[jessieventura]

Hey everyone.

Due to my passion for food, especially food which involves pork, I have decided to start a small pig farm. I have a piece of land which is no bigger than half a hectare in the Philippines which I am planning to use. I also have a few contacts for feed that can give me good prices. I came to read and realize that feed is quite expensive in the pig farming industry.

I have thought of buying about 5 young pigs to start with, however, I'm just a bit confused if it's too early at this stage (business-wise) to breed rather than just growing young pigs. I have read that breeding can get a bit difficult as you have to be prepared to make space for gestation, farrowing, nursery and finishing. All those will require a full farming establishment which I'm not sure I will be ready for.  By the way, I won't be slaughtering my pigs, I will take it to an abattoir to take directly to a butcher.

Can anyone please point me to a good direction or any advise really? Although, I'm interested in running a free-range pig farm, I'm just not sure if the land will be enough, say, if the farm grows.

Any help will be great!

[HappyHippy]

Hiya,
I'm sorry to put a downer on things - but half a hectare is not big enough to breed pigs. It would be fine for raising for slaughter, but to give you the space you'd need for different pens of piglets and pigs you'd need a good bit more 
As an example my 7 breeding pigs (once they're fully grown) will have access to around 2 acres for 'living' and I've got about an acre all 'penned' for litters of piglets, either with mum or after weaning and a big shed with different farrowing pens - and that's still a bit 'tight' for space for my liking.
I'd always recommend starting by raising a few weaners before jumping straight into breeding - it's a big committment 
Karen x
PS For a good 'starter' book I like 'Starting with Pigs' by Andy Case and I've had a quick nosey at Oaklands pigs manual - it's really comprehensive too 

[Fowgill Farm]

Agree with HH, just fatten to start and see how you go. Some people think its easy to raise hogs but is it isn't by starting with just a few fattening pigs you can decide if pigs are for you. They are a big committment however there is lots of info available on the worldwide web especially on this site so read as much as you can.
Try also starting with pigs on the GOS website www.oldspots.org.uk.
You mention you are in the Phillipines - check the ingredients in the feed, a lot of cheap imported pork lands here and in the US from your neck of the woods and its fed on feed thats full of drugs, GM nasties and god knowswhat else. generally the more expensive the food the better quality it is.
It depends what you want for your animals at the end of the day and what you are prepared to eat.
HTH
Mandy 
Ps welcome

[jessieventura]

Thank you for your responses.

I will do some research for a few months and see if I have enough knowledge to start fattening pigs later this year. I plan on providing quality feed for the pigs and none of those drug infused feeds.

Raising for slaughter in my proposed piece of land seems to be a good idea for now since I am starting small.

Jess x

[oaklandspigs]

HH, thanks for the comments

Jessieventura - we can post you a copy of our book ( http://www.oaklandspigs.co.uk/perfect-pigs-book/ ) - just email us at oaklandspigs@btinternet.com and we price up postage.

Sent a copy this morning to Australia.