Agriculture Business Week

A leading animal nutrition and healthcare company is launching a new program that will teach returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) how to put up their own piggery projects.

The program is called Balikbayan Bagong Kabuhayan under the auspices of Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Company (UNAHCO). The first training will be held at the company’s headquarters in Mandaluyong City on May 11.

Clint B. Escondo, UNAHCO’s senior product manager and group head of the swine cluster, said that the training is for free. Each batch could consist of 50 to 70 attendees.

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Posted on April 17th, 2011 under Livestock. Tags: Hogs, Piggery, Pigs. Comments: 49

Coming from the heels of ebola reston virus and AH1N1, typhoon-induced devastation and business risks brought about by foreign trade agreements, the swine business in the Philippines has become an interesting business, if not complicated. Pundits will definitely agree that this multi-billion peso sector, along with the corn industry, has faced more challenges than any agribusiness in the country.

Nevertheless, the industry’s resiliency is as “fat” as ever with stakeholders vowing to revive its vibrancy and entering 2010 with very bright prospects. Amid all ordeals, industry players are determined to hurdle insurmountable obstacles to get the sector back on the right track.

The stigma of 2009
Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) show that in 2009 hog production managed to post a 1.16 percent increase due to the number of fatteners which resulted in increased number of animals sold for slaughter in Visayas and Mindanao. BAS also said the control of Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive System (PRRS) due to vaccination in Luzon regions resulted in the recovery of farms in the third quarter of last year.

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Posted on June 23rd, 2010 under Livestock. Tags: A(H1N1), Disease, Ebola, Hogs, Livestock, Pigs, Swine. Comments: 3

Here’s your guide to surfing the limitless information you can find about livestock production in cyberspace.

Undoubtedly, the Internet has dramatically changed the way livestock producers, traders, researchers    and even consumers speedily do their business. Gone are the days when swine or goat farmers will have to travel miles just to get the latest prices of pork or chevon in the market. Today, it only takes a click of the computer mouse and you can get limitless information on practically anything regarding livestock: how is the feeds industry behaving? What are the FMD-free countries? Is Europe still banning the importation of beef? Or what’s the latest technology on the artificial insemination of lambs? While these tons of information come in handily, the problem is, how do we filter this avalanche of information in order to suit our needs?

As someone who practically lives and breathes agricultural information for years, we still find ourselves in a quandary especially when we do our research work over the worldwide web. For example, try typing the words “livestock production” in Google and you will get 2,880,000 hits. Where do you go from there? Below are four tips and reminders on how you can surf and navigate in cyberspace and still get the livestock information you want.

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Posted on May 8th, 2010 under Livestock. Tags: Cyberspace, Hogs, Internet, Livestock, Pigs. Comments: 3

The 19th Hog Convention and Trade Exhibits will be staged on April 8 to 10 at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Davao City, hosted by the Davao Hog Farmers Association, Inc. It is organized annually by the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines or ProPork (formerly the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc.).

This year’s theme, “Ensuring survival through efficiency and improved pork production,” will educate participants with practical and technical information and tips from experts – helping them secure the safety and profitability of their farms.

The annual event – the biggest and longest-running trade exhibition focusing on the swine industry, gathers thousands of commercial and backyard hog raisers from all over Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

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Posted on March 28th, 2010 under Events, Livestock. Tags: Convention, Davao, Events, Hog, Pigs, Trade. Comments: 6

Here’s an in-depth look at the world of organic farming for both livestock and organic.

Organic agriculture in the Philippines is still in its embryonic phase when compared to agricultural sectors of other countries. However, organic agriculture in the country is fast gaining ground. Though organic agricultural production is limited, it is steadily growing, between 10-20% annually. The organic market in the country is currently considered as a “niche market.” But producers need not be discouraged. Top marketing experts have predicted that in the coming trends, it is in the niche markets where profits lie. Organic products are also penetrating the major supermarkets with a price premium ranging from 20% to 50% over non-organic products.

The President of Philippines approved a document on the “Promotion and Development of Organic Agriculture in the Philippines” in 2005-Executive Order 481. This recognizes the marketability potential of organic agriculture in the country and also provides government support to the development of the organic sector of agriculture. EO 481 also hopes to establish an organic agriculture program that will adopt and develop organic product markets, the education of more farmers, the extension of assistance to individuals and groups who are practicing and promoting these methods, and documentation and evaluation of the programs.

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Posted on October 19th, 2009 under Livestock, Organic, Poultry. Tags: Chicken, Organic, Pigs. Comments: 10

Here’s an in-depth look at the world of swine raising and the potential business you can get out of it.

Mastitis-metritis-agalactia, syndrome or MMA syndrome, also known as post-partum dysgalactia, is commonly caused by nonspecific or unknown sources. Mastitis and agalactia is the absence or lack of milk in sows.

MMA syndrome may be caused by infection or stress from excitement or difficulty in farrowing. This condition may also be caused by digestive difficulty or by environmental factors.

Metritis is referred as the nonspecific inflammation of the uterus and is associated with abortion, difficult delivery, or retained placenta.

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Posted on October 10th, 2009 under Livestock. Tags: Disease, Pigs, Pigs/Hogs. Comments: None

Care and Health Practices

Common Diseases and Parasites

Hog Cholera or Swine Fever

Pigs gets contaminated through direct contact or by eating uncooked slops or kitchen scraps containing the virus

Signs

• Fever, loss of appetite
• Increased thirst, chills and sometimes vomiting
• Constipation, later followed by diarrhea
• Inflammation of the eye (conjunctivitis) thick discharges causing eyelids to stick together
• Reddish, purple discoloration of skin at ears, abdomen, inner thighs or tai
• Death ensues 4-7 days after onset of signs
• Prolonged duration of illness (chronic form) terminates in pneumonia or hemorrhagic enteritis, or both

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Posted on October 10th, 2009 under Livestock. Tags: Disease, Pigs, Swine. Comments: 3

Halquinol is an old drug but still is useful for nonspecific treatment of scouring or diarrhea in livestock and poultry. Although it is quite commonly used in pig and poultry production, many raisers still needs to know the nature of this drug.

What is halquinol?
Halquinol is the generic name of the active ingredients of Quixalud, a product of Novartis Animal Health. Halquinol is also available as generic products from different sources.

Is halquinol an antibiotic?
In the strictest sense, halquinol is NOT an antibiotic, but it kills microbes that may cause disease.

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Posted on July 11th, 2009 under Livestock, Poultry. Tags: Halquinol, Pigs, Poultry. Comments: 10

Here’s an in-depth look at the world of swine raising and the potential business you can get out of it.

Housing facilities play an important role in raising profitable hogs. The swine house should be constructed to aid in the maximum performance of the stock. Poorly constructed hog houses unquestionably facilitate health management problems that should be avoided.

Hog houses are ideally built on a slightly sloping area to facilitate proper drainage. This prevents the house from getting too muddy and allows convenience.

Concrete floors should be built for permanent hog houses. This facilitates ease in cleaning and minimizes parasite and disease incidents. Concrete floors should not be too abrasive to cause leg and feet problems. However it should not also be too smooth to be slippery when wet.

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Posted on June 18th, 2009 under Livestock. Tags: Breeding, Hogs, Pigs, Pigs/Hogs, Swine. Comments: None

Here’s an ABC guide on how to choose, and care for your piglets.

Despite the many crises the swine industry faces, many Filipinos still venture into swine-raising as an enterprise. This may sound all hogwash during times of porcine crisis, so we will let statistics speak for it:

Selecting a bloodline
Today there are imported breeds of meat-type swine presently available in the Philippine market ‘there is no ultimately ideal breed that gives the most profit. Instead, producers should consider local conditions mid other Factors such as farming experience, finance and purpose when choosing a breed to raise.

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Posted on May 4th, 2009 under Livestock. Tags: Pigs, Swine. Comments: 6

Controlling the odor from pigpens has been the challenge for many swine raisers, especially in urban areas. Unknown to many, PCAKRD’s Magsasaka-Siyentista (MS) Felimon `Boy’ Santander from Mandug, Davao City, a swine raiser and a biogas advocate, has come up with an alternative and environment-friendly farming technology to combat.

MS Santander constructed his own modified biogas digester in his backyard in 1995. It eliminated the unpleasant odor coming from the pigpen, at the same time provided a free source of cooking gas. He also started to promote biogas and provide free file] to his neighbors. Consequently, other pigpen owners requested Santander’s assistance in constructing their own biogas digester.

MS Santander’s modified digester’s features are simple. It uses concrete materials. His digesters range from 2m3 to 20m3. Through his modified biogas digester, Santander has proven that biogas technology can also be used in small-scale backyard pigpens.

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Posted on May 2nd, 2009 under Livestock, Technology. Tags: Biogas, Digester, Pigs, Swine. Comments: 17

Rolando “Rudy” Mintac was in third grade when his parents arrived in Brgy. Ramada, Maria Aurora, Aurora Province (then still a part of Quezon Province) from Manaoag, Pangasinan in 1965 not necessarily to acquire cultivable lands, but to fulfill their “religious mission” to follow the sun anti settle at the east.

Although other Ilocano settlers were busy clearing lands from their thick vegetation, Rudy’s parents were so engrossed in their religion such that they were contented in becoming tenants if only to produce food for their family.

A series of typhoons that hit Maria Aurora when Rudy was already a second year college student probably turned the tide for him. All the nuts of the coconut trees in the plantation fell down with the typhoon, forcing Rudy to drop out from college.

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Posted on April 23rd, 2009 under Entrepreneurs, Livestock, Other Crops, Rice. Tags: Coconut, Farmer, Farming, Gawad Saka, Ilocano, Pigs, Rice. Comments: 1

Imagine a pigpen that does not emit foul odor, and a household that enjoys free cooking gas and robust crops grown without chemical fertilizer. These are among the many benefits that Felimon “Boy” O Santander of Mandug, Davao City is enjoying nowadays, thanks to biogas technology that he has adopted.

Santander is one of the Magsasaka Siyentista, a part of the Farmer Scientist Bureau under the Techno Gabay Program which is one of the banner programs of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.

In 1997, Santander, a Political Science graduate, has ventured into his own full-time hog project after being employed at the city government for 11 years. Today, he is concentrating in providing breeding services in his community and in neighboring towns and provinces. He maintains four boars that serve as a source of quality semen for use in artificial insemination services, and few heads for fattening. He is also into piglet and sow dispersal.

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Posted on April 17th, 2009 under Livestock, Technology. Tags: Biogas, Digesters, Pigs, Pigs/Hogs. Comments: 12

Helen’s Farm in Joaquin Biao, Calinan district, Davao City, had become a run-down 30-hectare farm after more than two decades of continued use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The soil had become acidic and the cacao trees that were about 20 years old had become sickly. The trees had few small yellowish leaves and they yielded very few fruits, most of them damaged by pod borers. The soil was virtually dead because the beneficial microorganisms had been killed by the chemicals.

That’s how Andry Lim described his family’s farm which he was assigned to manage starting 2001. Previously, he was working for a tribal mission foundation that conducted community development activities among the tribes in Mindanao, helping them earn a living Andry and Joji Lim with fruitful cacao tree. from farming.

His taking over the management of Helen’s Farm gave him an opportunity to put into practice what he loves to call Natural Farming that he learned while he was connected with the tribal mission foundation. He had the good fortune of attending a seminar on natural farming in 1997 conducted by Dr. Cho Hayn Yu, a Korean natural farming expert who was invited to Davao by a Korean missionary.

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Posted on April 15th, 2009 under Farming, Livestock, Vegetables. Tags: Farm, Farming, Natural Farming, Pigs, Veggies. Comments: 20