Backyard piggeries should sell pork through spaza shops

Backyard piggeries struggle with market access and this is a common challenge that I witness daily on various pig farming Facebook Groups where I’m a member. Farmers are constantly looking for a market for their pigs that they’ve reared until slaughter weight. The majority of backyard pig farmers are in townships and villages across the country. In these communities, there is a striving network of spaza shops. In other words, we’re the very market, that backyard pig farmers are struggling to access...how strange is that? Spaza shops are owned by us and run by us...if not rented out to foreigners. However backyard pig farmers fail to capitalise on this opportunity within their reach...why exactly? PIGGERIES PLUS SPAZAS, A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN If I was one of the backyard pig farmers, I would target all spazas in my vicinity...say 1-10km radius. In no particular order, for the purposes of highlighting the untapped opportunity, I would do the following: Approach these s…
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How to start a pig farm with limited resources

If you want to start a pig farm, but with limited resources please don’t opt for the breeding route. This is the default pig farming route for everyone which involves keeping breeding stock (sows and boars). It's a long and expensive route if you’re not financially equipped.About 80% of your daily expenses to farming with pigs go to buying commercial feed and it's not cheap sadly. Therefore I strongly advocate for opting for fattening weaners instead.When you keep parent stock you’ll be responsible for feeding:1. Boar - Every day, it’ll need to be fed...mating or not.2. Sow - Sows, pregnant or not, they need to be fed every day.3. Pregnant sows - A pig’s gestation period is 114 days, almost 4 months of feeding without an income.4. Lactating sows - Once sow has littered, you’ll be feeding your sow lactation feed for sow to produce milk for piglets to suckle.5. Piglets - You’ll introduce creed at 10 days, while they’re still suckling until they’re 28 days old and wean them. R…

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