page_title: Pig farming
section_title: Pigs for slaughter
hierarchical_section_title: Pig farming / Terminology / Pigs for slaughter
caption_attribution_description: Finishing hogs on a farm in central Arkansas.
context_page_description: Pig farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food and skins.
  Pigs are amenable to many different styles of farming: intensive commercial units, commercial free range enterprises, or extensive farming. Historically, farm pigs were kept in small numbers and were closely associated with the residence of the owner, or in the same village or town. They were valued as a source of meat and fat, and for their ability to convert inedible food into meat, and were often fed household food waste when kept on a homestead. Pigs have been farmed to dispose of municipal garbage on a large scale.
  All these forms of pig farm are in use today, though intensive farms are by far the most popular, due to their potential to raise a large amount of pigs in a very cost-efficient manner. In developed nations, commercial farms house thousands of pigs in climate-controlled buildings. Pigs are a popular form of livestock, with more than one billion pigs butchered each year worldwide, 100 million of them in the USA.
context_section_description: Suckling pig, a piglet slaughtered for its tender meat
  Feeder pig, a weaned gilt or barrow weighing between 18 kg (40 lb) and 37 kg (82 lb) at 6 to 8 weeks of age that is sold to be finished for slaughter
  Porker, market pig between 30 kg (66 lb) and about 54 kg (119 lb) dressed weight
  Baconer, a market pig between 65 kg (143 lb) and 80 kg (180 lb) dressed weight. The maximum weight can vary between processors.
  Grower, a pig between weaning and sale or transfer to the breeding herd, sold for slaughter or killed for rations.
  Finisher, a grower pig over 70 kg (150 lb) liveweight
  Butcher hog, a pig of approximately 100 kg (220 lb), ready for the market. In some markets (Italy) the final weight of butcher pig is in the 180 kg (400 lb) range. They tend to have hind legs suitable to produce cured ham
  Backfatter, cull breeding pig sold for meat; usually refers specifically to a cull sow, but is sometimes used in reference to boars
caption: Finishing pigs on a farm
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