Swine School
Saturday, August 22, 2009 
10:00 – 3:00 pm
Location: the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536. We will meet in near the sheep barn and take a shuttle to the swine facility.
Cost: $35 registration fee includes lunch and resource materials.
In this swine school, you will learn the basics of raising, grazing, and breeding pigs. The training will be divided into both classroom and practical skills components.
The morning classroom training will cover information on:
- biosecurity practices for your herd
- pig health and disease management
- breeds and breeding systems
- reproduction and artificial insemination
- feeding and nutrition
- confinement versus pasture/outdoor production
- pasture-based production systems
- enterprise budgets and recordkeeping
- marketing
The afternoon practical skills training will cover:
- evaluating sows and piglets for health and productivity
- preventive treatments and administering vaccinations
- assessing market weight
- handling swine
- management practices, including: castration, tail docking
- fencing demo and overview of pasture rotation considerations
- other practical skills.
To participate in the training, please complete the registration form (pdf) and return to the New Entry Lowell office by mail, fax, or email to: nesfp@tufts.edu
Swine Production Resources:
ATTRA’s Livestock Resources website has many great articles on sustainable swine production.
The Pork Niche Marketing Group website has information on their alternative marketing programs, and issues a regular newsletter. Though largely targeted to the Midwest pork producers, their "Projects and Reports" page has links to useful articles that can be applicable to the Northeast.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Veterinary School has a Swine Production website with information on the swine industry in the US, production, swine biology, facilities, and other information.
For electric fencing supplies, visit Premier 1 Fence Company.