The Basic Pillars of a Successful Pig Farming Business

Agric4Profits March 25, 2023May 28, 2023 0 Comments Pigs

There are some basic factors that one must consider when running a pig farming business which will in return make his/her pig farming business successful.

Pig farming also referred to as the piggery, piggery farming or piggery business 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 can either be raised under an intensive pig farming system, commercial free range enterprises, or extensive farming system.

Here on this article, we are going to be regarding those factors as the basic pillars of a successful pig business.

Some of these factors which serves as the basic pillars of a successful pig farming business include the following:

Genetics
Feed
Management.

Now let us discuss about them one after the other below:

1. Genetics

This plays a vital role in commercial pig production and once it goes astray then the farmer’s profits and income suffer.

A pig farmer no matter how good can’t do more than the animal’s genetic potential for production. Improvements in production can be achieved only by selecting from those breeds that can be manipulated through breeding and management to tap their optimal potential for improvement. There are very many breeds of pigs but am going to mention those having significant influence on market generally.

Breeds can be basically classified into two major groups; we have maternal and paternal breeds.

Maternal breeds: are well known for their good mothering ability, fertility, large litter size and include Yorkshire aka large white, Landrace whereas

Paternal breeds: They have good carcass quality x- tics, high growth rate, good muscling ability among others and include Duroc, Hampshire, Berkshire, spotted etc.

The choice made by farmers for those breeds primarily depends on the pig enterprise that he or she intends to venture in; breeding vs fattening.

Unfortunately, most farmers start as breeders and ends up fattening due to their poor planning in addition to rearing poor quality pigs.

The Basic Pillars of a Successful Pig Farming Business — Pig farming: A Sow breast-feeding her babies (baby pigs or piglets)

2. Feed

This is a single item on budget that accounts for the largest percentage of the total cost of production that’s 60-70% and if not managed well, it can even go up to 80%. Therefore, correct feeding should be practiced. Different stages of pigs require different quality and quantity of feeds.

Pig feeds/ ration include creep feed, Weaner feed, Grower feed, Sow and Weaner feed, lactation feeds, Fattener feeds etc. For example, during flushing period, sows should be given feed rich in energy and low in protein. This is done to increase on the ovulation rates which in turn increase the litter size.

Note: Adding 200g of glucose to Sow’s feed daily between weaning until services increase the litter size keeping factors contact.

3. Management

This is also Paramount for the successful pig business. Farmers should take care of their pigs before they should expect a lot from them and management entails a lot including daily cleaning of their houses, proper feeding and watering, disease control and prevention to mention a few.

Read Also: 7 Amazing Health Benefits of Cherries