Teaching Animal Unit
The TAU Swine Unit consist of a gestation barn, which houses 25-34 sows and several boars used for breeding, a farrowing house, which can house up to 7 sows for farrowing, a nursery barn, which contains 6 pens and a finisher barn that has 3 individual rooms that contain 4 pens in each.
Swine gestation is 3 months,3 weeks and 3 days. Once the sows farrow the piglets are given injectable vitamins and antibiotics and processed. When the piglets age to 3-4 weeks, they are moved into the nursery. 4-5 weeks later, they are moved into a finisher barn. Once they get to weight (210-240lbs), they are shipped to market.
The veterinary students learn various techniques while studying here at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Some techniques that are taught are: handling and restraint, blood collection, injection sites,nutrition, breeding, pregnancy checks and others.
Here are a few terms you need to know to get around a pig barn:
- Barrow: male pig that has been neutered
- Boar: adult male pig kept for breeding purposes
- Farrow: to give birth
- Feeder pig: piglet after it's weaned from the sow, also known as 'weaner' pig
- Gilt: female pig that has never farrowed
- Litter: group of piglets born at one time from the same sow
- Market hog: barrow or gilt raised for meat production, weighs up to 110 kg
- Piglet: newborn pig, weighs 1-2 kilograms
- Pork producers: farmers, the people that raise pigs
- Runt: smallest piglet in the litter
- Sow: adult female pig