BICOL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY

APdn 2
Swine Production

Name: ________________________________ Rating: ___________________

Course and Section:________________ Date: _________________

Laboratory Exercise No. I

Common Terminologies and Breeds in Swine Production

Introduction
It has been recognized that many technical terms have been used in instruction but their precise
understanding of the general accepted meaning in Animal Science has been given this attention. These are terms
which are used to describe certain class, sex, character or condition of animals. Some are used to describe this
meat of animals, system and methods of breeding, kind and type of feeds or breeding system.

Knowledge therefore of the common terms in Animal Science is necessary for their proper usage
description and comparative understanding by the Animal Science students.

Objectives:
1. To familiarize the students with the terms used in animal husbandry and,
2. To define animal husbandry terms in their most acceptable meanings

Procedure

1. Define the following husbandry terms based on their most acceptable meanings.
2. Identify at least 10 different breeds of swine, describe their characteristics and paste picture of it.
3. Don’t leave any Item unanswered, Submission with Identical answer will share the grade.

I. Terminologies

A. General Terms
1. Parturition - Parturition: Childbirth, the process of delivering the baby and placenta from the
uterus to the vagina to the outside world. Also called labor and delivery. Parturition comes
from the Latin parturire, "to be ready to bear young" and is related to partus, the past
participle of parere, "to produce."
2. Farrowing - Farrowing is a term specific to swine that refers to the action of giving birth.
Another general term for this is parturition. Farrowing management begins months before
piglets are born.
3. Gestation - s the period of time between conception and birth. During this time, the baby
grows and develops inside the mother's womb. Gestational age is the common term used
during pregnancy to describe how far along the pregnancy is.
4. Conception- the process of becoming pregnant involving fertilization or implantation or both
embryo, fetus the capacity, function, or process of forming or understanding ideas or
abstractions or their symbols
5. Dam - the female parent of an animal and especially of a domestic animal the foal's dam.
6. Sire -  the male parent of an animal and especially of a domestic animal
7. Fertility - the ability to conceive and bear children, the ability to become pregnant through
normal sexual activity.
8. Fecundity- the quality of being fecund; capacity, especially in female animals, of producing
young in great numbers. fruitfulness or fertility, as of the earth. the capacity of abundant
production: fecundity of imagination.
9. Sterility - an inability of a living organism to effect sexual reproduction. Infertility, the
condition of a person, animal or plant being unable to bear children, especially through
natural means.
10. Puberty - Puberty is defined as the time at which estrus, accompanied by the ovulation of a
dominant follicle, occurs. Reaching puberty, i.e., estrus and ovulation, in beef heifers is
dependent on weight gain but occurs on average around 13–15 months of age.
11. Weanling- a child or animal newly weaned
12. Weaning - Weaning is the withdrawal of access to milk; this process gradually accustoms the
young to accepting an adult diet. A mother animal frequently weans her offspring by
responding with aggression when the young try to approach her.
13. Impotency - lacking in power, strength, or vigor helpless unable to engage in sexual
intercourse because of inability to have and maintain an erection broadly sterile.
14. Pork- the fresh or salted flesh of swine when dressed for food.

B. Swine

1. Boar - boar, also called wild boar or wild pig, any of the wild members of the pig species
Sus scrofa, family Suidae. The term boar is also used to designate the male of the
domestic pig, guinea pig, and various other mammals. The term wild boar, or wild pig, is
sometimes used to refer to any wild member of the Sus genus.
2. Sow - A sow is a female pig that has already had a litter and a gilt is a female pig that has
not had litter. Therefore, a gilt can be a pregnant animal (up until its first litter). Pigs are
prolific and a sow can have many litters over the course of her lifetime.
3. Gilt - A gilt pig is a female under the age of 1 year. Generally, the term refers to a pig
who has not farrowed, or given birth to a litter. ... Once a pig has had a litter and is past
her first year, she is called a sow.
4. Shote - A shoat is a very young piglet that has been weaned. ... Shoat a young hog that's
been weaned – some call it shote. Pig a baby hog that's unweaned. Piglet is always the
very youngest baby hogs
5. Barrow - A barrow is a male pig that has been castrated or rendered incapable of
reproducing before he reaches sexual maturity. If a male pig is allowed to become
sexually mature and then is castrated, he is called a stag
6. Weanling - A weanling is an animal that has just been weaned. The term is usually used
to refer to a type of young horse, a foal that has been weaned, usually between six months
and a year. Once it is a year old, the horse is referred to as a yearling.
7. Suckling - Suckling is the form of feeding unique to infant mammals. The mechanism
used by infant mammals to withdraw liquid from the nipple is the subject of considerable
debate. Suckling has been examined in two species of infant mammals: miniature pigs
and long-tailed macaques.
8. Litter - A litter refers to the baby pigs born to a sow at one time. A group of pigs is called
a herd. Farrowing is the process of a sow giving birth to piglets.
 9. Litter size - The total number of piglets born (alive or stillborn) per farrowing, excluding
mummified pigs.
10. Stag - A stag is a male swine castrated after development or beginning of development of
the secondary physical characteristics of a boar.

II. Swine Breeds

Image
Physical
Breeds Origin Description
Characteristics ( male and female)

1. Landrace Denmark A landrace is The term Female

a long, lean, white Landrace pig or
pig with 16 or 17 Landrace swine
ribs. The head is refers to any of a
long and narrow group of
and the ears large standardized
and heavy and breeds of
hang forwards domestic pig, and
close to the snout. in this context the Male
The back is only word Landrace is
slightly arched or typically
is nearly flat. The capitalized. The
side is even and original breed by
well-fleshed and this name was the
the ham is plump Danish Landrace
but not over-fat. pig, from which
the others were
derived through
development and
crossbreeding.

2. Yorkshire North England Yorkshires Yorkshire, also

are light pink in called Large
color, making White, breed
them almost seem of swine produced
like a white pig in the 18th
from the distance. century by
Their faces are crossing the
slightly indented large indigenous 
and they have white pig of
erect ears. North England wi
Furthermore, their th the smaller,
tails curl slightly, fatter, white
giving this breed Chinese pig. The
of swine an well-fleshed
almost whimsical Yorkshire is solid
look. white with erect
ears. Although
originally a bacon
breed, the
Yorkshire rose to
prominence in the
lean-meat
category during
the 20th century
in the United
States. 
3. Duroc United States Duroc pigs Duroc, breed
are reddish-brown of pig developed
and golden between 1822 and
yellow, large- 1877 from the Old
framed, medium Duroc pig of New
length, and York and the
muscular, with Red Jersey pig of
partially-drooping New Jersey; it
ears. They tend to was formerly
be one of the least called the Duroc-
aggressive of all Jersey. The Duroc
swine breeds proved
raised for meat. particularly
suitable for
feeding in
the United
States Corn Belt;
by the 1930s it
was the
predominant
breed in the
United States, a
distinction it held
intermittently
throughout the
century.
Exportation has
been extensive,
especially to the
temperate regions
of North and
South America.

4.  Berkshire England The Berkshire Berkshire, breed

is medium-sized of
and domestic pig origi
predominantly nating in England,
black in colour, where in the early
with white on its 19th century the
face, legs, and tip name “Berkshire”
of tail. It has a became
short dished face synonymous with
with erect ears improved pig
pointing slightly strains of
forward.  differing origin
and type. Hogs
imported from
East Asia figured
prominently in the
improvement of
varieties native to
the region. The
establishment of a
herdbook in 1885
fixed current
strains.
5. Meishan Southern China  It is a sub-group The Meishan is
of the Taihu pig, a breed of
and is a small to domestic pig
medium-sized named for the
breed with large Chinese
drooping ears, and prefecture of
wrinkled black Meishan. It is a
skin, particularly sub-group of the
so on the face. Taihu pig, and is a
small to medium-
sized breed with
large drooping
ears, and wrinkled
black skin,
particularly so on
the face.

6. Chester White Pennsylvania. The Chester white The Chester

pig is an all-white White Pig is a
breed at the hair breed of large,
level, revealing fatty pigs that
the pinkish skin originated in the
underneath.  United States of
America. This is a
domestic breed
that actively takes
part in
commercial
crossbreeding
operations for
pork in the
country. Though
not as well-known
as the Yorkshire,
the Hampshire, or
the Duroc pigs,
they are a
versatile breed
and are perfect for
both intensive and
extensive pig
farming.

7. Hampshire Southern Scotland It has erect ears 1

and Northern and black body,
England with a whitish
band around the
middle, covering
the front legs.
8. Pietrain Belgium Pietrain breed
is of medium size
and is white with
black spots.
Around the black
spots, there are
characteristic
rings of light
pigmentation that
carry white hair.
The breed is
commonly
referred to as
being of piebald
markings. The
ears are carried
erect.

9. Hereford Ayowa The modern

Hereford
is coloured dark
red to red-yellow,
with a white face,
crest, dewlap, and
underline.
Herefords with
white flanks and
white markings
below the knees
and hocks are also
common. ...
Herefords are
generally docile
and fast growing
cattle with good
beef quality.

10. Tamworth Ireland  Their body

coloration vary
from a pale
gingery to dark
mahogany red.
They exhibits an
elongated head
shape and a long,
narrow body.
Their face has
rectilinear lines as
 well as the snout,
and their ears are
erect and pointed.

References