The Rural Voice, 1988-01, Page 27feet farrowing crates. Most of his
York-Landrace gilts are bred
Hampshire. The weaning age for the
pigs is four to five weeks, when the
animals reach roughly 25 pounds. The
young pigs are fed creep feed while
still in the crates and, after weaning,
Long feeds them pig starter.
With nine to nine and a half
weaned pigs per litter, Long's sows
average 20 pigs per year per sow. The
sows are fed home -mixed grain and
concentrate. Long has three registered
Hampshire boars. "In my teens, I
bought my first boar from Ralhen
Hampshires of Atwood, and I have
stayed with Ralph Henderson and his
family as principal suppliers of my
breeding stock." Long buys his York-
Landrace gilts horn Sunny Cedar
Farms of Cambridge.
The barns are maintained at an
even temperature of 65 to 68 degrees
Paul Long (left)
has about 40
sows in his
sow to weaner
operation. He
also contract -
feeds pigs in two
other barns
(opposite page).
controlled with exhaust fans which
remove excess heat. The pens are
spindle -panelling steel and Long
figures on 10 square feet per feeder
pig in determining their size. The pig
manure is solid because the pigs are
well -bedded with straw from the farm.
The manure is spread back on the
land. Long keeps the pigs cleaned out
every day; one feeder barn has a stable
cleaner and the other two barns are
cleaned with a wheelbarrow.
Very particular when it comes to
herd health, Long controls entry to his
barns and always buys his stock from
herds with a -clean health record. He
keeps rubber boots and coveralls for
the individual barns, and has on hand
a supply of disposable plastic slip-on
rubber boots for visitors. "At a dollar
a pair, they're well worth the cost," he
says. His major consideration is that
"one barn could be immune to some-
thing another barn isn't immune to."
Long's vaccine program entails nee-
dles for erysipelas and E. coli scours.
The contract setup handles about
1,500 pigs a year. Long has been
feeding contract pigs for the same
company for five years now. The pigs
are owned by the feed company,
which supplies the pigs (usually four
to five different breeds) and the feed
and pays any veterinary expenses. In
turn, Long gets paid a fee per pig for
supplying the feeding facility and for
looking after the animals. He receives
all the pigs for each of his two con-
tract barns at the same time, their
average weight being 45 to 50 pounds.
He feeds them to market weight,
shipping them at about 220 pounds.
His average index for 1986 was 105.
Feed conversion was 4.75 and the
mortality rate was 1 per cent.
An inspector from the contract
company routinely looks over Long's
contract bams every two to three
weeks. The inspection covers feeder
space, feed waste, litter condition,
ventilation, and general herd health.
Long's setup averages 95 points out
of 100 points per inspection.
One contract barn has a flex -auger
feeding system which carries the feed
into rotary feeders. The second con-
tract barn will have a flex -auger sys-
tem installed this winter, which saves
Long the daily job of carrying 40 to 50
bags of feed weighing 90 pounds each.
Having purchased older barns and
converted them over to suit his opera-
tion, Long has saved money and main-
tained a low-cost input. He received a
grant from the Ontario Pork Industry
Improvement Program to install an
air -bag ventilation system in one of
the contract barns along with extra
exhaust fans. He also bought a preg-
nancy tester for his sow operation.
Long tries to be a careful, efficient
farmer, and keeps his own farrowing
and contract records manually. "I give
a lot of credit to Paul Reeds of the
Farm Credit Corporation," he says.
"He has a lot of good ideas and got me
on the beginning farmer program."
Well -liked in his community, Long
is respected as a hard-working farmer.
When asked to what he attributes his
success, he answers: "To sum it all
up, being as efficient as possible and
having the help of good neighbours."0
JANUARY 1988 25