At last, we arrived at the most interesting part of madam Mercy farm tour – the pig farming. I have never seen a pig farm or a pig house before. I have always looked forward to seeing one. So yes! Here I am in zinc roofed uncemented pig house, made with a wooden door entrance and a round opening space without a window just below the roof, for enough ventilation and fresh air. As I walked in with my camera held with shaky hands, Mercy calmed me.
“They are seeing new faces so they are curious but they won’t harm you if you don’t act scared and of course have no intention of attacking them, cause they can be wild when they sense an unfriendly gesture,” she said laughing while parting the pigs on the head, maybe her way of telling them to behave themselves that I come in with nothing but peace.
Pig farming is becoming popular as time progresses. “It’s a very lucrative and profitable business,” said Mercy. And the interesting part is your total investment can be achieved within a very short time, making it less risky if you know the map to a good market strategy. Most of us consume pork meat almost every week which we know is derived from pig meat, healthy pig meat made possible because of the availability of pig farmers. Pig meat known as pork meat contains rich nutrients and vitamins.
BENEFIT OF PIG MEAT
Pig meat known as pork meat is one of the most consumed and versatile meat around, with rich vitamin and healthy nutrient including
- Vitamin B6
- Niacin (B3)
- Thiamine B1
- Phosphorus
- Pantothenic acid (B5)
- Vitamin B12
- And selenium which;
- Keep oxygen circulating in the body
- Protect the immune system
- Produce enough energy
- Body detoxification
- Protect the body against cancer
- Keep the cells working normally
- Protect the heart against disease.
ADVANTAGE OF PIG FARMING: unknown to so many, pig farming has a lot of advantage especially when it’smotivated towards business, in the profit section of course
Little Investment: Although investment depends on the size of the farm, little investment is needed to start a small pig farm, if you already have a small portion of land to start your pig farm. What next after making a nicely built pig house for your new pigs? Pig food? Yeah right. But do not be alarmed, the pig can feed on anything; hence feeding isn’t much of a problem. Pigs can feed on just anything from the kitchen garbage, to roughage and even agricultural waste. “I feed the pigs with plantain, pawpaw, cucumber, pineapple, fruit peel. This helps in the low cost of feeding” Mercy said. This also helps in making it easy to manage in nurturing a big farm and making more profit, less spending possible.
Mercy further explains that she also gives them dried coconut meat which they like so much. She goes to Agbara, a market located at Badagry expressway, to buy and sometimes Ogun state. The distance between her house and the market is another challenge when it comes to getting agricultural waste for her pigs. “If I stayed closer to the market it would have been easier to get the fruit peel. Getting it from the neighbours around would be paying for them so I manage with the ones in my farm” she explains without worry because her pigs are doing just alright.
Rapid Production System: Possessing the ability to convert energy/nutrients into protein, makes the ability for pigs to grow faster than other livestock animals like goats or cattle. A sow (female pig) can give birth twice a year and the good thing about that is, a sow can give birth to 10 piglets at once, sometimes even more! A sow has to get to a year before she is ready for sexual intimacy. Mercy says she could tell by how her show’s breast gets reddish in colour and then becomes restless.
When she introduces a male to her, the sow immediately exchanges sexual body languages signalling to the male her sexual needs. She leaves them together for 4 days or a week before she separates them. The sow gets pregnant immediately. She starts marking the calendar from the day of their bonding to the next 3 months, 3 weeks, 3days. 3months, 3weeks, 3days is the period of time needed before a sow is ready to give birth after day one of bonding.
So when you start with a little pig farm, you can grow in a large scale production within a short period of time.
As I travelled back home, I was already missing another tour and can’t wait to explore other parts of Badagry both in the agricultural field and outside the agriculture field.
DISCLAIMER: This post is for enlightenment purposes only and should not in any way be used as a replacement for professional diagnostics and treatment. Always consult your doctor or health care provider before any health-related decisions or for guidance, counselling and treatment about a specific medical condition.
