Within three years, John Njau has made a name and earned some good income for himself through pig rearing.
In his farm in Ikinu, Kiambu County, the 32-year-old has 92 pigs, some pregnant, while others are waiting to be served in January.
Within three years, John Njau has made a name and earned some good income for himself through pig rearing.
In his farm in Ikinu, Kiambu County, the 32-year-old has 92 pigs, some pregnant, while others are waiting to be served in January.
“I was introduced to pig farming in 2018 by my mother Ngina, who is also a pig farmer. I started with a pregnant gilt that I bought from her at Sh27,000. It was a large gilt that later farrowed eight piglets. Since then, I have been keeping them,” reveals the father of two.
Mr Njau keeps Landrace and Camborough breeds.
“We serve them by Duroc boar. Currently, we have eight sows and one Duroc boar and a Camborough boar, and over 40 piglets of different ages,” says the farmer.
When the Enterprise visited his farm, he had 24 pregnant gilts, which he is selling some that are served by artificial insemination (AI), and 18 gilts which will be served in January.
He sells the pigs at various prices, ranging from Sh30,000 to Sh40,000, depending on size and age.
“There are those castrated boars that we also sell to Famers Choice and local butchers. For the pregnant gilts and piglets, we sell to famers and some major institutions like secondary schools and primary schools,” reveals Njau.
The farmer says that pig structures ought to be 10 feet by 15 feet in measurements. However, his pigsty measures 80 feet by 60 feet.
“The challenge is farm labour and flies are troublesome, but the agro-vets have brought us new chemicals to control them,” he says, adding that to avoid diseases, one has to always keep pigsty clean and disinfected.
The farmer has not experienced any disease attack so far.
Since Covid-19 struck, he says the pork market has been affected “since the prices went down and the feeds prices went up, but we are hoping for the best.”
At the moment, the farmer, who apart from carrying out pig farming also rears indegenous chicken and geese, has three employees in the farm.
He advises anyone lookig to follow in his footsteps to first do his homework, noting that he didn’t take the plunge until he established there is ready market.
“If you want to venture into pig farming, don’t fear, there is ready market. When done right, you will make money and get good returns. In pig farming, get the right breeds and good feeds,” advises Mr Njau.
“With pig farming, you can never go wrong and broke,” says the farmer, adding that he uses his own formulation to making his own feeds cutting down on production cost.
He has been selling the pork to various butcheries within and outside Kiambu with a kilogramme selling at Sh400.
more profitable
Mr Njau says that in future, he would like to do value addition by producing his own sausage and bacon, and be the best breeder. According to Dr Joseph Mugachia, a veterinary, it is advisable for farmers to produce their own piglets and rear them to baconer weight.
“This is more profitable because most pig farms are small-scale, with 50 to 100 pigs of all ages, at any one time,” says the expert.
He adds that sows that are well managed, on average, farrow about four to five times in their lifetime.
“Weaner piglets are initially fed sow and weaner, grower piglets are given grower feed and finishers pigs given finishers meal,” adds the vet.
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