Pigs 101 (A Start)

[thedoctor]

Im down to 9 pigs at the moment

3 about 70+ kg and another 6 @ -50 kg ,,

two days ago the buyer picked up two i had left over from a previouse lot as they were about 10kg behind the rest

he paid 65.bht kg,, the going rate around here ,, kaset waisia,

yesterday we got a call from a pig breeder in yasothorn

she was looking for pigs ready for the market ? 100kg,,

paying in yasothorn 80 bht,kg,?

as i write a lady near our home is looking to sell 30 pigs @50kg maybe she cant afford the feed at the moment ?

i have some new pigs orderd so im not buying ,, and i want to start buying from one breeder only,, not every tom dick and harry

who cant lie/lay staight in bed..

[pigeonjake]

its still 70 here in sakaeo province, sold 5 today, hes coming again on sunday for another 5, like i said in a post before i had 30 to go, but he said can he come every 3 or 4 days to get them in 5s,, i didnt have a problem with that,

the price seams to be holding well, how long it will last is anyones guess,

fingers crossed it stays like it is,

[billd766]

A friend who has no computer has asked me to find out how much it will cost to build and run a small pig rearing unit of perhaps 10 pigs.

I have downloaded this whole thread and I am slowly working my way through 1640 pages and 4 years of posts but it takes time'

He and his family want to rear them farang style and I am wondering if anyone can give me a quick heads up on the likely costs including the infrastructure for 10 piglets.

I looked into pig rearing a few years ago and figured out that around that time it wasn't really a viable proposition considering that neither my wife or I have ever been farmers and had no knowledge though we did have the time and space but no fulltime access to water.

My mate lives about 40 km from Khampaeng Phet and I live further out than him.

Any information or help will be gratefully received.

Thanks

Bill

[ChiangMaiPigFarmer]

Dear Aged member,

Why not take your friend to visit farms and ask questions and take notes.

You will find that all farang farmers are willing to help each other. It is easier faceto-face

Randy

[billd766]

Dear Aged member,

Why not take your friend to visit farms and ask questions and take notes.

You will find that all farang farmers are willing to help each other. It is easier faceto-face

Randy

Hi Randy

Thanks for the advice.

I agree that would be a great plan but the snag is trying to find a farang pig farmer in the province of Khampaeng Phet. I know of several farmers in the area but they are man saparang or rice farmers and not livestock farmers.

There was one earlier on in this thread who was from KPP province but he only posted a few times and last posted in 2011 and has not been heard of since.

We both live in KPP and to the north is Tak 1000 km, south is Nakhon Sawan 125 km, east is out towards Phitsanulok and Pichet about 180 km and to the west is the Mae Wong national park, mountains and Umphang 375 km by road.

[nutterz64]

A friend who has no computer has asked me to find out how much it will cost to build and run a small pig rearing unit of perhaps 10 pigs.

I have downloaded this whole thread and I am slowly working my way through 1640 pages and 4 years of posts but it takes time'

He and his family want to rear them farang style and I am wondering if anyone can give me a quick heads up on the likely costs including the infrastructure for 10 piglets.

I looked into pig rearing a few years ago and figured out that around that time it wasn't really a viable proposition considering that neither my wife or I have ever been farmers and had no knowledge though we did have the time and space but no fulltime access to water.

My mate lives about 40 km from Khampaeng Phet and I live further out than him.

Any information or help will be gratefully received.

Thanks

Bill

Hi Bill, I have recently completed (this year) a similar operation designed for 10 sows grow to finish operation. Your friend will need at about 500,000 baht to build, buy sows, feed, running costs etc until he makes his first sales. I am in the Udon Thani Province about halfway between Udon Thani and Nong Khai in the North East. PM me if you want more detail.

Cheers

Peter

[nutterz64]

A friend who has no computer has asked me to find out how much it will cost to build and run a small pig rearing unit of perhaps 10 pigs.

I have downloaded this whole thread and I am slowly working my way through 1640 pages and 4 years of posts but it takes time'

He and his family want to rear them farang style and I am wondering if anyone can give me a quick heads up on the likely costs including the infrastructure for 10 piglets.

I looked into pig rearing a few years ago and figured out that around that time it wasn't really a viable proposition considering that neither my wife or I have ever been farmers and had no knowledge though we did have the time and space but no fulltime access to water.

My mate lives about 40 km from Khampaeng Phet and I live further out than him.

Any information or help will be gratefully received.

Thanks

Bill

Hi Bill, I have recently completed (this year) a similar operation designed for 10 sows grow to finish operation. Your friend will need at about 500,000 baht to build, buy sows, feed, running costs etc until he makes his first sales. I am in the Udon Thani Province about halfway between Udon Thani and Nong Khai in the North East. PM me if you want more detail.

Cheers

Peter

That is for an operation with 10 breeding Sows. If your friend just wants to raise 10 piglets at a time then the set up costs and running will be much much lower.

10 piglets - 15,000 to 2200 baht

Feed - about 40,000

plus building costs and that depends on how fancy you want to be.

[IsaanAussie]

Bill,

It has been mentioned before, but for what it is worth, check out the local market potential first. Who will buy these pigs? Yes, only 10 but you need to get rid of them. I doubt 10 is enough to justify the capital investment, or to cover costs if labour is included.

[nutterz64]

Bill,

It has been mentioned before, but for what it is worth, check out the local market potential first. Who will buy these pigs? Yes, only 10 but you need to get rid of them. I doubt 10 is enough to justify the capital investment, or to cover costs if labour is included.

I have to agree with IA here.

[billd766]

To nutterz64 and Isaan Aussie.

Thank you very much for your advice and help.

I have a feeling that my mate wants to help but neither he, I, or his family have any idea of the costs or work involved in starting a pig farm from scratch.

One thing I do know is that there is a pig farm/slaughter house about 5 km from his house which is where the pork lady and the market gets her stock from.

I remember a mate called KhonWan who lives on the other side of the Mae Wong national park from me used to do pig farming a few years ago and got out of it as it was a fairly risky businees at that time and he lost quite a few thousand baht on his last 30 or so pigs as the bottom fell out of the market.

I had thought about it some 5 years ago but neither my wife or I were farmers and knew nothing about it. Fortunately my wife saw sense and gently talked me out of it with a simple NO WAY answer. Sometimes I listen to her.

[thedoctor]

Can i just ad,

issanaussie the member that started this topic built a pig farm and had his costs down somewhere on this forum, expensive to some , not to others,

Member Redbull horn also had a pig farm set up .. i think it was a cheaper version,,, but it worked for him

so it would depend on how much he wanted to spend

when i wanted to try pigs i looked at a few farms and took bits from seeing what worked for others,

i visited about 6 farms,

im still adding, but i am over 500,000bht now,its not a palace,,

and still learning from what mistakes i made,

thats the building costs only,, Her land,,

what type of building does he want to build,, thai style ,, farang style

M

[trojanhorse]

Hi im looking to start raising some pigs, small operation but I am having trouble finding piglets. Im in the Surin province near Sangkat just off the highway to Ubon. Does anyone have any details of this area where to buy.

many thanks in advance,

[billd766]

Can i just ad,

issanaussie the member that started this topic built a pig farm and had his costs down somewhere on this forum, expensive to some , not to others,

Member Redbull horn also had a pig farm set up .. i think it was a cheaper version,,, but it worked for him

so it would depend on how much he wanted to spend

when i wanted to try pigs i looked at a few farms and took bits from seeing what worked for others,

i visited about 6 farms,

im still adding, but i am over 500,000bht now,its not a palace,,

and still learning from what mistakes i made,

thats the building costs only,, Her land,,

what type of building does he want to build,, thai style ,, farang style

M

I spoke to my mate yesterday and we seem to have been talking at cross purposes.

He reckons that there will be no problems getting the piglets or the food and there is also a buyer on the horizon as well.

Perhaps somefirm like CP is providing everything except the infrastructure.

Also it seems that somebody over that way made 50,000 baht selling their pigs recently.

I will have to get over and see him to find out what he really wants.

.

[wolfrunes]

Think your mate is talking about contract farming? It's discussed somewhere in this thread. Maybe 30 pages back or so..

[billd766]

Think your mate is talking about contract farming? It's discussed somewhere in this thread. Maybe 30 pages back or so..

He may well be but it didn't come across like that.

[pigeonjake]

if he just wants to bring on 10 piglets,, youve got the cost there,,,,,,,,,15,000 to 25,000bht

and if he just wants to build one pen to start with,, say a 4x3mtr,,

he,ll need 4 concrete posts, concrete floor and a roof,, walls,, not exensive, get the local builders in to do it,just please make sure the floor slopes towards the back,,with let holes for the water in the back wall,

he could get that built for 25,000, dosnt have to be a palace to get the hang of dealing with pigs, then get bigger as he goes, adding more pens,

would be nice to have a pond behind the pig pens to catch the water, this in turn gives you a second income, as you can put fish in there, blah nin, of blah duck, or together, they will eat what get washed in there,

thats what we have, and most others,

at the moment it is a good thing to get into,

but like anything else, we have had times when its a strugle, im lucky ive got a deal with a feed producer and get my feed at cost, so more profit for us,

but all these things take time, to get to know the people in your area that, produce piglets,, that buy your finnished pigs, were to buy the best feed,

then the most importent, in my eyes,,, do i have a vet who will come and see to my pigs should something go wrong, and there is plenty to go wrong,,

apart from that, i get a lot of enjoyment doing my pigs, may sound funny,, yes we make good money at the moment, but i just enjoy looking after my pigs and giving them a happy,, but short life,

just my opinion

jake,

if i can help in any way,

pm me

[billd766]

if he just wants to bring on 10 piglets,, youve got the cost there,,,,,,,,,15,000 to 25,000bht

and if he just wants to build one pen to start with,, say a 4x3mtr,,

he,ll need 4 concrete posts, concrete floor and a roof,, walls,, not exensive, get the local builders in to do it,just please make sure the floor slopes towards the back,,with let holes for the water in the back wall,

he could get that built for 25,000, dosnt have to be a palace to get the hang of dealing with pigs, then get bigger as he goes, adding more pens,

would be nice to have a pond behind the pig pens to catch the water, this in turn gives you a second income, as you can put fish in there, blah nin, of blah duck, or together, they will eat what get washed in there,

thats what we have, and most others,

at the moment it is a good thing to get into,

but like anything else, we have had times when its a strugle, im lucky ive got a deal with a feed producer and get my feed at cost, so more profit for us,

but all these things take time, to get to know the people in your area that, produce piglets,, that buy your finnished pigs, were to buy the best feed,

then the most importent, in my eyes,,, do i have a vet who will come and see to my pigs should something go wrong, and there is plenty to go wrong,,

apart from that, i get a lot of enjoyment doing my pigs, may sound funny,, yes we make good money at the moment, but i just enjoy looking after my pigs and giving them a happy,, but short life,

just my opinion

jake,

if i can help in any way,

pm me

I think that you live over Sa Kaeo way and while I would like to come and look at your set up but as far as I can see it is is about 500 km each way.

The last time I talked to him he reckons that he can get the piglets, feed and a buyer etc and just needed the sty sizes.

When I was looking into pig farming a few years ago I worked on a sty size of 5 x 5 metres for 10 pigs with 2 stys on one side and 2 on the other sloping down from the middle with 2 sets of drains joining into one. Feeding and access in the middle and a fish pond at one end.

My wife pointed out that as neither of us were farmers who was actually going to DO the work and how would that affect the profits. Wisely at that point I gave up.

[pigeonjake]

yes mate im in sakaeo province, you would be welcome mate, we have nothing special,

i think 5x5 would be a little big, thats just my opinion, you dont want them running around much, they would run the weight off, mine are happy in 3x4

theres a lot to look into when you start,

it does sound like hes been looking into contract farming for one of the big boys,

the thing i dont understand with this, and again i really dont knoe how it works,

but what if the pigs didnt reach there weight,? would you have to pay them?

what if things went wrong in anyway, again would you have to pay them?

ill stick to what we do, we buy the piglets in, but we do have a couple of sows just to get the hang of breeding our own,

but to be honest, i would sooner just buy them in,

by the time you have fed and taken care of the sow, got the boar to her or AI, you could buy a few piglets in with that money,

but its each to there own, thats what makes the world go round,

but again i really like to see them grow up, and they each have different personalities, like teanagers, 1 that like to cause trouble, 2 the fighter,3 shy one,lol

its interesting and gives us good money at the moment,

take care

jake

[billd766]

Hi Jake

In my thoughts I was going to give the pigs more room to move around and to live in but back then I was just sort of olanning with no idea of reality and There was nothing like the wealth of information available as there is now.

I would tend to assume that in contract farming they they would weigh the lot and work on the average weight for payment. If one or more dies I would think that they would pay pro rata. If the farmgate price was 70b/kg instead of 70,000 baht if 2 died they would only pay perhaps 56,000 baht.

I must get over to see him next week. Do you have any photos that you could PM me of you set up? I will be grateful for anything.

Thanks

Bill

[pigeonjake]

hi bill,

ill take some tomorow and send you them,

there is a few pics of our place on shaggys farm photos,

but ill take some tomorow just of the pig pen and send them to you,,

jake

[OBCMO]

Hi fellow farmers,

Quick update on current status. We made ok profit for two 100 piglet batches but last one went south because of the market. In practice we bought when expensive and sold when cheap. Now we are working to get standard farm status from DLD. It will give us more freedom to run the business.

I do not have much to say to you/your friend about investment involved and it is well covered already. I can only say I can host about 150 pigs and I spent like 400.000 baht for it on wife’s land , which I bought and filled. We had all the gears so we just dug neighbors lands. Nothing anything nice outside but clean and well working inside. Do not let outsiders (family, friends, chickens, dogs, cats) to enter the farm in any case. You will face comments like just 10 pigs, no worries. I had 50 and same story. When 100 it all changed. I also turned strong. I would like to stress that farming pigs in Thailand is like gambling, be prepared to lose everything.

I saw someone mentioning contract farming. I did a couple of business plans on that before. Key thing is that farm houses must be standard and in this case EVAP. So you are looking at 1.7-2 million baht only for farm house. 100 meters long, 8 m wide and capacity 550 pigs. Preparing the land quite a bit more. The land needs proper electricity and good water source. If I recall right 1.5 kW per fan and 8 per farm house. It is expensive but on the other hand proper business governed by someone who knows (guys called doctors) the stuff. So business partner like CP will help you to be successful. If my memory serves me right I recall like 225.000 baht per round (550 pigs) and 2.5 rounds per year. Probably even better now. With current land prices etc. ROI won’t be great.

I picked up also old business plan including valid licenses etc. and now I am about to start building first chicken farm house. That is for another thread.

I love to raise pigs. I know where they are coming and where they are going to. I have no say. However I feel I can provide them good environment to live. Next step is free range and then organic but that will come.

Keep up the good work!

-OBCMO

[revar]

what I would advice and did is build a 4x4 stone pen and try if u like raisin pigs. onlyexpand and build other things if u find udo.

about 80k should be enough for feed pigs and building.

if u like it building for 100 would be around 150_200k, food 450k, piglets depend on size and source.

we sell 15kg at 2500 thb now.

I found that its safer and cheaper to breed urself then buy piglets.

I bought cheap for a few years but got one bad one which sickness wiped out 160 pigs from around 80kg. thats a lot of money lost. especially since I also hasd to close the farm fir 3 months.

[trojanhorse]

ok so have been around the local area so far looking for piglets but some of the farmers are being a bit awkward in the fact they wont sell them unless they have a percentage once any pigs are sold on top of the fee. So if anyone has any ideas where to buy some piglets from ideally surin province but willing to travel to roiet, Nangyon & Korat, buriram etc

thanks in advance

[jompa67]

Hi fellow farmers,

Quick update on current status. We made ok profit for two 100 piglet batches but last one went south because of the market. In practice we bought when expensive and sold when cheap. Now we are working to get standard farm status from DLD. It will give us more freedom to run the business.

-OBCMO

What is "Standard farm status" and how to obtain it? What is the benefits from it?

[OBCMO]

Hello Jompa67,

You need to contact local livestock office near you. They have requirements for the farm and training is part of the process.

Benefits are being able to get permission to move animals and sell them officially. For example to abaittors, supermarket chains etc. I am not saying it will be easy to get customers like that but at least the farm is officially recognized.

I must do some changes to the farm like restrict access and improve cleaning but I can see direct benefit and it wont cost much.

Cheers,

OBCMO

[revar]

but the office also warned me when I inquired that u would aslso have to pay taxes and meet certain environmental requirements regarding waste disposal etc, which u dont have too as a small farm with under 300 pigs.

[kiwi kev]

Had my first piglets 7 and all doing well really great

[nutterz64]

Thought I would post a bit of an update as I have been a bit slack.

A couple of weeks ago we had a very traumatic night. We had recently bought a pregnant gilt (Pietrain) from a guy selling down his stock due to what we suspect were significant gambling debts. He told us that he had bought her from one of the big breeder farms already covered. He gave us the date she was covered and from that we could ascertain that she was due around the 16th of this month. Around the 26th of last month we were puzzled as she was very large for a gilt with so long to go and also noticed that her vulva had swollen enormously. We watched closely and I thought if it does not reduce soon I will have to find a vet to have a look at her. Two days later we noticed she was producing milk and yes that night she delivered her first piglet at about 11pm. There was more blood than usual and she was struggling with the second delivery. Papa put his hand it to help her and when he got the little piglet out was presented with a gush of blood that would not stop. This put us in a short state of shock for a while and I knew she would die if the bleeding did not stop. It is a horrible when something like this happens and you are left standing there with no idea how to rectify the situation. Long story short, the sow died, with only 3 delivered and two alive. When we cut open the carcass we found another 6 large piglets inside. Gut wrenching and expensive night. I guess that is farming.

It seems she had prolapsed (I think cervical) probably due to so many large piglets in a gilt and when we bought her she was body condition 3+. Well muscled and I think just too much pressure inside. Clearly the date of insemination that he told us was incorrect as the piglets were way too big to be 18 days premmie. Unfortunately we did not have an available sow to foster the two piglets to and despite our best efforts with baby formula and looking after them at home they both subsequently died. I have subsequently done a lot of research as to how to deal with this if it should happen again and have found two vets that are both within 20-30 minutes of us. I also learnt that this is relatively uncommon in Gilts. Prolapse is usually a problem with older sows. Apparently it happens in about 1% of pregnancies.

We have a couple of batches that will be ready for sale soon. The first in 2 weeks and the second about 10 days later. Would like to hear what prices are being discussed or recently offered. Our buyer is talking 65bt but I have heard of others currently being offered 68 baht not too fay from us.

Happy farming...

Peter

[jompa67]

65 bath in phimai, korat offer 63, but then you have to arange for transport

[pigeonjake]

hi peter,

sorry for your loss mate, its hard.. but as you said this is farming,,

it was 70 bht here in sakaeo province till last week,,,,,, now down to 65bht, so your right on the money 65,,

it was 70 for a while, i just had time to sell 30,, and he came back for 2 more at 65,,