Pig Farming in Australia: A Practical Guide to Breeds, Health and Compliance

Pigs are one of the most productive and rewarding livestock species you can raise — a well-managed sow can produce 20–25 weaner pigs per year from a single animal. But they're also one of the most biosecurity-sensitive species in Australia. Getting a few things right from day one — your PIC, your PigPass registration, your housing setup and your vaccination protocol — makes everything downstream far simpler.

This guide covers what you need to know across breed selection, housing, feeding, health management, compliance, and breeding records, with an Australian regulatory focus throughout.

Getting Your Paperwork Right First

Before you bring pigs home, you need two pieces of paperwork sorted:

Property Identification Code (PIC): Every property that keeps pigs, even one backyard pig, must have a PIC. Apply through your state department of agriculture — it's free and straightforward. In Queensland contact DAFF, in NSW the DPI, in Victoria DEECA, in WA DPIRD, in SA PIRSA, and in Tasmania DPIPWE. You'll need to provide your property address and a description of the animals you intend to keep.

PigPass registration: PigPass (pigpass.com.au) is the national electronic movement system for pigs. Any movement of pigs between properties — including buying weaners, selling finishers, or taking pigs to slaughter — requires a PigPass National Vendor Declaration (NVD). This is not optional. Movement without an NVD is an offence in every Australian state and territory. Registration is free for producers.

Choosing the Right Breed for Your Situation

Breed selection depends heavily on whether you're producing for commercial sale, personal consumption, or running a small hobby enterprise.

Commercial and semi-commercial production

The Australian commercial industry runs almost entirely on a Large White × Landrace maternal cross, using Duroc or PIC line sires as the terminal. Large White sows are prolific (12–14 live piglets per litter is achievable under good management), with excellent milk production and a calm temperament. Landrace contributes body length and a slightly longer loin. Duroc terminal sires add growth rate, muscling, and eating quality — intramuscular fat (IMF) in Duroc-cross pork is noticeably better than pure commercial white breeds.

Small farms, lifestyle blocks and heritage production

All heritage breeds carry significantly higher intramuscular fat than commercial white breeds, which translates to better flavour for direct sales, farmers' markets, and small-scale processing. If you're selling direct to consumers who care about pork quality, heritage breeds command a meaningful price premium.

Housing: What Pigs Actually Need

The basic requirements are wind protection, shade, wallowing access, predator security, and separation of functional areas (feeding, dunging, sleeping). Pigs are intelligent and will naturally dung away from their sleeping and feeding area if given enough space — crowded pens produce sanitation problems that compound disease risk.

For small outdoor systems, a 3-strand electric fence at pig nose height (about 20 cm) and a higher strand at 40 cm is very effective. Pigs respect electric fencing reliably once they've learned it — most producers walk new arrivals around the fence perimeter before releasing them into the paddock. A portable A-frame shelter with deep straw bedding works well for outdoor sows year-round in southern Australia. In the tropics and subtropics, a more substantial structure with good airflow and a concrete floor for cooling is worth the investment.

Stocking density matters. A breeding sow with a litter needs at least 6–8 m² of space in a farrowing pen. Growers on deep litter should have a minimum of 1 m² per 50 kg liveweight. Overcrowding is the single fastest way to create health problems — it drives tail biting, fighting, and pathogen load.

Gestation and Farrowing Management

Pig gestation is 114 days — the old rule of thumb is "3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days." This is one of the most predictable gestation periods in livestock. If you record your mating dates accurately, you can predict farrowing within a 2-day window and have the farrowing pen ready.

Key dates to manage around a 114-day gestation:

• Day 0: Mating/AI date — record this accurately
• Day 28–35: Pregnancy confirmation by ultrasound or by observing absence of oestrus return
• Day 85–90: Move sow to farrowing pen so she settles before farrowing
• Day 110–112: Watch for nesting behaviour (sow gathering bedding) — farrowing is close
• Day 114: Expected farrowing — supervise if possible for first-litter gilts
• Day 117–120: Sow should be eating well and maintaining weight; check piglet condition daily

Gilts (females having their first litter) need closer supervision than experienced sows. First-litter gilts have higher rates of overlying (crushing piglets), savaging, and agalactia (failure to let milk down). Record outcomes for each farrowing — litter size, live births, stillbirths, mummified fetuses, and weaning numbers. This data drives breeding decisions.

Vaccination Schedule

The core Australian pig vaccination program covers four diseases. Your vet will tailor this to your enterprise, region, and history, but the framework below is standard for breeding sows:

Erysipelas is the vaccine you most cannot afford to skip. The organism can persist in soil for years. Unvaccinated pigs exposed to Erysipelas develop the acute diamond skin disease form within 24–48 hours — red diamond-shaped skin lesions, high fever, and rapid death in severe cases. Survivors often develop chronic arthritis and endocarditis. The vaccine is cheap; treating an outbreak is not.

Leptospirosis is also a zoonosis — it can infect humans through contact with pig urine, especially through skin abrasions. This makes vaccination and hygiene practices a genuine workplace health issue, not just an animal health one.

Internal Parasite Management

The main internal parasites of Australian pigs are Ascaris suum (large roundworm — the most economically important), Oesophagostomum dentatum (nodular worm), Trichuris suis (whipworm), and Hyostrongylus rubidus (red stomach worm). Heavy Ascaris burdens cause "milk spot" liver lesions, which result in trim condemnations at the abattoir and are a direct economic indicator of parasite management failure.

A basic parasite management program:

• Sows: Treat 1–2 weeks before farrowing with ivermectin injection (e.g. Ivomec Injection for Pigs, Merial) or in-feed fenbendazole (e.g. Panacur). This reduces larval challenge to suckling piglets.
• Boars: Treat every 6 months.
• Growers: Treat at weaning. On heavily contaminated ground, retreat at 8–10 weeks.
• New arrivals: Quarantine and treat before introduction to the main herd.

Ivermectin also covers sarcoptic mange and lice, making it a useful dual-purpose treatment for outdoor systems where external parasite pressure is higher.

Common Health Problems and What to Watch For

Post-Weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS / PCV2): Caused by Porcine Circovirus 2, this is the most economically significant disease in Australian pig production. Weaners develop wasting, rough coat, enlarged lymph nodes, and respiratory signs at 5–12 weeks of age. Commercial PCV2 vaccines (Circovac, Porcilis PCV) have dramatically reduced losses where they're used. On small farms, discuss vaccination with your vet if you're seeing unexplained weaner deaths.

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS): Not currently present in Australia — a critical biosecurity win that makes our pork industry highly competitive. The threat from illegal importation of pork products is real. Do not feed meat scraps.

Greasy pig disease (Exudative Epidermitis): Staphylococcus hyicus infection in young pigs causes greasy, crusty skin lesions, especially in the first 2–3 weeks of life. Linked to skin abrasions from rough floors or fighting. Treat affected pigs with penicillin injections, improve pen hygiene, and address the underlying cause of skin damage.

Seasonal infertility: Sows and gilts in southern Australia often experience reduced conception rates and smaller litter sizes in late summer and autumn — the result of declining day length signalling reduced breeding activity (similar to sheep). Lighting manipulation (14 hours of light per day) can partly mitigate this in indoor systems. Outdoor producers should expect some seasonality.

Record Keeping and What It's Actually Worth

For a breeding herd, the minimum records worth keeping are: mating dates and sire used, litter size at birth (live and stillborn), weaning date and numbers weaned, weaning-to-service interval, vaccination dates, and movement records. These seven data points let you calculate your key performance indicators: litters per sow per year, live born per litter, pre-weaning mortality, and weaning weight.

The AU industry benchmark is 22+ weaner pigs per sow per year for commercial operations. Small farms typically run 14–18 per sow per year, with the gap largely attributable to management intensity rather than genetics. Understanding where your herd sits against these benchmarks tells you where to focus effort.

Movement records are also a compliance requirement under PigPass. Every movement of pigs — in or out, to slaughter or to another property — must be documented with a PigPass NVD. Keep copies of all NVDs for a minimum of 7 years.