C. Detailed Evaluation of the Pig Integration Programme

INTRODUCTION

In Thailand, most farmers in rainfed areas are growing only one rice crop. The aim of the project is to improve and diversify farm production in rainfed areas through farming systems approach.

In many areas one more crop can be grown before rice. In some places even three crops can be grown in one growing season. Some of these crops may be grown as feeds for livestock.

Farmers in rainfed areas have only excess of cash flow during the short period after harvest. On the other hand the farmers need money to pay for seeds, fertilizer, chemicals and hired labour during planting season. Income in this period, however, is not sufficient and many farmers have to borrow money with very high interest rates. Those farmers who have livestock sell their animals to pay for these farm inputs and buy new animals for fattening with the extra money.

The project introduced pigs in some on-farm trials to examine, improve and develop these aspects of livestock integration with crops. The investment in pig raising is small compared to cattle and buffalo and the return to the investment is earlier.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of the pig integration programme are :

1. Diversify farm production.

2. Increase value of crops with low market value through pigs.

3. Encourage feeding of crop-by-products to pigs.

4. Develop “piggy bank” as an indirect way of saving.

5. Provide additional income to farmers by fattening pigs or breeding piglets.

6. Use excess of farm labour.

7. Generate fertilizer for vegetable gardens, other crops or fish ponds.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Small-scale pig fattening and breeding was started as an on-farm trial. In Phayao six farmer-cooperators received 3 piglets during Oct-Dec. 1983. Two of the piglets were fattened and one sow was raised for breeding. Three piglets of the first litter were returned to the project to be recycled to other farmers.

April 1985 three farmers were selected in Mahasarakham Province where different crops were available to be fed to the pigs. The farmers received also three piglets and had to return three piglets from the first litter.

In all farms basic data were recorded. Feeding records however, were only kept on six farms.

RESULTS

Feeding

During the first year of the trial all farmers used the feed processing equipments and mixed 15–20% protein concentrate in the ration. The other ingredients were broken rice and rice bran. Paddy was mixed instead of broken rice when the price was low. Some crop by-products like sweet potato leaves, fruits, morning glory and Leaucaena leaves were fed. Breeding sows got the same feeds as fatteners. After the first year the farmers did not want to feed large quantities of concentrate and broken rice anymore because the price of pig dropped to 50% of the price of previous year. Only rice bran or paddy with some crop by-products including cassava, were fed most of the time.

Fattening

The results of the fattening programme are shown in Table 1. In the first year, when pig prices were high, the farmers fattened the animals for about 6 month. The pigs were slaughtered when they reached the recommended weight of 100–110 kg. In the second year pig prices were low. The pigs were sold at different live weights and the fattening periods were longer.

In Table 2. results are shown in four specific cases. The first two cases are for fattening on small farms in 1984 and 1985. When farmers fattened the pigs with low quality feeds, it took 9 months to reach the recommended weights. Because of low quality they need about 700 kg feed per pig. But during high prices the farmers use high quality feeds and consume only 400 kg/pig. Under such conditions, feed costs 100 baht higher per pig. Because of the higher price of pigs the gross margin is higher too.

In cases 3 and 4 the results of commercial pig farms from the Office of Agriculture Economics are shown which were in July 1984 and September 1985 respectively.

Total production includes also labour because pig fattening is the main activity of the farmers. Opportunity cost for labour in livestock raising on small farms is often nil. In all 4 cases the price of the piglet is the most important cost after feed cost.

Breeding

Breeding results are shown in Table 3. So far 14 sows have been raised by the farmer cooperators. Nine sows produced one litter. Seven of these sows were slaughtered because of low pig prices or health problems. One sow had two litters. The litter size was very good except one. Seventy-one percent of the piglets was weaned. Because of fertility and disease problems the average number of piglets weaned per slaughtered sow was only 4.9. The age at slaughter date was low of all sows. Three sows were slaughtered before delivering litters. One sow died of Hog Cholera. Low fertility was a problem after the first litter. The sows were too fat. Insemination was not successful for some sows. Other sows were not seen in heat. After a few months the farmers decided to slaughter the animals.

Use of pig manure

Some farmers used manure to fertilize vegetable and/or fruit trees. Other farmers collected the manure to fertilize fish ponds or paddies seeded with fish.

One farmer, who fertilized the pond with pig manure every 2 days, was growing fish successfully. In another pond, which was not fertilized, the fish grew very poorly.

DISCUSSION

Fattening

Pig prices greatly influenced raising of pigs. During times of high prices the farmers fed a good ration including concentrate and looked after the animals very well. The farmers raised pigs to earn some additional income. They sold them as soon as the pig had a weight of 100 kg. When pig prices dropped below 20 baht/kg LW some farmers stopped raising pigs. Other farmers adjusted their management. They decreased feeding costs by omitting protein concentrate in the ration. Sometimes only village rice bran was fed to the pigs. Pigs grew very slowly because of the low quality feed. Farmers were waiting for better prices. At the same time the pigs played more and more the role of “piggy bank”. This is; the farmer feeds the pigs with a low cost ration and will sell them with whatever weights when the farmer needs the money. Often this will be the case before planting time when the farmers have to buy seeds, fertilizer etc. This was practiced by some cooperators in the second year. One farmer sold four of his pigs weighing only 45 kg as is shown in Table 1.

Pig prices are unpredictable. A graphic for the average monthly farmgate price in Thailand is shown in Figure 1. It is bad luck for those farmers who bought expensive piglets but received a low price when the piglets were fattened. Lucky farmers bought cheap piglets during times of low prices but received a high prices after fattening six months later. It is clear from Fig. 1 that raising pigs to make profit is very risky.

Figure 1. Average monthly farmgate pig price in Thailand (1977–1985) (Office of Agriculture Economics)

The aim of the small farmer raising pigs is essentially to have money available as “in a piggybank” during times of need. If the farmer has to borrow money from middle men he has to pay an interest of 50–100 %. For the fattening, Case 2 in Table 2, the farmer invested money every day and the value in terms of weight gain was only about equal to feed costs. However, he needs not to borrow money and pay interest. Instead of borrowing money the small farmer with pigs can sell one of his pigs. When a farmer borrows 1000 ฿ for a period of 6 month he may have to pay back the middle man 1,300 ฿ (interest rate 60% per year). The farmer in our case has an indirect profit of 300 baht. Small farmers who can not borrow money with low interest rate will even sell piglets of 45 kg as shown in Table 1 when they really need the money.

Breeding

The breeding practice in Table 3 showed that all sows were slaughtered, except one, after their first litter. Two main reasons were given by the farmers: Some farmers sold their sows because of the low price of piglets as a result of low prices for fattened pigs. Other farmers, however, had problem with getting the sow pregnant for the second time. The main reason for this was that the sows were too fat as a result of the low quality feeding.

Raising a sow for breeding should have only one purpose: breeding piglets. The investment in a breeding sow is very high as is shown in Table 4. This means management should not be changed when the market for piglets does not look bright. In that case there are two possibilities to do: sell the sow as soon as possible or continue recommended feeding management for breeding piglets.

Training will be needed to explain these technical and economic aspects to the farmers. It is recommended to select some farmers in the villages to breed piglets with improved management. Other farmers can buy the piglets from them for fattening.

Table 4. Estimated costs and income of small scale pig breeding under recommended management.

Feeding

The main inputs in pig raising for the small farmers are purchase of piglets and feedstuffs. Rice bran is the most important feedstuff. The farmers took their paddy to the village rice mill and brought home the white rice. Milling is free of charge but the owner of the rice mill kept the rice bran. If the farmer wanted to take home some rice bran for the pigs he had to buy it. The price of rice bran depended on the quality and fluctuated with the pig price. In 1984–1986 the price of rice bran was 1.7–3.0 baht per kg. In the rural areas the low quality rice bran (with hulls) is mixed with the fine rice bran.

Next to rice bran, broken rice is an important feedstuff. The price of broken rice fluctuated between 2 and 3.5 baht. When the pig price dropped the percentage of broken rice in the ration decreased.

Concentrate is fed to the pigs when the price of pig is high. When it is less than 20 ฿/kg LW many farmers fed only 2–4 kg concentrate per month which depended on the availability of money.

Paddy and cassava were fed in rather large quantities because of the low market price. Paddy was fed instead of rice bran and broken rice. During the period of the trial the price was less than 2 baht per kg. Cassava was fed after sun drying. The price was less than 0.5 baht per kg. It was supplemented to the basic ration of rice bran and broken rice. The very low protein level of cassava is a problem. It was recommended to feed cassava together with leaucaena leaves but this was not consequently practiced or that it was given in a too small quantity. Fruits and green leaves are fed incidentally.

Table 5. gives the summary of feeding with different feed stuffs for pig fattening.

As discussed before feeding of breeding sows needs a different approach. Farmers raising pigs for breeding should be trained in advanced feeding practices. It is essential that these farmers understand the importance of the quality of the feed. The quality and quantity of the feed should be appropriate at the different stages of the breeding circle to breed piglets in a successful way.

Feed quality

When the pig price was less than 20 ฿/kg live weight farmers bought a small quantity of rice bran for a few days. One reason for this was that the farmer had little money to invest. As a consequence the farmers had to pay 20% more than when they buy in bulk i.e. by the sack.

A joint Feed Processing Group may offer a possibility in the village to have feeds with a reasonable quality and low price. Members of the group may purchase and mix feed together with the project feed processing equipment. Mixing regularly needs only small investment for the farmers.

In future, the members may decide to purchase more farm inputs as a group.

Table 5. Feedstuffs for small-scale pig fattening with recommendation¹ related to prices of feedstuffs and pigs.

¹ Recommendations indicate: strongly (+++), moderate (++), weak (+) and not recommended (-).

² When pig prices increase the prices of commercial feeds, concentrate, rice bran and broken rice increase also. Commercial complete is not economical for backyard fattening.

³ The price of corn depends on the world market. The farm gate price is 1.5–2.2 ฿/kg. Corn is recommended to be fed instead of rice bran and broken rice when the farm gate price is lower than 2.0 ฿/kg.

⁴ The price of paddy depends on the world market price of rice. The farm gate price is 1.5–2.5 ฿/kg. Paddy is recommended to be fed instead of rice bran and broken rice when the farm gate price is lower than 2.0 ฿/kg.

⁵ Not recommended at present because price is 0.9 ฿/kg. Unless grown in backyard.

Use of pig manure

The value of pig manure for raising fish in farm ponds and paddies is promising. Most farmers have no experience with this system yet but the pig-fish-crop system is a possibility for the near future. Here, the value of pig raising may prove to be profitable.

CONSLUSION

The management of the small-scale pig farmers changed with the fluctuating pig prices. The farmers raised pigs with low management when the pig price was low and with improved management when the pig price was high. Rice bran was the main feedstuff because it was cheap and always available. The use of broken rice and concentrate depended on the pig price. Feeding of crops or other crop by-products was marginal because of market prices.

Profitability of pig raising fluctuated with the pig price. The value of pig raising as “piggybank” and producer of fertilizer for fish raising offer a distinct possibility.

Training of small farmers in pig raising should emphasize on feeding of fatteners related to pig price, improved feeding of breeding sows, fertility aspects, disease prevention and integrated systems of pig-fish-crops.