Commercial Pig Farm in Ghana

INDIGENOUS MICROORGANISMS (IMO) - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Christopher Mulindwa - 13th.03.2021

Indigenous Microorganisms or IMO as popularly known is nothing else but a combination of unidentified microorganisms naturally present in environment.

These organisms naturally helps to speed up breakdown of organic matter in the environment.

Based on origin, micro organisms can be classified as Indigenous or exogenous (foreign). Indigenous Microorganisms don't cause disease but exogenous microorganisms do!

Based on explanation above, IMO is introduced on pig house floors mainly to speed up breakdown of f***l matter. The Microorganisms are spread on dust capable of absorbing moisture. The f***l matter is buried into wood dust to expose it to increase its surface area to the microorganisms for quicker breakdown. A manure - soil like substance is formed. When the saw dust is not changed after every given period of time, aeration is affected and therefore breakdown slows down.

The use of IMO floors makes sense on small scale piggery operations most especially those with limited space for waste disposal.
The use of IMO floors provides enough time to a smallholder farmer to plan how and when and where dispose of pig house solid waste.

The practice can turn into a profit thief when used on commercial operations. WHY?
1. An environment capable of harboring survival of indigenous Microorganisms (IMO) may be appropriate for survival of pathogenic bacteria and other microorganisms. This may lead to huge expenses on treating infections and unnecessarily high mortalities.
2. Disinfection of IMO floors threatens survival of the indigenous microorganisms present. This makes control of pathogens in the environment almost impossible.
3. The emerging alternative uses of wood dust is making it unnecessary expensive. It also making access to wood dust enough for large piggery operation difficult.

NOTE: A pig farm is only commercially viable and sustainable when the manager or owner is in full control of both internal and external factors that influence both continued production and marketing. No room for surprises should be left!

Pig producers in Africa have for a long time confused PROBIOTICS with IMO. Probiotics are live bacteria or microorganisms that are either mixed in the feed or administered individually by mouth to produce a beneficial effect in a pig's gut. They are believed to be beneficial in the following ways:
👉 Neutralising toxins in the intestinal tract of a pig.
👉 Preventing the attachment of pathogens to the intestinal surface of a pig by competition.
👉 Stimulating the pig's immune system.
👉 Reducing numbers of pathogens in a pig's gut by competition.

However, the use of probiotics in commercial pig farming is rapidly fading up and replaced with other modern technologies because of its inefficient contribution to the advantages mentioned above.

Unlike IMO, Probiotics are composed of known types and concentration of non pathogenic bacteria selected and added for different purposes.

Therefore adding IMO to pig feeds or drinking water is a "trial and error" theory. The benefit of this activity is not biologically definable.

Pig farmers in Africa have been made to believe that when wood dust is mixed with IMO, it becomes pig food thereby helping them reduce rations. The pig's digestive system has no ability to digest wood dust and other cellulose feedstuffs even when mixed with IMO. Such practices can only lead to poor performance and hence loss of investment.

Last but not least, it is alleged that pigs growing in an IMO environment do not build a big backfat layer like those kept in concrete, plastic and metallic flooring!
The level of fat in pigs growing for slaughter is largely determined by genetics and nutrition. It is also influenced by age!
The ability of a pig to grow muscle decrease with increasing age and is almost constant at 24 weeks of age. The ability of a pig to grow fat increases with increasing age!

Nuscience has introduced two concetrates for the East African market, the pig 5 and 25 percent. The pig 5 percent was designed for pig farmers who can easily access quality feedstuffs. It is a great product for commercialized operations.
The pig 25 percent was designed for producers who can't easily access quality feedstuffs. You only need to add 85% combination of maize and Maize bran or only maize to make a well balanced diet for different categories of pigs.

BABISTAR SAFE (CREEP FEED).
Also designed by Nuscience for pre weaned piglets. Barbistar Safe is a commercial standard creep feed that simplifies the need for early weaning. It speeds up digestive system growth, protects it from minor infections and improves weaning weights. This makes a 3 - 4 weeks weaning strategy possible. Barbistar safe comes ready to feed.

To buy the concetrates and creep feed, please contact:

+256776604030/+256 755 400 170.
+254101640023/+254 792764002

My books Pig Farm Gains - A Market Approach and Farming Pigs for Money - The essentials of profitable pig farming are available in both Aristoc and Uganda Bookshop. Call +256 774 705 324 for delivery arrangements of both titles.

Dear fellow piggery Farmers,
If your farm is in any of the categories below then its time to make some adjustment for profitability.

1. If you have more pigs than you can feed properly then they will soon lead you to loses
Make some adjustments increase the feeds or reduce the number to meet the available feeds.

2. If you are feeding your pigs on good nutritious feeds but they are not gaining weight (I.e Commercial breeds gain up to 100kgs or above in 6 months from birth.) Then perhaps its time to look for a trusted breeder to get you commercial breeds for profitability. "It is said even if you give all the nutrition in the world to a goat, it can never be as fat as an elephant because it only has growth characters of a goat"

3. If you have been allowing everyone into your farm its time to lock its gate and major on E-commerce or have a sales point a way from the pig units to simply avoid losing your farm to infections such as African Swine Fever (Lift up the biosecurity alert to Red).

4. If you recently lost your stock to African swine fever outbreak then you need to come back and clean that place properly with soap, jik or any other detergent, it is time to come back to the fight, though you lost the battle but the war is still on. Therefore Arm yourself with good genetics,feeds and triple your bio security measures. Become a David and kill Goliath.

5. If you don't have structures yet for the animals, then its time you thought of how to get them to protect these animals from harm for profitable farming. Otherwise your animals are exposed to many dangers.

6. If you have no knowledge on piggery but have passion then, get knowledge first invest in knowledge first before you can invest in any genetics. Passion is Good but knowledge is excellent.

7. If you have been inbreeding, its time to stop and crossbreed but not over crossbreed again.

8. If you are a new farmer, be humble and seek for guidance from trusted sources on genetics, feeds & nutrition,

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Did You Know?

~Pigs are very clean animals. ...
~Pigs can't sweat. ...
~Pigs are smarter than your dog. ...
~Mother pigs sing to their babies. ...
~Pigs love belly rubs! ...
~Pigs have an excellent sense of direction.
~Pigs dream and like to sleep nose-to-nose.
~Pigs have excellent memories.