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By VINCENT ACHUKA
Dirty, untidy and filthy. These are words that are commonly used to describe a pigsties and pigs.
But pigs are some of the cleanest animals, and the pigsty can be one of the best places to sit and relax.
“It
all depends on the farmer. How he takes care of the pigs will determine
whether they are dirty or clean,” says Margaret Wathuti, a pig farmer.
Wathuti,
who engages in pig farming in Kahawa West, Nairobi, has found beauty in
rearing the animals to the amazement of her peers.
Residents call the 26-year-old msichana wa nguruwe (the girl who rears pigs) because of her love for the animals.
It was not difficult for Seeds of Gold to locate her in Kahawa West as all we needed to ask for was msichana wa nguruwe.
Her
26 pens, which occupy less than a half of her leased quarter-an-acre
farm, hold over 60 pigs, and this does not include the piglets. The
number is the threshold required by Farmers Choice, the largest buyer in
the country.
“You only need five sows to reach 60
pigs,” she says as she lets us into her farm. “And to get these five
sows, you only need one gilt (a young female pig that has not mothered),
about two years and commitment.”
Margaret ventured
into the business after failing to proceed to college when she finished
high school in 2006. With just one Danbred Landrace gilt that she got
from her uncle for free after telling him she wanted to rear pigs, sheer
determination has brought her to where she is now.
“I
used to think that lacking the money to study accounting killed my
dreams, but when I look at my pigs, I believe they will one day hire an
accountant for me,” she says.
After taking care of her
first pig for some time, she enrolled for a month’s training at Farmers
Choice and retook the course a second time to make sure she got it
right. She still goes for training once a year to refresh her memory.
Today,
she sells about 10 pigs after every three months for about Sh15,000
each depending on the weight. Margaret observes a strict rearing
formula.
“They say pigs are noisy and dirty, can you
hear any loud grunting? Can you see any flies? Is my pigsty smelling
bad?” she asks as if reading our minds before we ask her why her pigs
are that clean.
She has divided her sty into separate
furrowing pens for almost mothering sows, weaned piglets, fattening and
dry pens for sows in early pregnancy. All these are cleaned after each
two days using a detergent and a lot of water.
“If you
keep your pens clean, there is no need to clean the pigs physically.
Pigs love rubbing themselves against the walls and roll on the floor
when bored and this cleans them naturally,” she says.
Unlike
most farmers who feed their pigs with leftovers sourced from markets,
hotels and schools, hers are only given manufactured feeds. She
fortifies the feeds with Sunflower seeds, soya beans, crushed dry maize
stalks, rice bran and dagaa (omena) that she sources from Gikomba
market. She does this twice daily at 8am and 5 pm.
“When
you feed them with leftovers from other sources, you don’t know where
the food has come from and it contains a lot of worms because most of it
is stale,” she says.
Boosters
“This
slows down the pig from achieving its desired weight on time, plus you
will be calling a vet from time to time, so you think you are saving
money, yet in essence you are losing lots of it.”
At 1pm every day, she feeds all of her pigs with fermented milk stored in a large 200 litre blue container.
“Milk
has a lot of nutrients. That is a universal fact. That is why babies
are fed on milk only for the first six months of their lives. It is a
booster and makes them grow quickly and maintain good health,” she adds.
She
has made arrangements with milk sellers and farmers to supply her with
milk they fail to sell, most of which is stale. This is acquired very
cheaply at Sh15 per litre and she does the fermenting herself.
When
her sows are on heat, she borrows boars from other farmers and makes
sure they are Danbred Landrace breeds because they mature faster, have
good feed conversion and are among the breeds preferred in making bacon
and pork sausages.
She sells her pigs to Farmers Choice when they reach seven months at Sh220 per kilo.
As a lady, does she fear dirt?
“In
pigs business, if you fear dirt, then you fear success and thus you
will die poor. So you have to teach yourself to do any work as so long
as it makes money.”
Patricia Chami, an animal
production research officer at Farm Africa, says there is lack of
information on the correct methods of rearing pigs.
“Pigs
are quintessential biological recyclers, foragers, and grazers. They
love to eat almost anything they have access to,” she says.
“Because
of this, most farmers feed pigs with leftovers, which is dangerous. If
you want to do it commercially, feed them with the accredited feeds for
protein, specifically lysine.
“Pigs will happily drink
fresh milk but you may find that it’s worth your time to “age” your
milk in barrels for a few days before feeding them. This will help the
pigs digest it more efficiently,” she explains.
SOURCE: NMG
SOURCE: NMG
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