Pig housing: Weaner housing and management

A weaner house is the unit where weaned piglets (weaner/grower) are housed from the time they are separated from the lactating sows. The optimal recommended weaning age is when piglets attain 35 days, however, in some intensive farming systems some are weaned as early as 28 days old.

Weaners must also be looked after with a lot of care until they are 3 months old. They must be kept in pens at a temperature of 17 to 25 °C. Wet and dirty conditions should be avoided.

Design of Weaner/grower house.

1. The recommended dimension for individual pens is 12 m2 or 4 x 3 m with 1 m high concrete walls.
2. It must be large enough to house a litter of 10 to 12 pigs, kept in the pen from the age of four weeks until they are sold at when they attain the market weight of 70- 100kgs.
3. Concrete or wooden floor is recommended for management for hygiene purposes
4. Should have Two 1 m wide dung passages along the north and south walls of the building with a feeding passage, 1 m wide in the middle between the two rows of pens.
5. The entrance to the building is again to the short side of the building with a 1 m space between the outside wall and the first pen linked to the feed and dung passages. The entrance gates to the pens are on the side of the feed passage.
6. Water troughs or drinking nipples are fixed to the pen walls facing towards the dung passages.
7. Two rows of 10 pens are built in the house. The building will be 40 m long and 9 m wide. The individual pens.

Management practices:

1. Weaning piglets should be done properly without unnecessary stress preferably transported in  cages  without  contact  to  contaminated  corridors.
2. The weaner house should  be properly  cleaned (disinfected) and  totally well dried.
3. Regular cleaning should be done to remove dung and dirt
4. Weaned piglets have high risk for diarrhea, it is advisable to add some fiber (crusted oat) and to improve intestine mucosa and reduce scour then add some Zinconxyd. (3-4) gram per kg total feed) and only for the first 10 days after weaning. Be aware of the hygiene.  After cleaning, use a little stalosan especially in wet areas (farmers choice 2013).
5. To reduce risk of post-weaning diarrhea, avoid weaning the piglets too early.
6. Grower pigs must have access to enough feed. It is therefore ideal two split the daily feed two portions per day.
7. Weaner pigs should have access to enough and clean water at all time. The water troughs or the water nipples should have water throughout the day.

For pig house construction, training or sourcing of breeds contact us at 0705554425 or email: farmlinkkenya@gmail.com