Newly modern pig farm construction includes pig farm planning and design, equipment manufacturing, construction, installation and commissioning, training, delivery and acceptance. The pig farm include pen system, feeding system, drinking water system, environmental control system, manure treatment, cleaning and disinfection. Example, Hengyin can provide the best solution according to their client’s requirements.

In Malaysia, pigs are the second largest livestock commodity with an estimated 1.7 million heads from 614 farms in 2020. The pig industry in Malaysia mostly caters to the country’s ethnic Chinese population. Pig rearing in Malaysia began during the early days of Chinese settlement in the form of backyard subsistence farming. The practice flourished into a commercialized enterprise in the 1950s and then a full-fledged trade commodity by 1981. However, intensification of pig farms led to environmental pollution and sparked socio-religious and land development issues. As a solution, Pig Farming Areas (PFAs) were introduced in 1991 by the Ministry of Agriculture of Malaysia.

Malaysia is a multiracial and multi-religious country with a total population of 32.6 million, ethnically comprised of 69% Malays, 23% Chinese, 7% Indian, and 1% others. Islam is the predominant religion of the country (61%), followed by Buddhism (20%), Christianity (9%), Hinduism (6%), and other religions (4%). Commercial livestock industry is dominated by poultry, followed by pigs. Pork is consumed predominantly by non-Muslims, therefore the industry is dominated by Malaysian-Chinese. This study was conducted in Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, and Johor, which are three out of six states in Peninsular Malaysia where the novel Nipah was reported. The total number of pigs reported in these three states are 2,28,639 in Johor, 44,025 in Melaka and 241 in Negeri Sembilan.

ACO FUNKI – Intelligent Farm Solutions

ACO FUNKI is one of the leading European suppliers of livestock equipment for pig housing. With over 85 years of experience, we have built up our knowledge in order to create the most effective solutions for pig stalls. We focus on combination of animals welfare with the high production results. We deliver full-line solutions – worldwide.

Pig farmers in Malaysia must install expensive wastewater treatment systems to curb environmental pollution. Add this to rising costs and diseases, and alarm bells ring about pork prices and supply. The 1998 outbreak of novel Nipah disease in Malaysia led to 265 cases of viral encephalitis with 109 human deaths, the culling of 1.1 million pigs and a cascading socio-economic impact. Fruit bat is the natural reservoir of the novel Nipah virus and pigs were believed to have become infected after consuming Nipah virus contaminated fruits that fell into open pig pens. Nipah virus causes respiratory and neurological signs in pigs with a morbidity rate of 100% and mortality rate of <5%. The virus spills from pigs to humans through direct contact, which causes similar aforementioned clinical signs. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for Nipah disease in pigs or humans. During the 1998 outbreak, the case fatality rate in humans was high (39.6%). Pig farmers in the country lived in fear as “many went to a hospital for treatment but left in a coffin”. Malaysia spent USD171 million on eradication and lost USD446 million from the outbreak, mostly from domestic, export and allied business. Pigs were culled from all 896 farms in the infected areas of Perak state, and all farms in Negeri Sembilan state and the Sepang area in Selangor state.

Pig Farming Business

Pig farming is actually the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock principally for food. Pig or hog farming is a branch of animal husbandry. And it’s a very popular agribusiness throughout the world.

Pigs are well adapted to a wide variety of climatic conditions, and they can be raised in many different ways. They can be raised in intensive commercial units, extensive system, or in commercial free range systems. Pigs are among the most popular form of livestock, with more than one billion pigs butchered each year throughout the world (100 million of them in the USA).

Today, commercial pig farming business is popular in many countries. But the main pig products consuming countries are in Asia. Despite having the world’s largest herd, China is a net importer of pigs, and has been increasing it’s imports during it’s economic development.

As we have mentioned earlier, starting and operating a pig farming business is very easy and simple. Even the beginners can also start this business in small scale. But having a training will be better for commercial production.

Key objectives

Improving cultivation performance:

• Production efficiency;

• Growth speed;

• Efficiency of changing the feed.

• Improving structural quality of meat

Main Points

– Income earning for farmers: from the sale of meat, the derived products and from animals.

– Obtaining high quality products safe for consumer health.

– Preserving the wellbeing of animals and humans.

– Reducing the impact of breeding on the environment.

Here we are trying to describe more information about starting and operating a successful pig farming business from selecting breeds, to caring and marketing.

According to wilipedia.org, pig farming or pork farming or hog farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food (e.g. pork: bacon, ham, gammon) and skins. Pigs are amenable to many different styles of farming: intensive commercial units, commercial free range enterprises, or extensive farming (being allowed to wander around a village, town or city, or tethered in a simple shelter or kept in a pen outside the owner’s house). Historically, farm pigs were kept in small numbers and were closely associated with the residence of the owner, or in the same village or town. They were valued as a source of meat and fat, and for their ability to convert inedible food into meat and manure, and were often fed household food waste when kept on a homestead. Pigs have been farmed to dispose of municipal garbage on a large scale.

All these forms of pig farm are in use today, though intensive farms are by far the most popular, due to their potential to raise a large amount of pigs in a very cost-efficient manner. In developed nations, commercial farms house thousands of pigs in climate-controlled buildings. Pigs are a popular form of livestock, with more than one billion pigs butchered each year worldwide, 100 million in the United States. The majority of pigs are used for human food, but also supply skin, fat and other materials for use in clothing, ingredients for processed foods, cosmetics, and medical use.

Almost all of the pig can be used as food. Preparations of pig parts into specialties include: sausage (and casings made from the intestines), bacon, gammon, ham, skin into pork scratchings, feet into trotters, head into a meat jelly called head cheese (brawn), and consumption of the liver, chitterlings, and blood (blood pudding or brown pudding).

Pigs are farmed in many countries, though the main consuming countries are in Asia, meaning there is a significant international and even intercontinental trade in live and slaughtered pigs. Despite having the world’s largest herd, China is a net importer of pigs, and has been increasing its imports during its economic development. The largest exporters of pigs are the United States, the European Union, and Canada. As an example, more than half of Canadian production (22.8 million pigs) in 2008 was exported, going to 143 countries. Older pigs will consume eleven to nineteen litres (three to five US gallons) of water per day. Among meat animals, pigs have a lower feed conversion ratio than cattle, which can provide an advantage in lower unit price of meat because the cost of animal feed per kilogram or pound of resultant meat is lower. However, there are also many other economic variables in meat production and distribution, so the price differential of pork and beef at the point of retail sale does not always correspond closely to the differential in feed conversion ratios. Nonetheless, the favorable ratio often tends to make pork affordable relative to beef.

What are the problems with pig farming

The issue

The key animal welfare issue in pig farming is the close confinement of pigs in barren indoor environments where there is no opportunity for them to explore, forage and carry out other natural behaviours.

Most sows (mother pigs), boars (male pigs) and growers (meat pigs) are housed indoors on slatted concrete floors with no bedding. Sows are moved to farrowing crates to give birth – these crates are protect piglets but their design means the sow cannot turn around or perform her natural nest-seeking and nest-building behaviours.

These systems severely limit the ability to express natural behaviours and means these highly intelligent and inquisitive animals often become bored, frustrated and distressed. This, in turn, can result in abnormal behaviour like tail biting.

Shortly after birth, piglets are often subjected to painful tail docking which is intended to manage tail biting. Piglets may also have their sharp needle teeth clipped to prevent injury to the sow and other piglets.

Sow-stall-free farming is a positive first step, but sow-stall-free doesn’t always mean good welfare. Pigs in these systems can still be kept in barren pens without bedding, sows can still be confined to farrowing crates, and piglets can still be subjected to painful procedures.

The Long term impacts of pig farm pollution:

• Limits the use of rivers as a source of water and retards recreational and tourism activities
• Water quality degrades
• Affects the river ecosystem and can threaten river life extinction
• Visual and odour pollution
• Can cause water-borne diseases like diarrhea, skin diseases, etc
• When pig related wastewater is released into rivers such as Sungai Kereh, Penang that are sources for other agricultural activities like paddy, it can raise racial and religious sensitivities about the impact on the produce

Source: DOE

What needs to be changed?

The RSPCA believes pigs should be keep in an environment that allows freedom of movement, the ability to meet natural behavioural needs and provide opportunity for enhanced welfare.

Farrowing crates should be phased out in favour of farrowing systems that allow sows to move freely and meet the sows’ and piglets’ behavioural and physiological needs. This includes the use of environmental enrichment and bedding to encourage nesting behaviour. Sow stalls and individual stalls for boars should also be phased out in favour of group housing for sows and large pens for boars.

Good housing and good management should also eliminate the need for tail docking. An environment that offers appropriate stimulation and satisfies the pig’s motivation to explore and chew, e.g. the provision of straw or other enrichment, should reduce the incidence of tail biting.

For example, through the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme the RSPCA works closely with farmers committed to raising pigs to higher animal welfare standards. Since releasing our first animal welfare standards for pigs in 2001, more than 1.3 million pigs have benefitted from better conditions on farm.