Pig breeding at home can not only provide meat to the whole family, but also become a small business that will generate income. This business requires certain knowledge and skills in caring for pets. You need to properly equip the pigsty, choose the right feed, and also determine the breed of animals.
Breeding basics
These animals grow relatively quickly and gain weight. Thus, in a short time you can get a pretty good profit. With proper care, the piglet reaches a weight of 100 kg by 6 months. It turns out that the increase is about 80%.
Many people wonder if it is profitable to engage in pig farming at home. At first glance it seems that everyone can start this business. But this is far from the case.
If every time after the slaughter to buy new pigs, then the profitability of pig farming at home will soon come to zero. Thus, you can only provide the family with meat. But if there is a goal to turn pig breeding at home into a business, then you need to get your own offspring.
Breed selection is half the success
Before deciding which piglets to purchase, you need to find out for what purpose they will be raised. The choice of breed depends on this decision.
They are divided into three groups:
- meat and greasy;
- greasy meat;
- bacon.
This conditional distinction gives the chance to choose the necessary breed. For example, for raising animals for meat, it is better to purchase Ukrainian steppe or Siberian northern piglets.
The Landrace and Duroc breeds make it possible to obtain bacon of excellent quality. Now this product is quite in demand in the market. To get a good fat, it is better to pay attention to the Mirgorod and Belarusian breeds.
Business plan
Before proceeding with the purchase of animals, you need to think through all the steps in advance. It is necessary to draw up a business plan for pig breeding at home.
It spells out all the items that provide for housekeeping. It should include even the most minimal costs. If the animals will be bred for profit, then you need to think about drawing up legal documentation.
For a small business, it is better to register as an individual entrepreneur. This form is convenient if the livestock will be more than 100 individuals.
In another case, it is better to register a private household that allows you to trade in surplus grown produce.
Planned expenses should include:
- purchase of building materials;
- purchase of piglets;
- stern;
- veterinary services;
- Payment of utility services;
- expenses for heating a pigsty;
- fare;
- physical labor to care;
- payment of taxes;
- force majeure circumstances (illness and livestock death);
- expenses for technical equipment and various accessories.
Based on these data, each owner can calculate whether he will be able to get an income that will cover all the waste and still make a profit.
Piglet acquisition
Most often, various publications advise starting a business in the spring. At this time, it is already warm outside, and you do not need to spend extra money on heating the pigsty.
But it is not so. This option is convenient for people who buy several animals for cultivation to get meat for personal needs. And if you plan to do pig breeding at home as a business, you will have to work all year round.
Therefore, young livestock can be started at any time, subject to the full and high-quality equipment of pigsties. Piglets are best acquired at the age of 1.5 months. Before purchasing, you need to look at the sow. In this case, you can approximately determine which offspring will grow.
The purchase of piglets in large quantities should not be done on the market. It is better to find a farm where they can provide all the necessary veterinary documents confirming the health and breed of young animals.
Selection basics
There are several ways to help you determine if a pig is healthy and how it will develop.
- It is necessary to take one baby in his arms and press his hand against him. Another part your lips open. The lower and upper teeth must close, otherwise the piglet refers to culling. He will not be able to chew food normally and growth will be slowed down.
- A very important factor, especially when choosing a uterus and a boar for livestock divorce, is a check of the external genital organs. The male should have uniform sizes of both testicles. The female has the correct location of the nipples and does not bend the top of the genital gap. Otherwise, such a pathology will lead to adverse reproduction.
- It is necessary to observe how the piglets eat. They must grab food with their entire jaws. And also it is worth listening to how the kids screech. Sound should be loud and loud.
- Piglets should not be too thin, but a large belly is a bad sign.
- It is worth asking the owner how to feed the offspring. If they were fed with sweet milk, then in the future there may be problems with food.
These tips will help you choose healthy piglets to organize pig farming at home. Which will lead to good growth with proper care.
Pigsty
Depending on the climatic zone and the availability of free space, future breeders should consider a zone for keeping animals. If there are already utility rooms, then they need to be properly prepared. This will require:
- insulation ;;
- ventilation;
- drains for liquids;
- floors that are easily mounted and removed (should not injure animals);
- sound roof;
- lack of drafts;
- lighting.
The minimum height of the room should be 1.75 m. Now it is quite popular for agricultural buildings to use polycarbonate as a roof. This material protects against rain and transmits sunlight. Thus, you can save a little on lighting.
It is advisable to make floors flooded. Before this, a gravel pillow is mounted. In animal resting areas, it is imperative to construct wooden substrates. Thus, hypothermia of animals can be avoided.
Near the feeders, it is necessary to provide for the strengthening of the floors. Because pigs are active during the meal and destroy structures. In these places it is better to cover the floors with metal sheets.
Internal arrangement
Pig farming can become a profitable business at home only with the right approach to business. Internal pig farm work will help simplify animal care. This will lead to their good development and rapid weight gain.
The room is divided into several machines. Each should have dimensions of at least 2.7 m by 2.5 m. A uterine pen is separately designed. It should be at least 5.5 m 2 . Otherwise, the animal will suppress its offspring during farrowing.
The height of the partitions should be at least 1.2 m. In this case, it will be convenient to care for the animals and they will not be able to leave the machines. The wooden flooring is mounted in a zone of 1 x 2.5 m. The rest of the space is used for installing feeders and a toilet area.
Fattening
It is believed that raising this type of animal is simple. The owners think that it is enough to feed the pigs with leftover food from their table. This is a very erroneous opinion.
Animals need a nutritious diet with the necessary amount of vitamins and minerals. Pig farming as a business at home will develop actively with the right approach to fattening.
If the farm grows more than 5-10 goals, then it is better to use dry feed. Thus, the farmer will be sure that he provides full nutrition for the livestock.
You can make a mixed type of diet. Thus, pigs feed on production mixtures and leftovers, herbs, fruits. The ratio should look like this:
- 60% are dry;
- 10% are juicy;
- 5% - grass meal ;
- the remaining percentage is given to food residues and animal feed.
It must be prepared immediately before feeding. It is necessary to steal dry feeds correctly, grind cereals, crush greens and fruits. Thus, pigs will chew food well and a sufficient gain will go.
Pig farming at home: pig disease
These animals, like others, are susceptible to various infections. Owners of the following signs can determine that the pig became ill:
- poor appetite;
- lethargy;
- the appearance of changes on the skin;
- inconsistency in movements;
- cramps
- the inability of the animal to stand on its feet.
These symptoms indicate the development of infection, so calling a veterinarian should be immediate. Such signs may indicate one of the dangerous diseases:
- swine flu;
- plague;
- pneumonia;
- gastroenteritis;
- worms;
- anemia; furunculosis, etc.
Some infections can affect an entire livestock population. Therefore, if the diagnosis is not made in time, the disease can lead to the death of all animals. If the veterinarian finds out that the disease is infectious, the sick animal is isolated or slaughtered with further disposal of the carcass.
Some diseases can be transmitted by contact with a person, so you should not be careless about any symptoms of malaise in pigs.
Pig farming at home: animal breeding
Growing this type of animal for meat does not guarantee successful business development. Very often farmers trade piglets. Such activity with the right approach brings much more profit.
Where to start the development of pig farming in order to get a good offspring? Of course, with the choice of the uterus. The whole result of the work will depend on her health and physiology.
From the side it seems that this option for business development is much simpler. There is some truth to this statement, but you still have to face difficulties. For a pregnant uterus, very careful care is necessary.
The pig should receive only high-quality feed and is located in a separate room. Animals reach puberty by the age of 6 months, but mating must be done no earlier than 10.
Pregnancy in sows lasts an average of 110 days. Then comes the delivery, which can take 1.5-7 hours. At this time, it is advisable to be next to the pig so that it is possible to help her or the piglets.
Propagation Features
For the first time, the uterus brings no more than 6-7 babies. In subsequent pregnancies, she can give birth to up to 14 piglets. Thus, simple calculations make it clear that this is a very profitable business. Especially taking into account the fact that babies go to feed for minimal waste, since they are fed mother's milk for 1-1.5 months.
Then for several weeks they gradually become accustomed to ordinary food and can be put up for sale. One sow can produce offspring twice a year. This is a very tangible advantage of pig farming at home.
It is also very important to keep a good boar in the household. He will ensure timely fertilization of the uterus and lay his genes in the future offspring. For the breeding process, it is necessary to purchase a thoroughbred boar with ideal physical forms and health.
It must be kept separate from the main stock and allowed to sow only for mating.