Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs. Home breeding of Vietnamese pigs

Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs are becoming quite popular in Russia. Despite the fact that they appeared in our country recently, they have already become popular among livestock farmers.

Origin of the breed

Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs were developed in Southeast Asia. They first appeared in Eastern Europe and Canada in the mid-80s of the 20th century and were brought from Vietnam. Breeding improvement of the breed is actively carried out in Canada, Hungary, and Ukraine. Often this breed is called "Mangal", implying that it is related to the Mangalitsa breed, but this is not the case. Also, Korean and Vietnamese pigs are the same breed. In European countries and American farms, the breed is popular among livestock breeders. Work is underway to improve the breed's qualities, namely productivity and increase muscle mass.

Features of this breed

When choosing animals for your farm, you should familiarize yourself with its breeding and maintenance characteristics, with the advantages inherent in this breed. It is they who give pigs such popularity and wide distribution.

1. Pot-bellied pigs begin to walk at the age of 4 months. Earlier maturation of females allows them to begin hunting at this age. Males reach puberty by six months, sometimes even earlier at 4-5 months they can begin to cover females;
2. Newborn piglets are completely under the care of the female, who has a pronounced maternal instinct and is able to independently care for her offspring. In this case, outside intervention is not necessary;
3. A strong immune system allows individuals of this breed to perfectly adapt to various climatic conditions from hot to cold, they can feel comfortable everywhere;
4. The meat has excellent taste, the thickness of the fat layer is 5-7 cm;
5. An excellent advantage of this breed is their resistance to diseases common in pig farming; veterinary measures include deworming;
6. The sow is capable of producing large offspring, from 12-18 piglets per farrow;
7. Feed consumption is small, but pigs eat often, a large volume consists of succulent feed, but, like all other breeds of pigs, they need a balanced diet;
8. Pigs do not defecate where they sleep, this makes caring for them much easier.

Productivity and manifestations of breed qualities depend on how suitable the maintenance of the breed is.

Exterior qualities

The breed has a typical bacon body type. Wide body stretching towards the ground. Quite wide chest. Gilts and sows have a sagging belly. The head is small, pug-shaped; in adulthood, wild boars grow tusks up to 15 cm in length. Small protruding ears. Males have bristles and can reach 20 centimeters. This bristle shows the emotional mood of the animal, rising, showing its condition. The coat color is mostly black, sometimes with light patches on the head; there are also colors that go dark red with stripes, but this color manifestation is not typical for this breed.

How to choose pot-bellied pigs for your farm

Farmers buy this breed to engage in either purebred breeding or fattening; it is also common to raise Vietnamese pigs as pets. In any case, you must carefully select the piglets suitable for your type of rearing.

First of all, you should find trusted sellers, or a farm that has proven itself in the market. If animals are needed for further breeding and breeding, then it is better to buy from different sellers to prevent closely related relationships. When purchasing, you need to find out the weight of the piglet after farrowing and its weight gain every 10 days; this information will help track the growth dynamics and the correspondence of body weight to age.

It is important to look at the boar and the uterus; if month-old piglets are purchased, the sow will have well-defined milk signs. It is also necessary to pay attention to all the young animals presented. In this way, you can evaluate the overall picture of the health and breed of a given seller.

Normally, Vietnamese pot-bellied piglets have a developed muscular skeleton, strong, well-spaced limbs, a pug-shaped nose, uniform skin hair growth, everything should be clean under the tail, the piglet is active, and has a good appetite. It is necessary to clarify the composition of the feed that was given to the piglet, this is necessary in order to adjust the diet and select the feed composition that is optimal for the piglets.

Piglets can be used for meat at the age of 3-4 months; the optimal age and advisability of using piglets for slaughter is 6-7 months. Live weight is 50-60 kg, sometimes it can reach 100 kg. The average weight gain per day is 250-300 grams

Method of keeping

First of all, you need to take care of the premises where the piglets will be raised. Despite the fact that this breed is not demanding of special conditions, it also requires the necessary minimum. Another advantage is the small size of these animals, which will allow you to grow larger quantities in a smaller area.

If there is no ready-made room for arranging a pigsty, it can be built from bricks or ready-made blocks. A concrete floor will make the room easy to clean, but most of the floor is covered with wooden boards; this place is necessary for relaxation. The boards are ideal for the cold season; they will retain heat. And the remaining concrete part will not allow digging indoors. The entire space is divided into machines (4-5 m2) one machine. This pen can accommodate 2 queens, either a queen with piglets or one boar. It is necessary to leave a wide passage between the machines; this is necessary for the convenience of cleaning the room.

The room should be provided with air ventilation without drafts. It is known that pot-bellied pigs tolerate cold weather well, but the best solution would be to provide heating in the pigsty to provide comfortable conditions for the animals in the winter. It is especially important not to allow the uterus and newborn piglets to become hypothermic. You can heat it with a stove, special radiators and any other available method.

There should be a paddock next to the room where the pig will be kept; it is equipped with wooden blocks so that the pigs can rub against them. One adult pig requires 1 hectare of land. Since the walking yard is only used when the weather is warm, it is necessary to have a canopy to protect the pigs from the sun and rainy weather. A mud pool is also organized for them.

What to feed Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs

Many people believe that Vietnamese dogs should be fed only green food. But on such a diet it will not be possible to achieve good weight gain. In order for the gain of live weight to be intensive, you should choose the optimal balanced diet, taking into account all the needs for enhanced growth. To figure out how to raise Vietnamese pigs at home, you should take into account several aspects. Firstly, the material component, the composition of the diet depends on it; if possible, you can use more expensive components, but basically everyone wants to create a diet in the budget segment. And the second point is what we want to get from raising animals. If you need to engage in fattening for meat, then it is better to create a diet yourself.

Concentrated feed (grain) can be grown either independently or purchased ready-made. Organizing a balanced diet will allow you to obtain high-quality products at the lowest cost. In summer, the main share is taken up by green food. In Vietnamese pigs, the structure of the gastrointestinal tract is slightly different from ordinary pigs: the stomach is smaller, the intestines are also smaller in diameter, and food passes through the gastrointestinal tract faster. Therefore, animals eat less, but often.

They are not suitable for roughage containing high fiber content. They digest green grass, alfalfa, and clover hay best. Concentrates are also included. It could be wheat, barley, rye. Oats and corn are not entirely suitable for pot-bellied pigs as the main food, as they make the animals fatten. The feed mixture is made up in the following proportions: barley 45%, wheat – 30%, oats – 15%, corn – 10%.

The grain is crushed in a mill and mixed in the required proportions. Whole grains are not digested and simply pass out of the body in the stool. Steamed mash also has a good effect on meat quality. To do this, pour the finished mixture with boiling water at the rate of 1⁄2 and add a little salt. This mash is steamed for 10 hours. After the mixture has cooled, you can add vitamins, fish oil, and premixes.

For 1 sow, 2.5-3 kg of feed is required at one time (total 2 meals per day). For pregnant women, dairy products, eggs, and vitamins are added to the feed. Piglets are given 1.3-1.5 kg of mixture per head per feeding, 2 times a day. Pot-bellied piglets can also prepare thick porridge from mixed feed.

Animals will chew food longer, and therefore digestion of food will be much better. Vietnamese pigs are also given root vegetables and tubers. They are easy to store and can provide animals with the necessary vitamins during the winter season. This could be carrots, pumpkin, zucchini, legume hay. Vegetables do not need to be cooked, otherwise they will lose their quality, so they are given raw. Boiled potatoes are added to make the feed more nutritious, up to 15% of the total feed.

How to breed Vietnamese pigs

An important rule for breeding Vietnamese pigs is the fact that there should be no closely related relationships when mating. Despite the fact that the animals mature, you should not crossbreed a pig if its weight does not exceed 30-35 kg. An animal with such a small weight will not be able to bear full-fledged offspring, and there is also a risk that the female will suffer.

How to determine readiness for mating in Vietnamese pigs

1. the pig’s behavior becomes very restless;
2. The genitals become swollen and mucus may be released;
3. When you press the croup, the pig freezes.

To carry out mating, the boar is placed in a pen with the queens for 1 day. After fertilization, the gestation period lasts from 114 to 118 days. 3-5 days before farrowing, you can notice how the pig is fussing and building a nest for itself, its mammary glands swell, its nipples begin to turn red, and its belly drops noticeably. On the day of farrowing, the animal does not take food; the nipples secrete drops of colostrum.

How farrowing occurs in Vietnamese pigs

Before farrowing begins, it is necessary to hygienically clean the room where the sow is kept, lay out fresh bedding, and place dishes with clean, not cold water. Although piglets in general can do without human intervention and the mother can easily cope on her own, as a caring farmer you can still control this process and make it easier for the sow to care for newborns. Before the birth of piglets, it is necessary to prepare the essentials, namely diapers for wiping, scissors, iodine solution and cotton wool.

In the first hours after birth, piglets must be given access to colostrum, it must also be wiped, examined, to see if the airways are clogged, the umbilical cord must be cut, bandaged and treated with iodine. The duration of farrowing can vary from 3 to 5 hours; after the placenta has come out (usually there are 2), farrowing can be considered complete. The afterbirth is removed because the sow may eat it.

How to care for little Vietnamese piglets

1. Constant availability of milk every half hour, so that each newborn receives its portion;
2. Anemia is a very common disease in piglets, due to a lack of iron in the body. To prevent the occurrence of this disease, piglets are administered iron preparations intramuscularly, such as ursoferran, ferran. For preventive purposes, piglets are administered the drug ferran on the 3rd-5th day of life - 1-1.5 ml intramuscularly in the hip or neck area. For therapeutic purposes, the dosage is 2-3 ml for animals older than 2 weeks of age.
3. To monitor the weight gain and condition of the animal, you can keep tables of indicators.

10 days – weight not less than 1 kg
20 days – 1.5-2 kg
30 days – 2.5-3 kg

A month after farrowing, the piglets are gradually weaned from the uterus and transferred to a more mature diet. Weaning occurs within a few days, this will help prevent the development of mastitis in the uterus, and the piglets will not experience stress due to a sudden change in feed. By the middle of the second month, piglets can be treated for worms with drugs such as Alben, Alvet at the rate of 0.5 ml per 10 kg of weight once. Fattening is very profitable, but such an activity requires time, effort, and finances. Even though these animals are not whimsical.

Meat qualities are especially noted in pigs weighing up to 40 kg; it contains the optimal amount of fat. Pigs up to 20-30 kg gain weight due to muscle mass, the remaining kilograms come from fat. Vietnamese pig meat is a delicacy, its appearance is marbling, it is juicy, tender and tasty. And the main thing is that at the age of 3 months, pigs are ready for slaughter, which means you can provide yourself with an uninterrupted supply of fresh and tasty meat.

Breeding Vietnamese piglets is a fairly profitable and rational business: they eat little, and the conditions for keeping animals at home are quite simple. The weight of an adult animal after a year of keeping reaches an average of 80 kg. The meat and lard of such piglets is very tasty, juicy and tender.

In this breed, puberty begins early, at about 3-4 months, so once this age is reached, the pig can be bred. The gestation period lasts almost 4 months, the first births number approximately 10 piglets, then the number increases to 20. Sows are good mothers, as a result of which, as a rule, there are no problems with raising piglets.

This breed is quite clean: potbellies go to the toilet exclusively in one place, they do not dig holes for this. Their smell is not as strong as that of ordinary pigs. If you spread a thick layer of straw in winter, the animal tolerates the cold well, and its weight only increases. Therefore, breeding such pigs does not cause any special problems or hassle.

Vietnamese pot-bellied piglets have an easy-going nature, are not aggressive, and are smart. They rarely get sick, they are given vaccinations only at the birth of a piglet (iron supplement and complex vitamins).

Due to the lack of pickiness and increased demands on the living conditions of pot-bellied piglets, breeding Vietnamese pigs is becoming more widespread and popular.

Features of farrowing pot-bellied pigs

Signs of farrowing (birth) of a pig:

a few days before giving birth, the sow becomes restless;
the belly of the Vietnamese pig goes down;
the nipples become seriously swollen and acquire a characteristic red color.

Right before giving birth, the pig makes a kind of nest for itself, crumples the bedding underneath, and chews hay to soften it. Therefore, it is important to prepare for her birth. To do this you need:

remove all sawdust from the machine and leave clean water and hay;
make a separate corner for the kids;
place a lamp with red rays nearby so that the desired temperature is achieved;
prepare the necessary items to tie the umbilical cord, as well as diapers.

For a successful birth, it is better to be close to the sow: this way she will feel calmer. Farrowing occurs within 3-5 hours, after which the following recommendations must be followed:

The afterbirth that comes out after childbirth must be removed immediately so that the pig does not eat it.
Born piglets should eat colostrum within the next hour after birth.
It is necessary to remove all mucus and films from the piglet, clean the mouth and snout, tie the umbilical cord with a thread and cut it, lubricate the wound with iodine solution and place it near the lamp to dry. It is recommended to measure the weight of the born piglet (usually the weight is 500 grams).
The temperature in the room should be up to 32 degrees for the first few days after farrowing, otherwise the calf’s heat exchange will be disrupted, as a result of which the piglets often begin to get sick and grow poorly.
During the first 24 hours, the cubs eat frequently, every half hour, so you need to monitor the amount of their food. At about a month old, little piglets should be able to eat on their own. Within a week after a month, they must be weaned from their mother's breast. You can’t wean them abruptly, they will be stressed and have a disruption in their food digestion system, and the pig will have mastitis.
When the piglets are 40 days old, they need to be prevented from worms. From childhood they should be taken outside, first for 3-4 minutes, then gradually increase the hours when it is warm outside.

How to properly maintain it?

A pigsty for this breed should be made of brick or wood with concrete floors and a drain for flushing out waste.
There should be dry straw on the floor.
Vietnamese pot-bellied piglets do not like drafts, so cracks in the walls must be sealed, if any.
In winter, it is better to install wooden flooring (platform) on the floor; they occupy approximately 2/3 of the area in each individual cage. The pigs rest and sleep on the platform, and eat and defecate on the concrete. In such conditions, the weight of the animal remains stable.
Ceilings must be at least 2 meters.
It is better to make the size of the pen area up to 4.5 meters; 2 single pigs or a sow with cubs can fit here.
Boars love space; they need an area of at least 3.5 m2.
There must be ventilation in the pigsty. In winter, high-quality heating should be provided; you can use a gas convector, a stove, or something else that provides heat.

In addition, it is recommended to make a pool where the piglets will swim and a platform where they will walk. It should be noted that in spring and summer, piglets need to walk for a long time. The walking area should be equipped with a mud bath. It is done simply: dig a hole measuring 2 x 2 meters wide and 30 cm deep and pour water into it.

Piglets of this breed love to bathe, and baths provided in this way protect Vietnamese piglets from overheating in the sun and insects. It’s good if there are a couple of trees on the site, the pigs will rub their backs against them. Otherwise, you can put logs, just dig them well into the ground. In addition, proper maintenance of Vietnamese pigs requires the installation of a canopy from the sun and rain on the site.

Keeping Vietnamese piglets: what to feed an Asian pig?

Nutrition is an important component of breeding Asian pigs, on which the quality of meat depends. The pot-bellied pig has a slightly different food digestion system than the regular pig. They have a small stomach and small intestine. Food enters the stomach quickly.

All feeds that have a coarse grind, hard straw, fodder beets, whole cereal grains - all this is poorly digested in the stomach of an Asian pig.

Since Vietnamese pigs are a herbivorous breed, the proper feeding of the animal is hay made from herbs such as:

clover;
frog;
alfalfa;
sweet clover;
goat's rue

Many vitamins necessary for pigs of this breed are contained in such products as:

pumpkin;
apples;
pears;
zucchini;
carrot.

These vegetables and fruits should not be cooked; it is better to give them raw. Boiled potatoes can be given along with mixed feed; it is better to cook them at once (it is not recommended to store them). Feed must contain:

40% barley;
30% wheat;
10% corn, peas and oats.

A large amount of corn affects the pig’s parameters: the animal’s weight rapidly increases, so there is no need to give it a lot.

During one feeding, an adult pig, as a rule, eats 700 grams. compound feed. You should not allow it to overeat, otherwise the meat will not be as tasty, and overeating is bad for the pig. In summer and spring, pigs need to eat more fresh grass, and feed is only 20% of the total diet per day. You need to feed in the morning and evening. But in winter and autumn, compound feed should make up 30% of the total diet. Breeding animals of the Vietnamese breed should include the addition of the following components to the basic diet:

Professional and have a large herd. In Russian cities, the price of an adult pot-bellied pig ranges from 3,000 rubles and above, and the price of a piglet reaches 1,000 rubles and above. The weight of an adult animal ranges from 70 to 100 kg. The weight of a baby at one month of age reaches no more than 5 kg. In a year, the weight of the animal, as a rule, reaches 70-80 kg.

The Vietnamese pot-bellied pig is a fairly new breed of domestic pig, first brought to Canada and Eastern Europe a little over three decades ago from Vietnam. Today, breeding work continues aimed at improving the quality characteristics of this breed in order to increase size and muscle mass. The most active work is currently being carried out by specialists from Canada, Hungary and Ukraine.

Description of the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig

Today, purebred representatives of the Vietnamese Potbellied breed are widespread in Canada, Southeast Asia, Hungary, Ukraine and Romania. Relatively recently, breeders of Asian herbivorous pigs have appeared in Belarus and Russia, where this breed is still quite rare, but very promising.

This is interesting! Representatives of the breed are well adapted not only to the hot, humid Asian climate, but also to the rather harsh winters characteristic of Canada and central Europe.

Vietnamese potbellies are distinguished by their high precocity, so they reach sexual maturity at the age of 4-6 months. Such animals use ordinary meadow pastures very well. The advantages of the breed also include high immunity, excellent milk production and a balanced psyche of sows, which makes caring for the offspring much easier.

Appearance

An animal of bacon build, with a wide and squat body with a wide and well-developed chest. Gilts and adult sows have a drooping and fairly large belly. The head is small in size, with a pronounced pug-like appearance. At the time of puberty, wild boars are characterized by active growth of canines, the size of which by the age of three can reach 10-15 cm.

Erect ears are small in size. Adults are distinguished by the presence of long stubble in the area from the croup to the neck, forming a characteristic “mohawk.” The agitated or excited emotional state of such a farm animal can be quite easily determined precisely by the peculiar bristly appearance of the “Iroquois”.

Purebred representatives of the breed are distinguished by a pure black color, as well as a black color with the presence of small white spots in the head and hooves. Sometimes in litters you can observe the appearance of offspring with colors similar to wild boar. Such dark red with longitudinal stripes and too light color are not typical for representatives of this breed.

Lifestyle, behavior

Pot-bellied Vietnamese pigs are among the unpretentious animals that are distinguished by their good disposition and innate cleanliness. If all maintenance rules are strictly observed, animals practically do not suffer from diseases and adapt perfectly and quickly to different conditions of detention. The animals walk well and fatten easily.

Representatives of the breed, regardless of age, are distinguished by their quick wit, as well as absolute calmness, they do not make tunnels and do not make noise for no reason. Asian herbivorous pigs are quite friendly not only to people, but also to any other agricultural or domestic animals. It is precisely thanks to the ability for easy socialization, good-natured disposition and rather small size, as well as unusual appearance, that Asian pigs have been actively spreading in many countries of the world in recent years as so-called companion animals.

Diet of the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig

Farmers from different countries were almost immediately able to appreciate the undeniable advantages of representatives of the Asian herbivorous breed. When keeping Vietnamese pigs, there is no need for huge expenses on feed, there are no problems with preparing a diet, and real income can be obtained in a fairly short time.

Piglet diet

Basic rules for proper feeding of Vietnamese pot-bellied piglets:

up to two months of age, a piglet needs to be fed seven times a day, which guarantees proper and uninterrupted digestion and the production of a sufficient amount of gastric juice;
It is recommended to transfer two-month-old piglets to three meals a day with the introduction of boiled beets, potatoes, pumpkin and wheat. A mixture based on whey, legumes and nettle gives a good result. The standard feed rate is 3 kg;
at the age of three months to six months, it is necessary to significantly increase the amount of protein in the diet, as well as increase the daily feed intake to 4 kg;
at seven months of age, the daily diet of piglets increases to approximately 6.0-6.5 kg, and for rapid weight gain it is quite acceptable to use wet, granulated and various loose feeds.

The entire process of fattening piglets of the Asian herbivorous breed can be divided into three main stages, each of which is characterized by a different diet, optimally corresponding to the age characteristics of the farm animal:

The milk period during the first four weeks of fattening is accompanied by weaning of piglets from the uterus. At this stage, the diet must include whole goat or cow's milk;
The growing period lasts from four weeks to eight months from birth and involves providing ideal conditions for bone growth and muscle building. Piglets at this age are fed with young, succulent grass, and a sufficient amount of vitamins allows for normal growth of the animal.

It is important to remember that in the third period of the main fattening, the diet of a pot-bellied herbivorous pig should be actively supplemented with vegetable waste, including potato peelings, which cause increased formation of a sufficient sebaceous layer.

Diet of adult pigs

In winter, for completely natural reasons, green fresh food is excluded from the diet of Vietnamese pot-bellied animals. At this time, it is extremely important to correctly select an equivalent replacement for greens. The most promising basis for the diet in the cold season may well be the following foods:

legume hay;
hay of some cereals;
grain crops;
succulent food in the form of carrots, apples, potatoes and pumpkins;
ready-made feed;
bran of cereal crops.

It should also be noted that harvested and pre-dried chestnuts and acorns have a very good effect on the health and productivity of farm animals. It is recommended to supplement such feed components with all kinds of mineral additives. In winter, the daily feeding ration is divided into three to four meals, and the total volume is selected depending on the age characteristics of the animal. To obtain greater effect, it is advisable to alternate different succulent foods, replacing vegetables with fruits.

By the onset of summer, the amount of concentrates and mixed feed in the total diet must be reduced to approximately 20-25%. The remaining 75-80% should be occupied by herbs, vegetables and various fruits. A distinctive feature of the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig breed is its excellent adaptability to pasture conditions, therefore in the summer, if it is possible to arrange a sufficiently large range, it is advisable to keep the herd on fresh meadow grass. Pigs should be released for feeding in an outdoor pen in the morning and in the evening.

At the last stage of fattening adult Asian herbivorous pigs, the main goal is to obtain the maximum possible weight gain, as well as improve the quality characteristics of the meat. During this period, focusing on these tasks, the breeder must slightly change the daily diet with the correct percentage of concentrated feed and greens.

The optimal composition of the combined feed at the fattening stage of the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig is presented:

high-quality fresh barley in the amount of 40-50% of the total food;
wheat in the amount of 25-30% of the daily diet;
a mixture of corn, peas and oats in an amount of 25-30%.

Such unpretentious farm animals can be fed with green food in abundance not only during planned walks, but also during free grazing in pasture conditions, and the best option would be to use clover, alfalfa and sweet clover for this purpose.

Breeding and rearing

Of all the pig breeds raised today, the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig is one of the most unpretentious and quickly adaptable in terms of creating conditions for keeping and breeding. However, for the full growth and active development of the Asian herbivorous pig and its offspring, it is necessary to take into account some basic, simple points of maintenance:

the presence of high-quality, efficient supply and exhaust ventilation, which will ensure optimal temperature conditions for such farm animals in the summer heat;
concrete floors covered with special wooden pallets, simple and easy to clean, and also prevent pot-bellied pigs from freezing in severe frosts;
the presence of sufficient walking area with shelter from precipitation and scorching rays of the sun;
placement of carding posts on the prepared walking area, as well as a special pit filled with a small amount of water;
fully balanced and regular feeding, taking into account all age characteristics and health status of the farm animal.

In one pen, designed to house one ordinary large pig, two or three adult Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs can easily accommodate in complete comfort. The young animals of this breed also do not require any special care.

This is interesting! Particular attention is paid to regular thorough cleaning of the pigsty with mandatory systematic disinfection of feeding utensils and housing areas.

Newborn pigs should be provided with a room temperature of 20-22°C. For this purpose, special lamps are most often installed above the machine to heat the air.

Diseases, breed defects

Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs are characterized by a high level of body resistance, and the appearance of diseases is most often the result of:

crowding of animals;
unsanitary conditions;
improper feeding;
neglect of standard vaccination.

Rapidly spreading infections pose a serious threat to the health and life of herbivorous Asian pigs:

pseudorabies or Aujeszky's disease, caused by a highly virulent virus containing a DNA molecule that affects the nervous system of animals;
viral gastroenteritis, which belongs to coronaviruses that quickly cause dehydration and intoxication of the body;
erysipelas in acute, subacute and chronic forms, most often developing in pigs aged from three months to one year;
salmonellosis, which causes intestinal pathologies, so only early therapy can guarantee a favorable outcome;
Escherichiosis, or colibacillosis, caused by E. coli, which actively begins to multiply due to dietary errors or as a result of decreased immunity;
anthrax, which often occurs in a fulminant form, in which a convulsive state quickly gives way to death;
swine pox, caused by a DNA-containing virus that is highly resistant even in unfavorable environmental conditions;
listeriosis, caused by a polymorphic bacterium that enters the animal’s body through lesions on the mucous membranes or skin;
circovirus disease, which provokes severe inflammation of the lymph nodes and blood vessels.

This is interesting! A sick animal lies or buries itself under bedding, assumes a sitting dog position, and, among other things, may develop diarrhea, profuse eye or nasal discharge, lack of appetite and weight loss, nervous phenomena in the form of convulsions or throwing back the head.

Such pathologies most often include lice and scabies. No less often, pot-bellied Vietnamese pigs can develop helminthic infestations in the form of ascariasis, esophagostomosis, and trichinosis.

Vietnamese pigs have recently started to become more and more popular. In our country, they began to breed this breed relatively recently, but despite this, there are already many conflicting rumors. This breed is correctly called the Asian or Vietnamese pot-bellied pig.

It got its name from its saggy belly. What other interesting factors does this breed have, as well as all the pros and cons, you will read in this article.

History of the development of the Vietnamese pig breed

The Vietnamese breed was developed in Southeast Asia, because of this it would be correct to call this breed the Asian herbivorous pot-bellied pig. The breed was brought to Canada and several European countries in 1985 from Vietnam, which is why the pigs are called Vietnamese.

Almost immediately, this breed found its fans and gained further development and popularity throughout the world. Scientists have set the task of improving productive performance, increasing size and percentage of muscle mass. Which is still being done today.

The breed appeared in Ukraine quite recently. And immediately farmers began to compare them with other breeds with which they found similarities: Korean and Chinese breeds. The Korean breed is the same Vietnamese breed, it just received such a popular name. But the Chinese are called decorative dwarf pigs, which have the roots of Vietnamese pigs.

Positive aspects and characteristics of Vietnamese pigs

This breed of pigs has features that distinguish it from others. These features must be taken into account when breeding, keeping and caring for the breed. Many of these traits can be attributed to the positive qualities of Vietnamese pigs, which is why this breed is so famous and popular.

Features and positive qualities of the breed:

This breed belongs to early maturing pigs. Many farmers are concerned about the following question: at what age do pigs of this breed reach puberty? Females of the Vietnamese breed reach puberty at four months and are able to give birth to offspring. In males of the Vietnamese breed, puberty occurs later at six months.

Newly born piglets are very easy to care for and maintain. Sows have a very well developed maternal sense, and this factor makes the farmer’s work easier.

The Vietnamese breed of pigs has very good immunity, due to which they very quickly get used to different weather conditions. Even if the homeland of these pigs is in a hot tropical region, this does not prevent them from growing and developing well in colder countries.

The meat quality of the Vietnamese breed is very high, the meat is tender and juicy, and is considered a delicacy. The thickness of lard and lard is usually two or three fingers, and like meat, it is very tasty. A Vietnamese pig carcass is cut into two half carcasses.

The Vietnamese breed of pigs is very rarely exposed to common swine diseases, which means that it is not necessary to vaccinate them against any rare diseases. One unpleasant event when breeding them can be helminths. But it will not be possible to completely protect your children from worms, so it is simply necessary to carry out preventive measures.

Vietnamese sows are very fertile. She can produce up to eighteen piglets in one litter, but around twelve piglets are more common. On average, you can expect up to 24 piglets per year.

The Vietnamese breed of pigs has a very well developed genetic memory, which protects them from eating various poisonous herbs.

Pot-bellied pigs have a fairly frequent, but small diet. Their diet mainly consists of green feed, which is why they are popularly called Vietnamese herbivorous pigs.

But it’s stupid to think that this breed eats only pasture.

The positive side of the Vietnamese breed is their cleanliness; the difference between the toilet and the bedroom is immediately visible. This arrangement is a big plus because it makes it easier for the farmer to clean and tidy the barn.

The extent to which all of the listed positive aspects of this breed will develop depends on the young animals that you buy for rearing and fattening. It is also very important what living conditions, care, and food you provide for your pigs. Let's try together to understand how to get the best results when fattening and raising Vietnamese pigs at home.

This breed of pigs has practically no disadvantages, It is necessary to protect animals from the cold and feed them with suitable food. Rough feeds are poorly digested, and whole grain feeds are not digested at all. The downside is the sow's intense concern for her babies.

Characteristics of the appearance of Vietnamese pigs

Vietnamese pigs can be distinguished very well from other breeds, so you will not have any problems when purchasing these pigs.

External signs of Vietnamese pigs:

Features you should pay attention to when buying Vietnamese piglets

There are two ways in which a farmer can breed Vietnamese piglets, either buy young animals for breeding, or buy and fatten pigs:

In both cases, it is necessary to purchase piglets from reliable sellers.

If you are going to breed piglets in tribes, you do not need to buy them from one seller, it is better from several. This should be done to avoid inbreeding.

There is no need to be embarrassed to ask the seller about the weight of piglets at birth, as well as about the weight gain over a certain period of time. If you know this, you will be able to imagine the piglet's initial weight.

You can and even should ask the seller to show the parents of the piglets. If the seller says that the piglet is one month old and weighs no more than 3.5 kilograms, then its mother should have visible drooping nipples, and she herself should be thinner. If you see inconsistencies, you will be convinced that they are trying to sell you an older piglet, or perhaps that they showed you another mother, which indicates an unscrupulous seller.

You also need to ask to be shown a few pigs. By external characteristics you can understand what the pig will be like in the future. Healthy Vietnamese piglets have sufficiently developed muscles, their limbs are strong and widely spaced. The piglets' heads are wide and the curves of the nasal bones should be clearly visible. The fact that the piglet is healthy is indicated by its smooth coat, elastic body, clean and dry tail, shiny eyes, moves well and eats well.

You need to ask the seller about what food the piglet ate. It is necessary to gradually change the composition of the piglet.

Vietnamese piglets grow quite quickly and are suitable for slaughter at the age of three months, which will always provide your family table with high-quality, young and juicy meat. But it is best to fatten them up to seven months; this age is the best for slaughter.

Before you start raising Vietnamese piglets, you must first prepare a room for keeping them. This breed of pigs is not picky about living conditions or any special care. Since the breed of pigs is not too large, this will allow you to turn a small barn into a real farm.

So, a few points on the content of the Vietnamese breed:

If you plan to breed these pigs for a long time, then it is best to prepare a comfortable and convenient room for them. The barn can be built using gas silicate blocks or bricks.
It is best to make the floor concrete; it will be much easier for you to clean. Part of the floor of the pigsty must be covered with wood. Wooden flooring will be for the pigs' bedroom and the animals will be warmer in the winter. And the concrete floor will prevent pigs from rummaging.
The entire barn must be divided by partitions either wooden or iron. The area of one such pen should be up to five square meters. One pen can accommodate two adult pigs, or a sow and piglets.
You also need to allocate space for the corridor so that you can easily transport the manure removal cart.
The barn in which the animals will be kept must have good ventilation. If there is no fresh air in the room, or there are drafts, this will have a bad effect on their health.
Despite the fact that Vietnamese pigs are accustomed to low temperatures, in winter it is still necessary to insulate the room. In winter, it is most worth paying attention to newborn piglets and sows. Low temperatures can affect their health. You can heat the barn in different ways, it could be a Russian stove, grub, gas heating, or in any way available to you.
If you are going to breed Vietnamese pigs, you should know that they need to be allowed to walk during the warm season. To do this, you need to separate the territory with the calculation of one adult pig per one hundred square meters. A separate walking area should be made for potbellies. In the walking area, you need to dig several logs into the ground to scratch the back.
It is necessary to make a canopy over the walking area so that the animals can hide from the sun and rain. If you succeed, you can make a mud pool for animals, for which the pigs will be very grateful to you. This pool will help pigs cool down in hot weather and also get rid of pesky insects.

What to feed Vietnamese pigs?

There are a very large number of different recipes for feeding pigs in winter and summer, which contradict each other. You can read on the Internet that pigs can only be fed with grass and pasture. But feeding animals this way will not give the desired result for you, and the mass of animals will be small. Let's still figure out how best to raise Vietnamese piglets without extra costs, but with maximum weight.

Before you begin the fattening process, you need to think about the possibilities of reducing the cost of feed. It is impossible to talk about increasing the profitability of pig farming when feeding only purchased feed to animals at home. Therefore, you need to look for a way to grow grain crops yourself, or buy them from trusted sellers, in such quantities as to provide for all your domestic livestock.

In order to reduce your expenses on purchasing feed, you need to learn how to prepare high-calorie feed that is suitable specifically for feeding Vietnamese pigs. The daily diet of animals should always be fresh, properly balanced and of good quality. By observing all the requirements, you can achieve good results, that is, good weight gain in pigs.

As we mentioned earlier, the summer diet of Vietnamese pigs consists of green feed. The structure of the digestive tract of Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs is slightly different from all ordinary breeds (the stomach is smaller in size, the diameter of the intestines is slightly smaller, the increased speed of food passage through the tract and many other features). All these indicators affect the degree of digestion of incoming food. It is better not to feed pot-bellied pigs with roughage, food containing a large amount of fiber, fodder beets, straw, etc. Pigs will not refuse green grass, alfalfa hay and clover.

But the animals’ diet should also include grain crops - wheat, barley, rye. In the process of fattening pigs, there is no need to get carried away with oats and corn, because this helps to increase fat in their body.

Grain feed can be given in the following ratio:

Barley up to 40%.
Wheat up to 30%.
Oats up to 10%.
Peas up to 10%.
Corn up to 10%.

The grain needs to be ground and mixed in a suitable quantity; whole grains are not digested and then everything is excreted in the feces. It was noticed that the lard and meat of Vietnamese pigs taste better when fed wet food. To do this, you need to mix a portion of concentrated food (about four liters) with half a teaspoon of salt, pour boiling water over it all (about nine liters of water) and let this mixture stand for about twelve hours. Before giving the mixture to the pig, you must also add vitamins and fish oil. One bucket of this feed will feed three sows at one of two feedings.

It is very good for lactating sows, as well as pregnant women, to add eggs, milk products, vitamins and whey to the mixture. The piglets you are fattening need to be given one and a half buckets of mixture per ten piglets; they are fed twice a day.

Another option for feeding animals is to feed them prepared thick porridge from mixed feed. Such food takes a long time to be chewed by pigs, which causes profuse salivation, as well as a faster conversion of starch into sugar. All this affects the good absorption of nutrients and faster digestion of food.

Also, vitamin feeds, especially those that are well stored in winter, affect the weight gain of pigs. These are zucchini, pumpkins, carrots, and vitamin hay from legumes. All these crops must be given raw to pigs. When these vegetables are cooked, all beneficial vitamins, which are very useful for animals, are destroyed. Boiled potatoes can be given to animals as a high-calorie food. They need to be given potatoes in the amount of 15% of the total feed, but when adding potatoes, it is necessary to remove such an amount of flour or feed.

It is necessary to remember that in order for your wards to increase their weight, you must follow all nutritional recommendations. If there is any error in the power supply, a failure may occur in your small enterprise.

How to breed Vietnamese pigs?

In order to get healthy, productive and viable offspring, it is very important to remember one main rule in this matter - that the pig and the boar are not related.

The Vietnamese breed belongs to the representatives of early maturation, but you should not breed a pig if it weighs less than thirty kilograms, because this will have a bad effect on its health and the health of future babies.

In order to understand when an animal is ready for mating, you should pay attention to the following factors:

Pigs become restless.

The genital loop swells.

There may be some discharge.

If you press a little on the croup of a Vietnamese pig, it stops and listens, and does not move from its place.

For mating, the female and the male are placed in one pen for a day.

The gestation period of pigs of this breed varies from 114 days to 118. About five days before giving birth, the pig becomes restless, makes a nest, chews and crushes hay. During this period, the milk lobes begin to form, the swollen nipples turn red, and the belly begins to droop. On the day when farrowing occurs, the pig refuses to eat, and droplets of colostrum begin to be released from the nipples.

You need to prepare for such an important moment in advance: clean the machine and lay fresh hay, pour clean and fresh water into the drinking bowl. In addition, you need to select a corner for the piglets and provide heating in that place, because newborn piglets initially need an air temperature of 30 to 32 degrees. You should prepare diapers for drying piglets, scissors and thread for tying the umbilical cord, iodine solution and cotton wool.

Some breeders prefer not to interfere with this process, but it is best to start caring for newborn piglets earlier. Newborn babies have a small supply of nutrients, and colostrum may not appear in the first hours, which can be disastrous for them. Each piglet requires care, you need to clear them of mucus, clear their airways, tie up and cut the umbilical cord, and treat them with iodine.

The interview time ranges from three to five hours; at the end of this process, the afterbirth comes out, consisting of two parts. All parts of it must be collected so that the sow does not eat it.

How to properly care for newborn piglets:

Each of them must eat mother's milk. The first few days they nurse their mother every 30-40 minutes, you need to make sure that each of them eats well. When piglets feed only milk, iron in their body decreases, which can subsequently lead to bad consequences. Therefore, each piglet needs to be given an intramuscular injection of iron.

The right thing to do would be to have an index card for each piglet so that all the features of growth and development can be recorded.

It is necessary to wean piglets away from their mother not immediately, but gradually. This is done so that the mother does not develop mastitis, and the piglets do not feel worse. At forty days of age, babies can be vaccinated against worms.

How to protect potbellies from diseases?

Since the animal’s homeland is Asia, there are diseases there that are unknown to us, we must conclude that pigs have good, stable immunity. This breed can even distinguish poisonous herbs.

Vietnamese pigs get sick most often where there is a lot of infection and staying in a dirty room.

But preventative measures won't hurt anywhere. Newborn piglets need to be vaccinated at one day of age. They are also then vaccinated against helminths.

It is also worth getting vaccinated against salmonellosis. This disease is infectious and affects the gastrointestinal tract. The reason his mice and rats are in the barn.

Another disease is erysipelas. Pink, red, and blue spots appear on the pig's body. After a couple of days, the pigs refuse to eat and lie down almost all the time. The disease is transmitted by birds, mice, and flies. The disease enters the animal's body through water and food. Therefore, it is necessary to keep everything clean and prevent pigs from coming into contact with disease carriers.

This breed can suffer from depression due to poor care.

If the animals are well cared for and maintained, they will not cause you any trouble.

Pig farming, in particular breeding the Vietnamese breed, can be an excellent income for a farmer. But to achieve this, you must first plan everything, and then follow all the instructions. Only if you follow all the necessary rules will you achieve results in this matter.

Was this article helpful?

Thank you for your opinion!

Write in the comments what questions you have not received an answer to, we will definitely respond!

You can recommend this article to your friends!

76 once already
helped

The Asian or Vietnamese pot-bellied pig has recently appeared in Russia, but has already become one of the most popular breeds for home breeding of Vietnamese pigs. The fact is that Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs have a number of advantages over other breeds:

Firstly, size; the Vietnamese pig is much smaller in size than a regular pig as an adult. Piglets are just babies; by two months their weight barely reaches 10 kilograms;

Secondly - meat, the breed is considered meat, bacon, there is lard, but it is not much and it is very tasty. Some parts of the pig taste like rabbit meat;

Thirdly, the growth rate; an adult Vietnamese pig becomes sexually mature at 3-4 months, which means that it can not only be used for meat, but also mated and produce offspring;

Fourthly, Vietnamese pigs practically do not get sick, they are difficult to overfeed and poison, they like to eat a lot of herbs, but will never eat a poisonous plant;

Fifthly, Vietnamese pigs eat very little, but often.

Keeping pot-bellied Vietnamese pigs

Pigsty

Before you start buying piglets, you should equip a pigsty, which can contain from 1-2 to 6-7 pigs, including boars and sows with piglets. Like all Vietnamese pigs, they are extremely heat-loving; low temperatures affect feed consumption and pig growth. Incorrectly created temperature conditions inside the pigsty can lead to the fact that even after a year the pig will weigh no more than 50 kilograms, having never farrowed. That is why the pigsty should be built of brick, equipped with wooden windows and doors. The ceiling needs to be insulated, for which you can use straw and hay, which can be laid out in the attic, or plug the cracks in the pigsty.

The floor for Vietnamese pigs should be made of solid concrete, if possible equipped with wooden pallets, which will help to avoid frostbite in the winter frosts. If this is not possible, you can use a bedding made of straw and wood shavings. The main disadvantage of bedding is the need to change it frequently to avoid infection, breeding bacteria and even rodents. Mice and rats are the main problem of any pigsty; only increased hygiene and all kinds of poisons will help get rid of them. The poison must be chosen only that which does not harm anyone except rats and mice; modern technology has made it possible to create just such poisons. You should not use expired poisons, preserved from the Soviet period by many livestock farmers.

The floor in the pigsty must have a drain so that the pigs do not end up in their own sewage. The lack of drainage will add extra daily cleaning work to the pig owner.

The height of the ceiling in the pigsty is also extremely important; it should not be less than 2.2 meters; this is necessary in order to ensure good ventilation and free air circulation, since in terms of the unpleasant odor, Vietnamese pigs are indistinguishable from ordinary domestic breeds.

The pigsty must be divided into separate sections, each equipped with a drain and a place for feeding; this is done for the convenient separation of sows, piglets, boars and adult pigs for fattening. So, for 1-2 sows you will need a stall measuring 4-4.5 meters. A room of at least 3 meters in size is allocated for the boar.

Adult pigs tolerate the cold well, but in winter it is best to equip the pigsty with a heating system, or constantly turn on the heating devices. Even an ordinary Russian stove, which can be heated with wood, is suitable for heating in a pigsty.

Walk

Pigs of any other breed do not need walking as much as Vietnamese pigs do. In its homeland, this breed is exclusively steppe, pigs live in the field, eat pasture, they are grazed like our sheep and cows, so in the summer pigs must be kept in the fresh air. For one pig, it is recommended to allocate a space of no less than 1 hectare of land, but if this amount is not available, then it is recommended to make a pen and keep the pigs in it, feeding them with fresh herbs and other feed. In clean air, Vietnamese piglets and pigs grow quickly and noticeably gain weight.

Several posts should be dug into the pen, preferably as deep as possible; the pigs will use them to scratch their backs. Also, the walking area must be equipped with a kind of pool, for which you dig a shallow hole measuring 2x2 meters. The pit should be filled with water, it is not necessary to change it, it is not for drinking, but so that the pigs can get mud baths, which they love very much. With the help of mud baths, pigs get rid of insects and also cool down in the summer heat. In order for Vietnamese pigs to feel even more comfortable, you need to equip a canopy in the pen where they can hide from the rain and sun.

Buying piglets

Having prepared a pigsty and a place for walking, you can start purchasing young piglets, so let’s look at some rules for choosing pigs on the market, what you should pay attention to:

1.Price. The high cost of piglets is explained by the nobility of the breed, but for home breeding, the purpose of which is to obtain meat, also purebred or culled pigs, the cost of which is low, are suitable. If the goal is to get good offspring, then there is nothing to do in the market; you need to go directly to the breeder and inspect his herd on the spot. There must be at least two boars in the herd intended for insemination. The presence of one boar means that all the piglets are relatives, which means that a good offspring cannot be obtained from their crossing.

2. When purchasing, you need to pay special attention to the sow; the less well-fed she looks, the healthier the piglets she fed with milk.

3. It is always necessary to ask the weight of the piglets, at one month the pigs do not weigh more than 2.5-3 kilograms, if the weight is more, the seller is cheating with age, or he fed the piglets too much, the latter, however, is not bad. The age can be determined by the already mentioned sow. Her appearance.

4. All piglets must stand firmly on their feet and have well-defined muscles and musculature.

5. The head of a Vietnamese breed piglet is wide; in appearance, the young animal resembles a pug.

6.You shouldn’t be shy to look under the pig’s tail, it should be dry there. A wet tail means one thing - dysentery, diarrhea - a disease from which young animals die in a matter of days.

7. A healthy piglet behaves actively, grunts and runs, has bright and lively eyes, and never sits still.

8. You need to find out from the seller what he usually feeds the piglets, this is necessary in order to avoid a sudden change in feed, which can cause stomach upset.

In just 3-4 months, the piglets will become adults, their weight will be 70-100 kilograms.

Feeding

The diet of pot-bellied pigs is as follows: feed, grass, hay, grain and vegetables. The frequency of feeding depends on the time of year. In summer it is necessary to feed twice a day, and in winter, due to low temperatures, three times. It should be remembered that some types of feed cause uncontrollable fat gain in a pig; for example, this effect will occur from feeding only dry grain feed, which pigs do not digest well, unlike other breeds. Also, the appearance of fat is associated with constant presence in a limited area of the pigsty; the more pigs run around in the fresh air, the less fat is deposited in them.

The ideal feed mixture for Vietnamese pigs is liquid feed, obtained by mixing feed, water and herbs. Pigs are lovers of vegetables, so you should stock up on plenty of pumpkins, zucchini, cabbage and carrots in advance. They feed on any pasture, but especially love alfalfa and clover. You should know that both alfalfa and clover can cause poisoning, so you should not let pigs out into the field with these plants; they must be given in small portions, slightly lethargic. In winter, pigs eat hay well, while refusing straw. It’s a good idea to feed your pigs corn on the cob; they eat it with great pleasure. According to the calculations of experienced pig breeders, it is necessary to allocate two kilograms of prepared feed per day per pig, in addition to greens and vegetables. In winter, this volume should be increased to 2.5 kilograms.

Mating and farrowing

Vietnamese fold pigs become adults at 3 months, but mating should be carried out no earlier than 6-8 months, then the result will be better. In terms of bearing offspring, Vietnamese sows do not differ from ordinary pigs; farrowing occurs on the 114th day after fertilization. A young sow gives birth to 5 to 10 piglets per farrow; a pig with the second and subsequent litters gives birth to 10-20 piglets, which is much higher than the number of piglets of other breeds of pigs. Sows of the Vietnamese breed are generally peaceful; the risk that a pig will destroy the young at birth is reduced several times.

A noticeable difference between Vietnamese piglets is their cleanliness and lack of instinct to chew anything, which is why they are kept not only for meat, but also as pets.

The main thing to remember is that young animals must be vaccinated immediately, or on the second day after birth. Iron, vitamins and other drugs necessary depending on the region are administered; no further vaccination is required.

You can determine whether a sow is ready for mating by her restless behavior; a sure way is to put your hands on her rump; if the pig does not budge, she can be allowed to go to the boar. When mating, care should be taken to ensure that the pigs do not bite or injure each other. Animals sometimes behave aggressively during mating.

Exactly the same anxiety is shown by a pig when it is time to give birth. The sow begins to prepare the place, her belly and nipples sag, from which milk appears when pressed; the pig may become hungry. If this is observed, then it is necessary to organize regular shifts in the pigsty in order to help the pig give birth in time. In general, the duration of labor does not exceed 5 hours, but there are exceptions. You should prepare dry rags and a rope, which, if necessary, should be secured to the legs of the emerging piglet to help it come into the world. Providing timely assistance will save you from the loss of offspring and its subsequent death. A sign that the birth is over is the release of the afterbirth; it must be removed immediately so that the pig does not have time to eat it.

All piglets should be examined, the snout and mouth should be freed of mucus and postpartum film, then the umbilical cord should be cut and treated with iodine. Next, you should slip them under the sow for feeding, while ensuring that all piglets eat equally. The pig will feed the piglets only for the first month, then you can gradually transfer them to other types of food, trying not to do this suddenly.

Thus, there is nothing difficult in keeping and breeding Vietnamese fold pigs at home; in terms of breeding, these pigs are much more profitable than ordinary ones, since they allow owners to constantly have fresh meat and lard on the table.