donem:
Though OMOTOWO is a Plonker, but most people castigating him earlier on are the same people kissing Calebsky A.ss, i smell hypocrisy everywhere.

Been punting since 2008 have never for once paid for a football tip, wont n never will, i can gratify after the outcome.

Except the tipster is among the footballers playing, before i can consider paying for that particular match tip.

Football prediction has and would always remian 90% luck and 10% forecast, nothing is sure.

Though The truth is bitter like Alomo, just saying it as it is, Calebsky is a Top Tipster i hold in so much esteem no bad blood whatsoever.

Bros 2008?? Na pool u bin dey play dat time??

imhere:
Please, who knows where i can buy this containers for toothpick here in Nigeria, i am seriously in need of them If possible the price as well. Thanks

Are you in Lagos?? If yes, go to Ojota, beside the footbridge there is a street with a market where they sell chemicals and plastics..... Ask people around there and you may get a producer's contact

3rdavefarms:



Thanks so much .... The journey to the marketing scope starts now

Hi...... I just thought to add my thoughts. Broiler farming is like holding a grenade with the pin pulled out; it will explode in seconds if you dont throw it away fast. I dont know what practices you apply in your farm, but by 6-8weeks maxxx, your broilers should attain an average weight of 1.6-2.1kg which is the acceptable weight most slaughtered chicken processors buy i.e eateries. As a result, if you keep your birds longer than that moment they attain that weight, anything u feed them with is a waste and note that they are heavy consumers. Selling them to normal consumers is also a waste because it will take forever to sell plenty birds.

What i will suggest is this, especially for subsequent rearings: at the point when you buy new stock, your marketing starts immediately so that by the end of 8 weeks, you will have a ready market or 12 weeks, if you like. Write proposals to eateries and hotels and reataurants and places you know that deal in chicken. Also talk to individuals you know; church members, family, friends, neighbours, housewives and let them know u rear broilers and they wil be ready in x weeks. By doing this, u will have a ready market before they are mature and save yourself broiler stress.

Success!!

nams77:
A beautiful mind! You also mentioned pig community. I don't think we have that around here(warri). Thanks once again. Following your thread keenly

Tanks..... Goat rearing is fantastic and its something i also want to venture into in the nearest future when we are fully settled with our piggery. They require lesser care and are relatively inexpensive to feed when u compare them with pigs or poultry (the craziest livestock to rear). You can rear them alongside your pigs and u can rear both eastern and northern breeds too.

As per your location, pig farming is nonexistent in warri. I know this because buyers come to Okearo and Ikorodu from Warri and load specially constructed trucks with animals to sell down there. I dont know why there arent piggeries but i believe u have a real ready hungry starving and underserved market. You need a very long term deliberate strategy to keep u on the front edge of the market there.

i am interested. kindly email your proposal to dynamics4life@gmail.com

uvalued:
yes

Pls can we chat on whatsapp? my number is 08082310865

stpat1:
The number you posted is not reachable.

Whatsapp only

OP, is the software still available?

akpaaba:
I am interested in going into buying and selling of Pigs and i need somebody to put me through from the scratch. Are you into Pig marketing big time? Fellow Nairalanders, I need your assistance please help your brother. I am currently located in Aba. Thanks[sup][/sup]

do you have a readily available market? what volume are you looking at doing?

From the numerous whatsapp messages I have gotten and am still getting, it is obvious that agriculture is the way to go because of its uniqueness – caring for life. But it’s such a shame that in every area that should be a money spinner, crooks abound in droves, ready to fleece whoever shows the capacity to spend. My mom and I were discussing this weekend about an encounter she had with our former attendant last week. The attendant was narrating how people were running in and running out of the farm after being bled dry with nothing to show. It is common to see and hear angry exchanges between new farmers and those who introduced them to the business because what was promised and invested did not tally with what was returned. If after reading this my long boring pieces you still fall mugu, you need to be flogged seriously.

Most of the messages I have been getting border on some of the issues I have outlined already in my earlier posts, but it seems I hid them, lol, so let me reiterate them:

Firstly, you MUST have a primary income source before delving into pig farming because it is very capital intensive. Don’t wait till you retire or are sacked and then use your entitlements/handshakes to start. The business will run you out eventually and you will join the bandwagon of those blaming others for their woes. You need to have an INITIAL investment then you should have monthly running costs to care for the business till such a time as you can start feeding off it. This is true with piggery as it is with any other business.

Secondly, please don’t ever do pig farming by proxy. If you or your spouse or a very close trusted person cannot be available up to 3 times a week to monitor the animals, sanitation, feeding, stock level etc especially during birthing, abeg don’t come in. you will definitely regret the decision to join.

Don’t give anyone money to buy anything for you or startup for you. Go and see what you want to pay for and pay for it and take it and leave with it. Don’t get scammed please. The only thing every newbie must do is to go along with someone who knows the terrain very well, who will help u look at the animals with an experienced eye and determine which will be best to stock your herd with. Not all good looking animals are good and not all bad looking animals are bad. Also don’t fall for all those crappy longwinded stories about biosecurity, improved superb stock, bla bla bla. You can create yours over time, it’s not rocket science. I can say a lot on this but the bottomline is this: Go with someone who knows the terrain so you don’t get duped pricewise and animalwise.

Also, don’t get swayed by figures and statistics. Seek knowledge because it is the only thing that will help you when all else fails. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I have talked about weight gain. Ask anyone who boasts of incredible weights how old his animal is. Now here is the crazy fact; there are two ages in pig farming; the period from birth till now and the period from when the animal was bought till now. Imagine I bought an animal and kept it for 10 months and it attained a weight of 100kg, is the animal 10 months old?? What if I bought it as a 6 month old grower, is it still 10 months?? Do you understand this?? Read up and hear what the whites who own these exotic breeds say about the weight and one Nigerian will be bamboozling us with stories.

I asked you to decide on if it would be better to start with pregnant females or weaners, now let me be clear: no mature farmer will ever buy a pregnant animal because of the negatives I stated in that post. Imagine someone selling a pregnant sow for 65k and another last week was talking about 95k. For what nau?? Don’t try it else you will hear it hot.

I have come again with my breed brouhaha. This is why wars are fought and enemies are eventually made. Pig farming and livestock rearing should be all about improving your strain and raising the best animals through your own special program. Buy normal cheap females and then the only animal you should spend premium cash on is a male because therein lies the key to your breeding program’s success. Aren’t all those exotic breeds an actualization of somebody’s dreams? Why not create your own superb breed yourself in 5-7 years?? We are doing that and we are getting terrific results. You should too.

I will try to talk more on other issues but I need entrants to get these initial facts straight. Missing them is akin to hanging yourself with your own rope.

I am available to answer any questions you might have. Thanks to everyone who appreciates and everyone who has been emboldened to take that first step after reading this thread. You will succeed because the market is so wide that nobody can fill it, but wisdom is needed to be able to tap in.

MhissIfe:
How many productive cycle? I mean how many years do those sows produce?

d

You mate them till you are tired or till their production levels drop..... But d beauty is that with each farrowing, they keep adding serious weight.

MhissIfe:
I agree with you, with proper feeding, 50-65 kg within 6-7 months.

Sometimes what is difficult for one person might be easier for another person.

Consequently, the gestation period of pig is always 113-115 days, which is almost 4 months before the nursing period.

Also, 8 months is too much to reach market size for a well fed pig. Though market size varies.

Good market sizes for pigs starts from 50kg upwards

Hmmm.... He is a newbie; test-running is deadly. He needs to learn.

FashPet:


It depends on the level of your experience and training my brother.
You could have gotten both if you have resources to acquire them. Weaners will give you experience on how to nurture piglets from the scratch and to prove all the information you knew based on breeds, feeds/feeding patterns. Also having pregnant sows will also afford you an opportunity to know how to take care of a pregnant sows and nurture till delivery; witnessing the delivery and nurturing the piglets from the first day.
Consequently in business wise, the weaners you acquired would have been reaching their market sizes at the time the newly farrowed would be reaching 8 weeks, thereby you can sell and use the money to nurture the farrowed piglets to their market size also.

Let me stop here for contributions from others.

Hmmmm........ Buying pregnant sows is a no-no...... If experienced farmers can never buy it, what justification does a newbie have to do so?? It is no easy feat nuturing newborns..... I can tell you because once your sow farrows, you must be at alert esp during the first week and you must go there daily to ensure they dont have complications or life threatening issues like the common stooling which kills them off anyhow.

Also it takes an average of 8-10months for a weaner to attain market weight. The pregnant sow will farrow in 2 months or less and they suckle for 2 months before they are weaned making it a total of 4 months..... Your weaners just turned growers.

castins:
My pig pen is almost ready, am a beginners, advice please. Do I go for weaner or pregnant ones, which one will be best for me to start with, am just new , pls advice. Am based in PH.

Vickifeanyi is correct. Buying growers is safer esp as you intend to breed. Never ever buy a pregnant animal. Its a dangerous shortcut that could be very disappointing and its definitely a price ripoff that you can never make up..... Dont mind whatever they tell you about the beauty of owning a pregnant female

MhissIfe:
If you say they can give birth 2.5 times a year, what does that mean?
Love this formular Lagbaja but will like to ask if cassava peels can replace whole cassava? Those worried about piglets, weaners and growers i think it work if the lysine , meth levels are ajusted. Fortification with enzymes will make it more digestible.
Lets keep this thread alive. Ogas are too silent o!

2.5 times a year means the farrow twice and are pregnant before the 12-month year cycle runs out. But i always have a problem with not allowing them to rest at all before they get pregnant after each weaning and the piglets dont get to stay for a complete 8 week suckling period

MhissIfe:
You must mean rooting. Pigs are not destructive. On the contrary they are very curious and intelligent animals. You have to make sure that their houses(pens/rooms) are not too high and the gates are iron but not fully covered so that they can always see what is going on.
Now, sometimes you have to observe your animal and study the times that it is displaying this kind of behaviour. It might just be that it's unsettled or hungry.
what a nice thread this is!
Please what causes d destructive tendencies pigs display ?
I supply pkc at affordable price . thanks

Hehehehehe!!! Its destructive tendency na. Sometimes i feel like conking them on the head with a heavy metal

ebena107:
Thank you for this inspiring piece.

I am a newbie with a peculiarity of unavailability of cluster pig farm around here. I am currently building a 30 rooms pen and digging a well for the water supply. any further advice on how a newbie can survive and learn the rope alone?

Also, how possible is it to get quality and pure bred Camborough pigs for a starter? or any advice on other good and high performing breed for starting a breeding herd?

Thanks

Hi

Sorry i havent been able to post for a while. Where do you reside as that would be helpful in knowing what to say concerning your new venture and sourcing for a good camborough boar.

But you need to ask yourself this: how do you intend to manage the smell and the huge amount of waste you will be generating on a daily basis?? A soakaway cannot help u except u are determined to build one that is as big as your land and as deep as 10 feet and then build your piggery on it

JideJamez:
Trust nobody

I have been trying to ignore your posts but i dont think i can any longer. I believe u are old enough and mature enough to know that what you are doing is very childish and immature. Why are u talking from the corner of your mouth and dropping snide comments upandan?? You have been griping to the extent of opening another thread and dropping your clueless accusation.

If you are confident that you have been scammed and you want to talk, talk abeg and mention names because at the end of it all, methinks all you are trying to do is to seek cheap attention which i have just given you.

wole1968:
i have some piglet that are excreting salad cream faeces, which antibiotic would be best for them

They are purging. You should urgently give them oral flagyll; the tablets we humans take. Grind, mix with water and administer with a syringe deepthroat, once daily for three days.
How old are they?

Jideams:


Exactly, the animals cannot be fed on 500k/month as they grow older. The attachment are as follows

Total pigs in the house - Shows the number of pigs in the house each month starting from 10 in January to 760 in Dec at different stages of growth.
Feeding cost per month - shows the feeding cost per month based on 3600 Naira for a Matured dry sow.
Running feeding cost - Shows the cumulative cost a the until the end of the year.


So in January, I will be spending 36,000 Naira to raise 10 adult pigs, while in December I will spend 1.160Million Naira on feed for 760 Pigs.
For the year, I will need 6Million naira on feeding alone. But by the time i start selling 100 pigs a month in month 13th (second year) I will have
a turn over of 3.5million a month with total extimated cose of not more than 2 million.

In addition,I do not plan to fatten any pig for more than 7months. My Target weight is 75 - 80 in 7months

Your estimates are very high. But all i can say is start first then get a practical experience of the real costs of feeding your animals.

SinaAkinsanya:
Though I am still learning and open to ideas from others, i have learnt a few things in the 3 years or so that i have been involved. 300k is not likely to feed 500 animals in a month except they are all weaners which is even doubtful. I recall the target is to get the animals to about 70 kg in about 6 months. That requires quality feed and animals. These days maize is about 145/kg, brewery waste 25/kg soy bean 150/kg, pkc 45/kg; cassava cake 100/kg, gnc 135/kg; wheat offal 2900/50 kg. There are additional cost for pre mix ; lysine, methione, drugs etc. Perhaps some of us have been paying too much for these ingredients. From experience, not to use those ingredients is to slow down the growth rate of even the purest lines. We started with concorted breeds and fed them with mostly pkc and brewery waste and got about 60-70 at best in 1 year. We introduced good lines of LR. Again fed them mostly with pkc and brewery waste and got at least 100 kg in one year. We introduced maize, soy bean etc and the growth rates of all our breed, concorted and pure lines improved dramatically. We are hoping to get 80-90 kg in about 7-8 months without the animals building up too much fats. Most of our pure lines reached the target in about 8 months even though we really did not start feeding them well until january this year. The pure line are intended for breeding and sale to others as breeding stock.

That has been our personal experience. Open to ideas particularly on where and how we can source cheap ingredients. Our experience on pure lines vs concorted breed is that pure lines will almost double concorted breeds in weight in about one year.

What is your feeding cost per animal?

Jideams:


Thanks for your response on this and do appreciate the comments from SinaAkinsanya as well. 300k would average my feeding cost at N600 mothly , not sure how close this is to reality. My costing was estimated as follows

Dry 4500/month
lactating sow 6000/month
weaners 750/month
Growers 1125/Month

What does your growth and weight estimate come up to if you feed your animals that much for 10 months?? It means you cannot feed your growers on 500k and as they grow older, you spend more

[quote author=Jideams post=55537850][/quote]

To feed 500 animals requires around 300k monthly.

As to your other requirements and questions, you need a detailed practical business plan and a hand holding from when you start till when you start making profits.

U can whatsapp me lets talk

SinaAkinsanya:
Jideam,

Your goals are achievable in about may be 2 years provided you have the funds and the experience or people with experience. We presently have about 600 animals on our farm and we started over 3 years ago. Yet to breakeven, but that should start to happen in couple of months when we should be in a position to increase our monthly sales from about 30 to about 60 @ average weight of 75. There are too many challenges you wil face along the line. Our operating cost/pig /month is over N3000. You need to buy good breeding stocks and they are not cheap. Over the years, we have invested about N35 m. We have capacity to house about 1000 animals at the moment. We have 8 staff including agric university grad. Having said all these, key is start small, learn and grow. Might take a few years for you to start seeing profit.

3000 per month seems to be very high overheads; my thoughts because with your number of staff, the number of pigs should be enough to diffuse their salaries to a manageable minimum. I hope you breakeven soon though i feel u should have @ month 24.
Also try backward integration. If you can control ur corn and cassava production, you will cut down your feed costs drastically especially if the corn yields are exceptional.

Jideams:
Hi Guys,

I have been reading your articles with great interest and need to join in the conversation. Really, raising pigs to sell as additional income and farming pigs as a business are two different things entirely. Please note, I am not a practicing farmer but presently putting together a feasibility report on what it takes to successfully farm pigs as my soul source of income. I would appreciate your contribution as I evaluate pig farming with a GO or no GO decision.

These are my goals for the first year, my inability to meet these goals or successfully project the actualisation of these goals means a NO GO for me. In this business, you need to work back to front (meaning starting from the goal and working your way back). These are my goals at the end of the first year.

1. To attain 75 - 80 kg weight in 6 months.
2. To sell 100 pigs on monthly basis starting 12months from the start of production.
3. To establish the farm on not more than 1-acre land (6 plots)
4. To attain a turnover of 3.6million on monthly basis (80 *100*450) 3.6M.
5. To archive a profit of approximately 40% (1.5M)on monthly basis.
6. Attain a stock capacity of 760 pigs at the end of the year with a sale of 100 pigs every month there after.

Looking at the table below, I would have attained 760 pigs by the end of the year and start selling 100 every month by the following month.

To achieve these goals, pig farming must be run as a business and the following factors need to be considered from the beginning.

1. Breed
2. Feed formulation and alternative cost of feed ingredients.

Question.

Please does anyone have a capacity of 1000 pigs, in a well-organized layout with good record keeping? Please let me know if you do as I have a lot to learn from you. Please I would not hesitate to pay for your time spent.

Also find attached my analysis with commnets

The most important question i will ask is: How much do you have to invest in the business??

Should I Buy A Pregnant Sow?

This is another question that bothers newbies. Should I cut off all the stress and time associated with raising weaners and purchase pregnant sows (in-sows as they are called)?

Have you looked at it from this angle: that pregnant sow will farrow (give birth) in less than 3 months and then you will have tiny piglets to care for – ones that are literally standing at death’s door for the next one week and you are blessed if you don’t have an experienced or capable vet doctor on hand to care for them.

Also, is it economical cost wise? Will they give you a good litter size, bearing in mind that some animals don’t give a good number of young during their first birth? What if the male that serviced them isn’t standard and the young aren’t what is expected?

There are a lot of questions you can ask and a lot of things that could go wrong or right sef like if they farrow 8-12 healthy robust piglets. But as a newbie, start small and grow till you know and master all the aspects of pig rearing.

It’s worth mulling over!!!

A NEWBIE ASKS: WHICH SHOULD I DELVE INTO; BREEDING OR FATTENING?

Breeding vs Fattening: The beginner’s nightmare

Upon deciding to embark on the journey of pig farming, this is one question that is sure to weigh down the mind of any intending farmer. Before we discuss on which is best, let’s define both.

Breeding involves getting a boar (male pig) and several sows (female pigs), raising them either from weaner level or buying them fully grown for the purpose of reproducing.

Fattening refers to raising weaners (pigs of around eight weeks) or growers (pigs of around twenty to twenty four weeks) till they attain market weight. These weaners can either be gotten from the farmer’s breeding stock or acquired.

Now the question; which is better for me to start with?

Hmmmm…… There are actually no right or wrong answers- Why? Let’s look at the dynamics of the business again

Farmers play at different levels. The same is true in Nigeria as it is in other climes.

Some farmers concentrate solely on breeding. They acquire and raise around 20-100 sows and boars then sell the weaned piglets. With proper management, a farmer can sell twice a year. If he has good stock and averages 7 piglets per litter, he can get 140 weaners from 20 sows and twice yearly he makes sales of around 1.2M @ 4500 per weaner. Eliminating overhead costs, you are left with a tidy sum. But before you get carried away, this is just an analysis: with life anything can happen. You can get nothing or you can get more if your pigs average 8-12 piglets per litter.

Some farmers concentrate solely on purchasing weaners and raising them for a further 8-10 months then sell them off. This is where majority of farmers play and there is profit in it as long as you have a steady primary income source that will ensure that your pigs are well taken care of and constantly fed. When some people roll out figures to bamboozle you about the incredibly head spinning profits you make while rearing pigs, they forget to add that the business needs real capital, and a continuous one at that, for a long period before you can make any revenue. Caring for a pig over its lifetime costs an average of 13000. Multiply that by 100 pigs and prepare to be afraid. You need money and any break in feeding or care will have dire consequences.

Some farmers concentrate on purchasing growers and raising too. The argument they bring forth is that they cut off 3-4 months of waiting before they can achieve market weight. This is also a good endeavour as long as you have the financial muscle to put into buying animals at that price.

Some farmers play in all these niches. They breed and then raise some of their piglets to maturity while selling off at various stages: weaner, grower and market.

As a new farmer, you can and should play in all. When purchasing your stock, include animals for breeding eg, if you intend to buy 20 weaners, select 5 females for your breeding program, and then raise the rest for market. With that you are assured of starting your own herd within a year.

I hope this was helpful

atolagbeolaleka:
ok thanks @ dynamix101....pls @ what price can I get the 2..methonie nd lysine..

Truthfully i cant correctly tell you cos the amount you need is dictated by the volume if your compounding. The person who does my compounding knows wat grammage to add once i tell him the volume of feed i am compounding

atolagbeolaleka:
methionine or lysine which cn I do without pls

You need them both for a complete compound