🐖 Pig Production in the UK — A Practical Guide

An outline for Agricultural students and others interested.

Pig farming is a major part of UK agriculture, producing pork, bacon, breeding animals, and valuable by-products. Modern pig units are highly specialised businesses that combine nutrition, genetics, housing, welfare, and data management.

Even if you mainly work with cattle or sheep, understanding pig systems builds strong all-round livestock knowledge — many principles transfer across species.

📘 Why Pig Production Matters

Pig farming today operates in two main systems:

🏠 Indoor systems — tightly controlled environments to maximise growth and efficiency
🌱 Outdoor systems — allow more natural behaviour with lower building costs

In both systems, success depends on:

  • 👨‍🌾 Good stockmanship
  • 🧼 Strong biosecurity
  • 📊 Accurate records
  • ❤️ High welfare standards

🕰️ How UK Pig Farming Has Changed

Over the last 70 years the industry has consolidated and intensified.

📉 Key trends:

  • 1950s: ~75,000 pig farms (often small mixed farms)
  • 1970s: ~22,000 holdings
  • 1990s: ~14,000 holdings
  • Today: fewer but larger, more efficient units

Drivers of change include:

  • ⚙️ Intensification
  • 💰 Rising costs
  • 🌍 Global competition
  • 🛒 Consumer demand for higher welfare

Recently, outdoor systems have grown again due to welfare interest and planning limits on large indoor units.

🧬 Pig Breeds You Need to Know

🚜 Commercial Breeds (main meat production)

🐖 Landrace — large framed, excellent mothers
🐖 Large White — hardy and fast growing
🐖 Duroc — strong growth, good meat quality, outdoor suited
🐖 Pietrain — very lean and muscular (watch HAL stress gene)
🐖 Hampshire — popular terminal sire

👉 These are usually used in crossbreeding systems.

🌿 Traditional & Rare Breeds

These support niche markets and genetic diversity:

  • 🍎 Gloucester Old Spot — outdoor friendly
  • 🔴 Tamworth — excellent foragers
  • 🐽 Middle White — hardy and compact
  • 🥩 Berkshire — high meat quality
  • 🐗 British Saddleback, Welsh, Meishan — specialist roles

🔁 Hybrid Vigour — Why Crossbreeding Dominates

About 75% of UK pigs are crossbred.

Typical system:

1️⃣ Large White × Landrace → F1 gilt
2️⃣ F1 gilt × terminal sire → slaughter pigs

📈 Benefits:

  • Faster growth
  • Better fertility
  • Improved feed efficiency

Productivity example:

  • Purebred: ~24 pigs/sow/year
  • Three-breed cross: ~28.1 pigs/sow/year

🔄 The Pig Production Cycle

Pig production is fast-moving compared with cattle or sheep.

Key stages

🐣 Farrowing — sow gives birth (10–12 piglets typical)
🥛 Weaning — at 3–5 weeks
🔥 Return to heat — 4–5 days after weaning
🤰 Gestation — 114 days (3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days)
🔁 Repeat cycle

Well-managed sows produce 2+ litters per year.

👉 Because pigs reproduce quickly, precision management is critical.

🏠 Pig Housing Systems

Good housing must be:

✅ Safe
✅ Hygienic
✅ Welfare compliant
✅ Easy to manage

🏢 Indoor Housing

Specialised buildings include:

  • 🐖 Sow houses (group housing required in UK)
  • 💘 Service houses (heat detection & mating)
  • 👶 Farrowing houses (piglet protection, 28–30°C creep area)
  • 🔥 Weaner flat decks (heated, ventilated pens)
  • 📦 Grower/finisher buildings (straw or slats)

Indoor systems focus heavily on:

🌡️ Temperature control
💨 Ventilation
🧼 Hygiene
🚪 All-in/all-out management

🌾 Outdoor Housing

Outdoor pigs live in paddocks with:

  • 🛖 Arcs or huts
  • ⚡ Electric fencing
  • 🌱 Rotational grazing

Best suited to free-draining soils (chalk or sand).

⚠️ Challenges:

  • Weather exposure
  • Higher labour
  • Land management needs

🐷 Welfare — The Five Freedoms

UK pig welfare is built around the Five Freedoms:

  1. 🚰 Freedom from hunger and thirst
  2. 🛏️ Freedom from discomfort
  3. 💊 Freedom from pain, injury, disease
  4. 🐽 Freedom to express normal behaviour
  5. 😌 Freedom from fear and distress

⚖️ The Farrowing Crate Debate

Farrowing crates:

👍 Reduce piglet crushing
👎 Restrict sow movement

Alternatives:

  • 🌿 Outdoor farrowing
  • 🏠 Free-farrowing systems

These improve sow freedom but often increase piglet losses — a key management trade-off.

🌽 Feeding and Nutrition

Feed accounts for 60–70% of pig production costs, so getting it right is essential.

Pigs are monogastric omnivores, meaning they need:

⚡ Energy
🥩 Protein (especially lysine)
🌾 Fibre
🧂 Minerals
💊 Vitamins

📊 Typical Protein Levels

StageProtein %
🐣 Weaners~18%
🐖 Growers16–17%
📦 Finishers15–16%
🤰 Dry sows~13%
🍼 Lactating sows17–18%

💧 Wet vs Dry Feeding

Wet feeding

👍 Improves intake
👍 Good for sows and weaners
⚠️ Must be eaten quickly (ferments)

Dry feeding

👍 Easy to manage
👍 Less preparation
⚠️ Less flexible formulation

📈 Liveweight Gain Targets

Well-managed pigs should achieve:

  • 🐣 Weaning → 15 kg: ~450 g/day
  • 🐖 15–40 kg: ~600 g/day
  • 📦 40–70 kg: ~850 g/day
  • 🚀 70–115 kg: ~1 kg/day

👉 Always remember: genetics + feed + environment + health = performance

👶 Weaners, Growers, Finishers — Why Early Care Matters

The post-weaning period is one of the highest-risk stages.

🐣 Weaners need:

🌡️ 22–27°C
💨 Good ventilation
🧼 Excellent hygiene
🥣 Creep feed before weaning

Poor management here can reduce lifetime growth by up to 100 g/day.

🐖 Growers

  • Eat ~1.2 kg/day
  • Diet becomes simpler
  • Need good airflow
  • Hospital pens useful

📦 Finishers

  • Finished around 115 kg liveweight
  • Total feed: 170–180 kg per pig
  • Carcass quality depends on:
    • Genetics
    • Feeding
    • Stress levels

🧬 Breeding and Gilt Management

Reproduction drives pig unit profitability.

🔍 Selecting Replacement Gilts

Look for:

  • ✔️ Adequate teat number
  • ✔️ Good genetics
  • ✔️ Structural soundness
  • ✔️ Controlled growth rate

⚠️ Fast-grown gilts often have shorter productive lives.

🔥 Heat Detection Signs

Watch for:

  • Vulva swelling
  • Restlessness
  • Mounting behaviour
  • Standing reflex

Correct timing of service = bigger litters.

📊 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Top pig units track performance closely.

Important KPIs

  • 🐖 Pigs weaned/sow/year
    • Indoor: ~27.5
    • Outdoor: ~23.6
  • ⚰️ Pre-weaning mortality: 12–13%
  • 🔁 Litters/sow/year: ~2.25
  • 📈 DLWG: up to >1 kg/day finishing
  • 🔄 FCR: 1.35–1.65

👉 Good records = early problem detection.

🌍 Environmental Responsibilities

Pig farms must protect:

💧 Water
🌱 Soil
🌬️ Air

Key rules include:

  • 🚫 No slurry within 10 m of watercourses
  • 🛢️ ~26 weeks slurry storage
  • 🧱 Impermeable tanks/lagoons
  • ☠️ Correct deadstock disposal

Sustainability is now a core industry expectation, not optional.

👨‍🌾 Stockmanship — The Skill That Makes the Difference

Technology helps, but people still make pig units succeed.

Great stockpersons:

👀 Spot illness early
💉 Use medicines correctly
🐖 Handle pigs calmly
🚪 Maintain equipment
🚰 Monitor feed and water
🧼 Follow biosecurity

👉 Quiet observation every day prevents big problems later.

🎯 From Farm to Market

Pigs are usually sold at ~115 kg liveweight.

Typical:

  • 🔪 Killing-out % ≈ 75%
  • 💷 Prices tracked using APP and SPP
  • 🚚 Sold via contracts, processors, or auctions

Carcass quality is heavily influenced by stress before slaughter, so calm handling and transport matter.

🧠 Apprentice Take-Home Messages

✅ Pig production is a precision livestock system
✅ Feed and reproduction drive profitability
✅ Housing and welfare must work together
✅ Early-life management sets lifetime performance
✅ Stockmanship remains the most valuable skill

🔗 Useful Industry Websites

Below is presentation which gives more details about “Risk Assessments and completing them.”

Now check your learning: Check Learning

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