Pig Farming?

Question

Me and my family are thinking about raising pigs and start our own feed store and a small cafe.

How would i start this?

How much do pig farmers make a year?

What kind of degree do you get?

Answer 1

You would have to get your meat certified to be able to use it in a restaurant or cafe thru the FDA at the butchers.  You can't just raise food and bring it into the cafe from the farm in the back yard...so to speak....not in this country anyway.

Free Ranging pigs are great but require good fencing.  Since you are in Texas?  I would assume that you don't really have winters enough to worry about keeping babies warm but you may have to find a way of keeping them cool.

I have misters set up on the roofs of the barns and fans to keep mamma's and babies cool enough in the summer heat.

And in the pens outside (my pens are 300 ft by 200 ft with 6 sows each in them)  I use sprinklers.  

My stalls in the barn are 12 x 24, I know they are big but if the hog market should ever go belly up and the horse business take off again (which isn't likely) then I can always go back to the horses....but right now the piggies are paying for the farm so I can play with my horses.

I buy wheat tailings from farmers.  These are 1/2 the cost of the whole pieces of wheat.  $75/ton....and I spend $200.00 per month on that....it works out to be about $10.00 per head per month to feed.  I add to that a vit/min supplement and eggs for more protein.  I soak the wheat in water in a large deep freezer and they get about 10 pounds per day, more or less depending on their weight.  I also treat the freezer chest for mold as you don't want any molds for your pregnant sows or babies as it can cause problems.

Then I get my alfalfa hay baled by someone who has a processor in their balers and so that chops the alfalfa hay into 3 inch pieces.  

Then I buy grower/starter pellets for the babies and I supplement them if necessary with 20/20 calf milk replacer.  I will buy one bag of milk replacer for every litter and 2 bags of starter pellets per litter and that is about $100.00 per litter for their food.

Then there are vaccines & iron shots.  Iron shots are essential even if they are free ranging pigs.  Vaccines in your area because you probably don't have temperatures in the teens and below is also essential.  One virus can wipe out your whole herd's reproduction for one year if they get it.

Keeping new animals in quarantine for 45 days is also essential, vaccinate and worm them before exposing them to the herd.  Then house them in pens next to the herd will assure that they have gotten acquainted so they won't try and kill each other when you turn one out.

Storey's Guide to Raising pigs is a good book for starters.  www.thepigsite.com has some good books for sale too.

I plan my matings for 4 sows to farrow in the same week.  That way I am not to stretched for time or sleep and can give each one of them the time they need from me to help with any complications.  Probably the best thing you can do is not to let your sows or your boars to get to fat.  They will have a hard time breeding, farrowing, and rebreeding if they are too fat.  If they are too fat the litter sizes are smaller too.  If they are too skinny then the piglets are weak....

I give my iron shots within 8 hours of birth and I give each one Probios paste.  I don't dock their tails because they are not in tiny pens ever and I also don't clip the milk teeth.  I haven’t' had any problems yet with sows not letting the babies nurse because of the milk teeth and the sow will let the babies know when they are being obnoxious and the piglets learn not to bite cause if they do they don't get fed.   And I watch the babies I give the smaller and weaker ones bottles of milk replacer. Sometimes it takes a feeding or two to get them up to par.  

I use baby bottles and cut bigger holes in the nipples than they have already.  When you mess with the piglets your really need to be safe because the sows will try and eat you.  I have on more than one occasion found out just how fast I can move.  So being safe when you are working with pigs is really important.  

I spend on feed and supplies almost half of what I make.  This year I expect to make off of 14 sows and one boar $18,000.00 and I am being conservative in that estimate.  The pigs are labor intensive for about 2 to 4 weeks per litter so each sow with two litters a year is labor intensive for 8 weeks out of the year.  My main market is 4-H & FFA so I plan for my piglets to be born in late Dec, Jan, & early Feb.  Then I breed back for a May litter and then I wait until Sept again to rebreed.

Most breeders try for 3 liters per year and they wean at 3 weeks....I only want 2 liters per year and I wean at 8 weeks maybe earlier depending on how bad the piglets are pulling the sow down.

There is a lot that goes into breeding animals such as pigs because of the volume of babies....cows...1 or 2 baby...pigs....10 babies or so....I am going into my 4th year of breeding and raising pigs.  I started out with one sow and borrowed a boar.  This year I bought a purebred papered boar to produce crossbreds because the 4-H and FFA kids are not winning purple (blues yes) ribbons with what has been typically available in this area.  So I bought a boar from a breeder in Montana.  I think that you take a chance buying sows at the saleyards and so I have raised my own replacement gilts the last 3 years and have watch and learned what makes the best producing and temperment in pigs.  Temperment is so important right up there with conformation when you are in an almost free range business.  I have one sow that I just don't mess with...others I can be right there helping....but never, never turn your back on them period.

I have never had so much fun raising anything as I have had raising piggies....they are really neat animals with tons of personalities and I hope to get up to 20 sows and 2 boars by next 2009.

If you need any more info email me and even though I am a small breeder I will try and give you the best answer I can.

Answer 2

texasgirl, I'm going to try to answer your question the best I can, you left out a lot of information.  Starting from the bottom, it is not necessary to get any degree to successfully raise pigs.  If you are going to a university anyway and want a major that will fit your plans, try animal husbandry.  Also try to get in as much marketing and economics as you can.

How much money pig farmers make a year?  On a given year, some make a lot and some lose a lot.  A lot depends on the market price that you have no control over.  The only way to be sure of making money raising hogs today is to grow contract pigs for the confinement farms.  You don't want to take that route.

On the first questions, I'm going to assume a lot, but this is what I would recommend.  First recommendation is to raise free range pigs.  

I am going to assume that all of your business are going to be on your farm.  The smell of confinement farming would automatically kill your cafe business.  The feed store would fit in well with the hog farming.  It will fit better on the free range hogs.  Having a restaurant gives you a good market for your pigs through the cafe. You might want to consider going organic and make this a feature of your restaurant. Getting a little bit outside of your question, you may want to raise some free range chickens and eggs to market through your restaurant. Also at least enough beef to supply your restaurant.  I would also add a home slaughter house to the business and feature cured hams, bacon, etc for sale through the cafe business.  Free range and/or organic meat will be a big draw for your meats as well. That could turn into your biggest money maker.  You would be in a position to control the market price for your pigs.  I think it would work well for you and your family.  Best of luck.

Answer 3

first you would need to know what you will be spending out then start thanking of incoming first few years in any business you will be at a loss.