In a sense it is like being an employee again. Even though you have the money you  still have a boss to satisfy just to earn.

It is better to bit off more than you can chew rather than to dream and never take action. At least you have taken the first step to self employment.

Charged to experience Mikey...

 The ideal set up is you have the money in the bank then gradually realease the funds. It is a headache when your relative will call you and say "Please send some money, our hogs do not have feeds to eat" hehehe.

The contract growing in this country in terms of hogs is not yet that common although some big company now do this.

The issue about contract growing is the target weight. Although attainable but it is for my opinion very stiff. In the poultry business if your grower did not meet the target weight then you will be obliged by the  company to pay them their losses. I do think it is also the same with the hog grower.

Just imagine  how much you will loose if this happen to your hogs. And also investment in hog contract growing is huge.

it is better to have a poultry contract grower than a hog contract grower because of the liveweight issue.

Most of the time liveweight of poultry is not that enouraging so if you have a sure buyer like the owner of the contract grower/referral this problem is address. But in swine liveweight price is not that too low compared to the poultry. So issue with liveweights is really a big big issue. In hogs more often you have a profit unlike in poultry that due to liveweight price there are times that you will sell you produce much cheaper than your cost to produce.

Yup that is my sample computation and that is until weanling only. If you intend to maintain your piglet up to fattening it would cost you more.

To be honest with you this computation is a little bit conservative, if others would do this simple ROI it would cost more.

But in my assumption whether you start at 10 sow or 30 sow the return of investment would be the same at 2-3 years. This is due to the fact that the more pigs you have the less you are paying for feeds medicine etc, because of bulk discount.

You could start from a few then gradually increase your stocks. Most of semi commercial farm started that way.

Your welcome

Yup setting a farm is a little bit costly but rewarding because it is  income generating and therapeutic also in nature.

There are no available vaccine in the Philippines right now. So, the best thing to do is give vitamins to your herd before and after the introduction of a new goat and also give to the one you will brought in.  You also have to isolate the new goat from the rest for about 2 weeks.

Is usually seen in sheep occasionally in goat, cattle. Im not sure if this is present in the Philippines.
Usual signs:

difficulty in breathing
reddening of the ear, lips, muzzle.
fever,
inflammation the gums or mouth
ulceration of the gums or mouth
ulceraton or inflammation of the pads of the mouth

In some aspect it is like FMD.

To be honest your area is not that high risk compared to luzon. So, i would not suggest to you to vaccinate. Unless your local government say so.

Usually shots are given when they are still gilt(6-8 months old). Giving vaccine in pregnant sow is usually 3 weeks before they farrow. But this is depending also to the recommendation of the manufacturer of the drug.

This past couple of months, areas of Bulacan, Neuva Ecija, Pampanga, and Tarlac was hit by an outbreak.  Most likely suspect is an Influeza virus.  The virus is more commonly known as the Swine flu virus. The disease is common in the Philippines and the usual sign are:

Fever
Anorexia
Coughning
Difficult of breathing
Discharged in the eyes and nose
Abortion if pregnant.

In the past this disease is not considered as threatening as it is now. In fact most farm do not vaccinate for this kind of virus.

So what went wrong?  Why is the disease become so damaging?  A possibility is the mutation of the virus. It mutated to a more virulent form and because most farmer do not vaccinate for swine influenza the sudden appearance of this mutated virus cost damage that is so swift.

Another possibility is that imported breeding hogs introduce a new virulent type of swine influenza in our country. This introduction of new virulent form cost the onslaught.

Treatment:  Because it is a virus there is no treatment for this disease. The most practical to do with this type of cases is to give antibiotic to prevent secondary infection and give immune boosters to increase production of immunoglobulins that will combat the virus. Restrict access to farm, do not allow anyone to enter your farm except your helper and you. Keep the dogs, rat, chicken out of the pen.

Greetings Rhey,

I do not have a recipe for vigan longganisa.

Upon searching the net i found this recipe, accordingly it is vigan longganisa.

1 kg ground pork
2.5 tbsp salt
1.5 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp wine
1/8 tbsp saltpeter
2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp garlic
sausage casing

Mix everything, case, and cure for 5 to 6 days.

the main difference from other longganisa is that it has vinegar ang more garlic.

Ok i already sent you the file.

Your welcome Zion

Mikey and everyone it is okay if you just call me by my handle Nemo.  Do not get me wrong mikey, i do appreciate you calling me Dr. 

I would like to be respected as a person rather than because of my degree. For me it more uplifting.

I do not want to sound melodramatic but i do believe that respect is earned by respecting others and not by earning a degree, money or a position in the government.