Thread: Pig breeding

OK guys I know there are farangs breeding pigs in Thailand so how about some advice please.
Is It profitable.
How many pigs do you need?
What food do you use?
How many bags does a piglet to full grown eat.
With pig food being 670 baht per bag and fish food being 360 baht per bag would it be a good idea feeding them on fish food?
Do you castrate the bastards?
Any advice would be appreciated guys.

Go home and get a proper job.

https://teakdoor.com/farming-and-gard...1-a-start.html

There are a few more but...

To further answer the OP's question the simple answer is no. Growing up in the states I raised and sold pigs. Made a bit of profit.

Here in Thailand, to do it properly as a small scale farmer; not a chance.

Trust me, I have researched this issue.

A pig for the family is not a problem. A pig for the public is a big problem.

A good friend of mine started up breeding pigs about 2 years ago ,against the advice from two other mates of mine who had tried it,he bought 6 young gilts and had them served when they was "brimming" the result was 58 piglets ,he lost 3 or 4 through the sow lieing on them ,he then brought them up to the killing stage ,the net result was he lost a bomb on them ,which left him a poorer but very much wiser individual

Originally Posted by expattaffy

How many pigs do you need?

A minimum of 2

^Male or female?...

just get katoeys and let them work it out.

Originally Posted by piwanoi

A good friend of mine started up breeding pigs about 2 years ago ,against the advice from two other mates of mine who had tried it,he bought 6 young gilts and had them served when they was "brimming" the result was 58 piglets ,he lost 3 or 4 through the sow lieing on them ,he then brought them up to the killing stage ,the net result was he lost a bomb on them ,which left him a poorer but very much wiser individual

Where did most of his expenditure go ?

I took a look at doing this a year or so ago, since the area of the Philippines in which I live has a lot of large piggeries. After doing considerable research, I concluded that unless you were running a very large, professional operation, you were going to lose your ass. So, I never moved forward.

^^ Chances are on the feed stuff? A guy near me has two wild pigs. No feedstuff bought. They get the left overs from the house and whatever can be found growing in the hedge rows.

Originally Posted by Fluke

Originally Posted by piwanoi

A good friend of mine started up breeding pigs about 2 years ago ,against the advice from two other mates of mine who had tried it,he bought 6 young gilts and had them served when they was "brimming" the result was 58 piglets ,he lost 3 or 4 through the sow lieing on them ,he then brought them up to the killing stage ,the net result was he lost a bomb on them ,which left him a poorer but very much wiser individual

Where did most of his expenditure go ?

The cost of the food he told me was prohibitive ,and in the end it cost far more than what he got when he sold them to 3 different butcher's ,he also said he had to wait about a month before he got paid off one of them ,he also spent a packet having the pig sties made , now all he's got is a few Chickens and Ducks !, lesson learned he often says .

I suppose that he already thought about getting left over slops from Restaurants to feed the pigs ?

Originally Posted by Fluke

I suppose that he already thought about getting left over slops from Restaurants to feed the pigs ?

Yeah Fluke indeed he did but The local Thai's have that base well covered and tied up, and any way there ain't any cafe's etc within 8 kms of his place , and he could hardly put stinking pig swill in the back his car any way could he?, from what I have seen hereabout,s there is quite a good number of Thai's keep just one or two pigs ,I should think for special occasions like funerals and Marriages etc .

Maybe theres a business opportunity for a person to get a truck, go around the city collecting all the waste food and then driving it to the Country side to feed the pigs.
The restaurants get their waste taken away.
The farmers get cheap pig food .
And the pigs get a different meal everyday.
Everyones a winner

Originally Posted by expattaffy

Any advice would be appreciated guys

Two of my friends started up a pig farm separately with their Thai partners up in Nong Kai and Khon Kaen.
When it was all sorted their Thai partners ended the relationships, both lads never knew each other so this is independent disasters.
You want advice, i'll get my 2 mates to give you some.

Originally Posted by Fluke

Maybe theres a business opportunity for a person to get a truck, go around the city collecting all the waste food and then driving it to the Country side to feed the pigs.
The restaurants get their waste taken away.
The farmers get cheap pig food .
And the pigs get a different meal everyday.
Everyones a winner

Every ones a winner Fluke?, really? Which City is That ? the "City" we know here is 65 kms from us , and as stated previously all the waste food outlets have been nailed to the floor years ago by the Locals ,have you any idea as just how much waste food is needed to feed 60 or so growing pigs? of course the idea itself is dead sound no doubt about it , but in practice with respect here in LOS its pure fantasy land thinking , go to a Thai Wedding or Funeral and see how much food is actually wasted , its all plastic bagged up and taken home and in the end it looks like a huge plague of locusts have descended and not a scrap of food is left in sight , maybe its different elsewhere but here in Issan the only thing that wasted on a pig is the squeal as its clubbed to death by the village "expert " , slaughter man , here they even eat the placenta (after birth) when a cow or buffalo has given birth , oh yeah I have actually seen it , my other mate 3 years ago had a huge 120kg sow which died as she was giving birth ,he then buried it ,when the locals found out as to where, they dug it up ,and in mega quick time butchered in on the spot and every one in the village ate pork that Day ,hard to believe? but then again the brutal truth often is eh

Yeah, skips behind restaurants overflowing with wasted food, not common here.
The rice you leave behind goes to the next happy customer.

Originally Posted by Necron99

Yeah, skips behind restaurants overflowing with wasted food, not common here.
The rice you leave behind goes to the next happy customer.

Necron when you have lived here in the Sticks of Issan for any length of time you soon grasp the idea that if it swims, runs,crawls or flys it is regarded as food ,they do a roaring trade on the Monday night Market selling "Pla raa",tiny 6 month old rotten fermented fish in some sort of evil smelling brown goo,it looks like shit ,it smells like shit ,and just to try and "fit in " I tasted it and quickly found as I threw up that it tasted like shit too

Originally Posted by piwanoi

here they even eat the placenta (after birth) when a cow or buffalo has given birth , oh yeah I have actually seen it , my other mate 3 years ago had a huge 120kg sow which died as she was giving birth ,he then buried it ,when the locals found out as to where, they dug it up

In fact cow placenta is my MIL's favourite. When a cow is due to give birth the owners take it in turns to stay with the cow 24/7 to make sure they get the placenta before the cow eats it.

Originally Posted by hillbilly

To further answer the OP's question the simple answer is no. Growing up in the states I raised and sold pigs. Made a bit of profit.

Here in Thailand, to do it properly as a small scale farmer; not a chance.

Trust me, I have researched this issue.

A pig for the family is not a problem. A pig for the public is a big problem.

Yeah....unless it is a big-time large-scale commercial operation, most small local breeders use it as a supplemental or family extension.

Asian pork products are of a much better quality then the equivalent in the West.....and knowing the reasons, one doesn't have to ask why.

^Yet they still can't make good bacon...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

^Yet they still can't make good bacon...

Quite true, I suppose there are places here were you can get decent bacon ,but the stuff you get from Tesco and 7/11 is crap ,so much so I've stopped buying it ,its so fatty that when its fried or grilled it goes to nothing .

Interesting topic guys. Can I ask how many have actually been involved? From my experience breeding pigs or even just raising them depends mainly on a knowledge of the local market and the seasonal nature of it.