A visit to Gold Mine Pig Farm in Ndumberi Kiambu County is an inspiring story of two young farmers who have ventured into pig farming and they earned great recognition across the country.
Pig farming has gained popularity as an important aspect of the agricultural sector in Kenya today. With an increasing global population, the demand for food especially proteins has significantly increased. This therefore raises the demand for industries such as pork in order to meet the market demand. Consequently, this has led to an increase in the number of farmers across the country venturing into pig farming. This is a lucrative agribusiness that can support such families financially. Pig production is a complex and multifaceted process that involves various stages. From breeding, and gestation to farrowing, nursery, grow-out, and finishing phases, culminating in the slaughter and processing of the pigs.
Gold Mine Pig Farm Journey.
Today we embark on our journey to Gold Mine Pig Farm in Ndumberi Kiambu County. Here, we meet Moreen and his colleague Jacin who are resilient pig farmers and have gained popularity in their careers across the country over the years. According to Moreen Gold pig farm deals with, pig breeding, piglets, gilts, sows, boars, and feed formulation.
Their journey began over five years ago, being motivated by other big pig farms. “Gold mine like challenges, and there were other farmers who were doing pig farming on a large scale, and they inspired us, and we hoped one day to reach the same level as them,” Moreen said.
According to Moreen, there is no limit to the initial investment capital farmers require to venture into pig farming. You can start with as little as you have, and one only needs to be determined.
“For us, we started with two gilts four months old each and reared them to maturity. After that we served them, and they gave us our first piglets,” Moreen said. “But before venturing into pig farming, one should do thorough research on all aspects of pig farming in order to be successful,” Moreen added.
The kind of structure one needs to start pig farming.
A good house structure is important to the success of any pig farm operation. A good structure not only provides safety and comfortable living conditions for the pigs, but also plays a major role in maintaining the health, growth, and overall performance of your flocks.
According to Moreen, there are two types of structures, the simple structure and the modern structure. One can build the pig structure using various materials such as wood or concrete, and bricks. This will depend on the availability of the materials within your locality. “Sometimes pigs can get aggressive and at the same time, pigs can grow to a weight of about 150 to 200 kgs. This is a heavyweight and needs a strong structure to sustain,” Moreen said. “For us, we prefer the modern structure made of concrete floor because it is strong enough to restrain the pigs. Concrete floors are also easy to maintain in terms of cleaning,” Moreen added. According to Moreen, one can use up to 50, 000 KSh to construct a good pig modern pig house.
Restrictions to pig farming entry (biosecurity measures).
In front of every piggery structure lies biosecurity measures to restrict the spread of pathogens to the pigs. Diseases are one of the significant production challenges in the swine industry. Although it’s nearly impossible to curb the spread of all pathogens in your piggery, several biosecurity measures are put in place to regulate movement into the pig house. “For us, we use Magadi in our footpath and our piggery,” Moreen said. “After receiving the clients or visitors to our farm, we normally spray sterile and wash our piggery with Magadi to disinfect any pathogens that might left in the house,” Moreen added.
Pig feeding in pig farming.
Feeding is the most important consideration in pig farming. This is because it consumes about 70% of the total cost of production in pig farming. Pigs are fed according to their ages and feed changes from one phase of growth to the other. Similarly, feeding also changes according to the production stage a certain pig is, either pregnant, lactating, or furrowing.
“For us, we formulate our feeds from starter to finisher and feed them according to their ages. The piglets from one month we give 0.5 kg, two months old 1 kg, three months old 1.5 kg, four months 2 kg, five months 2.5 kg, and six months to maturity we feed them 3 kg per day,” Moreen explained. “We also feed our pigs on schedule in the morning, afternoon, and evening,” Moreen added. Gold Mine have installed nipples in their pig house for efficient water consumption and to reduce wastage.
High cost of production in pig farming.
In order to reduce the cost of production, Gold Mine Pig Farm formulates its feeds. This reduces overreliance on expensive commercial feeds. Moreen says “We have been mixing our feeds right from the time we started our farm. Even though we are mixing our feeds, it’s still a little bit expensive as materials we use are getting more expensive as compared to when we started,” Moreen added.
The price of feeds in Kenya is skyrocketing particularly the protein feeds which give farmers a hard time in pig production. “A bag sow and weaner when we started was about 2,100 KSh compared to present day where the same bag of sow and weaner cost over 3,000 KSh,” Moreen says. In order to reduce this cost of production, Moreen has approached a nearby dairy company that sells them rotten yoghurt. This rotten yoghurt is fed to the pigs during the day instead of normal feed.
Pigs’ production cycle.
The life of a market pig lasts between six and seven months. At birth, the piglets will weigh about 2 to 3 pounds (1.36 kg) and are ready for market with a weight of up to 280 pounds (127.01 kg).
Gestating periods.
According to Moreen, a gilt (female pig) reaches maturity at about 170 to 220 days of age after which it is bred. “The gestation period for pigs is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days,” Moreen said. A gilt will give birth to about 9 to 10 piglets after which they’re we call them sows (the mothers). “The piglets per liter increase with the second pregnancy and a sow can give you about 10 to 15 piglets per liter depending on the level of management,” Moreen says.
Farrowing to weaning.
The newly born piglets stay in a separate area called the creep area within the same barn with the mother so that the mother will not sleep on them. “The creep area has called temperatures for the newly born piglets, and they stay here for about 25 days,” Moreen says. “On the third day we do teeth creeping, tail docking, and the first iron injection, and on the 21st day we do castration,” Moreen added.
Growing to finishing.
“The piglets will start eating feed in 21 days, and we introduce a special feed called creep feed within the creep area,” Moreen said. According to Moreen, a healthy piglet will weigh about 5 kg, so at the weaning stage, it will weigh about 12 kg. From there, the piglets are introduced to starter feeds from one month to three months. Then introduce grower feeds from three months to four months, and from five months to maturity they feed finisher feeds. According to Moreen, under good management, a farmer will get around 90 kg and above live weight.
According to Sam, the Gold Mine Pig Farm manager, a 90 kg live weight pig will weigh about 65 kg dead weight which will give a farmer about, 26000 KSh at the current market price of 400 Ksh per kg.
Challenges in pig farming.
As it happens to all livestock, production comes with challenges. According to Moreen, the greatest challenge is the Market fluctuation from time to time. Diseases are another challenge that Moreen says farmers should be aware of. Diseases such as African swine and fever are lethal since there is no cure for them. Other like foot and mouth, Pneumonia, and diarrhea in piglets. High prices of feeds and getting quality feeds are also major challenges. Particularly in this era where the feed prices are skyrocketing every day. Last is getting the best breed for your farm. “Some farmers have no idea of the breed to keep in their farm,” Moreen says.
Services Gold Mine Pig Farm offers.
In addition to pig breeding and distribution of piglets and pigs across the country, Gold Mine pig farm also works closely with interested farmers who are willing to venture into pig farming by providing them with mentorship and training as a way to inspire farmers and youths. Gold Mine Pig Farm also offers services like
– Structure design and construction,
– Feeds selling and formulation,
– Selling of quality breeds,
– Training and related services.
For more inquiries on pig production and placing orders for piglets or pigs, you can reach Gold Mine Pig Farm at 0726427725 or 0727789756. You can also visit their Facebook page at #goldminepigfarm or visit them at Ndumberi Kiambu County. Remember, Gold Mine Pig Farm is the to-go and does delivery countrywide.
