Pig farming in Nigeria is one of the profitable business in 2024 any one that is interested in livestock farming can start.
Piggery is very lucrative and can boost your cash flow faster no matter how slow the economy is.
The high demand of pork meat in Nigeria most especially in south east and south south part of Nigeria is too high, pork meat has remain one of the top 5 meats that is highly consumed in the world.
The major reason why I like this business is that one pig can give birth to as many as 15 piglets at a time, pig reproduce in large number and grow faster.
Pig is the most reproducing farm animal in the world, and the bitter truth is that pig is the most neatest and cleanest animal in the world.
In their natural state, Pigs are very clean animals. They keep their toilets far from their living or feeding area.
They are much more tolerant of colder temperatures than heat. Pigs have no sweat glands, so they can’t sweat hence enjoy being in mud to keep themselves cool.
Pig farming is popularly known as piggery, piglets are also called shoat or farrow, a male pig is is known as Boar while a female pig is know as Sow. A group of pig is called a herd or drove.
One of the most important secrets of successful pig farming in Nigeria is the type and quality of pigs you have in your farm.
If you get the right type of pig breeds for your farm, you stand a very high chance of having a successful and very profitable pig farm.
Such as:
- Landrace bred,
- Large white,
- Duroc bred,
- Yorkshire,
- Camborough,
- White large etc.
Despite the huge turn up in pig farming in Nigeria many Nigerians are still ignorant about this high income business.
Why You Should Start Pig Farming in Nigeria
Pig farming is very profitable business because they are the highest prolific animal. One female pig can give birth to 20 piglets at once.
Pigs are easy to rear and managed. They feed on anything that comes their way. Their feeds are cheap and readily available; it could be industrial or domestic waste.
You can as well plant their feeds and reduce the cost of feeding them.
Rearing pigs for sale or for the offspring to achieve a herd is very profitable as long as you can cut down the cost of production especially feeding.
This is because feeds account for 70 percent of the total cost of production.
A mature pig is sold between #30,000-#40,000 depending on the weight.
How much can I use to start pig farming in Nigeria?
It depends on the capital at your disposal but with #300,000 you can start a comfortable pig farming business and make good profits.
Pig farming is quite profitable as earlier said but capital-intensive and requires serious attention for optimum success to be achieved.
Pig Breeding
In Nigeria, a closed system (pens) rearing is what piggery farmers are using. Putting the pigs in an environment in which they can be controlled.
Build standard pens that are big enough to accommodate all the piglets and can also be expanded in the future as the farm grows.
Avoid overcrowding so that the pigs can grow well. Create extra room for inpigs or inglets to farrow (giving birth to piglet).
Improved breeds are said to be good growers. A camborough boar can weigh 200kg in 1 year and 3 months.
In Nigeria the commonest breed is the local breed, they are not as massive as the foreign breeds and cannot attain up to 70kg in 8 months.
Duroc is acceptable for meat production because they do very well in terms of growth.
Landrace are good for farrows.
Buy your starting stock from different farms to avoid inbreeding and to be able to take something out of the stock in case of any negativity.
Weaning In Pigs
A weaned pig can be sold between #5,000-#30,000 depending on the weight and the breed from 5-8 weeks old. That is why weight matters a lot in pig rearing.
It takes 7-12 months for pigs to grow from piglets (young pigs) to maturity. Pigs can grow up to 80kg and sometimes 100kg. Mating is 8 months, meat is anytime from 8 months.
Things To Consider Before Starting Pig Farming Business
The type of breed to rear is a very important factor to consider because some species grow bigger, faster and larger than others which undergo the same feeding and environmental conditions.
Cost: make sure you take inventory (record keeping) on all the expenses you made so as to be able to ascertain the profit.
Pens Construction In Pig Farming
Construct the pens away from the direction of a direct light. Make your floor smooth because pigs cannot handle slippery floors very well.
Pigs can eat anything in sight so use concrete to build your pens to avoid every day repairs.
I will even advice you to build it away from your home.
Feeding
Feeding takes the largest part of production cost in pig farming business. They feed on cassava cooked or uncooked, maize, rice shaft etc.
It is very important to know how to ration their food.
They have to be fed the right formula of PKC (palm kernel cake), brewery waste, fishmeal, kuli kuli etc.Pig farming
You can source for their food from the market, from vegetable and fruit sellers.
For optimum yield you have to use compound feeds, consisting of GNC, PKC, Fish meal and Maize.
Liquid feeding is very good, mix your feed with water before giving it to them, you can even mix them with multi-vitamins before mixing with the feed.
Sow requires about 20 litres of water for necessary growth. You can use a growth promoter instead of broiler premix.
Food Formulation In Pig Farming
50% cassava (you can buy them in a large quantity and feed them with bark, cut the tissue to chips, dry them and store for future use).
30% PKC, 10% GNC (groundnut meal) or soya bean meal, 60% blood meal (it can be gotten from abattoir).
2.5% oyster shell (bone meal/lime stone), 0.25% lysine, 0.25methionine, 0.5% salt, 0.25% premix, 0.03% (3g per 1kg baker’s yeast) pro-biotic 0.1% H-plus from animal care.
All these formulation is #50-#100 per kg depending on your location.
Maintain Good Hygienic Conditions
Pigs are said to be naturally dirty though that could be contested anyway. You can manage their environment by building standard drainage for their waste to flow through easily.
A clean and healthy environment can make your pigs to grow well.
Veretinary Doctor/Pig Specialist
Always obtain the services of a good veterinary Doctor for a successful pig farming business.
For a commercial pig farming you have to employ additional hands, the person should have a reasonable knowledge about pig farming or you train the person.
Pig farming can be rigorous and stressful. Pigs are naturally destructive especially when they are hungry.
Provisions For Wallowing
Make provision for a wallowing trough. Their physiological make up requires them to wallow regularly due to their lack of sweat gland.
Because of this reason they cannot withstand much heat as such they have to cool down their body temperature by wallowing in a cold place, mud or water.
Pigs will not defecate where they feed. They only get dirty when overcrowded. P.G 600 can be used to induce heat in animals.
Gestation Period In Pig
They gestation period of a pig is 113-115 days (4 months). A pig farrows 2 times in a year. Giving birth to an average of 14 piglets and above at a time.
When a sow is on heat and is well fed (not overfed) there is the tendency for them to release more eggs and their fertilization will become very high.
You have to find out from the person that sold the stock for you if the sow can deliver by itself. Because some of them can’t deliver on their as such will need assistance.
Immediately the piglets come out move them away from their mother so she won’t lay down on them. And also so they don’t bury themselves in the placenta.
When the pigs deliver select few of the males with much weight at birth for breeding stock, castrate the rest for body weight keep the females for multiplication.
Causes Of Piglet Mortality
So many reasons account for mortality in piglet some of them are; sow cannibalism, sow crushing, piglet diarrhoea, delivering inside wallow, poor hygiene etc.
Diseases In Pig Farming
Pigs are affected by bacterial /fungal diseases such as; swine fever, brucellosis, swine typhoid erysipelas, swine pox, foot and mouth disease etc.
The good thing is that good hygiene and proper health program helps in preventing diseases. Most local breeds are resistant to diseases.
Marketability
There is market for pigs, presently in Nigeria pig farmers cannot meet up with their high level of demands. Locate bars, restaurants, road side roasters and market men/women who deal on pigs and sell for them.
Once you have established contacts they will be the ones looking for you. The problem will then be if you can match up with their demands. A good market size for pigs starts from 50kg upward.
Terms Used In Pig Farming
- Boar: A male pig of breeding age.
- Castrated pig: A male pig that the scrotum has been removed
- Growers: a young male or female pig between the ages of 3 to 6 months
- Farrow: the process of giving birth to piglets.
- Sow: breeding female pig
- Pork: pig meat
- Gilt: a young female pig that has not yet been mated or farrows.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Piggery Farming:
My Piglets Having Diarrhea?
Diarrhea is when the piglets are stooling non stop and this leads to death and loss of piglets.
You should get all this medication ( Flagy, tetracycline capsules, chloromaphenicol e.t.c) ready before the delivery of the piglets, because most of them start this stooling few hours after delivery.
Application:
Get two each of the above medication, mix them together, add to the SOW food and water.
You will notice the improvement in the piglets within 2-5hrs.
As I always advise, to scale through in pig farm, you need to get it right in the area of;
Genetic make up of your animals, Feed and feeding and, Effective management.
Note: In the absence of the above drugs (emergency), one can use bitterleaf/ bitterleaf juice.
What did you have to tell us about pig farming in Nigeria, How did you see the business?
Thanks so much for this eye-opening information
God bless you