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Starting a piggery
Commercial piggeries are capital and labour intensive businesses.
Before you start a piggery, consider:
- what facilities you'll need
- how much money you’ll need to keep the business going until you achieve an income
- what environmental issues and laws apply
- what licences and permits are required
- what pig husbandry skills you'll need.
You should research the different systems of pig production:
- indoor intensive
- free range
- outdoor bred.
Considering all these factors carefully at the planning stage will increase your chances of success in running a piggery.
Decide what type of piggery
At the planning stage, you need to make decisions about the:
- type of system
- size of unit
- feeding method
- health status
- source of stock
- effluent handling
- marketing.
Prepare a business plan which covers:
- capital costs
- cash flow budgets
- financing opportunities.
Pig production operates in an unpredictable economic climate with fluctuating grain prices affecting feed cost. At the same time, the pork price responds to supply and demand, including the effect of imports and exports.
Read more about starting a business.
Market opportunities
There are 4 basic markets in Queensland for pigs:
- baconers: 50–105kg dressed weight
- porkers: 30–50kg dressed weight
- weaners: 15–30kg live weight
- breeding stock: maiden gilts and young boars.
Marketing weight will determine the infrastructure and production system you need to use.
If you only want to start a small business with a few pigs, you can buy weaners and rear them for sale as porkers or baconers in simple, naturally-ventilated buildings.
A more ambitious plan may be a climate-controlled, farrow-to-finish unit on a green field site. Whatever business model you adopt, the facilities and management system must meet the pig welfare code.
Pig markets
Most pigs are sold at baconer weight with carcasses used for a range of products, including fresh meat and cured products.
Porker-weight pigs are used for fresh meat. Weaners are usually sold through sale yards for further feeding to slaughter weight, or for special consumer markets.
Some producers sell smaller numbers to local butchers or contract-buyers on a regular basis. Larger businesses sell regular consignments to processing facilities.
Producing free-range, outdoor-bred or organic pork is also a business option.
In Queensland, most pork producers operate a breeding herd and rear the progeny to baconer weight (80 to 90kg dressed carcass weight). By selling at a heavier weight, you can spread non-feed costs over a larger volume of meat produced, compared with selling a 65 to 75kg carcass.
Piggery start-up costs
To start a piggery, you need enough money to cover the costs of buildings, equipment, stock, feed, labour and day-to-day operations until the first pig is sold.
This usually takes at least 5 to 11 months, depending on the age breeding stock are bought and their progeny sold.
Production systems and marketing weight
The production system and marketing weight will influence:
- building design
- infrastructure
- feeding method
- effluent management
- labour requirements.
The system you choose will determine the housing and infrastructure required. For example, weaners need different facilities to baconers, and as the pigs grow, they’ll need to be moved to the right facilities for their size.
Herd size
The capital available and local and state regulations will determine herd sizes.
Local and state regulations
If your operation carries 400 or more standard pig units (SPUs), you require a:
- development permit for the property
- environmental authority for the operator.
The environmental licence states the number of SPUs permitted on the site. One SPU equals 1 grower pig equivalent.
Optimum herd size
There is no ideal herd size, however there are advantages of scale. Large herds make it possible to employ a team of staff to cover for weekends and holiday periods. In recent years, 500 plus sow units linked to weaner and grower facilities in the same ownership have been built.
Investment in computer technology for feeding, environmental control, market selection, health control and data collection has resulted in young skilled staff in key management roles.
Establishing the herd
Whether you're establishing a breeding herd or buying pigs to feed to slaughter weight, you should buy high health stock from a reputable source.
High health status stock will increase the chance of a profitable business by:
- converting feed into meat more efficiently
- reducing veterinary and medication costs.
It’s best to buy stock from the same source to minimise the risk of health issues reducing your income.
If you’re establishing a breeding herd, you should apply a closed-herd policy as soon as possible and rely on artificial insemination for genetic improvement. If you introduce live pigs, you should consider a quarantine program as agreed with your veterinarian.
Pig feed
Pig feed is about 70% of the business costs because it takes 3.75–4.0 tonnes of feed to produce 1 tonne of pig meat.
You can buy ready-mixed feed from stock-feed manufacturers or mix feed on-site. Mixing on-site means you need to invest in machinery, storage and ingredients.
Herd management programs
Measure to manage is the key to successful pork production regardless of the size of the enterprise.
In a small business, you can use cards, notebooks, diaries and spreadsheets to record dates of matings, farrowings, weanings, deaths, sales, feed purchases, treatments and other actions.
For herds committed to APIQ (Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program), the APIQ small holders diary allows all records needed to meet the APIQ auditor’s requirements and the management of the herd, to be kept in 1 well-designed document.
For larger herds there are several computer programs capable of handling large volumes of records required for management of the breeder, weaner and grower herd. Analysed production and financial results are the key to sound decision making, production forecasting, benchmarking and staff motivation.
Margin over feed cost
The margin over feed cost (MOFC) is the cost of feed used to produce 1kg of hot standard carcass weight (HSCW) minus the average pig price. In smaller herds, the MOFC can be a useful indicator of financial performance.
You can use the MOFC to compare different marketing strategies by comparing the sale price of the pig to the cost of the feed to reach a specific weight. Pork production is an unpredictable business, so care is necessary when forecasting future MOFC.
Production or operating costs
With larger business, financial packages and spreadsheets make it possible to record and update the cost of production daily.
Cost of production includes all the costs to produce 1kg of dressed carcass. Some businesses and benchmarking groups record all the costs of producing a kilogram of dressed carcass weight except for interest on capital and depreciation.
The profit or operating margin is calculated by deducting the cost of production (or the operating cost) from the average price received (per kilogram dressed carcass weight) for all pigs leaving the property.
Location and facilities
When deciding where to establish a piggery you should also consider:
- locating the piggery on unimproved or less fertile land (cheaper land)
- access to enough land (owned or rented) to dispose of effluent as required by the environmental licence
- access to a clean water supply, electricity and other services is essential
- locating close to a feed mill, abattoir or sale yard will contain transport costs
- before buying or leasing land on an existing piggery, contact the relevant authority local council or environmental officers for advice.
Workforce and labour
Labour is important in the 7-day-a-week piggery business. The general rule is 1 person for every 100–200 sows and their offspring. The amount of labour required will be influenced by how much automation has been applied.
Environmental management
An environmental management plan will be needed to manage the environmental impacts of the piggery on the surrounding environment, communities and residents.
Piggery legal requirements
All piggery owners need to meet local, state and industry legal requirements.
These legal standards are monitored by state government and industry authorities.
Register your property
Anyone who keeps 1 or more pigs in Queensland must:
Moving pigs
You have to meet certain legal requirements if you move pigs within or into Queensland from other states and territories.
Welfare code
All pig producers and their staff have a duty of care for the animals under their supervision and must comply with the laws set out in the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 to provide appropriate care for them.
All pork producers must meet the requirements of the pig welfare code.
Husbandry training
The pig welfare code states that pigs must be cared for by personnel who are skilled in pig husbandry and competent to maintain the health and welfare of the animals in keeping with the standards listed in the code, or by someone who is directly supervised by these personnel.
The welfare code encourages piggery staff to complete formal training (either the Pork Industry Stockperson Skill Set or Certificate III in Pork Production or equivalent) through a registered training organisation.
Herds participating in the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program (APIQ) must provide evidence of on-going staff training programs to achieve certification.
Quality assurance program
All export standard abattoirs and most domestic abattoirs require their pig suppliers to be members of the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program (APIQ).
APIQ helps pig farmers and pork producers demonstrate how they meet the production standards required by customers, consumers and regulators.
APIQ certifies production systems against standards covering the following systems:
- indoor (IN) – all pigs are housed
- free range (FR) – all pigs are run in paddocks
- outdoor-bred, raised indoors on straw (OB) – breeding sows are run in paddocks, but the progeny are housed on straw after weaning
- gestation stall free (GSF) – sows are housed in individual stalls for no more than 5 days.
The standards cover management, food safety, animal welfare, biosecurity, traceability, environmental impacts and transport.
AUS-MEAT Ltd is contracted by Australian Pork Ltd (APL) to complete the annual third party compliance audit.
© The State of Queensland 1995–2024
- Last reviewed: 08 Sep 2021
- Last updated: 08 Sep 2021