Smallholders Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Weighing pigs  (Read 3237 times)

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Weighing pigs
« on: August 26, 2018, 10:28:41 am »
Help!! I need to worm my two  pigs but am confused about how to go about it. My book tells me to measure the chest, multiply it by itself, and then multiply by the length, then multiply by 69.3 to get the dead weight. Looking on tinternet it gives the same calculation for the live weight.
I'm confused (NOT that it takes much) can anyone throw any light on this please?

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2018, 10:32:28 am »
How old are they and what breed?

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2018, 11:48:23 am »
Berkshire/welsh cross 6 months old

Black Sheep

  • Joined Sep 2015
  • Briercliffe
    • Monk Hall Farm
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2018, 01:33:46 pm »
Can only give you an n=3 accumulated experience from our Tamworths. We used the girth squared times length formula to estimate their weight at 7.5 months old. It is quite tricky, especially with the length as if they lower their heads the curve extends the measurement.

But based on this we got an estimated live weight of around 245kg for the three and working on 2/3 dead weight that is 164kg.

They actually went off about 3 weeks later than that and we got 170kg worth of meat back but probably lost some more in fat as they were a bit fatty by that stage. So it perhaps isn't too far out.

Need to measure the next ones more often and see if we can get a better feel for the accuracy of this approach.

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2018, 02:28:43 pm »
Thanks both. I'm confused because the book says it's the way to calculate dead weight, but tinternet gives same formula for live weight (which is what I want). Still confused

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2018, 03:04:30 pm »
At what age are you sending them in? What were you thinking of worming them with? When were they last wormed?


Most people work on them being wormed at weaning and again between weaning and slaughter.

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2018, 07:12:06 pm »
They will be going in about 4-6 weeks time but unless I am clear about this calculation of how to weigh, I.e. is it live weight or dead weight I can't proceed

Black Sheep

  • Joined Sep 2015
  • Briercliffe
    • Monk Hall Farm
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2018, 09:26:10 am »
I'd assumed it was live weight as that's what the online sources I found it from said it was.

Plus when we worked it out the number it gave, when multiplied by 2/3 (which is a rough live -> dead weight conversion factor I found online), approximated to the actual amount of meat we got back.


DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2018, 11:55:23 am »
Thanks Black Sheep. I was confused because, as I read it, Liz Shanklands book gives that calculation for dead weight. I need live weight as I want to worm thrm

Maysie

  • Joined Jan 2018
  • Herefordshire/Shropshire Border
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2018, 12:29:11 pm »
Could try a weigh tape and use the 72% dead to live weight ratio?

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2018, 09:35:29 pm »
They will be going in about 4-6 weeks time but unless I am clear about this calculation of how to weigh, I.e. is it live weight or dead weight I can't proceed


You base your worming on liveweight. Do you think they need worming? If they were wormed at weaning and have been wormed since you got them, they shouldn't need worming this close to slaughter. If they have worms now you have been feeding worms for some time.

Maysie

  • Joined Jan 2018
  • Herefordshire/Shropshire Border
Re: Weighing pigs
« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2018, 11:31:07 am »
Help!! I need to worm my two  pigs but am confused about how to go about it. My book tells me to measure the chest, multiply it by itself, and then multiply by the length, then multiply by 69.3 to get the dead weight. Looking on tinternet it gives the same calculation for the live weight.
I'm confused (NOT that it takes much) can anyone throw any light on this please?
Just in case anyone else finds this thread and has the same issue, I am pretty sure that is an error in Liz Shanklands Pig Manual and page 82 should state the weight estimate as LIVE weight. 

Liz, in case you see this thread, there is also a typo on the definition of Baconer too on the same page, as it reads as '80kg (175kg), but should be '80kg (175lbs). 

 

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