₦airaland Forum

crownmichael:
Is that soya milk in the drum please?

No, thats fan milk waste, very good for pigs.

smartoskie:
How do you measure the weight of your pig before selling them. Is there any specific method or you have to carry them on the scale.

Yes, they have to weigh them on a scale to determine their weight. There are different scales anyway, the most efficient is the broad one that the pigs can walk on.

Tamahog:
Happy New Year!
Guess your farm is doing good

Please I'd like to ask a few questions....


Why did you chose varying species instead of 1 or 2 good breeds?

How do you tame the pungent smell of your piggery farm in the neighborhood?

We are doing very good...
To answer your question, the two dominant breeds here is large white & land race. Large white are known to grow so big up to 350kg while land race are known to be good mothers and their litters in most cases are much more than the former.

For your second question, my farm doesnt smell at all, infact we eat sometimes in the pen. The secret is simple, the farm hand clean the pen thoroughly morning and evening, and we have good drainage system and a sock-away. However all these wouldnt have been possible if one doesnt have a well or borehole as the case may be on the farm, pig farm requires adequate water supply.

It was really shocking today in Ibadan when i called a supplier of gravel and he told me a full load is now 40k, plastering sand 30k non nogotiable because they are all under oath, to think i bought that same gravel 28k some few months ago. A bag of cement is now 4k while a 6inch block #280.

My bricklayer told me he worked in one of the eastern state around december, and a load of gravel is 12k and plastering sand 10k.

Please what is the price of all of these in your location? Why are we humans so greedy and inconsiderate exploiting every channel to rip ourselves off this much?

femu:
Lovely. How much is the drum of milk?

It is calculated in litres, a 425 litre fills up a drum. However, we havent been expending much on getting it save for the pittance i give the personnels who help me in filling the kegs up and the security guys. Build a solid relationship with people, they will come handy in time of need.

benuejosh:
I feel the pain here. 20k weekly is too high for me. There's a great advantage of being in Benue and secondly an integrated farm will help you alot. Have you thought about farming maize, soya beans and sorghum for feeding your stock? Those grains are very cheap in Benue. And with large expanse of land for cultivation.

I served in Benue many years ago and i can relate, moreover Benue is the food basket of the nation, so its expected. However, we have tried cultivating maize, it didnt turn out well as expected due to some environmental factors. We will keep at it anyway to cut cost.

pdf90:
How can I get this milk ...

You can get it at fan milk, chivita or any yoghurt producing company around you, just ask for milk waste.

A drum of milk we use in mixing their feeds, after taking the milk, you will see some of the pigs napping while eating, it induces sleep and it helps them grow faster and fresher!

smartoskie:
Nice and encouraging write diary. I have some questions Sir.
After leaving your former job, are you now into full-time piggery and from your experience can it be done as a full-time business?

I left my job so i can be independent to pursue my interest in farming and others. We are not restricted to piggery, we are going into other livestock gradually. And yes, piggery can serve as a full time job, it may be difficult for a starter for the first 5 months as u keep investing, buying feeds, medications etc. But when they are matured, and they start reproducing, then you are rest assured your smile will be broad and natural. A pig gives birth twice a year.

jikings:
Well done…how much is your set up cost so far? Pen cost, getting your initial piglets, and monthly running cost?

Also what is your projected profit after say 6-12 months?

I've expended close to 2million, securing the land, building materials and labour is quite on the high side now. For a starter, i will advise you use wood to construct your pen, you will still need to concrete the floor anyway.
I got my weaners at the range of 25-30k, i ensure a vet comes in once a month for check-up, i currently have more than 10pigs now and i spend roughly 30k on feeds monthly.

Your profit comes from either you are rearing for fattening or to keep reproducing so you can keep selling the weaners. Some farmers castrate their pigs so it can grow so big to sell for slaughters, a kilo of pork now is #1200, imagine if you have 10 pigs that weighs 200kg each?
And if it is for selling your piglets, the least price for a weaner now is 18k, the exotic breeds cost way more, so if your female pig gives birth to lets say atleast 8 piglets, multiply it by 18k. Good business huh?

[ quote author=Tekkyno post=106652665]I'm so happy I come across this thread,I wanted to venture into this business and have bought a 2plot of land for it..
My questions are :
1) is it advisable to use wood instead of block?

2) some farmers here use just pkc,soya waste and maybe waste fruit and they are getting good kg when selling,what is ur advise on this?

3) can I build a living house and farm on that 2plot of land

4) some farmers feed pigs once daily while others twice,pls what's ur advise on this for a starter ?

5) I have 120k budget for pig buying,how/what shouild I buy?[/quote]Well, the usage of either wood or block depends on your pocket, however it is advisable for a new farmer to cut cost as much as you can when erecting a pen, save your money for the feeds, it will come handy.

Pkc and soya are both proteinous feeds, though soya is higher than pkc, those combination lacks energy, that is why its good to add barley to the mix as a source of energy. You can also use cassava too.

You can have your house within the premises, infact i have a friend who has poultry, piggery, fish pond and snail farm on a 2 plot, and he built his 3 bedroom flat there too for his family, and they are doing very fine. Its your decision anyway.

I feed my weaners very well, but my growers eat once a day. What is important is the quality of the feeds anyway. If your feeds is high in quality, and you feed them once in a day, it will work more on them than when you feed them thrice with a substandard feed.

I will advice you buy a pure large white male and the rest female, but ensure you are not buying from same farm to avoid in-breeding.

I hope that helps.

This is just a new addition we had recently, its an exotic fully matured large white male, one of the mistakes i made when i started the business was purchasing both female and male piglets from same farm. Ofcourse one would need a male pig to mate at the longrun, but never make a mistake of buying them from same farm because there is high tendency of them being related or even siblings. When one make this mistake, there is also high tendency that the mother pig will lose all her babies.

I know of a farmer whose pig gave birth to 20 piglets, all died as a result of this mistake. As it is incest with humans, its all shades of wrong in piggery too.

One other vital thing that should be considered when venturing into pig business or any other business is your PRESENCE.

A farm manager would never carry out your task the way you would have done if it were you, most of these employees are just for eye service. You will need to be visiting un-announced to know the efficiency level of your farm hands, failure to do such could be fatal.
There was a day i decided to visit the farm in the morning, i got there around 9a.m. No one was around, the rooms were left uncleaned, the water troughs were empty and so on and forth. I didnt call any of them, i pulled off my top, i started the cleaning and disposing waste, i finished the whole process around past 12, and none was still available. Then i realized the reasons why businesses fail, lack of water could be fatal to pigs... and some employees wouldnt mind if you record loss as long as their wages is being paid.

I decided to wait a little more before i put a call through to the manager, and he came up with a weak line which was very lame.

PRESENCE is key to a successful business.

Oluwanieze:
Weldone chief
I want to go into farming,
I'd like to be your protégé

I earlier shared my mail, you can always reach out.

engray:
I've always known that Agriculture is the new oil with promising potentials yet fully unexplored.
I would love to learn from you further. How can we connect.

midekicks001@yahoo.com.... You can always mail me, we will take it up from there.

bizzibodi:
Those wires on the bars won't it injure them?how do U dispose d waste?how much do U sell market size life.

The boko haram wire is just to prevent birds from intruding, birds are known to carry some diseases which could be injurous to the pigs. As for the pig waste, mostly goes as manure to plants whilst the rest into soakaway. The prices varies according to the kilogram of the pig, but generally, pigs are quite costly now.

tyeenigga:
My main challenge is start up capital and getting a place to keep them, planning to run it in ilorin

Well, capital has always been the bane right from the outset, alot of people wish to start something, but when all avenues through which one could access capital has been flawed, what can one do?
Dont give up on your dream though!

A 12 room pig pen under construction. Please note when building a pig pen, the walls and floor must well solidified with cement so as for the pigs not to snack through the wall and escape, pigs are capable of snacking on anything in view. And by the way, the iron doors must be strong enough too, i was a victim of substandard iron gates and i had to do another when the pigs destroyed the initial ones.

I've come to realize we Nigerians are not lazy as was insinuated in some quarter, what is hindering most is just finance... and to think that most financial institutions and government agencies here are not sincere about loans and grants to help aspiring young farmers.
Irrespective of all of these, we shouldnt let all these setbacks hinder us from achieving our goals, just start something and put God first, i'm sure we will all laugh last....

tyeenigga:
Grt piece, interested in piggry

Please feel free to ask questions, its actually a great business.

benzion72:
Keep it up I never knew Winners pig can go for 25k

I never knew pigs were that expensive until i ventured into it, exotic(imported) breeds goes as much as 60k, a pure duroc weaner as at April this year is selling at 120k. I dont know about now anyway.

bizzibodi:
That is a good one I can see U bought different female breed for breeding,but didn't buy d corresponding male breed?do U bought them pregnant?your feeding is on d high side I suggested U buy brewery waste in bulk(tipper load) dry them mixed with PKC in bulk or wheat bran in place of brewery spent grain,corn bran, if pigs can eat Moringa leaves plant them & feed them since it is high in protein,vit & minerals.
How much will a 2 month weaner cost?
Do not end this dairy keep us updated.

Yeah, i bought all as weaners, the feeds i give them with the milk ensure they grow at a rapid rate, and ofcourse i bought a large white male and a duroc male from a different farm to avoid in-breeding...
I havent tried brewery waste, but its an open option for me which i will be considering soon. Meanwhile, i'm working on getting bags of dry cassava peels, grind it to powder, mix with pkc, wheat bran and probably soya, that will be cheaper i guess.

And by the way, weaners are costly now due to the demand and perhaps the swine fever that wiped out most pigs last year, an exotic weaner at IR&T Ibadan goes for 60k, you can get it somewhere else lesser.

cjay10:
Wow! Thank you for sharing your experiences and encouraging someone..... Am moved to start something with this inform.... Don't know if I can have your details for more mentorship towards my kick starting this project.... My contact... 08079779911... Thank you boss!

Ofcourse, you can even start with just one female weaner, but you have to ensure you are not being sold a local breed in disguise of a pure breed. You will be surprise what turnover that one piglet would give after just a year. According to legend, people of old refer to pig business as 'bamitanse' in yoruba parlance which means,"end poverty for me".
May God help you through as you start.

xteve:
How many piglets did the camburough produce?

16, but we lost 2 due to negligence on the part of the mother pig and the farm hand. 14 is still a good number considering that some pigs are bad mothers, they either trample on the weaners or eat them when they are hungry...pathetic isnt it?
Thats why one should ensure there is enough quality feed with the mother so she wont be tempted when she is hungry.

I will be updating later, the essence of this thread is to educate and encourage whoever is willing to venture into agriculture but still having a cold feet to take that leap of faith, there is money in agriculture and there is no rocket science involved as long as you know the basic things necessary...

Photo of the camburough reproducing...

After sometime, i decided to buy some more piglets, the more the merrier they say afterall....
I bought 2 camburoughs for 30k each, 2 large whites for 25k each. I was giving them strictly starter feeds to give nutrients and also aid their growth.

All they do is just to eat and sleep, i've noticed as soon as we serve them the milk, they start feeling sleepy.... you will then see them struggling to stay awake so the next pig does not finish the feeds before they wake... pigs can be full of drama, and they are so interesting to watch.

Pictures taken when they were 3months old

I also ensured i had a deal with an aboki selling fruits at a location close to me, whenever i go there, he supplies me with loads of fruits waste just for a pittance, which is also serving a nutritional purpose.

I was paying the farm hand helping in the cleaning of the pens and feeding about 10k monthly and with some tips so as to give the pigs utmost care & presence. I could have been cleaning and feeding it myself to cut cost, but i knew there would be days when i wont be physically available to visit the farm, hence the farm hand. Nevertheless, it is advisable one visits the farm each day to keep your farm hand on their toes, and also to monitor your feeds, if not one would be running at loss as they can be using your feeds to feed other animal of interest to them., some can even be selling it.

Currently, i spend 20k every two weeks for 10 pigs which is on the high side, a kilo of pkc now goes for #85, i buy 100kg, a kilo of soya is #350, i buy atleast 10kg, also barley goes for #80/kg now, we buy atleast 25kg. Then we round it up by buying a bag of super starter at the rate of #6000 plus.
We are devising a method whereby we buy dry cassava peels, grind it and mixing it with pkc and some barley, that should get us more quantity at that sum to last them for a month atleast.

Feeding is just the most headache of a pig farmer, because they are voracious eaters, if one can manage that department right, then one will make good money.

It takes a pig 3months, 3weeks and 3days to reproduce after mating, and pigs are known to give birth to atleast 7 piglets, some do give birth to as much as 20 piglets at a go. The demand for pork is now on the increase in Nigeria, that is why a piglet(weaner) goes for atleast 20k now, some exotic piglets goes as much as 70k right now, a pure duroc piglet goes for atleast 100k right now, imagine if one has 15 of such in one's farm, thats like 1.5 million staring at such person.

Will update later and i will be ready to take questions and at thesame time learn from other experts on the forum.

This is a landrace, they are fond of having drooping ears, they have high littered rate and they are also good mothers.

Pig feeds requires combination of different products, Pkc, soya, barley, starter among others.
Note: pigs can eat anything as long as its not injurious to their health, they like watermelon too and some food wastes that is no longer needed at home.