Author Topic: drastic weight difference? (Read 3263 times)

tgad2007 · « **on:** January 25, 2016, 10:27:47 pm »

HI All,

Hoping for some more great advice from you all.
I have 6 Berkshire gilts 18 weeks old, I have weighed 4 of them to get a good rounded idea of the weight as I am a first timer when it comes to any type of livestock. Using the method of measurement from head to tail base and the girth behind the front legs and doing the relevant calculations i have come to the weights from 4 of the pigs at 39kg, 29kg, 30kg and 39kg. Has anyone else had weight differences so big at this stage? do they catch up?

IretonsFarm · « **Reply #1 on:** January 26, 2016, 10:06:10 am »

Our old spots tend to grow at different rates (even within the same litter).

This can be partly just down to genetics and partly their pecking order in the group i.e. the big bully gets the most food.

To be honest for us this is a good thing as it allows us to have a constant supply of pigs to finish out of only one litter taking the biggest ones first and leaving the runts until the end of the month by which time they have generally caught up if not passed the ones that went first.

Doesn't help if you want to finish them all together, in which case I guess its just something to live with.

hughesy · « **Reply #2 on:** January 26, 2016, 10:33:15 am »

Yes as said above it's very useful to have different growth rates within the same litter if you're not taking them all to slaughter at the same time.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #3 on:** January 26, 2016, 05:35:41 pm »

How big was the original litter? The first born will have a slight advantage in a big litter, especially if some later born ones were a bit on the small side.

tgad2007 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2016, 07:19:50 pm »

The original litter was 13 piglets, does anyone endorse the idea of sectioning off a small area of our enclosure to make a bit of extra feed available for the couple that are lacking behind by 10 kilos and then letting them back with the others as per normal the rest of the time?

HappyHippy · « **Reply #5 on:** January 27, 2016, 07:48:34 pm »

Pen them separately for feeding - that will give them the chance to eat without being bullied away from it but I wouldn't give extra. They'll be more likely to get a bit fatty that way - you can't really push the traditional breeds to finish quicker, at least that's what I found.
HTH

IretonsFarm · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2016, 08:54:30 am »

Quote from: tgad2007 on January 27, 2016, 07:19:50 pm

The original litter was 13 piglets, does anyone endorse the idea of sectioning off a small area of our enclosure to make a bit of extra feed available for the couple that are lacking behind by 10 kilos and then letting them back with the others as per normal the rest of the time?

With big litters I tend to make sure there is at least 50% extra trough space and place them some distance apart so that the bullies are limited in the amount of feed they can get to

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2016, 10:09:14 am »

I floor feed on a big area of concrete which eliminates bullying.

pharnorth · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2016, 02:07:29 am »

My 4 this year had similar weight differences, one was a runt and stayed lighter. Another one was top pig and greeting more than her share with growth rate to match. I kept 2 a few weeks longer so they ended up about the same weight but consequence was first was rather fatty and probably not cost effective on food bills. Marches Farmers advice is good, I split food in 2 so the runt got some but spreading it further as soon as I spotted the growth difference would have been a good idea.