Steemit Challenge Season 34 - Week 6 Question 2: My Business Idea — Livestock Farming (Pig & Sheep rearing)

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It feels good to be participating in this week's challenge. "Let's talk about business" is actually a nice topic that would generate a lot of discussions about business ideas and insight. I thought to share mine as well. I hope you enjoy every bit.

Have you ever wanted to set up your own business?

This has always been my dream someday but then its not the kind of business that can make me leave my secular job almost immediately after starting. It's takes time for this kind of business to become established to make one a multi millionaire, I think it's the same for other business as well.

I love livestock farming and I'm into it, but not fully immersed into it and that because I do not own all the livestock I manage here, I only have a little stake in the livestocks I look out for here. Hence the reason why I'm still actively doing my secular job until I have all it takes to start up mine fully.

What sort of business would it be? Would it have physical premises or would you work from home or would it all be online?

Pig and Sheep rearing. No matter what aspect of agriculture I venture into in future, I would never neglect these two. Piggery is more lucrative though but having sheep alongside is what I call the balance for this kind of business. What do I mean, the cost of taking care of pig till it hit market size is not a cheap especially if you want them to hit the market at certain period but not so with sheeps.

Their feeding is carefully prepared and formulated so they can grow healthy and bulky. They can be sold in any form but for me, I would prepare to sell the live weight. Presently it sold for N2,200/Kg about 26 steems. So if for a starter you have about 10 of these pigs weighing about 80kg each which is possible if well fed for about 6 - 8 month, you have roughly N1,760,000 (20,952 steem). For a starter farmer who can not manage more than 10 pigs.

Sheep on the other hand which I call the balance requires little care and attention and they can always fend for themselves. All you need to do is to ensure you give them medication as at when due and provide them with supplements because they basically feed on grass but once in a while you give them those supplements and other food like wheat offal.

The down side is that sheeps do not give reproduce as much as pig would do even though they do not require so much from you financially. One she could give you a maximum of 4 year. Their market value and demand is also high. The ram which is the male is always in hot demand during the muslim annual celebration, I well fed ram can sell as high as 700k while the female can sell as high as 200k especially if it a breed that produces well.

A pig (sow) on the other hand can give you up to 25 piglets a year depending on the breed. Having up to 25 piglets by just two of your sows in one year forces you into large scale livestock farming even when you're unprepared. You can then decided to sell off to retain the number you can comfortably nurture.

Try making a basic business plan to test out the feasibility of the business - start up costs, competitor analysis, price setting, operating costs, cash flow forecasts etc.

A simple plan for a starter who want to go in on a small scale would need these basic plan, you can then use this plan as a multiplier depending on your financial strength.

Items Needed	Cost
A space/Land, about half plot	N20k (rent)
Small Pen construction	50k
3 Healthy Weaners	90k (30k each)
Feed Formulation (Not Pro feed)	300k for 6 months
Vaccination	20k (Estimated)
Miscellaneous	10k

The above can be tweaked depending on ones financial ability. If at the time I decided to go in, I found out I can get more than a half plot of land, then I'll go for it, I would just lease it for 5 years. The total estimate to keep those 3 winners with all the things required is roughly N490,000 equivalent to 5,833 steems just for 6 months.

If they convert well they should not weigh anything less than 80kg. Usually their estimated weight for a rich feed based on this calculation is usually between 60 - 80kg. However I can decide to cut down the whole expenses by choosing to use a borrowed space which cost me almost nothing , administer vaccinations myself and use an improvised pen.

This would likely bring the total budget down to around N370,000 (4,404steem) in total for a period of 6 months. And if you're fortunate enough that one or two of those weaners grow to give you piglets, then you've saved some amount that would have been used to replenishing your stock.

If at the end, you spend N370,000 and those three gives you a weight of 80kg each that will be 240kg in total multiplied by N2200/kg which equals N528,000, profit would then be N158k (1,880 steems) for just three pigs.

In some locations a kilogram is sold as much as N2400, if this is it, the profit would be N206k (2,452 steems).
If you sell directly to retailers, you could sell as much as N2,800/kg because you have just eliminated middle man. Your profit should be around N302k (3,595 steems)

As for sheeps, you don't need much, a space as well, maybe three young sheeps for a start, a male and two females, a little feed as supplements and regular vaccines. You don't sell this off like you do to pig because these ones grow at a more natural and define pace, you might not be able to induce it the way you do pig but on the long run, you will have too much to sell at intervals.

Conclusion

I believe with my little experience tending for these sheep which I manage with my little stake in it, I would be able to do much better when I fully start up a farm I can entirely call mine. To market these things is not even a big deal. There's is always a ready market for it and as every other market, prices fluctuate based on the law of demand and supply.

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Regards
@lhorgic❤️