Pig Feed Formulation And Production In Nigeria: Your Complete Guide

Pig feed formulation and production business in Nigeria is now on the rise due to the recent popularity of pig farming in Nigeria as a result of increased pork consumption. With the rate farmers are venturing into pig farming business in Nigeria, pig feed formulation and production business has become more profitable and lucrative.

The is as a result of the high demand for pig feed in Nigeria, as well as the challenges faced by these pig farmers in feeding their pigs. Pig feeds take up to 60% of a farmer’s production cost. A good pig feed should have all the necessary pig feed ingredients, pig feed recipes, and all other things that make up a good pig feed composition.

Before you decide to venture into pig feed formulation and production in Nigeria, you must have carried out your research concerning the following important topics;

• The cost of pig feed formulation in Nigeria
• What are the pigs feed recipes?
• The ingredients for making pig feed
• Pig feed composition
• Composition of local pig feed in Nigeria
• How to make organic pig feed
• How to make pig feed from corn etc.

When you must have researched extensively on the above topics, you can now move into the next phase of the processes involved in pig feed formulation and production in Nigeria.

Also Related: Livestock farming in Nigeria

Qualities of a good pig feed formulation

In order to have a successful business in pig feed formulation and production, you must make sure that your pig feed formulation have the following important and needed qualities:

• The pig feed must be easy to digest
• It must be well packaged
• The pig feed formula must improve the growth and general development of the pig
• The pig feed ingredients must be readily available
• The pig feed that you have formulated must be affordable to farmers
• The feed must have balanced nutrients
• It must be palatable to the pigs

Pig Feed Composition

A good and quality pig feed formulation contains the following important nutrients

1. Protein
2. Carbohydrates
3. Minerals
4. Fats and oil
5. Water and
6. Vitamins

Without the above nutrients in your pig feed formulation, then you have not done a good job because your pig feed is lacking in major pig feed ingredients.

Also Read: How to start pig farming in Nigeria

Pig Feed Ingredients/Composition

Pig feed composition is generally a combination of the following pig feed ingredients which are very important in quality pig feed formulation and production in Nigeria. These ingredients include:

1.      Sorghum

This pig feed ingredient used for pig feed formulation and production is grown in majorly in Northern Nigeria. This sorghum can be used in place of maize, especially when maize is scarce and expensive to serve as one of the pig feed ingredients.

2. Maize

When it comes to the ingredients used in making pig feed in Nigeria, maize is a major constituent. The amount of energy derived from maize is about 3400 Kcal/kg, making it a very good source of energy.

Maize is grown across Nigeria. Maize contains carotene, and it also has a protein content of about 10%. Before you can use maize for pig feed formulation, it must be properly dried.

3. Wheat Offal

This is another source of energy used for pig feed formulation and production in Nigeria. Wheat offal is a by-product of wheat after you have finished milling it. It has a low energy value when compared to maize. The total energy that can be derived from it is about 1800 Kcal/kg.

4. Maize Offal

The fiber level of this ingredient is higher than maize. It contains 2500 Kcal/kg of energy and serves as a good complimentary source of energy.

5. Cassava

Cassava is a very good source of energy, but the only short fall is that it contains low percentage of protein. Cassava by-products include; cassava flour, chaff, cassava peel, etc. Cassava contains hydrocyanic acid which is an anti-nutritional factor.

The presence of this anti-nutritional factor in cassava has limited its use as one of the pig feed ingredients for pig feed formulation. You must dry the cassava before using it for pig feed formulation and production in Nigeria.

6. Yam

In Nigeria, there are different species of yam. Yam is mainly grown for human consumption, but in pig feed composition, yam can also be incorporated. You have to dry the peel or tuber and mix it with other pig feed ingredients for your pig feed formulation.

7. Dried Grains From Breweries

These grains contain about 18% crude protein which is very low. The fiber content is about 20%. Before you add it to your pig feed formulation, it must be well dried. The brewer dry grain is a by-product of brewery industries.

8. Palm Kernel Cake

When we talk about pig feed formulation, palm kernel cake is a major component used in pig feed formulation. It is very cheap compared to other ingredients for making pig feed. It has a fiber content of about 12% and contains 18% crude protein. The energy content is 2000 Kcal/kg.

Palm kernel cake is the by-product gotten from the extraction o palm kernel oil from palm kernel.

9. Sweet Potato

The boiled sweet potato can be fed directly to the pig, but when considering pig feed formulation and production, dry sweet potato can be used to substitute maize as pig feed ingredient for pig feed formulation.

10. Groundnut Cake

This is a very good source of plant protein. It contains high percentage of crude protein of 45% and an energy content of 2600 Kcal/kg. In order to prevent moldiness, groundnut cake must be well dried and stored correctly.

11. Fish Meal

This ingredient is rich in both the essential and non-essential amino acids. It is also a very good source of animal protein which between 60% – 70% crude protein. For your pig feed formulation, you can use imported or locally sourced fish meal.

12. Bone Meal

This ingredient is very good source of calcium and phosphorus which are responsible for strong bone formation in animals. A bone contains 37% and 17% of calcium and phosphorus respectively.

13. Soybean Meal

This is also a very good source of plant protein that contains about 45% crude protein. You can substitute groundnut meal with soybean meal; the only difference is that groundnut meal has higher content of lysine and methionine.

14. Oyster Shell

The oyster shell contains a high percentage of calcium and no phosphorus. The calcium content is 35%. The advantage it has over bone meal is that it is cheaper.

Also See: How to start poultry farming in Nigeria

Pig Feed Formulation And Production

It is not an easy task to formulate standard and quality pig feed with all the necessary ingredients for pig feed formulation in Nigeria. The lack of needed pig feed ingredients and technical knowledge will pose a major challenge for small-scale pig farmers in Nigeria.

As a small scale farmer, you can buy quality pig feeds from reputable companies that are known to produce standard and quality pig feeds. That notwithstanding, you can formulate supplementary feeds like sweet potato vines even as a small scale farmer.

For the large scale pig farmers, it is of great economic importance to formulate your own pig feeds so long as you can get the needed pig feed ingredients

How To Make Silage From Sweet Potato Vines

This is one of the many ways that you can reduce production cost in your farm by producing your own pig feeds. In pig feed formulation, sweet potato vines are very palatable and nutritious to pigs if prepared very well. The procedures for the production of silage from sweet potato vines are listed below:

• Cut about 40 kg – 120 kg of sweet potato pines and dry them in the sun for about 40 minutes.
• After the sun-drying, chop the potato vines into tiny pieces and mix with about 15 kg of growers mesh or maize germ
• Add about 0.5 kg of mineral salt and mix thoroughly
• At this stage, you put the mixture into an airtight plastic tank of about 250 liters. Try to remove all air spaces by compressing the vines very well.
• Add EM1 solution to improve the quality of the silage
• Allow the tank to stay for 14 days
• After two weeks (14 days), open the tank to check I the silage is ready. The silage is ready if it has turned yellow with a sweet smell.
• You can feed the silage to your pigs accordingly. Note that the silage is fed to pigs from our months and above before or after their daily meal.

You can see that pig feed formulation is not as difficult as people you think it is. With proper guidance and technical assistance, you will be able to start your own pig feed formulation and production in Nigeria.

ATTENTION…

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