Who would have thought that animals can also contribute to someone’s success in life? A 33-year-old woman decided to take the risk of putting up a fattening business and quit her job 14 years ago when she was 19.

Commercial fattening of livestock, most notably pigs and cattle, has been a part of the agricultural practices in the Philippines for many decades.

Most people want to start this business because they know how much profit they can get from it, but for Geleen Garcia, it’s a leap of faith risk as she started this business way back then.

They only had three fatteners with P30,000 investment — until it became five, 10, 20 and 30 pigs.

In 2018, she was one of the individuals in the fattening industry who received a scholarship in Husbandry at the International Training Center on pig husbandry course provided by the Soro-soro Ibaba Development Cooperative in Batangas.

Through their piggery business, they had the chance to buy their 200-square meter house in 2015 and a farm lot of 400 sqm. Geleen is very particular about things that the hog farmers should know about this business. Here are some recommendations or suggestions you might want to consider before starting this business.

Knowing different breeds of pigs: If looking to expand your sow population for piglet production, consider opting for Landrace or Large White breeds. Landrace pigs are known for their maternal instincts, adaptability, and white coats while Large White, also known as Yorkshire pigs, excel in large size, lean meat production, and efficient feed conversion in commercial farming.

For pig fattening purposes, the Duroc breed is a popular choice due to its reddish-brown color, rapid growth rate and superior meat quality. When discussing the White Pietrain, it typically refers to Pietrain pigs with predominantly white coats. Pietrain Duroc refers to a cross-bred pig resulting from a mating between Pietrain and Duroc breeds. If you want to do lechon business, you can consider native pig breeds.

Pigs should be complete with vaccinations; sows and piglets must complete vaccines to fight viruses. They are prone to pneumonia, and also their mortality gets high, which is as contagious as hog cholera.