Pig Agskills

Develop practical pig farming skills with this comprehensive guide to pig husbandry, animal welfare, herd health and modern pig production.

Produced by Tocal College and NSW Department of Primary Industries, Pig Agskills provides step-by-step instruction for the everyday tasks involved in managing pigs safely, efficiently and humanely. Written for new producers, students, farm workers and small-scale pig enterprises, this practical guide combines livestock management principles with hands-on husbandry techniques used throughout the Australian pig industry.

Whether you're learning how to handle pigs, monitor herd health, manage reproduction, identify welfare issues or implement quality assurance systems, this guide delivers practical information supported by industry standards and best-practice management.

Who this guide is for

• Pig producers and livestock farmers
• Small-scale and commercial pig enterprises
• Agricultural students and trainees
• TAFE and vocational education programs
• Farm staff learning pig husbandry skills
• Teachers and agricultural educators
• Lifestyle farmers expanding into livestock production

What you'll learn

• Safe pig handling and livestock movement
• Animal welfare and husbandry requirements
• Pig health monitoring and disease prevention
• Quality assurance and biosecurity practices
• Pig identification and record keeping
• Condition scoring and herd assessment
• Managing compromised or sick pigs
• Vaccination and injection techniques
• Pig breeding and artificial insemination
• Pregnancy diagnosis and reproduction management
  
• Loading and transporting pigs safely
• Pig farm legal responsibilities and compliance
• Risk management and Safe Work Method Statements

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• General safety precautions
• Animal welfare
• Quality assurance
• Making sense of the skills
• Move pigs
• Load pigs
• Nose snare to restrain
• Making a metal nose snare
• Clip milk teeth of piglets
• Clip tails of piglets
• Trim boar tusks
• Castrate pigs
• Nose ring pigs
• Stomach tubing piglets
• Identify indiviual pigs
• Condition score pigs
• Recognise compromised pigs
• Intervention and caring for compromised pigs
• Techniques for injecting pigs
• Captive bolt gun euthanasia of pigs
• Prepare for the vet: a checklist
• Herd health program checklist
• Recognise oestrus in sows
• Artificially inseminate sows
• Pregnancy diagnosis in sows
• Risk management of equipment: a checklist
• Legal considerations for a pig farm
• Glossary
• What is a safe work method statements?
• Check your skill