FARMERS’ DIARIES

PIGS

Maud Mphuthi, Leandra, Mpumalanga

The piggery is not that busy at this time. We mated the last batch of animals at the start of June and they’re due to farrow in September. The piglet mortality rate goes up in cold weather so, as far as possible, we try not to farrow in winter when it gets very cold in our area. Production will probably start peaking in September.

“Our priority now and in the coming months is raising the weaners.”

We weaned some of the piglets last month so our priority now and in the coming months is raising the weaners. We have put them onto ASA 2 feed, which they can take in from five weeks until about two months, or 20kg live mass. The minimum intake of ASA 2 should be between 4kg and 6kg per piglet. We put them onto grower feed from two months until they are about four months old, with a daily average intake of 2kg per pig per day, and