William G. Luce Oklahoma state University

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

More than one-fourth of all market hogs in the United States were purchased as feeder pigs. While a majority of these pigs are fed in facilities relatively close to the purchase site, a large number are transported long distances for finishing. Transporting and commingling practices expose young pigs to a variety of stresses. Feeder pigs may experience hunger, thirst and fatigue along with changes in diet, social order, pen mates and environment. In addition, commingled pigs often encounter disease organisms to which they have not developed resistance. Therefore, an effective purchasing and receiving program is recommended to minimize the ill effects of these stresses. The following are guidelines for purchasing and starting feeder pigs.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Inbreeding is the mating of individuals that are related. In the strict sense, all members of a breed are related. As a result, any seedstock producer is practicing some inbreeding. Therefore, we generally reserve the term inbreeding for the mating of animals that are more closely related than the average of the breed.