Swine Production Stages: From Farrowing to Finishing

Swine production is organized into distinct stages that follow the pig from birth through market weight. The main stages are farrowing, nursery, and grow-finish, with each phase requiring different management priorities, facilities, nutrition, and health protocols. This article describes the production cycle, typical timelines, performance benchmarks, and the key management tasks that define each stage. It is written for farmers, farm employees, veterinarians, advisers, students, and farm planners who need a practical understanding of how a farrow-to-finish operation functions.

At a Glance

The table below summarizes the main production stages, their typical age ranges, the primary management focus, and the key records that should be kept for each phase.

The Swine Production Cycle

A farrow-to-finish operation keeps the breeding herd and raises pigs through all stages on one site. The cycle begins with the sow herd, where females are bred, carry litters through gestation, and farrow in individual crates or pens. After weaning, piglets move to nursery facilities, then to grow-finish barns where they remain until they reach market weight. The sow returns to the breeding area after weaning and is bred again, typically within five to seven days.

The duration of each stage varies by farm goals, facility design, and market targets. Weaning age commonly ranges from 21 to 28 days. Nursery duration depends on the target weight for transfer to grow-finish, often around 25 kg. Grow-finish duration depends on the market weight desired, which varies by region and packer specifications. A typical timeline from birth to market is 22 to 26 weeks.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations provides general resources on animal production systems and their management through its Animal Production and Health program. The USDA Agricultural Research Service also conducts research on animal production and protection that informs practical management decisions.

Farrowing Stage

The farrowing stage covers the period from birth to weaning. This is the most labor-intensive phase of swine production because piglets are vulnerable to chilling, crushing, starvation, and disease. The sow also requires close observation during farrowing and early lactation.

Farrowing Facilities and Sow Management

Sows are moved into farrowing rooms approximately five to seven days before their expected farrowing date. This allows the sow to acclimate to the new environment and reduces stress. Farrowing crates restrict sow movement to protect piglets from being crushed while still allowing the sow to stand, lie, eat, and drink. Some operations use free-farrowing pens that give the sow more freedom, but these require different management to protect piglets.

The farrowing room should be clean, dry, and free of drafts. Supplemental heat is needed for piglets because they are born without significant body fat and cannot regulate body temperature well in the first days of life. Heat lamps or heated mats provide a warm zone for piglets while keeping the sow's area cooler.

Sows should be observed frequently during farrowing. Most sows farrow without assistance, but prolonged farrowing or signs of distress require attention. A veterinarian should be consulted when a sow fails to progress normally or when there are signs of illness such as fever, reduced appetite, or abnormal discharge.

Colostrum and Piglet Survival

Colostrum intake within the first hours after birth is critical for piglet survival. Colostrum provides antibodies that protect piglets against diseases they will encounter in the farrowing room and later in the nursery. Piglets that fail to receive adequate colostrum are at higher risk of scours, respiratory disease, and poor growth.

Piglets should be dried and placed at the sow's udder soon after birth. Cross-fostering, moving piglets between litters to equalize litter size, should be done within the first 24 to 48 hours after birth while colostrum is still available. Piglets moved later may not receive adequate colostrum from the new sow.

Common causes of pre-weaning mortality include crushing, starvation, low birth weight, scours, and congenital defects. Records of mortality causes help identify management problems. For example, high crushing losses may indicate poor crate design or inadequate supervision, while high starvation losses may point to sow milk production problems or competition within the litter.

Creep Feeding and Weaning

Creep feed, a highly digestible starter diet, is offered to piglets during the last week before weaning. This introduces solid feed to the piglets and stimulates enzyme development in the digestive tract. Piglets that eat creep feed before weaning typically transition to the nursery diet more easily.

Weaning age varies by farm. Earlier weaning allows more litters per sow per year but requires more intensive nursery management. Later weaning gives piglets more time to develop but reduces the number of litters each sow can produce annually. The decision on weaning age should balance sow productivity, piglet maturity, nursery capacity, and disease control.

At weaning, piglets are weighed and moved to the nursery. Weaning weight is a useful benchmark because it predicts nursery performance. Piglets that are light at weaning often grow more slowly in the nursery and may never catch up to their heavier pen mates.

Nursery Stage

The nursery stage begins at weaning and continues until pigs reach approximately 25 kg body weight. This is a period of major transition for the piglet. The pig moves from sows milk to solid feed, from the farrowing room to a new environment, and from littermates to a new social group. These changes cause stress that can suppress the immune system and increase susceptibility to disease.

Diet Transition and Feeding Management

The nursery diet must be highly digestible and palatable to encourage feed intake. The first diet after weaning is often a complex starter feed containing milk products, plasma proteins, and highly digestible grains. Over the nursery period, diets become simpler and less expensive as the pig's digestive system matures.

Feed intake in the first days after weaning is often low. Pigs that do not eat soon after weaning lose weight and are at higher risk of disease. Fresh feed should be available at all times, and feeders should be checked frequently to ensure they are working properly. Water intake is equally important, and waterers should be checked daily for flow rate and cleanliness.

The removal of in-feed antimicrobials is financially feasible in nursery and growing-finishing stages, and substitution with feed additives such as prebiotics, probiotics, essential oils, or organic acids does not impact growing performance. A study evaluating these approaches found no effect of treatment on feed conversion or average daily gain in either the nursery or growing-finishing stages. However, the cost of feed additives increased the cost per kg of feed produced, which impacts the cost per kg of pig produced. This information helps farmers weigh the costs and benefits of different feed strategies.

Environmental Control

Temperature management is critical in the nursery. Weaned pigs need a warm, draft-free environment. The recommended temperature in the first week after weaning is higher than in later weeks, and it can be reduced gradually as the pigs grow. Chilled pigs huddle, reduce feed intake, and are more susceptible to scours and respiratory disease.

Ventilation must provide fresh air while removing moisture, ammonia, and odors. Poor ventilation leads to respiratory problems and reduced growth. Ventilation rates should be based on the heat and moisture produced by the pigs, which changes as they grow. Research on heat and moisture production data for swine production supports the design of ventilation systems that match the pigs' needs at each stage.

Health Monitoring and Disease Control

The nursery is where many diseases first appear because pigs from different litters are mixed and their maternal antibody protection is waning. Common problems include post-weaning scours, respiratory disease, and meningitis. Pigs should be observed daily for signs of illness such as reduced appetite, lethargy, diarrhea, coughing, or lameness.

Fecal consistency scoring is a useful monitoring tool. Normal feces are firm and formed, while loose or watery feces indicate digestive upset or disease. A sudden increase in loose feces should trigger investigation and, if necessary, consultation with a veterinarian.

Kobuvirus shedding dynamics in swine production systems show that piglets shed more Kobuvirus during the post-weaning stage than during any other life stage. This was evidenced in individual samples as well as in environmental samples. Over 97 percent of sampled piglets shed Kobuvirus at least once in their lifetime. The nursing stage appears to be the point of entry for kobuviruses into swine production systems, and piglets with diarrhea during the late-nursing stage shed more Kobuvirus than healthy individuals. This information helps farmers understand the importance of biosecurity and hygiene during the nursery period.

Gut Microbiota Development

The development of the gut microbiota during early life is associated with growth performance in later stages. A longitudinal study of piglets from birth to one week post-weaning identified three major stages of microbiota development. Stage one occurs from birth to 7 days, stage two from 7 days after birth until weaning, and stage three from weaning to one week post-weaning. The genera Bacteroides, Escherichia/Shigella, and Clostridium cluster XIVa were abundant pre-weaning, while Prevotella dominated post-weaning.

Piglets with a microbiota enterotype characterized by higher abundance of Prevotella and unclassified Ruminococcaceae had lower growth performance in the pre-weaning stage and in the growing stage. These findings help identify the timing of microbiota development and its association with later performance. Another study found that swine fecal bacterial composition varied at each growth stage, with Bacteroidetes decreasing as the swine gained weight and unclassified genera significantly increasing at later growth stages. The bacterial community difference was most significant between growers and finishers.

Grow-Finish Stage

The grow-finish stage covers the period from approximately 25 kg body weight to market weight. This is the longest stage of production and the period when most of the pig's total feed is consumed. The management focus shifts from intensive care to growth rate, feed efficiency, and carcass quality.

Growth Performance and Feed Efficiency

Average daily gain and feed conversion ratio are the two most important performance measures in the grow-finish stage. Average daily gain measures how quickly pigs gain weight, while feed conversion ratio measures how efficiently they convert feed into body weight. Both are influenced by genetics, nutrition, health, environment, and management.

Pigs should be weighed periodically to track growth. Individual weights are useful for identifying slow-growing pigs and for sorting pigs into groups by size. Sorting pigs by weight reduces competition at the feeder and allows diets to be matched to the pigs' nutritional needs.

Feed efficiency can be improved by phase feeding, where diets are changed as the pigs grow to match their changing nutritional requirements. A study comparing conventional phase feeding with a daily fit model that adjusted the diet based on the nutritional requirements of pigs found that the daily fit model consistently outperformed the conventional strategy in reducing environmental impacts. The study used commercial records from pig farms in Brazil, including over 1,000,000 data points from pigs raised under standard industry conditions. Notable reductions included land use-related climate change impacts, freshwater eutrophication, mineral and metal resource depletion, and fossil resource use.

Feeding Strategies and Environmental Impact

Feed is a major cost and environmental hotspot in pig production. The choice of feed ingredients and feeding strategies affects both production cost and environmental impact. Substituting maize and soybean meal with non-conventional feed ingredients can reduce the carbon footprint of pig production. A study evaluating ten non-conventional feed ingredients for growing-finishing pigs found that carbon footprint ranged from 2.46 to 2.84 kg CO2-equivalent per kg live-weight gain. Substituting maize with rice bran and cassava reduced the carbon footprint, while cassava substitution additionally decreased nitrogen emissions and land use. Peanut meal and palm kernel meal also led to concurrent reductions in nitrogen footprint.

Organic acid preservation of cereal grains is another strategy that reduces environmental impact. A life cycle assessment comparing conventional grain drying at harvest with organic acid preservation of wheat and barley found that organic acid preservation reduced the global warming, acidification, and eutrophication impacts of wheat by 18 percent, 6 percent, and 5 percent, and of barley by 15 percent, 5 percent, and 5 percent. This was primarily due to the elimination of fossil fuel use during drying. At the pig production level, replacing dried grain with preserved grain in sow diets during late gestation and lactation reduced progeny impacts by 3 to 4 percent across all impact categories, while direct inclusion of preserved grain in progeny diets achieved larger reductions of 7 to 8 percent.

Nitrogen excretion in manure is an important environmental consideration. Nutritional strategies can contribute to mitigating nitrogen excretion, ammonia emissions, and overall greenhouse gas output in fattening pigs. The impact of these interventions on total greenhouse gas varies depending on diet composition, fiber type, additive combination, and post-excretion treatment.

Housing and Space Requirements

Space allowance affects growth rate, feed efficiency, and welfare. Pigs that are overcrowded grow more slowly and are more prone to aggression and disease. The recommended space allowance depends on the pigs' weight and the type of flooring. Fully slatted floors allow more pigs per unit area than solid floors because manure falls through the slats and keeps the lying area cleaner.

Pen design should allow all pigs to eat and drink at the same time. Feeder space and waterer placement should be checked regularly to ensure that all pigs have access. Pigs that cannot reach the feeder or waterer will grow slowly and may become ill.

Ventilation is critical in grow-finish barns because the pigs produce large amounts of heat, moisture, and manure gases. Poor ventilation leads to respiratory disease, reduced feed intake, and poor growth. Ventilation rates should be adjusted as the pigs grow and as outside temperatures change.

Health Management in Grow-Finish

Respiratory disease is a major concern in the grow-finish stage. Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is a common cause of respiratory disease in swine. A study assessing the genetic variability of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae within various swine production flows found minimal genetic variation within and across production flows. A maximum of 6 variable-number tandem repeat types were identified in a single flow, and an identical type was detected across several production stages for up to 3 years. This suggests that Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae strains are relatively stable within a production system, which has implications for vaccination and control strategies.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) remains one of the most significant health and welfare challenges in global pig production. The disease is associated with substantial economic losses, impaired herd health, increased antimicrobial use, and ongoing animal welfare concerns. Despite widespread implementation of vaccination, biosecurity, and herd stabilization strategies, PRRS continues to persist endemically in many production systems. Recent advances in genome editing have enabled the development of host-directed resistance strategies in pigs. Targeted editing of the scavenger receptor CD163, a key host factor required for PRRS virus entry into macrophages, using CRISPR-Cas9 has demonstrated resistance to several PRRSV strains in experimental models. Genome-edited PRRS resistance should be viewed as a complementary strategy instead of a replacement for established control measures such as vaccination, biosecurity, and herd health management.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a devastating pathogen to the worldwide swine industry. Research has shown that ASFV utilizes apoptotic bodies for infection and cell-cell transmission. The virus induces cell apoptosis of primary porcine alveolar macrophages at the late stage of infection to productively shed apoptotic bodies that are subsequently swallowed by neighboring macrophages to initiate a secondary infection. Importantly, swine sera to ASFV exert no effect on the apoptotic body-mediated transmission but can partially act on the virions lacking the outer layer of membrane. This means that ASFV has evolved to hijack a normal cellular pathway for cell-cell spread to evade host responses. This research highlights the importance of strict biosecurity to prevent ASFV introduction, since the virus can spread through mechanisms that may not be fully neutralized by the immune response.

Antimicrobial Use and Resistance

Antimicrobial use in swine production is under increasing scrutiny because of concerns about antimicrobial resistance. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase and AmpC beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli have been found in swine production stages, and these bacteria can pose potential risks to humans. Similarly, Escherichia coli carrying the mobilized colistin resistance gene mcr-1.1 has been found in swine farms, with differences according to swine production stages. These findings underscore the importance of judicious antimicrobial use and the implementation of biosecurity measures to reduce the spread of resistant bacteria.

The removal of in-feed antimicrobials in pig diets is financially feasible, and their substitution by additives did not impact growing performance. However, the cost of the interventions with injectable drugs was not different between the treatments, and the pneumonia and pleurisy index for all treatments was equal or above 1.0, which indicates a respiratory challenge. This means that removing in-feed antimicrobials may require increased attention to other disease control measures, such as vaccination, biosecurity, and environmental management.

Manure Management and Environmental Considerations

Manure management is an important part of swine production at all stages. Manure contains nutrients that can be used as fertilizer, but it also contains pathogens, ammonia, and greenhouse gases that can harm the environment if not managed properly.

Manure Storage and Treatment

Manure can be stored as liquid in pits or lagoons, or it can be handled as solid. The choice of storage system depends on the type of housing, the climate, and the availability of land for application. Liquid manure systems are common in intensive production because they are easy to handle and can be applied to crops with injection equipment that reduces odor and ammonia losses.

Anaerobic digestion is a treatment option that produces biogas, which can be used to generate heat or electricity. Research on biogas production from swine manure has explored the use of auxiliary carbohydrate sources to stabilize biohythane production and energy recovery in two-stage anaerobic processes. Other studies have examined the biomethane potential of swine wastewater among different production stages and the optimization of the hydrolysis-acidogenesis phase of swine manure for biogas production using two-stage anaerobic fermentation.

Nutrient Management and Emissions

Nitrogen and phosphorus in manure can cause water pollution if applied to land in excess of crop needs. Manure application rates should be based on soil tests and crop nutrient requirements. Ammonia emissions from manure contribute to air pollution and can be reduced by injection, incorporation, or treatment of the manure.

Greenhouse gas emissions from swine production occur at every production phase, from animal housing to manure treatment, management, storage, and up to in-field application. Best Available Techniques for housing and Best Practices for manure treatments and management can limit emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases. Nutritional strategies can contribute a priori to mitigating nitrogen excretion, ammonia emissions, and overall greenhouse gas output.

Carbon Footprint of Swine Production

Life cycle assessment studies have quantified the carbon footprint of different swine production systems. A study comparing three typical systems across core, transition, and development zones found a significant gradient pattern in carbon intensity driven by regional functional positioning. The core zone's multi-tier intelligent efficient model had a carbon intensity of 3.42 kg CO2-equivalent per kg live pig, the transition zone's standard model had 3.55 kg CO2-equivalent per kg, and the development zone's traditional model had 3.83 kg CO2-equivalent per kg. Indirect emissions were the dominant source, contributing more than 60 percent of total emissions. Manure resource recovery contributed only 3 percent to carbon offset but 10 percent to direct emission reduction.

Scenario simulations demonstrated that the core zone achieved a 32.65 percent reduction through in-system resource recovery and energy optimization. Transition and development zones, building on enterprise-level low-carbon technology improvements, benefited more from regional clean energy and crop-livestock integration, achieving cumulative reductions of 34.69 percent and 43.24 percent, respectively.

Biosecurity and Disease Prevention

Biosecurity is the set of measures taken to prevent the introduction and spread of disease on a farm. It is the most important tool for disease control in swine production because many diseases cannot be treated effectively once they enter a herd.

External Biosecurity

External biosecurity measures prevent the introduction of disease from outside the farm. These include controlling visitor access, requiring showers and clean clothing for visitors, disinfecting vehicles and equipment, and preventing contact with wild animals, especially wild boar, which can carry African swine fever virus.

The World Organisation for Animal Health provides guidance on animal health and welfare, including biosecurity measures for livestock production. The USDA National Agricultural Library also provides resources on animal health and welfare. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides information on animal veterinary resources, including regulations related to feed and medications.

Internal Biosecurity

Internal biosecurity measures prevent the spread of disease within the farm. These include all-in-all-out pig flow, where pigs are moved through the production stages as a group and the room is cleaned and disinfected between groups. This breaks the cycle of disease transmission from older to younger pigs.

Cleaning and disinfection protocols should be followed strictly. The room should be cleaned of all organic material before disinfectant is applied, because organic material inactivates many disinfectants. The room should be allowed to dry completely before new pigs are moved in.

Disease Surveillance and Reporting

Farmers should monitor their herds for signs of disease and report unusual disease events to their veterinarian. Some diseases are reportable to government authorities, meaning that they must be reported when suspected or confirmed. African swine fever is a reportable disease in most countries, and early detection is critical for control.

The World Organisation for Animal Health provides information on animal health and welfare, including disease reporting requirements and international standards. Farmers should be familiar with the reportable diseases in their country and know how to contact the appropriate authorities.

Records and Measurements

Accurate records are essential for managing a swine operation. Records allow farmers to track performance, identify problems, and make informed decisions about breeding, feeding, and health management.

Production Records

Production records should include the following information for each stage:

For farrowing: sow identification, breeding date, farrowing date, litter size born alive, stillbirths, mummies, birth weights, weaning weights, piglet mortality and causes, sow parity, and weaning date.

For nursery: piglet source, entry date, entry weight, feed intake, daily gain, mortality and causes, medication records, water consumption, and exit date and weight.

For grow-finish: pig entry date and weight, feed intake, daily gain, feed conversion ratio, mortality and culls, medication records, and slaughter weight and date.

Health Records

Health records should document all treatments, including the product used, the dose, the route of administration, the date, and the withdrawal period. Withdrawal periods must be observed to prevent drug residues in meat. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides information on animal veterinary resources, including regulations related to drug use in food animals.

Health records also include vaccination records, diagnostic test results, and necropsy findings. These records help the veterinarian assess herd health and make recommendations for disease prevention and control.

Financial Records

Financial records should track the costs of feed, labor, utilities, medications, and other inputs, as well as the income from pig sales. These records allow farmers to calculate the cost of production per pig and to identify areas where costs can be reduced.

Common Failure Patterns

Understanding common failure patterns helps farmers identify problems early and take corrective action.

Farrowing Stage Failures

Low piglet survival is a common problem in the farrowing stage. Causes include crushing, starvation, low birth weight, and disease. High stillbirth rates may indicate problems with sow health, farrowing management, or the duration of farrowing.

Poor sow milk production leads to hungry piglets that fail to gain weight and are more susceptible to disease. Causes include inadequate feed intake, poor feed quality, disease, and stress.

Nursery Stage Failures

Post-weaning growth check is common when piglets do not eat soon after weaning. Causes include poor diet palatability, inadequate water intake, cold drafts, and disease.

Scours in the nursery are often caused by E. coli or other pathogens. Causes include poor sanitation, inadequate temperature, and stress. Scours can be prevented by good hygiene, proper temperature control, and minimizing stress at weaning.

Grow-Finish Stage Failures

Poor growth rate and feed efficiency in the grow-finish stage can be caused by inadequate nutrition, poor feed quality, disease, overcrowding, and poor ventilation. Slow-growing pigs should be identified early and either treated or culled.

Respiratory disease in the grow-finish stage is often caused by Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and other pathogens. Causes include poor ventilation, high stocking density, and mixing pigs from different sources.

Welfare and Safety Context

Animal welfare is an important consideration in swine production. Pigs that are healthy, comfortable, and free from stress grow better and are less susceptible to disease. Welfare concerns in swine production include housing conditions, handling practices, painful procedures, and the use of sow stalls and farrowing crates.

The World Organisation for Animal Health provides standards and guidance on animal health and welfare. The USDA National Agricultural Library provides resources on animal health and welfare. Farmers should be familiar with the welfare standards in their country and should implement practices that promote good welfare.

Worker safety is also important in swine production. Workers can be injured by pigs, equipment, and manure gases. Manure pits and lagoons produce hydrogen sulfide and other gases that can be fatal in enclosed spaces. Workers should be trained in safe handling practices and should never enter manure storage areas without proper ventilation and safety equipment.

Professional Escalation Criteria

Farmers should consult a veterinarian or other animal health professional when they observe any of the following:

• A sudden increase in mortality or illness in any production stage
• Signs of a reportable disease, such as African swine fever
• A disease outbreak that does not respond to treatment
• Reproductive problems in the sow herd, such as low conception rates or high stillbirth rates
• A pattern of poor growth or feed efficiency that cannot be explained by management factors
• Questions about drug use, withdrawal periods, or residue avoidance

A veterinarian should also be consulted when making major changes to the production system, such as changing the weaning age, altering the diet, or implementing a new vaccination program.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between farrow-to-finish and feeder-to-finish operations?

A farrow-to-finish operation maintains a breeding herd and raises pigs from birth to market weight on one site. A feeder-to-finish operation purchases weaned pigs or feeder pigs and raises them only through the grow-finish stage. Feeder-to-finish operations require less investment in breeding stock and farrowing facilities but depend on the health and quality of the pigs purchased from other farms.

How long does it take for a pig to reach market weight?

The time from birth to market weight depends on genetics, nutrition, health, and management. A typical timeline is 22 to 26 weeks. Pigs that grow faster reach market weight sooner, which reduces the cost of production per pig.

What is the ideal weaning age for piglets?

The ideal weaning age depends on the farm's goals and facilities. Weaning at 21 to 28 days is common in intensive production. Earlier weaning allows more litters per sow per year but requires more intensive nursery management. Later weaning gives piglets more time to develop but reduces the number of litters each sow can produce annually.

How can I reduce pre-weaning mortality in piglets?

Pre-weaning mortality can be reduced by ensuring adequate colostrum intake, providing a warm and draft-free environment, preventing crushing by the sow, and monitoring piglets closely for signs of illness. Cross-fostering within the first 24 to 48 hours after birth can equalize litter size and improve piglet survival.

What causes post-weaning scours and how can I prevent them?

Post-weaning scours are often caused by E. coli or other pathogens that multiply when piglets are stressed by weaning. Prevention focuses on good hygiene, proper temperature control, minimizing stress, and providing a highly digestible diet. If scours occur, consult a veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment recommendations.

How can I improve feed efficiency in the grow-finish stage?

Feed efficiency can be improved by phase feeding to match diets to the pigs' changing nutritional needs, maintaining good health, providing adequate space and ventilation, and using genetics that are selected for feed efficiency. Regular weighing of pigs and tracking feed intake helps identify problems early.

What is the role of biosecurity in swine production?

Biosecurity is the set of measures taken to prevent the introduction and spread of disease on a farm. It is the most important tool for disease control because many diseases cannot be treated effectively once they enter a herd. Biosecurity includes controlling visitor access, cleaning and disinfecting facilities, and using all-in-all-out pig flow.

When should I call a veterinarian?

Call a veterinarian when you observe a sudden increase in mortality or illness, signs of a reportable disease, a disease outbreak that does not respond to treatment, reproductive problems in the sow herd, or a pattern of poor growth that cannot be explained by management factors. A veterinarian should also be consulted when making major changes to the production system.

Related Farming Guides

• Pig Farming: Breeding, Farrowing, Nursery, Grow-Finish, Nutrition, and Biosecurity
• Herd Data Management for Swine Production: Records and Analysis
• Wean-to-Finish Pig Production: Facilities, Management, and Economics
• Antimicrobial Stewardship in Swine Production
• Feeding Dairy Goats by Production Stage

References and Further Reading

• FAO Animal Production and Health. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
• Animal Health and Welfare. USDA National Agricultural Library.
• Animal and Veterinary Resources. U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Animal Health and Welfare. World Organisation for Animal Health.
• Animal Production and Protection. USDA Agricultural Research Service.
• Riding apoptotic bodies for cell-cell transmission by African swine fever virus.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2023.
• Taenia solium cysticercosis.. Lancet (London, England), 2003.
• Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae genetic variability within swine production flows.. Canadian journal of veterinary research = Revue canadienne de recherche veterinaire, 2020.
• Kobuvirus shedding dynamics in a swine production system and their association with diarrhea.. Veterinary microbiology, 2019.
• Progression of swine fecal microbiota during early stages of life and its association with performance: a longitudinal study.. BMC microbiology, 2024.
• Analysis of swine fecal microbiota at various growth stages.. Archives of microbiology, 2015.
• Removal or substitution of in feed antimicrobials in swine production.. Preventive veterinary medicine, 2022.
• Effects of klotho protein or klotho knockdown in porcine oocytes at different stages.. Zygote (Cambridge, England), 2023.
• Life cycle assessment of regionally functionally-zoned intensive pig farming systems: Carbon footprint analysis and mitigation strategies for sustainable production.. 2026.
• Substituting maize and soybean meal with non-conventional feed ingredients: environmental trade-offs and resource-saving potential in China's pig production.. 2026.
• Reducing the Environmental Impact of Growing-Finishing Pig Production Through Daily Feed Adjustment: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment.. 2026.
• Reducing the environmental impact of pig production using organic acid- preserved cereal grains: A life cycle assessment. 2026.
• CRISPR mediated PRRS resistant pigs: biological success, welfare implications, and ethical regulatory challenges for sustainable swine production.. 2026.
• Comparing the Environmental Impacts of Representative Food Donation and Redistribution Strategies. 2026.
• Nitrogen Excretion, Ammonia, and Greenhouse Gases Emission in Italian Heavy Pigs: The Role of Feed in Environmental Impact Mitigation.. 2026.
• Prevalence, Characteristics and Clonal Distribution of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase- and AmpC β-Lactamase-Producing Escherichia coli Following the Swine Production Stages, and Potential Risks to Humans. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021.
• Prevalence, Characteristics, and Clonal Distribution of Escherichia coli Carrying Mobilized Colistin Resistance Gene mcr-1.1 in Swine Farms and Their Differences According to Swine Production Stages. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2022.
• An approach of auxiliary carbohydrate source on stabilized biohythane production and energy recovery by two-stage anaerobic process from swine manure. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2022.
• Experimental biogas production and biomethane potential of swine wastewater among different production stages. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, 2019.
• Optimization of hydrolysis-acidogenesis phase of swine manure for biogas production using two-stage anaerobic fermentation. Processes, 2021.
• Evaluating ventilation rates based on new heat and moisture production data for swine production. Transactions of the Asabe, 2017.

This article is educational and is not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis, treatment, public-health guidance, or regulatory reporting.