Tips on Caring for a Pig

A lot of people raise pigs to slaughter for bacon and other assorted pork products. For those of you that have never done this there is more to it than simply throwing the animal in a pen and giving it your entire table scraps. You have to properly care for the animal if you want that animal to produce good high quality meat products to feed your family. The first thing you have to be aware of is that pigs like a lot of water. Water is essential to pig health, and it needs to be fresh, clean, water. These animals will wallow in the mud, but when it comes to the water they drink it needs to be clean water if you want the animal to be healthy. The floor of the pen the animal lives in needs to have good drainage. Without proper drainage the pen will hold water and the pig will get sick. These animals are very susceptible to pneumonia and wet living conditions can cause them to get sick. If your animal begins to wheeze or cough you can go to the veterinarian, or to the feed store and purchase a shot of penicillin that you can give them. The penicillin will likely cure whatever is causing them to cough and wheeze. You must remove any animal that is sick and place it in a hospital pen until it is well to protect the other animals. If a pig becomes constipated it is a serious condition that requires them to see a veterinarian. A blockage in their intestines can and will cause death in the animal. If you see that the animal is having bowel problems before it gets an actual blockage you can attempt to treat it with a castor oil mixture to loosen the stool. The animal should never be given a laxative or anything to encourage a bowel movement if you suspect that it has a complete blockage. The feed that you give these animals needs to contain high amounts of protein. They manufacture a specialized feed to give them when they are young that helps them to start growing properly. This feed is slightly medicated and will provide them with all of their nutritional needs. Once they have matured to a few months of age you want to switch them to a maintenance feed so they will not become overly fat. Before you kill an animal to eat you should stop giving them feeds that contain any chemicals and feed them something like rice bran or straight corn for at least two weeks so the chemicals will all be out of the meat before you butcher the animal. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7194627