Nation’s first scientific pig housing model demonstration unit opens in U’khand
PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The nation’s first scientific pig housing model demonstration unit has been opened in Uttarakhand to encourage scientific pig farming. The training unit developed jointly by the Animal Husbandry department and People For Animals-Public Policy Foundation was recently inaugurated at Pashulok in Rishikesh by the department’s director Uday Shankar.
The life-size walk-through training unit enables a farmer or veterinary doctor to understand modern, animal welfare based pig housing systems through models, educational exhibits and practical displays. This development comes at a time when African Swine Fever (ASF) has become a major challenge for pig farming in India and abroad.
The mortality rate of ASF can be 100 per cent and according to the national work plan, a one-kilometre area must be declared contaminated and all pigs must be exterminated on confirmation of the disease. In such a situation, strong biosecurity, clean pig housing and animal welfare based rearing techniques become more important for securing the livelihood of farmers and prevention of the disease. Scientific studies have shown that pigs living in stressful and constricted spaces have weaker immune systems while living in surroundings based on their natural behaviour make the pigs healthier and stronger against disease.
The demonstration unit comprises group housing and crate-free farrowing. PFA-Public Policy trustee and member secretary Gauri Maulekhi said, “The life of any animal begins where it lives. The pig which gets a chance to walk freely, make its nest and behave naturally is more healthy, less stressed and more capable of better facing diseases. Animal housing is the foundation of animal health and welfare. We believe that this model will initiate change in the direction of pig farming in the nation,” she said.
