More people into organic pig farming
The increasing trend is that more and more people are getting into organic pig farming. Understandably so because more and more are proving that this system makes hog raising, especially for the backyard raisers, more profitable.
One indication of the growing interest is the recent record attendees of the organic hog production seminar conducted by Ronald Costales, the award-winning organic farmer from Majayjay, Laguna.
Another indication is the growing interest of people from Luzon in joining the backyard contract growing program of a cooperative put up by stockholders of Agrichexers, a feedmill in Sta. Maria, Bulacan. The system makes use of the technique of growing the animals not on pens with cement flooring but with a mixture of carbonized rice hull and fresh rice hull. Under this system, the hogs are not bathed at all and the pens are not washed like when the hog house has cement flooring.
In the Costales seminar, the attendees were taught how to prepare fermented feeds as well as silage. With this system, according to Costales, the raisers can save as much as 60 percent of feed cost.
Now, we know of at least two people who are giving up their jobs in Manila to pursue organic pig farming in Bataan and in Pangasinan. Although they have not attended the two-day seminar of Costales, they had toured the farm and observed the technique. And they have done their own research on the topic. They are now familiar with the technique of Jess Domingo of Ifugao who can make as much as R5,000 net profit from a fattener raised the organic way for six months.
**** **** **** AANI AGRI-BAZAAR
– The first of the monthly three-day AANI AgriBazaar will start tomorrow and will end on Sunday, February 15, at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City. This will be beside the AANI Livelihood