If you need a good meat pig, then you can consider purchasing representatives of the Duroc breed, one of the most common in the world. The article contains information about its advantages and disadvantages, productive qualities, and cultivation features.

How did the breed appear

The breed appeared in the USA as a result of collective work on crossing Guinean boars with red pigs. Later, in order to improve pedigree qualities, mating was carried out with Pyrenean and Berkshire pigs. The official registration of the breed occurred in 1883.

Breed description

As a result of long-term selection, a pig with large dimensions, excellent meat performance, was hardy and well adapted to living in various conditions.

External characteristics

Duroc pigs have a characteristic appearance that does not allow them to be confused with other relatives. All exterior features are combined in a table:

Representatives of Duroc are very similar to the relatives of Landras. These are two breeds that are among the five most highly productive. It is difficult to choose which one is better when buying. Note that they have several differences:

1. Uterus Landras give more offspring - on average, 12 individuals, and this is 3-4 pigs more than Duroc.
2. Adult Duroc boars reach more weight - up to 360 kg (300 kg at Landras) and have a greater lethal yield.
3. Landras is purchased if they want to get excellent bacon, and Duroc - to get tender meat.

Weight and dimensions

Piglets are born with a mass of 1.1–1.6 kg. Then, with proper nutrition and care, they gain an average of 750–950 g per day. At the age of 170-180 days, they weigh 100 kg. Adult individuals differ in the following dimensions:

• the body length of wild boars is 1.7–1.9 m;
• body length of pigs - 1.7–1.8 m;
• boar weight - up to 360 kg;
• the weight of pigs is 240–300 kg.

Did you know? Several boars have set world weight records. Among them - Big Bill from America, which reached a weight of 1153 kg, Chun-Chun from China with a weight of 900 kg and Big Norm from the USA, weighing 1200 kg.

Productive qualities

Slaughter meat yield is 58–70%, fat - 10-15%. The sebaceous layer has a thickness of 1.2-1.8 cm.

Advantages and disadvantages

• pros
• endurance of individuals;
• calm nature;
• well-developed maternal instinct;
• precocity
• unpretentiousness;
• high survival rate of young animals.
• tasty and quality meat.

• Minuses
• low fertility;
• need for protein feed;
• susceptibility to atrophic rhinitis.

Tips for choosing a good person when buying

The success of raising highly productive and healthy pigs largely depends on the right choice of piglets. Here are some suggestions for what to look for when buying:

1. The piglet should be able to eat ingredients from an adult diet well and correctly. From the purchase of small piglets up to a month old, not yet transferred from milk to ordinary food, you need to refuse.
2. You should examine the oral cavity and assess the condition of the bite. This is important for proper chewing and processing of food.
3. It is necessary to assess the state of health (after examining wool, nickel, eyes, anus), the behavior and compliance of the exterior with the standards of babies and their parents.
4. Weight is important. At one month of age, the piglet should weigh about 5-7 kg, at 2 months - 14-18 kg.
5. Need to ask for documentation about vaccination and anthelmintic measures.

Important! The purchase of thoroughbred pigs is best done in a well-established breeding farm. It is here that they will provide all the necessary documentation about the health status of the individuals being sold, the features of their maintenance and feeding.

Features of cultivation and care

Pigs Duroc unpretentious to the conditions of detention. However, in order to achieve the highest productivity, it is necessary to adhere to the recommendations on the content of meat pigs.

Conditions of detention

For the maintenance of representatives of Duroc, a pigsty and a fenced place for walking are needed. Recommended dimensions of the premises for living - 0.5 square meters. m per 1 piglet, 1 sq. m per 1 adult. In the pigsty you need to maintain the following microclimate parameters:

• temperature - + 15–20 ° С;
• humidity - up to 75%.

Duroc pigs are tolerant of cold temperatures, therefore, heating equipment is optional. But they are very sensitive to high humidity, therefore, quality ventilation is important. Its requirements are air movement at the level of 0.2 m / s in the cold season and 0.8 m / s in the warm season. In the pigsty must be equipped with large windows through which natural light will enter. The ratio of the area of ​​windows to the area of ​​the floor should be 1: 10–1: 20.

Did you know? Pigs often lie in the mud not because they like it. So they save themselves from skin parasites, mosquitoes and overheating.

In order for the room to be light and daylight beating off the walls, it is necessary to whiten them. Daylight hours for pigs that are fattening should be about 8-10 hours, for animals that are in other stages, 14-18 hours. Requirements for artificial lighting - 50 suites.A litter of hay, straw or sawdust is laid on the floor. The stool is cleaned daily. It is best if the construction is equipped with a drain, due to which sewage merges into one place. Every day the litter also changes. 1-2 times a week you need to wash the floors, feeders and drinking bowls, and 2 times a month, the premises, equipment and inventory are disinfected.

Feeding

To achieve maximum productivity indicators it is necessary to make a balanced diet for animals, which includes different types of feed.

Adult pigs

Starting from 3 months, pigs for slaughter are fed with products that contain a lot of protein, vitamins and minerals - juicy, green, concentrated feeds. Shortly before slaughter, the diet is adjusted by introducing 50% of potatoes and 50% of compound feed into it.Before slaughter, you need to minimize the amount of feed of fish origin, millet, soybeans - they are bad for meat quality. It is also undesirable to feed with oats, barley, corn, since such ingredients contribute to an increase in the sebaceous layer.

An approximate diet of pigs during meat fattening can be compiled as follows:

In addition to food, the pig must receive drinking water. Young individuals will need about 5–7 L of water per day, adults - 12–15, lactating - 25. The most optimal drinkers for these animals are nipple drinkers with automatic feeding.

Young animals

Young individuals must be fed protein-rich foods. In order for the animals to reach maximum weight in the shortest possible time, you need to make the right diet and adhere to the feeding regimen. The diet of meat pigs should include:

• potatoes;
• silage;
• legumes;
• cake;
• bone and fish meal;
• meat and fish production wastes;
• milk products.

In winter, pigs should be offered food 3 times a day; in summer, 2 feedings are sufficient. From early spring to late autumn, animals must be released on a walk. In order to obtain 1 kg of weight gain, it is necessary to provide 3.7-3.8 feed units.

There are 3 modes of feeding pigs:

1. Unlimited - the constant presence of feed in the feeder.
2. Normalized - feeding several times a day at the same time.
3. Limited - feeding certain types of food at different times.

It is necessary to adhere to such a percentage of feed in the diet of young animals:

• concentrated - 60–80%;
• juicy - 10–20%;
• rough - 10%;
• animal origin - 5%.

In 5–10 days, the piglet should receive about 50 g of feed, in the next 10 days the amount of feed is increased by 50 g, then in 10 days they give 250 g of feed, in the next 10 add 200 g. Thus, by the 2nd month at a rate of 900 g of feed per day. An approximate diet per day from 2 to 4 months may look like this:

Pig breeding

Experienced pig farmers do not recommend the breeding of Duroc pigs, arguing this with their low fecundity, and hence unprofitability. Year-round keeping of animals cannot recoup the income from the sale of piglets.Consider how breeding occurs in pigs. Puberty in these animals occurs in 6-7 months. However, mating is advised to be performed after 10–11 months with a weight gain of 130–140 kg. This is necessary so that the female’s body ripened, and she could normally be born and give the necessary amount of milk.

Important! An early mating threatens to delay uterine growth, weakness of the offspring, lowtheir level fertility and milk production.

For successful mating, you need to know the signs of sexual hunting in the described animals:

1. Genital redness.
2. Abundant discharge from the genitals.
3. Restless behavior.
4. Decreased or lack of appetite.
5. Reflex of immobility - when pressing the croup with her hands, the female continues to remain in place.

Ovulation lasts 10-15 hours. The duration of sexual hunting is 36-120 hours. The release of the egg happens 24 hours after the start of sexual hunting. The sow's full reproductive cycle lasts 17–24 days. After its completion, either signs of pregnancy appear, or sexual hunting is repeated. Juicy and roughage is added to the diet of a pregnant pig, and the percentage of concentrated feed is increased. It needs to be protected from stressful situations, noise. Pregnancy lasts 111–115 days. 2 days before giving birth, the female should be stopped for walking.The fact that farrow is close can be found by the swelling of the genitals, an increase in the udder, restless behavior, and excretion of colostrum. Attempts occur every 10 minutes. A piglet comes out with every attempt. Farrow can stretch in time from 1.5 to 6 hours. It usually occurs without human intervention. If complications arise, you will need to call a veterinarian. About the end of childbirth will indicate the last afterbirth.

After the end of the delivery, the genitals and the udder of the woman in labor will need to be washed with warm water and wiped with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The umbilical cord will need to be cut and burned with iodine. The nostrils, ears and mouth of babies should be washed with mucus, and wipe their body with a towel or straw. After that, the mother can feed the babies. At first they eat colostrum, and after about a day - already milk.

Did you know? The largest number of pigs at one time gave birth to a sow in Denmark in 1961. The litter was 34 individuals.

The lactating female is fed the first days with oatmeal and wheat bran talkers. The usual ingredients are then gradually added. To produce 1 liter of milk in the mammary glands, the pig needs to be fed 0.85 feed units. After a week, the mother with the kids can be let out for walks. Feeding begins 14 days after birth. The first complementary foods are mixers, which include barley, milk and clay. Then you need to gradually introduce other products.

Diseases and their prevention

Duroc pigs can suffer from such diseases:

1. Atrophic rhinitis. To prevent it, you should often clean in the pigsty, establish good ventilation, monitor humidity indicators, as well as the absence of drafts. Treatment is with antibiotics.
2. Helminthiasis. Prevention and treatment consist of taking anthelmintic drugs, depending on the parasite that has settled in the body. Of the broad-acting drugs used are "Albendazole", "Fendmendazole."
3. Leptospirosis. In order to prevent the disease, it is necessary to vaccinate animals, to prevent the ingestion of small rodents and ticks in the pigsty. For treatment, antibiotics are used, for example, streptomycin.
4. Brucellosis. To prevent animals from getting sick, hygiene standards must be followed. The disease does not respond to treatment.
5. Diarrhea. Digestive system disorders can be avoided by keeping the pigsty, drinking bowls, feeders, paddock, inventory clean, and observing the gradual introduction of new feeds. When diarrhea occurs, pigs are given plenty of water with dissolved antibiotics.
6. Salmonellosis It is treated with antibiotics and a strict diet.
7. Pasteurellosis. After confirming the diagnosis, the veterinarian prescribes antibiotic therapy.

In order to prevent the development of diseases, animals must be vaccinated in time (from plague, erysipelas, foot and mouth disease, tuberculosis, colibacteriosis, salmonellosis) and conduct veterinary examinations 3 times a year. At the first signs of the disease, an individual needs to be planted in a separate room.

Crossbreeding with other breeds

Pure-bred Duroc pigs are often crossed with other breeds. Most often they take for breeding sows of white pigs or Landras. The result is hybrid pigs that can later be used for fattening. As a rule, they are distinguished by good health, a good daily gain, and wonderful taste characteristics of lean meat.

Prospects for breeding pigs Duroc breed

Today, the breed in question is the most popular in the world. However, due to its susceptibility to the common cold, it is better to keep it in regions with a temperate or warm climate. For the northern regions, cultivation will be problematic. Also, the breed is not suitable for farms that specialize in raising and selling pigs. So it is better to get representatives of Landras, white and other highly fertile pigs.Currently, pigs of Duroc are hatched on the territory of Ukraine, which reach a weight of 325 kg, and their meat has excellent taste characteristics. Today there are few of them - about 5 thousand goals, however, such productivity indicators indicate a good potential prospect.

So, Duroc is a popular highly productive pigs that are adapted to life in any conditions, but require protein feed and the absence of drafts. They are fed up to 9 months, after which they receive meat of excellent quality. Year-round maintenance is unprofitable.

Video: Duroc breeding pigs