Herd Health Management Practices of Swine Raisers in Barangays Bobok-Bisal, Daclan, and Poblacion Bokod, Benguet

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the herd health management practices of swine raisers in Barangays Bobok- Bisal, Daclan and Poblacion, Bokod, Benguet. A total of 119 respondents were interviewed. The demographic profile of the respondents revealed that most of them are married (90%) belonging to the age bracket of 41 to 60 years of age (54%). Most (36%) are secondary and tertiary graduates and (39%) of them are engaged in raising swine from 2 years to 5 years. Majority (90%) raise swine to gain income. Ninety –two percent of the total pigs raised are mixed breed and fifty-four percent are piglets. Majority (97%) of the respondents confined their pigs in an open shaded housing and very few (2% and 1%) had their pig roamed around the backyard and tethered respectively. Seventy-seven percent of the respondents consult a veterinarian or an animal technician when they observed problems concerning their animals. Most (71%) of the respondents also deworm their pigs as needed and nearly half (48%) of them do not have vaccination program. Sixty-six percent of the respondents practice wet feeding and 79% had their pigs fed twice a day with combination of commercial feeds and food waste. Majority (95%) of the raisers are using feeding trough. Cleaning of pigpen is done once a day by most (58%) of the swine raisers. Disinfection of the pig house is practiced by (10%) of the respondents. Mostly (61%), the waste products are flushed into an open drainage and some (21%) use it as fertilizer.