Recently, the bell-headed Vietnamese pig has ceased to be just an exotic animal. Entrepreneurs involved in farming, increasingly began to opt for breeding these cute animals.
Breed history
The pig breed "Vietnamese Whiskers" was brought from Vietnam to Canada and the Eastern part of Europe back in 1985. Gradually, the fashion for breeding these animals spread to many countries: America, France, Hungary, Poland and others. The most active breeding work is currently underway in Hungary and Canada. In these countries, specialists are trying to make the breed even more attractive for breeding by increasing the size of the animal and the percentage of its muscle mass. In Russia, this breed has gained distribution relatively recently, livestock farmers are just beginning to master the breeding of these good-natured pigs.
Breed features
Vietnamese pigs are distinguished by certain features that must be considered when breeding them. Many of them are advantages that cause such a rapid spread of fashion for pigs.
One of the main signs of the breed is the rapid maturation of animals. Already at 4 months, females become sexually mature, and wild boars are ready for breeding at 6 months. Moreover, the care of newborn piglets is quite simple, since the sow does not interfere with him and behaves quite friendly. She herself takes care of the offspring, possessing a developed maternal instinct.
Another feature of these pigs is their good immunity, they tolerate both hot climates and cold winters. These animals are only afraid of drafts, which are especially fatal to small piglets.
Appearance
The whiskered Vietnamese pig got its name because of the large hanging belly, which is especially striking because of the short legs.
Pigs can be white or black. There are individuals of a marble color combining both of these shades. Due to the short legs, the pig’s stomach is almost touching the ground. Their back is slightly concave, and small ears are located on their heads. The stigmas are reminiscent of the large number of accordion folds. Outwardly, the patch of these pigs is somewhat similar to the pug's face due to the large number of bends.
Pigs are able to grow and gain weight for the first five years, although gradually this process is becoming more and more slow. The weight of the Vietnamese pigs, having reached the age of about 80 kg. In the livestock market, individuals weighing about 100 kg are most often represented.
Breeding Benefits
The Vietnamese whiskers breed got its popularity due to the following advantages:
1. Low feeding costs.
2. Compact size, allowing you to keep several individuals at once in one not too large machine.
3. Resistant to disease and temperature extremes immunity.
4. The possibility of almost year-round (depending on the breeding place) free range, as pigs can tolerate low temperatures during winter.
5. Animals are very clean, free from the specific smell inherent in almost all pigs of other breeds.
6. Possess tender meat with a low fat content and lack of veins. Low cholesterol in the product makes it possible to eat it for people with vascular diseases.
7. Early maturity makes it possible to get the first offspring from mumps, which reached only 7-9 months. At the same time, animals that live for about 30 years are capable of farrowing throughout their lives. In addition, the pigs of the Vietnamese breed are incredibly prolific, they bring from 12 to 20 piglets at a time.
8. Calm and good-natured. They let the owner in to the pigs, do not break the enclosures, they have the ability to train.
Features of choice
All the advantages of this breed will be real only when choosing healthy individuals that are able to bring offspring in the future. There is sometimes a Vietnamese lop-sided pig, reviews of which are not very good. As a rule, such animals weigh about 40-60 kg by the year, and the farm owner cannot get offspring even from the female for 10 months. This result is most often caused by the wrong choice of piglets. To buy an animal suitable for breeding, you need to pay attention to the following points:
1. You can not get piglets that emerged from the same litter.
2. If the breeder has several sows and one boar on the farm, then it is better not to buy piglets in this place. Such animals will certainly be relatives, from which it is impossible to obtain healthy offspring.
3. You need to find out the weight with which the pig was born. It is better if the seller also tells the dynamics of the growth of the animal at intervals of 10 days from the moment of birth.
4. In order to make sure that the age of the piglet indicated by the seller and its real value is consistent, you can ask to show the sow that gave birth to the animal. If the piglet is only a month old, then the pig should have sagging milk shares, it should look thinner. Otherwise, the pig is older than the seller says, or another sow is in front of the buyer.
5. You can determine a healthy animal in appearance. Muscles should be well developed in piglets. The legs of healthy individuals are strong, widely spaced. An external sign of belonging to the breed is a kind of stigma, which has numerous bends of the nasal bones.
If the pig has a long head, spindle-shaped body and legs in the shape of the letter "X", then such an individual is sick. In addition, these signs may indicate degeneration that occurred as a result of the birth of a piglet from parents-relatives.
A healthy pig is distinguished by a stout physique, the coat is even, and its eyes are shiny. Such an animal is active, has a good appetite. An excellent mood of the pig is indicated by waving a thin tail from side to side.
Color does not matter. Mostly it is black, but even in one litter, pigs can be either white or mixed.
6. If the litter has more than 12 piglets, then such animals may be weak. The choice should be taken very carefully.
7. Having decided on the piglet, you need to ask about the feed used by the previous owner. Switching to another diet should not be abrupt, otherwise the animal may become ill.
Place of detention
Keeping Vietnamese pigs does not require much trouble. Due to their relatively compact size, animals do not require a very large pigsty. It is best to make it of brick, and make the floor concrete. So that in the cold season, pigs do not freeze on a stone floor, approximately 2/3 of the pigsty should be covered with wooden scaffolding. This area will be a kind of sleeping place for animals. The rest of the space will serve as a feeding place and toilet. A whiskey Vietnamese pig is a neat animal, so you don’t have to worry that the dung will be scattered throughout the pigsty. In addition, animals do not dig the floor, which also simplifies the life of their owner.
Two adult pigs, one sow with piglets or a boar can be placed in one machine measuring about 4.5 m2. When planning the internal structure of the pigsty between the machines, you must leave a passage sufficient for the cart to travel, with which it will be possible to remove manure. The room should have a well-organized ventilation system. The lack of fresh air and the clutter of the pigsty will adversely affect animal health.
Despite the fact that the breeding of Vietnamese loose-bellied pigs is possible at low temperatures, which they calmly tolerate, for the winter you still need to worry about heating the pigsty. For sows and newborn piglets, cold can be fatal. In order for the offspring to be healthy, grow well and recover, he needs a temperature of at least 20 degrees Celsius. Room heating can be carried out by gas convectors, a Russian stove, and other heating methods.
Walking
A daily stay in the fresh air in warm weather provides pigs with strong immunity and good mood. Regularly walking Vietnamese and bellied pigs are less sick and have excellent weight gain. Maintenance exclusively in captivity will lead to the breeding of weak and sick animals.
On a paddock plot, if trees do not grow there, you need to dig a few logs into the ground. Pigs love to rub on them. A light canopy that protects animals from rain and the scorching sun will not interfere with the site.
It will bring great pleasure to pigs of this breed, who love swimming in the mud, a kind of pool. Its role can be performed by a small depression in the ground measuring 2 by 2 meters. The pit should be periodically filled with fresh water. In this pool, pigs can get rid of annoying insects, as well as cool in sultry summer weather.
Feed selection
The right diet is the key not only to the growth of a healthy animal and a good weight gain, but also to the receipt of high-quality lean meat, which distinguishes Vietnamese loose-bellied pigs. Feeding animals depends on the special structure of their digestive system. A small stomach and small intestinal diameter, rapid movement of feed through the digestive tract make coarse feed undesirable. Standard treats for ordinary pigs, such as feed beets, straw, for the Vietnamese breed will not do any good. The young hay of legumes of the legume family, such as alfalfa and clover, are well digested in the gastrointestinal tract of these pigs.
A good option is feed, cooked in the form of thick dense porridge. Such food lingers in the mouth for a long time, and Vietnamese pigs carefully chew it. Feeding this consistency promotes the release of a large amount of saliva, under the influence of which starch passes into sugar. This simplifies the digestion process.
So that food is absorbed as best as possible, preference should be given to crushed grain. Whole grain feeds mostly pass through the pig’s digestive tract unchanged without being digested.
The basis of compound feed is barley and wheat. Oat, peas and corn are also added to it. The latter should not be more than 10%, since this cereal causes obesity in pigs. If you add too much corn to the feed, it will be practically impossible to get tender bacon meat.
Vitamin supplements have a good effect on pig health. Piglets can be given fish oil, sows are added eggs, milk, vitamins to the feed bucket. In raw form, so that vitamins are not destroyed, you can give animals zucchini, carrots, pumpkin. If the vegetables are still boiled, they must be cooked immediately before feeding.
Farrow of Vietnamese bast-bellied pigs
The main condition for the appearance of healthy offspring is the lack of family ties between the sow and the boar. Otherwise, the appearance of piglets with deformities, weak and sick, is possible. In the future, such animals gain weight very poorly, often they cannot have their own offspring.
The viscous-bellied Vietnamese pig reaches puberty by the age of 4 months, the boar - a little later. To determine that you can start mating, you can according to the state of the pig. She becomes restless, the genital loop swells. When pressed on the croup, the animal freezes in one place. If all these signs are visible, the pig can be hooked for one day to the boar. The first farrow of Vietnamese pigs is about 5 piglets, then up to 20 animals are born, most often about 12.
The pregnancy of the pig lasts from 114 to 118 days. A few days before the birth, the animal begins to worry, equip the nest, carefully haying. If colostrum appeared from the nipples, then the appearance of piglets will occur within a day. For farrowing you need to carefully prepare. The machine needs to be cleaned well, leaving only hay and a bowl of clean water. Separately, you need to equip the corner for newborn piglets. This place should be warm, in the first hours of life, the temperature will be optimal at about 30 degrees.
If necessary, the airways of piglets are cleaned of mucus, then placed in a prepared place for drying. It is important to ensure that in the first hour of his life, each pig receives the necessary amount of colostrum. It contains a large number of nutrients, which are very lacking in newborn offspring.
Piglets at first eat exclusively milk, which meets their needs in almost all nutrients. The exception is iron. To prevent anemia in the offspring, piglets can be injected with special drugs.
On average, by 10 days of life, the pig reaches a weight of 1 kg, by 20 days - 1.5-2 kg. By the month of a month, a pig with a body weight at birth of 400-450 g should weigh at least 2.5-3 kg.
For a good weight gain, weekly piglets can begin to be fed. It can be chalk, charcoal, other substances containing calcium, phosphorus. 10 days after birth, the animals are given clean water. Two-week-old piglets can be fed with thick porridge. A month after the birth, the amount of milk in the sow is reduced, at this point the babies must learn to chew food on their own. In the same period, it is necessary to begin the gradual excommunication of piglets from the mother.
Breeding result
Breeding pigs of this breed is a promising investment. Vietnamese whiskers, the price of an adult of which is about 8,000 rubles, are very unpretentious, do not require expensive feed and special care. The determining factor for cost-effective breeding is the correct choice of piglets, the cost of which is about 3,000 rubles.
The meat of pigs of this breed is very tender and tasty. Recently appeared on the market, but has already earned the trust of consumers. Meat of medium-sized individuals weighing up to 40 kg is especially good in taste, although carcasses weighing about 100 kg fall on the market.
The meat of Vietnamese lap-bellied pigs contains low cholesterol, retains most of the nutrients in any method of heat treatment.
In order for the animals to grow well, gain weight and bring healthy offspring, you need to adhere to the recommendations on keeping and feeding animals. Then breeding pigs of this breed will become truly profitable.