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Pig Farming Business Guide
Pig Farming Business Guide
Eyeing Uganda piggery as your next African business venture or you're looking online
for some pigs/piglets/pork/bacon or just advice to solve a mind boggling problem on your pig
farm...?
If you've been around Uganda's eating joints lately, then you know
that pork is a popular delicacy among dinners countrywide.
I've watched corporates rapidly emptying the Bacon dish at
one Serena Hotel's five start restaurant during breakfast,
Bacon is a main part of the popular Seven Deadly Sins breakfast
dish served at Emin pasha hotel,
Shreaded dry pork with onions is a favorite lunch order at Quong
Well, what ever your quest, I guess you've stumbled on this page because you have
some interest in Uganda's Pig production value chain and as such I suggest you read
on...
You could be just lines away from a possible solution to your current Uganda piggery
puzzle...!
After noting the rapidly evolving pork culture in Uganda today, I felt we should take a
closer look at how you can take advantage of the potentially huge market for pork and
pork products in Africa to start and sustain your own lucrative pig farming/piggery
business.
In this Pig Production Business Guide we share information about:
The pig has a high feed conversion efficiency and as such produces more live
weight gain from a given weight of feed than any other class of meat producing
animal, the big comes second only to the Broiler Chicken
The Pig is able to utilize a wide variety of food stuffs like Grains, forages, and
converts them into valuable nutritious meat. Feeding your pig on damaged grains
and other leftovers reduces the stress of buying food stuffs and concequently you will
spend less or no money on food, depending on the system you adopt.
Pigs are comparatively very fertile having a short generation interval; a female
pig/sow reaches maturity as early as 8-9 months when she can start breeding. In one
year your pig can produce/farrow twice, producing 8-12 piglets each time.
You will invest relatiely small on Buildings and farm equipment when starting your
dressing percentage; you could easily get 65-80 percent meat from a pig and yet with
other livestock your dressing yeild would not exceed 65 percent.
Pork itself is a very nutritious meat with high fat and low water content, and has
got better energy value than that of other meats. The meat is rich in vitamins like
thiamin, Niacin and reboflavin. Your pig production business can thus be used to fight
malnutrion a well.
You can use the pig manure from your farm as a fertilizer for plants and fish
ponds
Pigs store fat rapidly for which there is an increasing demand from poultry feeds,
You can make an order for pigs, pig products, farm supplies and advisory services here.
Combrough: Commonly imported from South Africa, grow fast , have considerably less
fat and the females are great mothers who don't lose their babies. They feed babies well
and have enough milk. Give birth to an average of 14 piglets , 3 times a year. Can be
resistant to disease when managed well.
And now you know which breed to ask for next time you go to buy pigglets for your
farm!
You can make an order for pigs, pig products, farm supplies and advisory services here.
Further to the above pig farming systems, you have to decide on a Pig
Production System strategy.
Farrow to Wean: here you keep a parent stock of pigs and which give birth to piglets.
Once the piglets are born, you rare them up to weaning and sell to growers and
fatteners. You sell piglets only.
Farrow to Finish: here you raise piglets , wean them, grow them and fatten them in
one unit. You sell pork, and live pigs to slaughter houses. Adopt this strategy if you have
no market for piglets in your locality.
Fattening: Here you do not keep any parents on your farm. You continuously buy
piglets and grow them for pork.
You can make an order for pigs, pig products, farm supplies and advisory services here.
How to work around the business numbers for your Piggery Unit
Just like any other business, you have to plan before you seek to start up your pig farm
business. Whereas today we have increasing markets and prices for pig and pig
products, we're increasingly facing high costs of production that could eat into your
profits if we do not carefully plan for these costs.
No matter what system of production you choose to adopt, commercial pig production is
highly profitable if proper husbandry is followed.
The following assumptions will help you project your business profitability as an average
farmer:
the mass of the food eaten divided by the body mass gain, all over a specified period.
Animal breeds with a low FCR are considered efficient users of feed.
Average Daily Gain (ADG): is a significant factor in assesssing growth rates in most
food animal species. Your aim is that you keep a pig that grows faster so that you can
achieve market weights in shortest period of time using the least amount of input/cost
so that you recieve the highest profit. In pig production, the most cost-efficient feed
conversion and the highest average daily gain are the primary factors determing
efficieny of production.
Health: poor health will up the feed conversion ratio and reduce the average daily gain.
Diseases like African Swine Fever (ASF) can wipe away all your pigs and cause a
massive loss.
Genetics: The current market demands leaner carcases , so you should strive to
produce leaner pigs, animals with high growth rate, larger litter size, high heritability and
low conversion ratio. All these are directly influenced by genetics.
Reproduction: poor selection of the breeding stock and choice of a boar or artifical
insaminate will directly affect your pig farming business profits.
Market and price: the market for pigs and pork is wide but has no importance before
you identify your own market and the price it offers.
For the case of Uganda, pig production has become increasingly important; evidenced
by the change in pig population from 0.19 to 3.2 million. In 2011, Uganda had the
highest per capita consumption of pork in sub-saharan africa at 3.4kg/person/year.
We have many butchers, restaurants, hotels and supermarkets establishing today with
pork on their menu both in Urban and rural areas. Pork is a delicacy to many Ugandans
and largely considered a social meat that cannot miss on several parties organized by
non- Muslim communities. Pork joints have also become meeting places for groups of
people who want to eat meat. Unlike other meats, many pork consumers in Uganda
prefer eating close to a kilogram of pork each time they meat at a pork joint!
You can make an order for pigs, pig products, farm supplies and advisory services here.
Costs: Items you will have to spend money on, when establishing your Pig Farming
Business
Fixed Costs: you will incurr these before you start any production. They remain the
same irrespective of any production increases or decreases and include: Building costs,
Purchase/construction of feed troughs, Purchases or replacement of breeding stock,
and Purchase of land.
Variable Costs: costs that will change in proportion to your production levels including
Veterinary costs, stationary , transport , Maintenace of facilities, Marketing costs, wages
and salaries , and losses due to mortalities.
Income: The sources from which your business expects money to come from will also
affect your profits. Your Pig Farming Business could expect to make money from the
sale of Weaners, Porkers and baconers, cull boars and sows, breeding boars and
sows ,as well as sale of Manure.
Profits: This is the difference between your costs and income. The costs should include
labor and any possible risk in your business. The most expensive input in pig production
is feeds because it consumes between 60 to 80% of the total production costs. You
have to implement strategies that will reduce the input costs in your business.