop subsequently.

Zygote →2 cell → 4 cell → 8 cell → Morula → Blastocyst → Hatched blastocyst

Artificial insemination

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-27 18:27:26 UTC

Intracervical insemination (ICAI) is a method commonly used in AI.
The deposition of 🤬 beyond the sow’s cervix and into the uterine horn artificially.
Provide genetic improvements on swine under sanitary condition.

Estrous detection in female swine is needed before performing AI. The female will release eggs (ovulation) after the onset of estrous. Insemination should be performed after detection of estrous.

Embryo Transfer

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-27 18:29:17 UTC

The removal of an embryo from a genetically superior animal and introduction of that embryo into a host surrogate mother.
The resulting offspring will have qualities that duplicate those of the embryo supplier while not retaining any characteristics of the surrogate
To propagate genetically superior swine while minimizing disease risks.

Short video on how pig farmers protecting the environment

msleongyien — 2020-08-28 01:21:33 UTC

Precision livestock farming in swine

kelvinchong98 — 2020-08-28 02:19:36 UTC

Precision livestock farming implies automated remote detection and monitoring of identified individuals for animal health and welfare using real-time analysis of images, sounds, tracking data, weight and body condition, and biological metrics in livestock (Benjamin and Yik, 2019).

Pig Cough Monitoring

kelvinchong98 — 2020-08-28 02:37:42 UTC

Respiratory problems are very common in pig herds, causing significant economic losses. Early treatment of problems is crucial for reducing the economic losses and the amount of antibiotics used in the process (Vranken and Berckmans, 2017).

Automated Weight Detection & Pig Behavior with 3D camera

kelvinchong98 — 2020-08-28 02:59:31 UTC

The key in fattening pigs is to optimize the growth performance of the pigs. The image was taken to facilitate tasks ranging from counting animals to estimating weights, assessing movement patterns to detect problems such as lameness or abnormally immobile animals; and identifying aggressive behaviors such as fights, and flank or tail bites (Lee et al., 2016).

kelvinchong98 — 2020-08-28 03:07:02 UTC

Social

msleongyien — 2020-08-28 03:12:39 UTC

Health safety
- Through careful and proper management of livestock waste, sustainable farmers can protect humans from exposure to zoonotic disease. Medication introduction such as antibiotic and other chemical supplements are minimized when pigs are kept in a less stressful environment (Sinclair, Fryer, and Phillips, 2019 ).
- With the enhancement of animal welfare, animals are easier and safe to be handled by workers. For instances, less time needed on managing the pigs and reduce the medical expenses due to livestock handling injuries (Douphrate, et al., 2009).
Animal welfare
- Animal welfare is a vital consideration in sustainable pig farming. Animals are treated with better cared and humanely. Their natural behaviours are catered and remained.

Environment

msleongyien — 2020-08-28 03:12:48 UTC

The waste and manure produced by pigs are one of the serious concerns to the environment. Manures can contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Maximize utilization of pig waste
- Adopting sustainable practices, farmers are able to manage manures in an appropriate manner such as recycling nutrients in manure back to the soil in order to enhance soil fertility and reduce water pollution (Bourne, 2016).
- Besides that, methane produced by pig waste and manure is taken into account as alternative electricity (Bourne, 2016).
Minimize air pollution
- To minimize odour emitted from the farm, windbreaker plants placed around the manure storage area, which help in controlling odour from travelling (Pork Checkoff, 2020).

khaixin — 2020-08-28 04:25:08 UTC

Mat feeding to train and improve the feed intake of piglets.

khaixin — 2020-08-28 04:27:03 UTC

Feeder for weaning piglets.

khaixin — 2020-08-28 04:41:56 UTC

IVM

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-28 05:54:12 UTC

From immature cumulus oocyte complex (COC) to mature COC.

Economic

msleongyien — 2020-08-28 05:59:52 UTC

Improve the quality of production
- Pork under high-stress level appeared to promote PSE (pale soft meat) development and produce poor pork quality (Hambrecht, et al., 2005). In contrast, pigs kept under the review of animal welfare reduce chances of injuries and stress.

Increase farm profitability
- Animal have a higher survival rate under well management and reduce animal loss in the (Dawkins., 2017 )
-Besides managing the swine farm, manure produced by pigs can be sold as a side income (Padmakumar, et al., 2019).
-The manure can be used to produce electricity supply for farm operation (Bourne, 2016)

Increase job opportunities
- In low and middle-income countries, women played vital roles in raising livestock (Padmakumar, et al., 2019), whereby it also promotes social equality.

Do you know tame pigs will also show aggressiveness and fight with each others??😱😱😱

khaixin — 2020-08-28 08:34:49 UTC

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-28 09:53:13 UTC

Belstra, B., Flowers, W., See, T., and Singleton, W. L., 2007. Estrus or heat detection. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 August 2020]
Bourne, J.K., 2016. Harnessing the pwer of poo: pig waste becomes electricity. [online] Available at: [Accessed at 27 August 2020]
Dawkins M.S., 2017. Animal welfare and efficient farming: Is conflict inevitable? Animal Production Science, 57, pp. 201–208.
Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), 2019. [Online]. Available at: [Accessed 22 August 2020]
Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia (DVS Malaysia), 2013. Available at: [Accessed 22 August 2020]
Douphrate, D. I., Rosecrance, J. C., Stallones, L., Reynolds, S. J., and Gilkey, D. P., 2009. Livestock-handling injuries in agriculture: An analysis of Colorado workers’ compensation data. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 52(5), pp. 391–407. doi:10.1002/ajim.20686
Eliot, G., 2016. George Eliot's Life, Complete: Top Novelist Focus. 谷月社.
Hambrecht, E., Eissen, J. J., Newman, D. J., Smits, C. H. M. M., Verstegen, W. A., and den Hartog, L. A., 2005. Preslaughter handling effects on pork quality and glycolytic potential in two muscles differing in fiber type composition. Journal of Animal Science, 83 (4), pp.91-97.
Herriot, J., 2013. All creatures great and small. London: Pan.
Knauer, M.T., See, M.T., Cassady, J.P. and Newcom, D.W., 2014. Understanding the genetic and phenotypic relationships between gilt development and estrus behavior traits with sow reproductive lifetime. [online] Available at:<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237628377_Understanding_the_genetic_and_phenotypic_relationships_between_gilt_development_and_estrus_behavior_traits_with_sow_reproductive_lifetime> [Accessed 27 August 2020]
Garcia, A., 2007. Assisted reproductive technologies in swine. In: Youngquist, R. S. and Threlfall, W. R., eds. 2007. Current Therapy in Large Animal Theriogenology. Pennsylvania: Saunders. pp. 826-841.
García‐Roselló, E., García‐Mengual, E., Coy, P., Alfonso, J. and Silvestre, M.A., 2009. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection in livestock species: an update. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 44(1), pp.143-151.
Llonch. P., Mainaum, E., Temple, D. and Manteca., 2017. Aggression in pigs and its welfare consequences. [online] Available at:.> [Accessed 27 August 2020]
Padmakumar, V., Sarah, M., Laurie, M., Saskia, H., Mulubrhan, B., Geoffrey, E. D., Adegbola, T. A., 2019. Sustainable livestock systems to improve human health, nutrition, and economic status, Animal Frontiers, 9 (4), pp. 39–50.
Pork Checkup, 2020. Managing manure and emissions.[online]. Availble at: [Accessed at 28 August 2020]
Schodl, K., Klein, F., and Winckler, C., 2017. Mapping sustainability in pig farming research using keyword network analysis. Livestock Science, 196, 28–35. Sinclair, M., Fryer, C., and Phillips, C., 2019. The Benefits of Improving Animal Welfare from the Perspective of Livestock Stakeholders across Asia. Animals, 9(4), 123. doi:10.3390/ani904012
Sinclair, M., Fryer, C., and Phillips, C., 2019. The Benefits of Improving Animal Welfare from the Perspective of Livestock Stakeholders across Asia. Animals, 9(4), 123. doi:10.3390/ani9040123
Singh, M.S.G. and Fong, R.W.J., 2014. Swine breeding and production in Malaysia. In Proc. of Int. Symp. on Recent Progress in Swine Breeding and Raising Technologies (pp. 3-4).
National Pork Board, 2020. Major Swine breeds. [online]. Available at: [Accessed 22 August 2020]
Taigaides, E. P., 1992. Pig production cycle. Pig waste management and recycling: The Singapore experience.Gadea, J., Coy, P., Matas, C., Romar, R. and Canovas, S., 2020. Reproductive technologies in swine. Reproductive Technologies in Animals, pp. 67-79.

Artificial insemination

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-28 10:11:30 UTC

Advantages:

Permits more extensive use of new, superior genetics at a potentially lower cost
Reduce the number of boars needed on an operation
Reduce the transmission of disease

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-28 10:36:07 UTC

zhengbingtee — 2020-08-28 10:41:33 UTC

<3 <3 <3

khaixin — 2020-08-28 11:31:49 UTC

Thanks for visiting our blog oink oink!!🐷

khaixin — 2020-08-28 11:35:37 UTC

Feel tired? Why not get some pork dishes?

williechin99 — 2020-09-07 12:21:54 UTC

Like braised sliced pork meat!

Pork snacks? No problem!

williechin99 — 2020-09-07 12:26:36 UTC

Taiwanese pork paper
Crispy and yummy!

WELCOME TO OINK OINK BREEDING BLOG~~~~~🐷🐷

khaixin — 2020-09-07 15:53:52 UTC

Are you interested of the fun fact and stories of the swine??
Stay for a while to look at our blog !!! ✨✨
We will introduce you about the:

Swine production in Malaysia
How to carry out a sustainable swine farm to produce 🐷 products while achieving the animal welfare to 🐷
Precision swine farming
Production stages of the sow (pig mother)
And we also summarizes the breeding technologies in swine farming adopted nowadays!!

We are appreciated if you exchange your time for the overview about swine farming through our blog~

👇👇Click on this audio as you journey with us through this blog!!!

khaixin — 2020-09-07 16:16:32 UTC

This blog is contributed by Henrick Chow, Kelvin Chong, Koh Khai Xin, Leong Yi'En, Willie Chin and Tee Zheng Bin 🧡