Friday, February 14, 2014

Important Issues Affecting Hog Farms

By Lianne Derocco


It is definitely no easy job to manage a hog farm given that when you are a hog farmer you need to pay really close to issues concerning your animals which includes keeping them healthy, maximizing profits and also preventing potential and common threats to hogs. With this, let us look into some issues which require every farmer's attention to solve.

Sows are typically docile animals particularly when they are put out into the wild and have only each other to be with. However the case is not the same when there are many of them raised in large hog farms where you will sometimes see them become aggressive especially come feeding time, especially if the animals are not familiar with each other. And so from this we can draw a general thought - that sows become aggressive when they feel that they might have to compete for food with other animals with which they don't know well.

In order to address this type of aggressiveness, you can group together the ones who have been previously housed together during one stage of development. Should you find it necessary to add new sows to ones you have grouped together you need to make them at least 10% of the total sow population in the farm. This is for the reason that new sows in obviously small numbers are likely targets to the larger population of sows. It is also going to be a smart move for farmers to group together the sows in accordance to their behaviors such that the active ones is mixed with the more passive ones.

Another relevant task to attend to as a livestock farmer is keeping at bay clean water but stocking it in tanks is not always easy to keep it clean and fresh. Of course it appears impossible to wash out stock tanks daily which signal you to check out a natural product which helps keep water fresh - like Healthy Ponds Stock Tank Cleaner. You can be assured that veterinarians approve this as it uses natural bacteria to eat away at organic solids polluting your stock tanks. You can add the dispenser containing the biodegradable bacteria pack directly unto a clean stock tank. For a good 30 days it will keep your tank water fresh then after which you can dispense of it and simply refill with a new pack.

Of course, there are also often issues with the storage and treatment of animal waste on your farm. Basically, you want the waste to be liquefied, but your waste pit or lagoon might have a sludge layer on the bottom or perhaps crusting at the surface. These are caused by an accumulation of waste solids and treating these solids with a natural product that uses bacterial microbes rather than chemicals is a great way to solve these issues as well as preventing them in the future.

For example, Activator Plus is a product that you can use when you already are having issues with crusting or sludge. Applying this product can break up and liquefy these solids. Agra Sphere is an option that you could consider for normal maintenance of a waste pit or lagoon. This agricultural waste product is bacteria-based and biodegradable, so all you have to do




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