Boys,1 thing that has caught my eye,seems there are always more guest(s) than members here,are the guest(s) too shy to join or what.Mr Hog and I do not bite,the more members the better and all information can be helpful to all of us in this forum.Come on now do not be so shy.
We can all help each other.              mikey

Doc,when you say all ingredients should be cooked first,you mean corn.barley,wheat etc.how many times a day should one feed their hogs,I would like to feed our hogs more often but the in laws tell me it will make the hogs sick,I tried to explain to them here in Canada the hogs are fed by automatic feeders,the hogs can eat when they want to,the fatteners that is,they feed our hogs 3 times a day with snacks in between.
Doc,almost forgot to ask you this question,fish meal is processed fish scraps,if one was to buy fresh fish and cook it with the other ingredients,will this work for us,would save us alot of time traveling to Cebu???
Thanks again Doc.                 mikey

Sara,start small,boys have big dreams,big dreams cost big money,Mr hog and I have over a $$$$$$$ each in our barns now.We both still have to pump money in to keep the operations going,some days it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.In the future Mr Hog will have a good size operation at his place,myself our hog operation will be much smaller,thinking about capping ours off around 44 sows now,We still need to build and fattening barn now,more money again.Be careful what you wish for,may come back to bite you in your ass.
Good Luck Boys                             mikey

Boys,men like their toys,these farming ventures is my toys.Mr Hog do not give up on me now,you pumped me up weeks ago,do not jump ship on me.Mr Hog you and I made the same mistake,we tried to get to big too fast,look at from this point of view,we are going through growing pains,will be painful in the short term,but the long term looks good for us farmers,the country needs food,we are sitting on a gold mine.In the long run we will get it straighten out.
Good Farming Boys and Sara can learn from our mistakes,before he and his family makes the same mistakes we made.In time boys we will sit back and laugh about this moment,but not today.
The good Doc. has been quiet tho.                        mikey

Sara,I was always one for punishment hehehe,we had the cattle for about a year now I guess,the cows are preg. now.
Good Farming Boys                                      mikey

Doc,cattle fattening,interesting,may try this ourselves.
Good Day                         mikey

Doc.Nemo,here in N.America dairy animals are given silage to help them produce more milk,wondering if silage is common in the Philippines.
Good Day     and SUPPORT THE GOAT                    mikey

Rob,forgot to tell you,I asked the Doc. 1 time about contract hog producers,I believe he told me he never heard of such a thing yet,our location is Negros Oriental outside a little town of La libertad,district 1,would be hard to miss our place,the barns look better than the houses the locals live in,am sorry to say.Looks like we will have to work through 2008 to keep paying for everything there,am planning on going back in 2009 on a surprize inspection,I am a industrial painter,paint ships,towers,bridges etc,all high work,we call ourselves the half way to hell gang.The Westcoast here is booming,times like this one takes the cash,have worked construction for a long time,this industry cycles,good and bad years,while its booming now,it will crash at some point.Toronto,you should be here on the coast,this is a much better place to live,Toronto,east is east,but west is best.                   mikey

Mr Hog,remember 3 weeks ago i was ready to throw in the towel with the hog business,we find out the brother in law was charging us by the kilo for the hog chow when we were paying for 50 kilo sacks,he had 5 extra sows we did not know was there and we were paying for their feed and he collected the money and kept it for himself,he was charging us 6000.00 peso a month for the goat care,we find out our prized fullblood goats were just skin and bones,that really pissed me off then,had to hire another manager the sister in law who we bought the welding shop for,her and her husband took the bankrupt shop and turned it around,thank god for her,she told us about the state of the goats,now with the proper feed the goats are doing better,minus the one that died of grain overload,my fault.It was you who told me not to give up,and I am hanging in there to the end,starting in Dec.will take full control of the hog operation there,they have their warning,we want receipts on everything,and we mean everything,we will find our own market and will invest in a truck to get us to Cebu,it is possible maybe they are unable to rent a stall,you may be right,you may need to grease some palms there,buy someone out,money talks,you are lucky 5 min. from the public market,us we are so remote the flies cannot find us,hehehe.Hang in there,if I knew what I know now about hog farming,would have done it way different,spent less on the barns and started with a few sows and work our way up slowly,the feed is a killer,look how spread out the wife and I are,pay for 3 helpers and their meals,the brother in laws food bill and hydro bill,every time they break their cell phone end up buying them another one,the list goes on and on and on.Mr Hog,you have to admit its rather exciting,you know when you phone there something has screwed up and they need more money lol,its funny tho.never enough money,those hogs are eating better than I am.God I do love the Philippines,I work in the field most of the time and when its cold as hell out,I daydream about that nice hot weather there,keeps me going alot of the time.DO NOT GIVE UP,thing will get better I am sure,think positive.        Good Farming                mikey

Boys,well our plan is,if the hogs fail,we have the goats,if the goats fail we have the cattle,if the cattle fail we have the turkeys,these turkeys are a good early warning system.Investing 101 better no to keep all your eggs in one basket,a little insurance I say,the cattle are cheap to feed,will fatten one bull,keep the other for breeding with the cows then sell that bull buy another young one and keep all females to build up a beef herd,we plan to use our anglo goats for milkers,5 goats eat as much as 1 cow but 5 goats give more milk than 1 cow.In so deep now,what the hell.
a few weeks back the glass looked half empty,now looks half full.
Good Farming Boys  and Girls                            mikey

Doc, well we 2 have 2 bulls and 5 cows beef type with the hump on their backs.am told they are a little crazy.Good beef breed for tropical countries.In South America McDonalds restaurant use this beef in their hamburgers.Slow producer,there is a saying in english,do not place your eggs all in one basket,on the other hand am too spread out now,really have to budget the money now.     Good Day         mikey

Doc,Good News for the country,lets get it expanded.Good News for all goat farmers.                     Good Day                  mikey

Robbie,ok Doc. Nemo explained it well,but it would be good for the Philippines to start exporting.China has its eyes open to this idea,exporting
The question about breeding or fattening,I am not the one to ask,they both have good points and bad points,With us, its a little of both,boy piglets get their family jewels removed,if people know you have piglets they may ask you not to operate on a male they wish to buy,so this will become a breeder (boar) male or a young unbred female is known as a gilt.
this is a little of both.Sorry have no pictures I can send over the net,I have lots of still shots,the barns were built in sections,28 feet wide by 32 feet long,there are 4 ,8 by 8 cement pens on each side ( 8 cement pens in total ) with 2 mothers in each pen,pushed against the cement walls,the space in the middle works as a farrowing area,the mother pig can lay down and still nurse her babies,you have to make sure the other mother will farrow later,after these are weaned,the same on the other side,so you have 16 sows plus 6 sows in the centre divided by metal between to large water tanks,so 22 in total in a 28 by 32,from the outside one cannot see the hogs because of the cement blocks,door way at each end. We have a 2 tier metal roof,enclosed with bamboo,looks like a house,the cost is 250,000.00 pesos per section times 3 sections,or I forgot,then you need 2 32 feet long metal dividers for the front of the pens,construction costs raise daily,cement.metal etc.Mr Hog has a different style of barn,maybe simplier to construct with less hassle,I wanted ours to look more Canadian.
hope this maybe of some help to you.                  Good Day      mikey

Doc, am told beef is expensive in the Philippines,wish some beef farmers would join this forum for a chit chat.
mikey

Doc, Region 12 will be exporting live goats to the Middle East this month,good news for the goat industry as a whole.This may help make the Phillipines a goat export nation.
mikey