Content
Starting pig farming as a business, succeeding in the business, and not being disappointed in it, is possible only after carefully calculating the necessary costs and risks. Any type of business is quite a risky endeavor. Agriculture ranks high on the list of high-risk businesses. And among agricultural industries, the most risky, but also the most profitable types of business are poultry farming and pig farming.
Pig farming as a business: is there any benefit?
It must be said frankly that any business existing in the world makes a profit. Somewhere more, somewhere less, but there is always profit. Otherwise the business will die out. Another question is that sometimes in order to make a profit it is necessary that production be carried out in very large volumes.
The profitability of pig farming is one of the highest of all livestock sectors. This is proven by the example of agricultural complexes growing like mushrooms, where pigs are bred. Piglets grow quickly, the sow gives birth to an average of 10 cubs per farrowing, and piglets are born 2 times a year. But this is also a problem for pig farming at home. Even two sows plus 20 piglets can create serious problems for the owner of a private house with sanitary and veterinary services.
Private owners usually do not breed pigs, but take piglets for fattening. It's easier than keeping pigs all year round. But raising pigs for meat cannot be considered as a business either. Rather, it is an addition to the basic income and providing the family with high-quality and fresh meat.
Is it profitable to keep pigs to sell meat?
Profit from pig farming as a type of business directly depends on the “shaft”. A complex for 5-10 thousand pigs will give a higher percentage of profit per 1 pig than a private owner with a small herd. Much depends on the ability to purchase large wholesale quantities of feed by the “carload” and automation of the pig fattening process. A rough estimate shows that keeping pigs for selling meat at home can be quite profitable: feed costs for 6 months are 10,260 rubles, selling pork is 27,000 rubles. But such a rough calculation was made based on the cost of a bag of feed, keeping a pig for 6 months and selling 100 kg of pork. In reality, everything will be different. To the price of compound feed for pigs, you need to add the cost of succulent feed and premixes, and subtract 5,400 rubles from the income after selling pork: the maximum slaughter yield of pork, which can be sold does not exceed 80% of live weight.
And business profitability is already falling. As a result, the income for the year will be 1 thousand rubles.per month for each raised pig. For this reason, the owners of the complexes do not waste time on trifles, building farms for several thousand pigs. The cost of a large wholesale batch of pig feed from the manufacturer will be 3-4 times lower. Sometimes we also produce our own feed. Automation allows you to reduce the number of employees on the farm. With automatic cleaning and feeding, one employee can serve up to 5 thousand pigs. But the initial investment in such a complex is considerable. But there is also an opportunity to save money at the initial stage of the business if you do not build a complex from scratch, but rent an old Soviet-built farm.
An example of such a business start in video
A private owner in the village will be able to keep no more than 15 pigs, provided that the size of the plot allows this. Accordingly, you can earn 15-20 thousand a month by raising piglets for meat at home. But this is subject to the “own” sale of pork. It is no longer profitable to hand over carcasses to resellers.
Is it profitable to keep pigs to sell piglets?
If there is a strong demand for piglets in the immediate area, it may be more profitable to keep several sows in order to sell the piglets. The cost of pig feed will be the same as for fattening. The sow does not need to gain much weight, but she does need to feed her brood, which means an increased diet. If a pet pig could consume no more than 2 kg of feed, then a lactating sow should receive the same 3 kg plus milky succulent feed.
When it comes to brood, pigs are “neat” people. The sow brings piglets 2 times a year: gestation for 4 months, nursing for 2 months, after which she comes into heat again. 2-month-old piglets can already be sold.The price for young pigs varies depending on the region and breed in the range of 1.5-4 thousand rubles.
If we consider breeding piglets as a business, you need to find out the demand and prices for young animals.
The advantage of selling piglets is that you can keep a larger number of pigs on a personal plot than when raising them for meat. The trick is that as long as the piglets are in the same pen with the sow, they are counted as one individual. As soon as the piglets are separated, they will begin to be counted by head.
A pig will eat 10.3 thousand rubles worth of feed in six months. Piglets are accustomed to solid food quite early, but in the first month they literally count in grams. A litter of 10 piglets will eat feed worth no more than 3 thousand rubles in 2 months. Total costs will be 13.3 thousand rubles. Income from the sale of the brood is 40 thousand rubles. As a result, you can get 26.7 thousand rubles from one pig every six months. For the year 53.4 thousand rubles. From 5 adult pigs 267 thousand rubles. The monthly income of the owner of the plot will be 22 thousand rubles.
A rough estimate shows that when considering keeping pigs as a business at home, it is much more profitable to raise piglets than to raise animals for meat. With this type of business, problems with slaughtering pigs disappear. This procedure should be carried out in specially equipped places, or easier in slaughterhouses.
Is it profitable to raise pigs?
You can keep a very limited number of animals in your personal yard. If you are engaged in a serious business of raising and fattening pigs, you will have to create a pig farm.It is unprofitable to breed any mono-species of livestock on a personal plot. And usually no one lives only from their subsidiary plot. That's why it's auxiliary. Owners of private houses in villages keep not only pigs, but also cows or goats, chickens and other poultry. And with the development of large farms and the appearance of cheap meat in stores, they often prefer to get rid of livestock, since the cost of “homemade” products is much higher than the prices in stores.
This means that it is profitable to keep pigs for sale if the animals are bred on a farm in large quantities. That is, at a minimum, a farm must be registered.
Provided that the cost of one pig is 4,000 rubles, purchasing 10 pigs will require 40 thousand. Raising piglets for up to 8 months will require another 103 thousand rubles.
It is impossible to indicate the cost of setting up a farm, since there are a lot of variable factors in this scenario:
- empty land plot - finished buildings;
- communications failed - not failed;
- purchase of land - rent;
- automatic drinking bowls – manual watering;
- automatic feeders - manual feeding;
- manure collection manually, semi-automatically, using a conveyor;
- slaughter on site - at the slaughterhouse;
- remoteness from infrastructure or close location.
These farm costs can only be determined locally and for a specific site. No one can even say the cost of the project without knowing which plot of land has been chosen for the farm. Therefore, the cost of setting up a farm can range from positive 1 million rubles. to a depressing few tens of millions.
Where to start
Before you start drawing up a business plan for pig farming in order to get a bank loan, you need to decide on the type of economic activity and the location for the farm. Perhaps there is no suitable area for a pig farm nearby, and you will have to move to a new place of residence or do something else. If there is a suitable plot or ready-made buildings, the issue of registering an individual entrepreneur, private farm or LLC depends on the preferences of the entrepreneur. But only on condition that the farm will belong to one person. If several people invest in the business, an LLC will need to be registered. The latter will always be a legal entity, while an individual entrepreneur or private farm can be opened by an individual. The limitation for LLC is the need to confirm the authorized capital in the amount of 10 thousand rubles.
Determining the breed of pigs depends on the demand in the region. With the modern fashion for a healthy lifestyle, the demand for lean pork is growing. In this case, it is better to choose breeds of pigs for meat production: Landrace, pietrain, Duroc.
But in the northern regions even today it is impossible to do without a source of large amounts of energy, that is, fats. The further north you go, the more fatty foods a person needs. Accordingly, in the north, even in cities, the demand for lard may be higher. It’s difficult to argue with your own body even with aggressive promotion of a healthy lifestyle. When producing lard, you need to choose tallow and meat-fat pig breeds: Hungarian mangalica, large white, Ukrainian steppe (both variants), Belarusian speckled and others.
It is optimal to choose a pig that is maximally adapted to local conditions. If there is a high demand for piglets, it is necessary to start a multiparous breed of pigs, taking into account the productive direction that is in demand in the region.
The availability of feed within access also needs to be clarified in advance. The further the feed needs to be transported, the more expensive the delivery, and, consequently, the cost of production. If you have “extra” space on the site, you can plan to grow succulent forages: pumpkin or fodder beets.
At home or on the farm
Whether to raise pigs in a home pigsty or to make a separate farm depends on the size of the land owned/leased. The distance that should separate the pigsty from the border with the neighboring plot directly depends on the number of pigs (but not more than 15 heads).
The site must be equipped with a manure storage facility designed for at least a year of excrement collection. And this storage should be even further from the neighboring site or hermetically sealed. Since pig excrement quickly becomes liquid due to the large amount of urine, the storage facility must be concrete.
Because of these restrictions, in order to decide whether to make a farm or get by with your own plot, you will have to take a tape measure and measure all the distances. Considering that the average size of land plots in a village does not exceed 20 acres, it is unlikely that it will be possible to have more than 5 pigs on a personal plot. With so many heads, pig breeding is not profitable as a business. This is just an increase in income. If you want to take care of pigs, you will have to think about a pig farm.
Choosing a location for a pig farm
Requirement for any livestock complexes and farms: location outside the populated area. Even if this point is only a village.If the distance between a residential building and a pigsty on a private farm can be only 15 m, then for a pig farm this distance is no less than 100 m. The pig farm must also be located at a distance of at least 150 m from other livestock premises.
The site must be selected on a hill. There must be at least 2 m from the foundation to groundwater. Construction of a farm near water bodies is not allowed.
The farm area must be surrounded by a fence. Trees are planted along the perimeter.
List of required documents
Once the form of the future enterprise has been determined, it is necessary to draw up documents.
Starting an activity without prior registration is punishable by fines. For individual entrepreneurs, you need to provide the tax office with:
- statement;
- photocopy of passport;
- receipt of payment of the duty (800 rubles).
An LLC requires a more voluminous package of documents, including the Charter. The duty for LLC is 4 thousand rubles. In both cases, registration will be completed within 5 working days.
But even after the enterprise has been registered, it is still too early to calculate an exact business plan for breeding pigs. You need to obtain a few more documents first:
- lease agreement or document confirming ownership of the land plot;
- permission from the local administration to erect a livestock building;
- permission from the SES, state labor inspectorate, fire department.
All these operations are carried out before purchasing livestock. But the fire inspectorate and the SES will only be interested in the finished building. Therefore, it must be taken into account that additional costs may be incurred to eliminate deficiencies.
Breed selection
Regardless of business goals, the main requirement for a sow is high fertility. Next comes differentiation according to requirements:
- rapid gain of muscle mass when bred for meat;
- tendency to grease when diluted with lard;
- good survival rate of piglets when breeding for sale.
It’s not worth trying to breed a new breed “on your knees”. For breeding work, a large number of livestock is needed. This is especially true for pigs sensitive to inbreeding. Usually new breeds of pigs are bred at once on several large farms operating under the same program.
It is better to buy piglets for breeding from different farms to avoid inbreeding. If your plans are only to fatten and sell pigs for meat, you can buy piglets from one farm. But in any case, large, healthy piglets without external defects are selected.
Feed base
For rapid growth, pigs need feed. Before starting a business, you need to find out where and at what price you can buy feed in your area. This could be a wholesale warehouse or a manufacturing plant. It is more profitable to conclude an agreement with the plant for the supply of feed. The plant will not leave 10 bags, but from 1 ton it is already possible to agree on transport from the plant. Succulent feed can be purchased from a farmer who grows root crops or melons.
Staff
When drawing up a business plan for setting up a mini-pig farm, there is no point in including service personnel in the calculations. With a large number of pigs, the number of staff depends on the level of automation of the farm.With completely manual labor with minimal mechanization (wheelbarrows for feed and manure removal), there should be about 70 pigs per pig farmer. With full automation, one employee will be enough for several thousand heads.
There is no point in keeping a veterinarian and livestock specialist on staff. Livestock specialists can be hired under a one-time contract. A veterinarian is also not needed every day, but his phone number should always be at hand. Mandatory scheduled vaccinations should be carried out by the state veterinary service with the preparation of appropriate acts.
A livestock specialist can also perform artificial insemination on pigs. In this case, there will be no need to keep boars on the farm, it will be possible to avoid inbreeding and obtain high-quality piglets from elite producers.
If there are 50 pigs per pig, he will be able to keep his area of the farm clean. But general workers will be needed to unload the feed. Here, too, you need to look at the number of pigs and the size of the purchased feed lots. For 50 heads you will need 150 kg of feed per day, for 10-30. If the purchase is rare, but a lot at a time, it makes sense not to keep a worker at a rate, but to hire one-time workers from outside.
Prevention measures
Since pigs are susceptible to many diseases, a business owner cannot avoid vaccinating his animals. Vaccination against dangerous diseases such as foot and mouth disease, anthrax and rabies is carried out by the government service and is usually free of charge. But colibacillosis, Aujeszky's disease, swine erysipelas and other similar diseases are not dangerous for humans. If there is no threat of an epizootic, the pig farmer will have to do these vaccinations at his own expense.
The number of doses in a vial may vary. But often the number of doses starts from 20, or even 50.Once opened, the vaccine is stored for only a few hours. However, to develop immunity, you usually need at least two injections separated by several weeks. Accordingly, for each disease you will need to purchase 2 bottles of vaccine. There is no point in buying everything. The most common and dangerous for pigs are: edema disease, pasteurellosis, colibacillosis. The approximate cost of a bottle of vaccine is 400-450 rubles. based on 20 doses. Thus, you will need to spend 2,700 rubles to purchase the vaccine. And it’s better to have a “safety cushion” in the amount of 20-50 thousand rubles. in case the pigs become ill with something else.
Sales of products
When raising pigs for meat or lard, you will have to obtain appropriate certificates that allow you to trade pig products. Theoretically, a farmer can sell meat at the market. To do this you will need to rent a place. In practice, all places on the market are occupied. And small owners are forced to sell pork to resellers. Illegal option: trade “from the ground”.
With piglets, everything is simpler in terms of the necessary veterinary certificates. Since slaughter is not planned, moving a piglet from one pigsty to another will require permission from the veterinary service and obtaining a certificate of mandatory vaccination. If you follow the laws, getting both is not difficult. Piglets are usually sold through an advertisement on Avito or other similar sites.
Buyers usually do not require breeding documents for piglets. But if a breeding nursery for purebred pigs was planned as a business, you will have to take care of the documentation for the breeding farm. But the sales routes will be the same as with the simple sale of piglets: advertisements. The only advantage: people can come from distant regions to buy a purebred pig.
Initial Investment
Taking into account the multiplicity of pigs, the farm will have to be built not for 10-20 pigs, but for 50-100 at once. Even if you focus your business on selling piglets, there is no guarantee that they will all be sold out before 2.5 months. and you won’t have to fatten the pigs for meat. When calculating the cost of construction, it is necessary to take into account:
- purchase/rent of land;
- obtaining the necessary permits;
- project cost;
- summing up communications;
- building materials;
- construction workers' salaries;
- cost of feed;
- cost of the initial livestock.
“Revolving funds” will cost the least on this list. 10-20 piglets will cost 40-80 thousand, a six-month supply of feed will cost 110-220 thousand rubles. But the construction of the farm in total will cost no less than 5 million rubles.
At the same time, the exact prices will depend on the region, and it is impossible to indicate the real cost of building a farm without reference to a specific area. In any case, expect that the initial investment will be less than 6 million rubles. not worth it.
Unexpected expenses
The need to pay for a certificate to sell finished products can hardly be considered an unforeseen expense. This can only happen if the initial intention is to sell the piglets. When focusing a business on pork production, the cost of such certificates should be immediately taken into account when drawing up a business plan. However, these costs are low. Within 5 thousand rubles.
It is much worse if any disease breaks out on the farm. In this case, you need to have some cash reserve. Strictly speaking, this is a situation where the more money set aside for illness, the better.
There may be an increase in the price of feed and delivery to the farm.Almost certainly, the construction of the farm itself will be more expensive than planned, since building materials must be taken with a small reserve. Installing automated equipment may also be more expensive than planned.
In general, at the initial stage, the principle “it’s better to have enough than not enough” is a very good one. The balance of the loan can always be returned, but getting a second loan will be very difficult.
Even the business owner in the video admits that they needed more than a million rubles to purchase piglets and feed. Without taking into account the construction of the farm.
Risk assessment
The most serious risk today: ASF. Because of this disease, in many regions it is already unprofitable for business to keep piglets. And no preventative measures will help in this case. When ASF is detected, all livestock within a 5 km radius are destroyed. Pig owners are usually not satisfied with compensation.
Other risks of pig farming include:
- falling demand for products;
- rising feed prices;
- decreased fertility of sows;
- epizootic outbreak;
- disappearance of a feed supplier from the market.
A sudden drop in demand for pork or piglets is a serious risk factor in pig farming. A very clear example is the Vietnamese pot-bellied breed. At the peak of demand, it was very profitable to sell piglets, but pigs have multiple births, and the market quickly became saturated. Demand fell, and the piglet business became unprofitable.
Practice shows that personnel selection can also be safely included in the risks of the pig farming business. It should be taken into account that it is unlikely that you will be able to find conscientious employees the first time.
How to start a pig business in the village
The rules for keeping pigs in the village are not as strict as for villages or gardening societies.In the village, before having more than 2 pigs, you will have to collect signatures from your neighbors that they are not against it. General: compliance with construction standards. That is, no closer than the legally established distance to the border of the neighboring plot. The distance is measured from the wall or corner closest to the boundary of the site. You can have no more than 15 pigs on your personal plot.
Free-range keeping of pigs is a general rule for any form of ownership and any number of animals. That is, the classic picture from the books “a pig in a puddle” is prohibited by law these days. This means that grazing pigs on pastures is also prohibited.
If the owner of the house is just looking at the pig business, it makes sense for him to first have 2-5 heads and try how realistic it will be to sell pork or piglets.
Business plan for pig breeding with calculations
The advantage of pig farming on a personal plot is that you do not need to build a pig farm. A regular barn is enough for 2-5 pigs. And if you take a frost-resistant breed, then you don’t even need to insulate the barn. In this case, the entire business plan will come down to the purchase of pigs and feed, fattening and subsequent sale of pork. Usually underground.
It is most convenient to calculate expenses and income when raising 10 pigs. The average cost figure, which can be reduced or increased if necessary:
- 10 piglets aged 2 months. – 40,000 rub.;
- compound feed for 6 months. – 110,000 rub.;
- succulent feed - 20,000 rubles;
- water and bedding for six months – 50,000 rubles.
Total 2200:00 rub.
At 8 months, piglets should weigh 100-120 kg. After slaughter, the carcass yield is 80%, that is, 80-96 kg of pork. From 10 pigs 800-960 kg will be obtained. With an average price for pork of 270 rubles.income from 10 carcasses will be 216-259 thousand rubles.
Total profit 4-39 thousand rubles. Unfortunately, this figure is confirmed by the rural residents themselves. They usually sell their products to regular customers at least 2 times more expensive than store products, without devoting the authorities to the details of the business. This applies to any product: milk, eggs or meat. They explain this by the fact that their products are environmentally friendly. In fact, a private owner with a small herd has very high overhead costs and cannot afford to sell cheaply.
Business plan for making money from piglets
There is also an option to make money on piglets. In this case, you can keep fewer pigs on the farmstead, saving on feed and bedding. Or get a higher income at the same costs. But we must remember that in addition to sows, you will also have to keep a boar. Or pay to use someone else's. Artificial insemination in a private farmstead with a small number of sows is not profitable.
Costs based on 9 sows and 1 boar for six months will be the same as when fattening for meat, that is, 220 thousand rubles. provided that on average the sows give birth to 10 piglets, 90 cubs will be produced every six months. When the piglets reach one month of age, it is already possible to advertise piglets for sale. In 2 months, 90 piglets will eat feed worth 27 thousand rubles. The total cost will be 247,000.
When selling piglets at 4,000, the income will be 360,000. Profit - 113,000. More profitable than raising them for meat and there are no problems with veterinary services. But this business is only possible if there is a stable demand for piglets.
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
The main problem of pig farmers is diseases of the gastrointestinal tract in piglets.Not least because many people believe that pigs can be fed with anything. In reality this is not the case. By “anything” we mean a wide food supply, but the food must be fresh. You can avoid the risk of edema and other gastrointestinal problems if you do not wean piglets from the pig too early and feed them high-quality feed.
Other infectious diseases can be combated by carrying out prevention and observing sanitary and veterinary standards for keeping animals. Under normal conditions, animal mortality is 2-4% of the total number of pigs on the farm.
To prevent feed shortages, it is necessary to find in advance an alternative feed supplier who can be contacted in case of emergency. It is advisable to have multiple delivery channels.
A decrease in the fertility of pigs due to age is avoided by culling the sow in time. Culling is carried out at 4 years.
Conclusion
Starting pig farming as a business, having succeeded in this type of activity, is possible only if you open a fairly large farm and maximum automation of production. But when raising pigs on a personal plot, you can gain experience in raising piglets and understand how interesting this particular type of business is.
