5 Key Links That Must Be Grasped to Raise Pigs Well

Developing @#@227@#@ is highly practical and delivers quick results, making it a good path for farmers to increase income and become wealthy, but to achieve good returns the following five key links must be grasped:

First, seize the opportunity. When developing pig farming amid constant market fluctuations, attention should be paid to four periods, namely: the trough period, the development period, the peak period and the decline period. The trough period in the fluctuations of the live pig market is the best time for pig farmers to enter, as the prices of piglets and breeding pigs are low at this time, and the input cost of developing pig farming is relatively low; when the live pig market gradually emerges from the trough and enters the development period, pig farmers should speed up expansion of scale; when the live pig market enters the peak period, pig farmers should send pigs to market as soon as possible to obtain the best returns; when live pig production enters the decline period, pig farmers should focus on reducing the number of pigs kept, improving quality, strengthening management and other aspects, waiting for the right time to seek greater development.

The control of the several different periods in the development of live pig production depends crucially on the accumulation of experience and understanding of information. Farmers who intend to engage in or are already engaged in the pig farming industry need to observe more, learn more and accumulate more about the development situation of the pig farming industry in ordinary times, so as to have a relatively accurate grasp of the current situation, trends and patterns of the pig farming industry.

Second, moderate scale. Large-scale pig farming involves many issues such as capital, technology, land and environmental protection, and needs to proceed step by step; it cannot be accomplished overnight. In developing pig production, moderate-scale raising should be carried out according to one's own actual situation. This is because if a farmer's pig farming scale is too small, even when pig farming returns are good, raising just one or two pigs will hardly achieve obvious returns; if the scale is too large, when pig farming returns are poor, one may work in vain or even suffer great losses. Under the current rural economic conditions, the appropriate scale for farmer pig farming is around 30 pigs, with an investment of about 20,000 yuan. In this way, in a normal year, based on an annual output of 100 pigs sent to market and a return of 100 yuan per pig, a profit of 10,000 yuan can be made.

Farmers with the conditions should preferably carry out self-breeding and self-raising, as this can reduce piglet costs, reduce the occurrence of disease, and noticeably improve pig farming returns.

Third, disease prevention and control. In recent years, live pig diseases have shown the characteristics of atypical symptoms, mixed infections and being difficult to diagnose, and drug resistance of diseases has clearly increased. Disease prevention and treatment costs have become one of the important expenditures, and at times even a key factor determining pig farming returns. If a farmer's pigs get sick, the cost may be as little as a dozen yuan or as much as several dozen yuan, and once death from illness occurs, the loss is immeasurable. Therefore, pig farmers should change the mindset of "valuing treatment over prevention" and establish the concept of "prevention first", starting from basic aspects such as pig farm @#@185@#@, pig house design, programmed disease prevention and scientific feed formulas, to prevent the occurrence of disease to the greatest extent possible. Once pigs contract a disease, timely isolation, accurate diagnosis and rational medication should be carried out to reduce losses to the minimum.

Fourth, good breeds and good methods. Fine breeds are an important factor in obtaining pig farming returns. Compared with ordinary pigs, fine-breed pigs have a price difference of about 0.5 yuan per kilogram at the time of being sent to market @#@136@#@. Having fine breeds also requires good methods. Extensive raising patterns not only limit the production level of fine-breed pigs but even cause relatively large losses and waste. The raising of fine-breed pigs requires scientific feed formulas, clean and hygienic pens, and daily management is also very important. For example: fine-breed pigs are sensitive to external environmental stimuli, and an unquiet raising environment, sudden changes in environment or feed, or rough treatment and other adverse stimuli can easily cause stress reactions in pigs, seriously affecting the growth of fine-breed pigs.

Therefore, while developing fine-breed pig production, farmers should learn fine-breed pig raising techniques through various channels, so that fine breeds are matched with good methods, striving to obtain the best pig farming returns.

Fifth, joint production. Small-scale pig farms and households can, through establishing live pig production and marketing associations, cooperatives and other means, strengthen information exchange, implement unified supply of breeding stock, unified feed, unified disease prevention and unified sales, thereby linking the small production of thousands of households and, to a certain extent, achieving large-scale production, and reaping the "win-win" effects of lowering costs, reducing disease, raising selling prices and increasing returns.