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Pigs have a limited tolerance to high temperatures and heat stress can lead to death. Maintaining a more specific temperature within the pig-tolerance range also maximizes growth and growth-to-feed ratio. Indoor piggeries have allowed pig farming to be undertaken in countries or areas with unsuitable climate or soil for outdoor pig raising. [8]
Alternatively, piggeries are reliant on the grains industry. Pig feed may be bought packaged or mixed on-site. The intensive piggery system, where pigs are confined in individual stalls, allows each pig to be allotted a portion of feed. The individual feeding system also facilitates individual medication of pigs through feed.
Pigs have been kept to produce meat for 5,000 to 9,000 years. [16] As of 2011, pigs used commercially in the UK and Europe had an FCR, calculated using weight gain, of about 1 as piglets and ending about 3 at time of slaughter. [5]
Smithfield Foods hog CAFO, Unionville, Missouri, 2013. In animal husbandry, a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is an intensive animal feeding operation (AFO) in which over 1,000 animal units are confined for over 45 days a year.
Pigs are extensively farmed, and therefore the terminology is well developed: Pig, hog, or swine, the species as a whole, or any member of it. The singular of "swine" is the same as the plural. Shoat (or shote), piglet, or (where the species is called "hog") pig, unweaned young pig, or any immature pig [23] Sucker, a pig between birth and weaning
A feed ratio is a measure of profitability of animal husbandry, expressed as the ratio between the cost of food and the price of the final product. For example, in pig farming , the hog/corn ratio is the number of bushels of corn equal in value to 100 pounds of live hogs .
The nutritional quality of feed is influenced not only by the nutrient content, but also by many other factors such as feed presentation, hygiene, digestibility, and effect on intestinal health. [17] Feed additives provide a mechanism through which these nutrient deficiencies can be resolved, improving animal rate of growth, health, and well ...
Ractopamine is known to increase the rate of weight gain, improve feed efficiency, and increase carcass leanness in finishing swine. Its use in finishing swine yields about 3 kg (6.6 lb) of additional lean pork per animal, and improves feed efficiency by 10%. [13]