One of the biggest reasons many pig farmers think they are making profit, when they’re actually not, is because they’ve never calculated feed cost per pig.
They just buy feed, pour it, and hope the pig “looks big enough” to sell.
But hope is not a strategy. At Ilado Farm we calcute
Here’s a very simple way to know exactly how much feed each pig is eating and what it’s costing you.
Let’s say you bought feed worth ₦250,000 this month. That includes maize, PKC, concentrates, premix, everything that entered the feeder. You don’t need to separate them. Just total the cost.
Now look at how many pigs are eating that feed. If you have 20 pigs on the farm, divide the total feed cost by 20.
₦250,000 ÷ 20 pigs = ₦12,500 feed cost per pig (for that period).
That’s it. That’s your feed cost per pig for that time frame.
If that feeding lasted one month, then each pig is costing you about ₦12,500 per month in feed. If it lasted two weeks, then that’s ₦12,500 per pig in just two weeks, which should immediately make you pause and review your feeding.
Now let’s connect this to profit.
If a pig takes 6 months to reach market weight and you’re spending ₦12,500 per pig per month on feed, that’s ₦75,000 in feed alone per pig, excluding drugs, labour, water, repairs, and losses.
If buyers are offering you ₦80,000 or ₦85,000 per pig, you’re not making profit. You’re just recovering money slowly.
This simple calculation helps you spot problems early. You’ll quickly notice when feed costs are rising too fast, when wastage is happening, or when pigs are staying too long on the farm without adding enough weight.
It also helps you compare systems. If you change a feed formula, adjust feeding time, or reduce wastage, you can immediately see whether your cost per pig goes up or comes down.
This is why farmers who calculate don’t argue with buyers emotionally. They already know their numbers.
Feed cost per pig is not something you calculate at sale time.
You calculate it while the pigs are still eating, so you can correct mistakes early.
