Pig Farming In South Africa, How To Start, Plan

Introduction to starting pig farming in South Africa, business plan, tips, techniques, and ideas: Pig farming is also known as hog farming. It is defined as the process of breeding and rearing domestic pigs as livestock and is a branch of animal husbandry. Compared to other livestock breeds, pigs have the potential to contribute significantly to faster economic returns, due to certain hereditary traits such as higher strength, better feed conversion efficiency, early maturation, and shorter breeding intervals.

Importance of pig farming in South Africa

Pig production mainly involves raising and managing pork for meat (pork). It is a profitable business because the production cost is lower than other large livestock farming businesses. More than 20,000 metric tons of pork is consumed every month in South Africa. South Africa is a net importer of pork (more pork imports than exports), which means it is not self-sufficient in pork production. Starting a pig farming business in South Africa is a lucrative project and very profitable business. There are also thousands of subsistence and small-scale farmers in South Africa who prepare pork for family and communal use. These small farmers often deal with basic housing and food.

Pig fat and related processed pork products in South Africa have considerable export potential and providing a great economic opportunity. Before you start a commercial pig farming business in South Africa, there are some important decisions you need to make. You have to decide on the size of your pig production business, i.e., how many pigs you will have on your pig farm. The location of your pig farming, and your target market, are other important decisions. The size of your pork farming business will depend on how much capital you have, and your target market.

A guide to starting pig farming in South Africa, business plan, tips, techniques, and ideas

The pig farming business is capital intensive, but with a lot of potentials when it comes to measuring it. South Africa’s arable land is barely 15% of its total area, and the growing demand for food requires more animal production in severe systems. According to the South African Ministry of Agriculture, 400 companies are operating in the country. An increase in pig production, a steady increase in pork consumption, and an increase in imports due to domestic demand are some of the most relevant aspects of the current situation in South Africa’s pig sector.

South Africa counts a pig population of 1.54 million. South Africa has several breeds and populations of pigs, including commercial, informal and wild, which have been introduced to the region through various routes.

The following golden rules are given to ensure economically viable pig operation.

• Marketing – Secure the market for your pigs before starting production.
• Housing – Provide adequate structures that can protect pigs from extreme weather, which can affect their performance.
• Breeding – Get high-quality genetic material and breeding stock.
• Feed – Ensure that the feed meets all nutritional requirements at different stages of production.
• Biosecurity – Take steps to prevent the disease from entering the field as well as from spreading between pig houses.
• Health- Healthy pigs are pig breeders, and prevention is always cheaper than cure.
• Welfare – Ensure that pigs are free from hunger, thirst, and pain at all times
• Staff- Employ capable workers, and take good care of them.

Land and housing requirement for pig farming in South Africa

The best location for pig farming is an important decision for your successful business. Proximity to major road networks is essential for easy access to your pig farms and markets. Your pig farm should have a reliable supply of water that can be used by both humans and animals. Water is very important because pigs need it very much. Your land should be large enough to accommodate as many chickens as you need for your pig farming business. The pig farming business requires a soft, muddy area with well-drained soil (such as loamy soil) to facilitate flow.

Housing should match the type of pig you want to produce. Unimproved breeds can cope with much tougher environmental and productive conditions than better breeds, so you can get out of the houses for them better than the better breeds. In more modern housing, plastic perforated floors are commonly used to keep young piglets warm and cement floors for older pigs. The floors are slated, with about 1% falling from the back of the house, and there is a good slurry system to increase drainage and ease cleaning.

According to South African Pork Producers Organization (SAPPO), the walls can be made of any locally available material such as wood, cement blocks, bricks, or metal, which are strong enough to keep pigs inside, well-plastered bricks or concrete is the best option. The pen should ideally be at least 1.2 meters high and sometimes even higher if you have a good jumper in your herd. The interior of the walls should also be smooth with no sharp projections that could cause injuries.

Metal sheets or corrugated iron are often used for roofing materials, but they can be very hot in the summer. The roof makes good roofing materials that keep the stairs cool in the summer and warm in the summer. Roofs should be raised above the wall on wooden or metal pools or pillars to allow good light, free air circulation, and comfortable movement in a sty. More modern housing insulation is used to prevent heat stress and reduce electricity costs by keeping the house indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer. Different materials can be used for insulation, with polystyrene being the most used.

For modern pig productions, the material will be good;                                                        

• Does not absorb moisture
• Will be fireproof
• Environmentally safe
• Durable
• Not easily damaged by animals or during daily activities
• Biological factors such as beetles, microbes, insects, rats, or wild birds are not easily harmed.

Tips for pig farming business in South Africa

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• Get experience and Tour a Piggery – If you want to start a pig farm, you need to be comfortable in rural locations. This is the kind of business that involves a ton of hard work. It can be dirty and smelly, but it’s also amazingly beneficial. This is a great option if you love animals and care for them. Consider the environment when visiting a pig farm in your area. Learn more about what is involved in the work and how to manage the form.
• Start making local connections – As new to farming, you will want to make connections in the industry. Farm visits and education are a good start, but you should also contact local farmers. This way you learn about the environment, such as where to grow crops to make food for animals. Take advantage of the information on local markets, weather patterns, and animal slaughter. Most people around you are happy to help you learn.
• Pigs are sensitive animals that require a higher level of care and management than other livestock such as sheep, goats, and cattle. However, when properly reared, pigs can give the farmer a better return on investment than other livestock due to their breeding rate and feed-to-meat conversion ratio.
• Due to the high growth rate, pigs are ready to be marketed much earlier than most cattle. In every farming business, proper nutrition is the key to success. A well-balanced pig feed should be fed at all times, in particular, minerals such as magnesium, sodium, copper, calcium, iron, zinc, and selenium should be found in pig feed. The concept is very similar and fermented pork is much healthier than dry feed.
• Effective disease control measures should be taken to reduce the spread of diseases in the piggery unit from outside. Farmers go as far as imposing strict control of cell phones which are neglected by most workers as they move with people everywhere.
• Giving your farm workers specific clothing to wear in the piggery unit to guarantee that household clothes will not be exposed to pigs in the event of an outbreak is also a good way to control the disease.

Breeds for pig farming in South Africa

There are more than 50 different breeds of pigs in South Africa that are popular for their meat production. Landrace and Big White breeds are the popular breeds in South Africa for beginners as the pigs breed fast and have a large number of piglets.

Landrace breed

• Landrace pig is one of the breeds used by farmers throughout SA. It is known for its high pork production and tasty meat. Landrace swine refers to any group of standard pig breeds.
• With high fertility rates, South Africa’s Landrace pig breed can easily produce 18 to 21 piglets born alive, per litter.
• Landrace sows in South Africa are known for their femininity, docility, milk ability, and mothering ability.

Large White Breed

• Large white pigs are used for crossbreeding and many people know the term Large White X Landrace. It has curly tails and straight ears.
• Large white comes from the UK and was introduced to South Africa by the British a few years ago. Large white is considered a dual-purpose animal, but it is also the second pig breed to produce the classic F1-crossbred sow.
• They (large breeds of white pigs) produce large healthy litters, are good and protective mothers, and produce offspring with great efficiency in terms of growth rate and feeding efficiency.
• The large white breed can produce 18-20 piglets born alive per litter.

Duroc breed

• The Duroc breed is an older breed of pig and originated in the United States.
• This reddish-brown pig is a large-framed, medium-length pig with muscular features and partially bent ears.
• The Duroc pig breed produces higher quality meat than other pig breeds.
• The Duroc pig breed is known as a superior genetic resource to improve the dietary characteristics of pigs.

Large Black Breed

• The large black pig breed comes from the British breed of domestic pig.
• Large black pig breed used to produce lean pork and bacon.

Red Wattle Hog Breed

• Is a tough pig and is known for its rapid growth rate.
• They produce well-flavored marbled meat and are often used for ham. They grow up to 350 kg.

Middle White Pig Breed

• The middle white pig breed comes from a cross between the large white and now-extinct Small White pig.
• Medium white pig breeds are famous for pork and bacon.

Vietnamese Pot Belled Pig Breed

• Also known as pot belly, it is a slow-growing pig but has more flavor.
• The pork belly pigs are famous in-home standing and are also excellent pets. Unfortunately, there is an acquired market for these pigs and prices depend on demand.

F1 crossbreed breed

F1 or Final Breed is a cross between Landrace and Large White. F1 crossbreed generally produces more milk, eats more, and removes more vigorous piglets.

The best commercial pig breeds in South Africa

The most popular commercial pig breeds in South Africa are the South African Landrace, Large White, and Duroc.

Landrace and Large White are known for their wonderful mothering traits, while Duroc is known for her excellent growth and meat quality.

Most commercial farmers use generation one cross (F1) to maximize the unique characteristics of each breed. The F1 sow forms the basis of the commercial pig industry and is the backbone of pig production in South Africa.

F1 sows are bred from purebreds. Their genetic makeup depends heavily on the offspring of purebred mother lines, usually Landrace or Large White. Instead of buying from the party, extra space and a lot of skill and management are required, so the majority of farmers change their sowings at a rate of 30 to 40% per annum.

South African Pig Breeders Society

The Pig Breeders Society of South Africa mainly works to ensure that growers have a say in compliance with legislation in the South African Livestock Development Act.

Mission – Provide services to increase profits for pig farmers in South Africa.

Objectives – It promotes and encourages pig breeding and genetic improvement and maintains the purity of various pig breeds and promotes industry interests in a general register for the correct and legal importation of pig genetics in South Africa Maintain an open channel with Office.

Ensuring the accuracy of all animal prescriptions, performance, and other animal details registered for registration in the herd book. If deemed necessary by the Council, apply for the “Standard of Excellence” and other minimum standards developed as a condition for the registration of pigs and the importation of pig genetics.

Also, it encourages the expansion of pig breeding through promotions, marketing campaigns, and sales. To ensure that pigs in South Africa are raised in a humane and welfare-friendly manner. To ensure that pig rearing in South Africa is carried out responsibly as far as pig health and biosecurity are concerned.

To ensure that pig breeding in South Africa complies and facilitates pork marketing initiatives as initiated by the South African Pork Producers Association (SAPPO). This includes raising pigs in the public interest and in the best possible way.

Breeding stock for pig production business in South Africa

You need a breeding stock that means boars and sows (male and female respectively) for starting pig farming in South Africa. These are parent pigs that will be a mate to breed piglets (pig offspring). Then you raise piglets and sell them. When buying them, it is important to get them from reputable and professional suppliers. Obtaining good quality boars and sows plays an important role in producing pigs with high growth potential and good quality pork.

You need one boar for every 15-20 sows. One sow can produce a maximum of 9-11 piglets per 1 pregnancy – and it can become pregnant twice a year. These are all proportional variables that will tell you how many boars and sows you will buy in the light of your desired scale. Your pig farming budget should include the cost of buying the pig’s stock.

Feeding management for pig farming

Feeds always tend to be the biggest cost in piggery farming. Pigs must be given the right type and amount of food at each stage of development and reproduction. Correct and adequate feeding ensures efficient reproduction, the rapid growth of pigs, a better feed conversion rate, and good quality pork after slaughter. All of these factors increase the profitability of your pig farming business. Do not use shortcuts in the pig feeding system as they will have to meet the slaughtered weight at the end of the day to be profitable for you. Pigs are fed with commercial piggery feeds and supplementary feeds / homemade feeds. Supplementary feeds for pigs consist mainly of grains such as maize and wheat.

Diseases management for pig farming in South Africa

The health of their pigs is essential for the success of pig farmers in South Africa. Farmers should be able to recognize the symptoms of diseases in pigs so that they can start treatment with the right medicine as soon as possible. In the case of serious infectious diseases such as swine fever and foot and mouth disease, a veterinarian must be notified.

Some common diseases can be treated and vaccines are available to prevent other diseases, but they should only be used under the supervision of a veterinarian or veterinary technician.

• Some pig diseases include skin diseases like parasites.
• Respiratory problems whose symptoms include coughing and difficulty breathing.
• Digestive diseases, scours, or diarrhea are most common in young pigs and dehydration can lead to death.
• Reproductive problems, infertility, or abortion due to infection are also common.
• Most damage in small herd piggeries is in the first week of life due to starvation, exposure, or suffocation. Piglets should be protected from cold and dirty conditions and their mothers should be fed extra nutrients to produce milk. Ensure adequate bedding so that their babies are not crushed by lying and make sure clean water is always available.
• In all pig diseases, it is important to introduce strict biosecurity rules to prevent the disease from entering the field, to ensure cleanliness, adequate ventilation, shade, and good quality food. Good management and a close look at the symptoms can limit the introduction and spread of pig diseases.

Funding for pig farming in South Africa

When planning pig farming, you need to find funding and/or financing to run a new business during the growth period. The development phase includes fencing, building pens and houses, purchasing equipment, and sorting out labor, electricity, water supply, rates, insurance while you also pay for your household expenses.

Determine how long it will take before the income arrives so that the cash flow is positive and the backlog begins to form. Estimating realistic cash flow is important, but is often the worst part of a business plan. Someone is trying to predict the cost of production, interest on loans, operating costs, hoarding, and in the future when prices and costs are variable and unpredictable, compared to the profit from sales. However, if a startup entrepreneur wants to approach one of the possible sources of funding and take it seriously, he or she will have difficulty in getting help from someone who understands finance. Equally important in this case, the pigs together, will be able to develop a business plan that they should achieve in the first phase of a viable enterprise. Many organizations are in a position to focus on helping smallholder farmers in particular.

The South African government is the leader of the field and the succession of agriculture ministers is on record because of the strong support of farmers and farmers who provide in the informal sector. Substantial funding is available with the annual budget and provincial departments of agriculture, allocated and spent through local provincial selection committees that represent the appropriate farming characteristics. The government has a role to play in other arms such as rural development and land reclamation. However, there is never enough funding to satisfy applications, so other organizations come into the picture, including land banks, provincial relief funds, and municipalities. Generally, beginner or small herd pig breeders should first contact the provincial department and find a support and development section for the farm.

The pig industry in South Africa

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Meat consumption in South Africa

It is said that South Africa (SA) does not have more than 15% of arable land and the growing demand for human food requires the production of animals that have a high production capacity. To provide good quality protein to 55 million people, pigs and poultry are being successfully farmed in South Africa’s “factory farms”, yet only 0.5% of the world’s pork is produced in South Africa.

South Africa consumes 200,000 tons of pork meat (fresh and processed) annually. Importing countries include Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Brazil, and the United States.

South Africa exports small quantities of pork to Namibia, Mauritius, and Mozambique. Ten times more poultry per kilogram is used in South Africa than pork at the same price, indicating a huge potential market for fresh and processed pork products.

Consumption of pork has exploded in recent years and has grown faster than beef and mutton, the most widely used in the African country. We can explain this increase due to drought in lamb and veal production. This has led to a decrease in the number of these species and an increase in prices. Pork consumption is expected to continue to reach 290,000 tons.

Pig production in South Africa

Usually, there are three sectors of the pig industry in South Africa. Large-scale modern, efficient, intensive productive units have 600 to 5,000 sow units. The benefits of scale economies apply to input costs and marketing.

South Africa’s small and medium-sized pork producers are fewer and unless they find a niche market or other income, they are at risk of rising the cost of a balanced feed, which accounts for 75% of the cost of pigs.

Thousands of small pig farmers with very low housing and feed costs. There is little incentive for them to settle down and buy a balanced feed because there is no permanent security for their tenure. With shelters from scrap material and expired food (often low in protein), they can still make a significant financial contribution to their family’s finances.

Pork production in South Africa has increased significantly, reaching an annual increase of 3.5%. Thanks to this growth, pork production is 0.4% of the world’s production. We can attribute the steady increase in production to increased consumption of pigs, better farm management, and advances in genetics. During the same period, the slaughter of pigs, which amounts to less than three million heads, has also increased at an annual rate of 2.2%. This will show that heavy pigs are being slaughtered increasingly. Small and lean pigs, weighing an average of 70 kg, enter the fresh meat market, while heavy pigs, weighing between 75 and 95 kg, are intended for the processing industry (bacon, ham, sausage, etc.).

To maintain these figures, South African pig farmers face challenges such as pig production, rising prices of basic food items used in maize and soya products, which have had an economic impact on local pig farmers. In this regard, the cost of feed-in pig production in South Africa is approximately 70% of the total production.

Pig meat imports for South Africa

Rising pork consumption and rising domestic demand represent an opportunity for South African pork imports. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects these imports to increase by 2.5%. Despite these predictions, it should be borne in mind that the increase in local Pygmy production and growth forecasts has contributed to a relatively stable market share of imports.

South African pork imports come mainly from EU countries (especially Germany), Canada, Brazil, and the United States. It should be noted that pork from Brazil has been banned in the South African market for ten years due to the detection of the spread of FMD in the country. Ribs are the most imported product (between 50 and 60% of total pork imports). In recent years, imports of this product have remained stable, as South African producers have not been able to produce enough ribs to meet local demand. However, the percentage in favor of other pork cuts has dropped (from 76% in previous years).

Primary goals and associated constructions in pig farming

The pig industry, like any other industry, has the responsibility and commitment to carry out the basic strategy of the strategic plan for South African agriculture, namely;

• Access to agriculture and increased access
• Increased participation in global competitiveness and profitability.
• Improving, and ensuring sustainable management of sustainable resources.

These core strategies include those outlined above with vision and related goals whose primary goal is to create wealth, prosperity for those involved in the industry, a sustainable natural and competitive environment, and safe, wholesome quality food for those who utilize industry products.

A major constraint to the conservation of pig genetic resources in South Africa is the lack of market participation of the majority of pig farmers, who keep small herds primarily for subsistence. It is important to note that combining market value with genetic resources is one of the easiest ways to protect it. However, some breeds do not have instant market value but are as important as stock of option value, which is the benefit derived from the protection of the option to use an asset in the future especially in response to changes in the production environment (changes in consumer taste, new diseases, and climate change among others.

Marketing for pig farming in South Africa

South Africa has a demand of over 250,000 tons of pork every year. About 55% of South African pork is prepared in edibles, sausages, fillets, chops, and bacon. The remaining 45% is for the fresh market where it is purchased for use. You can supply your pigs/pork houses, hotels, restaurants, retailers, butchers, meat processors, and individuals. Pigs can be slaughtered between 4 and 6 months. Variations in the age of the slaughter depend on whether you want to sell the pigs as porkers or baconers.

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