Nowadays, many people will choose to use cement for breeding when raising pigs, and cement does have many advantages that cannot be compared with land, such as easy cleaning, easier disinfection, not easy to breed bacteria, saving time and effort, and so on. However, there is also a saying that concrete floors are not suitable for raising pigs, why is that?
First of all, raising pigs on cement floors will reduce the quality of pork. Anyone who has raised a pig knows that the taste of pork depends on the texture of the pork, if the pig is rough, then the taste of this pig will not taste so good, in contrast, the taste of delicate pork is more delicate. What is the reason for this? Pigs are animals that love to lie on the ground, and they spend most of their lives lying on the ground. Therefore, the quality of the land determines the quality of life of the pigs in a large way, which affects the physical fitness and health of the pigs.
The friction of the cement floor is larger, and when the pig rolls on the cement floor, it will naturally develop a rough **. Secondly, the thermal conductivity of the cement floor is very strong, which means that even if the sun has just shone on the ground, the strong thermal conductivity of the cement floor immediately transmits the heat brought by the sun's rays to the ground, and the pigs that are most closely related to the cement ground do not enjoy the benefits brought by the sun.
Secondly, laying cement floors will make pigs lack nutrients, isn't nutrition obtained by eating food? This is due to the habit of pigs, who like to arch the soil, and when they are at leisure, they like to sniff around the ground in search of food to eat. But if it is laid on the concrete floor, first of all, the pig is not moving, which will change its living habits, the pig is a very intelligent creature, the change of the environment will make the pig depressed We do not know, but it is very likely to make the pig's mood become irritable.
In addition, pigs like arch soil not because it does not like to be clean, but because in the soil they can find their own lack of nutrients, such as iron, etc., especially newborn sow cubs, their food ** is mainly the sow's milk, even if the milk is nutritious, but it can not cover all the nutrients, and the rich iron contained in the soil can make up for this drawback, so that the piglets grow more healthily. This is also the reason why free-range pork tastes better than farm-based pork.
Moreover, raising pigs on concrete floors may increase the probability of developing limb and foot disease in pigs. This is because the cement ground is very hard, not as soft as the texture of the soil, the pig body is huge, but the limbs are not developed enough, when walking, it is easy to cause falls, if the pig is in the soft soil to fall and hurt well, there will be no very serious injury, but it is different on the cement floor, the pig falls is likely to cause fractures, coupled with the poor ability of the cement floor to store heat, pigs have long survived in such an environment, it is difficult to ensure that pigs do not have limb and foot disease.
Among all the breeds with the greatest probability of susceptibility to foot and leg disease, the probability of suffering from foot and leg disease in the cement ground will be greater, because the varieties introduced abroad are often lean pigs, which means that the limbs of the pig may be thinner, but the body of the lean pig is often very long, which can easily lead to the fall of the lean pig due to the excessive bearing force of the limbs, thus suffering from foot and leg disease.
In addition, raising pigs on concrete floors will reduce the resistance of pigs. The main reason for this result is the poor thermal insulation of the cement floor, especially the piglets that have not yet reached adulthood, the harm of this disadvantage is even greater, we know that the piglet because it has just been born, its various bodily functions are not yet fully developed and matured, at this time, the growth of piglets depends largely on the external environment, if the external environment is not forceful, it is easy to cause the piglet's immunity to decline, the resistance to decline, and finally lead to the increase in the probability of disease. Moreover, when the pig lies on the cement, the pig's body can actually feel the temperature 5 degrees lower than the ground temperature, which makes it even worse, and how can the piglet's body withstand it.
Finally, the cement floor of the pig house may also cause diarrhea, this is because the concrete floor specific heat capacity is smaller than the land, that is, the heat absorption is fast, the heat dissipation is also fast, which is easy to lead to the cement floor day and night temperature difference is large, not to say pigs, even if people live in a changeable temperature environment all year round, it is also to be sick, not to mention, people can adjust the clothes according to the change of temperature, reduce the possibility of disease, but pigs are different, their only clothing, is their own skin, and the skin is still directly attached to the ground. Therefore, some factors on the cement floor will cause low immunity in pigs, and the temperature difference between day and night will more likely lead to diarrhea in pigs.
A farmer friend said that his family used cement to raise pigs, which caused greater losses. Originally, this friend's family had 10 pig barns, all of which were made of dirt floor, and only a layer of straw was laid on them, and the environment was quite comfortable. But there is a problem that has been bothering him, that is, the piglets are very naughty, they like to arch everywhere on the land, and the manure pulled out is all over the yard, it is not easy to clean, and after a long time, it will be more stinky, so this friend took it upon himself to change the dirt to a concrete floor, just in time for the sow to give birth, but what he didn't expect was that this friend did bad things with good intentions.
First of all, the sow had an accident, that day, the keeper in the pig house was originally vaccinating the piglet, but because the piglet was too squeamish, kept roaring and screaming, which frightened the mother pig, so the mother pig planned to save the child, but because the cement floor was too slippery, the sow not only did not succeed in saving it, but also broke her leg because of too much force. Then there was an accident to the piglets, because the pigs love to arch the ground, their noses often rub against the ground, and finally not only cause the nose to be red and swollen, but even inflamed. In addition, there are a few piglets who have diarrhea because they kicked off the straw quilt and slept directly on the ground. At this point, the friend realized that there was a problem with the concrete floor.
Although there are many disadvantages of concrete flooring, it is not necessary to completely abandon it. We can take the best and take the dross. First of all, you can choose to lay a thick bedding on the cement floor, the material can refer to straw and sawdust, using these two materials as bedding has many advantages, first, straw and sawdust are cheap, easy to obtain, and save costs. Second, straw and sawdust have strong thermal insulation performance, which can make pigs strained and cold. Third, it can increase the softness of the ground, reduce the prevalence of pig limb and foot disease, and reduce the possibility of fractures.
In addition, it is necessary to keep the cement floor dry at all times, because the ground is full of water, and the water will automatically absorb heat after the sunlight evaporates, taking away the heat, resulting in a lower temperature in the pig house. At the same time, it is also necessary to increase the temperature of the pig house and reduce the disadvantages of the cement floor that will cool the pig house. Alternatively, if the funds are sufficient, a layer of underfloor heating can be laid on the concrete floor to raise the temperature of the barn.
Then, you can also be rationed with scientific feed, in the selection of concentrate feed, to focus on the purchase of feed rich in trace elements and vitamins, pups should pay attention to the supplement of iron and selenium, to prevent pups from producing iron deficiency anemia after birth, affecting growth and development. For breeding pigs, you can choose some green feed, which can effectively improve the reproductive performance of breeding pigs.
All in all, raising pigs with cement does have a lot of disadvantages, even if it can be effectively cleaned, but it still can't change the disadvantages it brings, so if the breeder pays more attention to the cleanliness of the pig house, and still wants to choose the cement floor, you can use the above methods to slightly transform the cement floor to make your own pig house more warm, clean and safe.