Pig Farming Potential

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Pig farming also known as piggery is another aspect of farming in Nigeria that is
making smart investors and entrepreneurs huge money on daily basis. If you are into this
pig farming, you sure wouldn’t lack money again for the rest of your life. The reason is
because Pig meet is in high demand in Nigeria and sells very fast in the market. Another
reason is that Pig reproduces in large number and grows very fast.
Despite the huge profitability of Piggery, many Nigerian are still overlooking this
goldmine because of ignorance of how it works. While some don’t just get the fact that it
is a big business – many who engage in it do it as part time business but if you can
engage in this business fully, you are sure going to smile to the bank very soon. Pig
farming is raising and breeding of domestic pigs. It`s a branch of animal husbandry, Pig
is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the suidae family of even-toed ungulates.
Pigs include the domestic pig and its ancestor, the common Eurasian wild boar (Sus
scrofa) along with other species; related creatures outside the genus include babirusa and
the warthog. Pig is a native of Eurasian and African continent (yes, our continent)
The juvenile pig (child-pig) is known as piglets. A place where pigs are raised is
known as piggery. A normal pig will have a big head with a long snout which is
strengthened by a special prenasal bone and by a disk of cartilage at the tip. This snout is
what pig use to dig into the soil to find food and is a very acute sense organ. Pig is very
popular as there are around one billion pigs around the world at any given time. (Now
you can see how popular pig farming is, even in Nigeria) Pigs are raised primarily for

2. food (e.g. pork, bacon, gammon) and sometimes for their skin. This is not to say that pig
can be reared everywhere.
Pig farming is a taboo in some places i.e. Northern Nigeria, because of their
religious belief against pigs, so you may not consider marketing your pigs in the northern
Nigeria. A fully grown Pig goes for as high as #30,000 depending on the weight. Now
Imagine for a year you are able to rear hundred to maturity, you will be making #3
Million from the sales. If you can take it higher – let’s say like 2,000 pigs in year, you
will be making upward of #60 Million. Considering how fast pigs reproduce, it wouldn’t
be a very much big deal to come up with 100 pigs in a year.
Our Vision Statement
Our Vision is to become one of the leading pig farming brands not just in Sagamu –
Ogun, but also in the Nigeria and Its neighboring countries.
Our Mission Statement
Our mission is to sell our produce (piglet and pigs), byproducts and processed meat
(pork) in commercial quantities both locally, nationally and internationally. We want to
build a livestock farming business that can favorably compete with other leading
livestock farming brands in the Nigeria and others country.
ADVANTAGES OF PIG FARMING
1. Highly prolific : Pigs generally give birth to high number of piglets up to 20
piglets in one litter. Averagely a pig gives birth to between 6 to 10 piglets, and

3. they can farrow twice in a year. Meaning every year you should get an average of
about 12 piglets from a sow (a female pig).
2. Cheap to run and maintain: Running a piggery business is very cheap to run and
maintain as you can easily source for their feeds around by getting waste products
from markets, fast foods, factories and other industrial waste then compound with
food rich in energy and fibre to give you a desired result.
3. It is very profitable: Pig farming is very profitable, A mature pigs sells for
between Twenty Two Thousand naira (N22,000) to about Thirty Thousand Naira
(N30,000) or more depending on the weight. Imagine producing just 100 pigs
yearly. That’s roughly about Two million two hundred thousand naira
(N2,200,000) to about Three Million Naira (N3,000,000) yearly.
4. Feeds can easily be sources: Pig feeds are affordable and can easily be sourced.
5. The market is readily available: The market is readily available, selling your
pigs would not be an issue, the issue you might have could be meeting demands as
pig farmers are not currently meeting demands.
Pig farming terminologies you may want to know
Since you`re new in this business, you may soon be near some people who have been
in this business for a long time. They may not be aware of your newness in this line. I
think you should be aware of the following pig farming terminologies:
 Pig, hog or swine: the species as a whole
 Piglet or Shoat: unweaned young pig

4.  Boar or hog: male pig of breeding age
 Barrow: castrated male pig before puberty
 Stag: male pig, castrated later in life
 Gilt: young female not yet mated, or not yet farrowed
 Sow: breeding female
 Pork: the meat of the pig
 Herd: a group of pigs or all the pigs on a farm
 Farrowing: when pigs are giving birth
 Sty: a small pig-house
 Pig-shed: a larger pig-house
POPULAR PIG BREEDS IN NIGERIA
In Nigeria the popular pig breeds are; the local breeds (they usually not as massive
as the exotic breeds, they come in white, black or brown color) exotic reeds includes the
Yorkshire, Duroc, Landrace, Hampshire, large white, Hampshire, camborough etc
HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT SETTING UP YOUR PIG FARM?
1. Secure A Breeding Ground
Depending on how you plan to feed your pigs, a plot of land may just be okay for
small scale starting but if you can acquire a large farm land (from 5 acres) that will be
better so that your pig can graze in the open and retire to the pen where they’d continue
feeding and playing. Land is your biggest investment in this business. Once you have it,

5. you’re half way done. Look for land in a rural area where you can get it cheaper. 1acre of
land in a rural area will be from N200,000 x how many you want. Do your stuffs there
and transport your goods to the town. Some butcher will even be coming to your farm to
buy, saving you cost of transportation.
It is good to raise pigs in pasture by leaving them occasionally to root around in
the fields where they can find plants to eat, and that can only be achieved when you have
large enough farm land (Pasture Ground) to cater for this. As they mature, you take care
so that they do not wander away.
2. Build Standard Pens
Big pen is important if you don’t want your pigs to injure themselves. A good and
specious pen is also important to keep the pigs healthy and free from diseases and
contamination. Proper drainage is needed too to avoid water becoming stagnant in your
pen which could attract insects and other harmful pets to harm your pigs. To avoid your
pigs getting overly dirty, you need to build a water pool where they can play, swim as
pigs likes swimming, and cool themselves which is important to their well being.
Changing the water and refilling the pool as frequently as possible will ensure that they
are clean all the time. If you are keeping them outdoor, shelter should be build for them.

6. Standard Pig Pen for Big Farmers
Pig`s pen is an area you have to pay attention to. Your pen has to be spacious and
as neat as possible (in order to avoid insects and diseases). To start on a medium scale
commercially level, you may consider half or a plot of land. Pigs will natural love their
pen (house) to be divided into four areas: where they eat, where they sleep/lie (they love
to sleep near each other), where they urinate/defecate (they naturally choose this
themselves) and the remainder part of the pen is used to travel from one point to another,
to exercise and entertain themselves.
Pigs love to congregate together, so if half a plot accommodates certain number of
pigs (depending on their sizes), don`t expect that a plot of land will naturally
accommodate multiply by two of what half plot accommodates… it will accommodate
more… because they love to lie and be around each other, so the more pigs, the less
space… to an extent. The best practice when constructing your pen is to make it square,
not rectangular. Though rectangular pen can be used, it`s not going to give you the best in
your pigs` management. It`s as well advisable to let the floor of your pen drain very well

7. and not be clay or poorly draining floor. Concrete pens could be used for pig farming in
Nigeria. Concrete pens are good because they alleviate the problem of mud/footing that
can be caused by the clay or web floor, but also present their own problems… they hold
heat during hot months and could result in joint injuries and illness.
3. Buy Healthy Piglets
To ensure healthy farm, you need to make sure the piglets you are about to start
your farm with are health. Buy from trusted source and make sure the ones you are
buying has history of vaccination. Buy as much as you want to start with but don’t start
with too many. It is advisable to start with small number and increase gradually. This
way, you will be able to learn the rope and you grow and anything go wrong at the initial
stage, your risk will be minimal.
Talk To Veterinary Doctor – You need the services of vet doctors for regular
check up and vaccination as well as feeding and nutrition advice. Pigs generally eat what
human being eats and does not present much worries when it comes to feed.
4. Employ Workers
Employ 4 – 5 persons if your pigs are up to 100. If you are starting on a smaller
scale, you may need lesser number of worker 1 – 2 workers who will be assisting in the
cleaning of the pigs and the pens, feeding the pigs and making sure they are well behaved
and other things necessary.
5. Feeding is Important for Pig Farming
Just like human being, Pigs eat a wide variety of foods, anything human can eat,
and they can eat. Like human being as well, they need balanced diet such as fibre, energy,

8. protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals to thrive. Feed will take the major chunk of
your spending in the farm. Pigs, like all animals, must have constant access to clean fresh
drinking water. As well as tipping the trough to make a wallow, pigs will also stand in the
water trough and wash their dirty faces in it, so it needs to be checked regularly, cleaned
out and refilled. Galvanised troughs are robust and easy to clean, and not too easy for the
pigs to tip over. Automatic drinkers are available but aren’t half as much fun for the pigs
Put all these in place and you are as good as having started your business. There is
nothing a good as being in business you are sure of profit; Pig farming is one of such
business. All you need to do is to feed and take care of them. Do that proper and watch
them multiply in three fold
Pig feed; how pigs eat in the pig farm.
When it comes to how much human beings eat, it`s vary, depending on many
factors… your age, your sex, the nature of your work or whether you exercise or not. So
it is with your piglets and pigs. Some people suggest feeding your pigs twice in a day.
While this may be a good standard, other factors have to be considered. The age of your
pig or piglet, the breed (specie) of your pig, amount of grass they have access to and
other wild food (such as acorns) available, weather, how warm their bedding is and how
much exercise they are getting.
Now, you can see how the rate and quantity of food pigs eat can vary. But as a
matter of supposition, piglets can be expected to eat 1lb of pig pellets per day for every

9. month of their age, 2lb of pig pellets at two months, 3 lb. of pellets at three months, 4lb at
four months, Then after four months, 4lb a day should be sufficient. Young pigs need a
diet high in amino acids so that they can grow proportionately more muscle tissue, so
there should be more lysine in feed for younger pigs. After three months, young pigs
could be put into adult food that will have lower levels of protein. Too much lysine in the
diet can be detrimental to growth in heavier female pigs. Aside from concentrates (the
feed you buy), you can offer your pigs other foodstuffs like grass, fruit, vegetable and
other human food they eat (please, be sure they eat certain food before you`ll give them,
so as not to hinder their growth… especially when they are very young)
Pig diseases and the solution.
Animals get sick, just as human do. The difference is that, you may not easily know
when the pigs in your farm are getting sick, except you pay attention. Since every
sickness starts with symptom, you will be good to have an experience person near you…
such as a veterinary doctor. You will be able to contact him/her at any time and say, “my
pigs are looking this way”, “my pigs are not eating”, “my pigs` skin is too reddish” etc.
Aside from sickness, you will need the service of a veterinary to give appropriate vaccine
whenever necessary. Below are some of the diseases piglets, hog and pigs may
encounter:
1. Mulberry Heart Disease (vitamin E deficiency). Though vitamin E is
widespread in feed stuffs including vegetable oil, cereals and green plants, the

10. usual problem with Mulberry Heart Disease occurs when farmers use some
polyunsaturated fats diets which destroys the vitamins. Vitamin E is very
important for optimum function and metabolism of the nervous, muscular,
circulatory and immune system.
2. Abscesses: this is the pockets of pus that contain large numbers of bacteria which
enter the body through damage to the skin.
3. The Bacterium Actinobacillus Pleuropneumoniae (APP). Never mind if your
teeth cannot pronounce any of these terms very well, your veterinary doctor
understand better.
4. Mycotoxicosis, Agalactia, Navel Bleeding, Endometritis, Retroviruses, Erysipelas,
Anaemia, Anthrax, Arthritis (joint infections), Oedema Disease, Atrophic Rhinitis
(AR), Osteoporosis, Biotin Deficiency, Penis Bleeding, Brucellosis, Cystic
Ovaries, Rabies, Peritonitis, Botulism, Pale pig syndrome, Blue Eye Disease, and
probably 100 more.
The truth is, there are tens and more diseases that can attack the herd (a group of pigs)
or individual pig and you as a Nigerian pig farmer have to be prepared.
Pig Farm Product
Pig Farms will ensure that we operate a standard food processing plant as part of our
complimentary business offering. These are the areas we will concentrate on in our

11. livestock (pig) farming business. If need arises we will definitely add more related animal
breeding services to our list;
 Sale of Pig and other livestock
 Sale of processed meat (pork)
 Boarding services
 Breeding services
 Livestock health services
 Farrier services
 Livestock / pig farming related consultancy and advisory services
SWOT Analysis
As a pig farming business, we look forward to maximizing our strength and opportunities
and also to work around our weaknesses and threats. Here is a summary from the result
of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Humphrey GT & Family Farms
Ltd;
 Strength:
Our strength as a pig farming business is the fact that we have healthy relationships with
loads of major players (agriculture merchants) in the pig farming industry; both suppliers
and buyers within and outside of the state.

12. We have some of the latest livestock farming machines, tools and equipment that will
help us breed pigs and other livestock in commercial quantities with less stress. Aside
from our relationship (network) and equipment, we can confidently boast that we have
some the most experienced hands in livestock farming industry under our payroll.
 Weakness:
Our weakness could be that we are a new livestock cum pig farms in Nigeria and we may
not have the required cash to pump into the publicity of our business. We are aware of
this and from our projection will overcome this weakness with time and turn it to a major
advantage for the business.
 Opportunities:
The opportunities that are available to us as a pig farming business cannot be quantified,
we know that there are loads of people, and industries that will source for pigs, pork, and
also industries that will source for the raw materials from our livestock farms both in
Nigeria and other parts of the world.
 Threat:
Some of the threats and challenges that we are likely going to face when we start our own
livestock farm cum piggery business are global economic downturn that can impact
negatively on household spending, bad weather cum natural disasters (draughts,
epidemics), unfavorable government policies and the arrival of a competitor (a
commercial farm that rear same animals) as our pig farms within same location.

13. There is hardly anything you can do as regards this threats and challenges other than to be
optimistic that things will continue to work for your good.
Pig Farm start up costs.
Below are some of the basic areas we will spend our start – up capital in setting up
our commercial pig farm;
Items Costs
Business cards 2,000
Printer 20,000
Leaflets 1,000
Blank invoices 2,000
Computers 50,000
Internet 50,000
Insurance 50,000
Land 400,000
Building 200,000
Advertising / marketing 10,000
Others 50,000
Total 835,000
Equipments Cost
Feeders and drinkers 25,000
Lighting system 50,000
Cages 200,000
Others 100,000
Total equipment 375,000
Production Labour
Cost of labour
Labor Salary in Naira
Cleaners
20,000
Food technicians 20,000
Security guards 6,000
Other 30,000
Total salary 76,000
Others include the veterinary doctors, drivers and technician that we pay by the hour.

14. Cash flow analysis
No Particulars Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Capital 3,000,000
Recurring Costs:
Land and building 1,601,000
Cost of chicks 975,000 975,000 985,000
Cost of feed 2,640,000 2,640,000 2,772,000
Insurance 50,000 50,000 50,000
Labour 912,000 912,000 900,000
Internet 50,000 50,000 50,000
Business card 2,000 2,000 2,000
Advertising 10,000 10,000 15,000
Consultancy 60,000 60,000 60,000
Other expense 100,000 200,000 120,000
Total 7,240,000 5,739,000 4,919,000
benefits
Sale of manure 41,600 41,600 50,000
Sale of eggs 5,292,000 5,292,000 6,372,000
Sale of live chickens 4,704,000 4,704,000 4,754,000
Depreciated value
Cages
Computer and Printer
25,800
6,430
25,800
6,430
25,800
6,430
Other equipment 11,600 11,600 11,600
Building 6,000 6,000 6,000
Tax 379,760 379,760 379,760
Total benefit 2,668,010 3,256,410 5,227,410
Records management
As to records management, each project will have a record book on which
information on the number of stocked live birds, slaughtered and deaths are recorded.
Record keeping will help us to budget accurately and make informed decisions about the
poultry. The records will contain information such as
 All feeds consumed and purchased

15.  Number of Pigs purchased
 Deaths and causes
 Vaccination and other veterinary requisites expenses
 Labour and other variable costs
 Number of Piglet collected daily
Sales strategy
 Better farm management practices
 Regular visit by veterinary doctors
 Recycling wastes as fertilizer
 “consumer is king” policy
 Keeping up with new technology for production efficiency.
INPUTS IN PRODUCTION
1. Backyard Operation
A. Investment
i. A livable house with concrete floor
ii. Seed Stock/ Foundation animals
B. Operating Expenses
i. Feeds
ii. Veterinary medicines, vaccines, feed additives etc.
iii. Health Insurance (optional)
2. Commercial/Large Scale Operations
A. Investment
i. Pig houses
Farrowing house

16. Gilt/Dry/Gestating house
Boar house (may not be necessary if AI is used)
Weanling house
Growing/Fatenining house
Isolation house
ii. Equipment
Water Pump
Electrical connections
Hammer Mill
Feed Mixer
Feed storage and distribution equipment (Automatic Feeding System)
Automatic Watering System