Pig farming is the agricultural practice of raising and breeding domestic pigs primarily for meat products such as pork, bacon, and ham. Still, other products can also include lard and other byproducts. This can involve large, specialized operations or smaller, family-run farms and is organized into different stages, such as breeding, where a sow gets artificial insemination and gives birth to piglets in a specialized farrowing (birth), where the sow is in a crate for the pigglets safety. while the Piglets are kept in a nursery stage after weaning to grow to a specific weight, often around 40 pounds, and finishing were the Pigs are moved to a finishing operation to grow to market weight, typically around 270-285 pounds, and are then sold for slaughter. Modern Farming methods vary widely, from intensive indoor systems where pigs are kept in climate-controlled buildings, allowing close monitoring and standardized production, to more extensive outdoor and free-range models where pigs are kept in open spaces with access to shelters and allowed to graze or a semi-intensive wich is A combination of the two, where pigs may have enclosures but also access to larger areas for movement.
While many modern specialized farms are specialized, with some focusing only on breeding, others on raising weaned pigs, and still others on finishing them to slaughter weight, the farrow-to-finish farms handle the entire process from birth to slaughter.