A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda
Pig keeping is important to the livelihoods of many rural Ugandans. Pigs are typically sold based on live weight or a carcass weight derived from this; however this weight is commonly estimated due to the lack of access to scales. Here, we explore the development of a weigh band for more accurate we...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
Springer
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130594 |
| _version_ | 1855533361488986112 |
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| author | Marshall, Karen Poole, Elizabeth J. Oyieng, Edwin Ouma, Emily A. Kugonza, Donald R. |
| author_browse | Kugonza, Donald R. Marshall, Karen Ouma, Emily A. Oyieng, Edwin Poole, Elizabeth J. |
| author_facet | Marshall, Karen Poole, Elizabeth J. Oyieng, Edwin Ouma, Emily A. Kugonza, Donald R. |
| author_sort | Marshall, Karen |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Pig keeping is important to the livelihoods of many rural Ugandans. Pigs are typically sold based on live weight or a carcass weight derived from this; however this weight is commonly estimated due to the lack of access to scales. Here, we explore the development of a weigh band for more accurate weight determination and potentially increased farmer bargaining power on sale price. Pig weights and varied body measurements (heart girth, height, and length) were collected on 764 pigs of different ages, sex, and breed types, from 157 smallholder pig keeping households in Central and Western Uganda. Mixed-effects linear regression analyses, with household as a random effect and the varied body measurements as a fixed effect, were performed to determine the best single predictor for cube root of weight (transformation of weight for normality), for 749 pigs ranging between 0 and 125 kg. The most predictive single body measurement was heart girth, where weight in kg = (0.4011 + heart girth in cm × 0.0381)3. This model was found to be most suitable for pigs between 5 and 110 kg, notably more accurate than farmers’ estimates, but still with somewhat broad confidence intervals (for example, ±11.5 kg for pigs with a predicted weight of 51.3 kg). We intend to pilot test a weigh band based on this model before deciding on whether it is suitable for wider scaling. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace130594 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Springer |
| publisherStr | Springer |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1305942024-11-07T09:54:51Z A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda Marshall, Karen Poole, Elizabeth J. Oyieng, Edwin Ouma, Emily A. Kugonza, Donald R. swine animal production Pig keeping is important to the livelihoods of many rural Ugandans. Pigs are typically sold based on live weight or a carcass weight derived from this; however this weight is commonly estimated due to the lack of access to scales. Here, we explore the development of a weigh band for more accurate weight determination and potentially increased farmer bargaining power on sale price. Pig weights and varied body measurements (heart girth, height, and length) were collected on 764 pigs of different ages, sex, and breed types, from 157 smallholder pig keeping households in Central and Western Uganda. Mixed-effects linear regression analyses, with household as a random effect and the varied body measurements as a fixed effect, were performed to determine the best single predictor for cube root of weight (transformation of weight for normality), for 749 pigs ranging between 0 and 125 kg. The most predictive single body measurement was heart girth, where weight in kg = (0.4011 + heart girth in cm × 0.0381)3. This model was found to be most suitable for pigs between 5 and 110 kg, notably more accurate than farmers’ estimates, but still with somewhat broad confidence intervals (for example, ±11.5 kg for pigs with a predicted weight of 51.3 kg). We intend to pilot test a weigh band based on this model before deciding on whether it is suitable for wider scaling. 2023-06 2023-06-02T09:37:16Z 2023-06-02T09:37:16Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130594 en Open Access Springer Marshall, K., Poole, J., Oyieng, E., Ouma, E. and Kugonza, D.R. 2023. A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda. Tropical Animal Health and Production 55:219. |
| spellingShingle | swine animal production Marshall, Karen Poole, Elizabeth J. Oyieng, Edwin Ouma, Emily A. Kugonza, Donald R. A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda |
| title | A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda |
| title_full | A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda |
| title_fullStr | A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda |
| title_full_unstemmed | A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda |
| title_short | A farmer-friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in Uganda |
| title_sort | farmer friendly tool for estimation of weights of pigs kept by smallholder farmers in uganda |
| topic | swine animal production |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130594 |
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