Five smallholder piggery farms (A, B, C, D and E) were used to determine the socio cultural
characteristics of educated smallholder pig farmers and the effects of their choice of feeding practices on the
performance of pigs during a 14 weeks study period. The farms were categorized into small, medium and large size
farms, with small farms stocking 70-80, medium 120 – 130 and larger 230-270 pigs. Scheduled interviews were
used to elicit information on socio cultural characteristics of the farmers and their farms. In each farm, six weaner
pigs of Large white, Landrace and Duroc breeds were selected on their weaning days and their ages and initial body
weights determined. The feeds offered to the weaners were physically characterized for their ingredient contents.
Thereafter, representative samples of the feeds were subjected to proximate analysis on the first, seventh and
thirteenth weeks of the study. The study revealed that the small, medium and large sized farms were managed by
men aged between 40 and 56 years. Four out of the five had their degrees in agriculture and had farming experiences
of 1 to12 years. The farms had been in existences for mostly 12-22 years. Corrugated iron roofing and concrete
flooring were common. All the farms utilized palm kernel cake as their major energy feedstuffs, in addition to soy
bean, cattle blood, local fish meal and vitamins premix. The mean crude protein values of the feed samples were of
similar range (13.49-14.20%), while crude fiber and ether extract values were very high. Calculated metabolizable
energy values were also relatively low for growing pigs. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in the final
body weights of the grower pigs after 14 weeks of feeding across the farms. However, there was no significant
(p>0.05) difference in weight gain, with farm A, B, C, D and E returning 33.84, 33.72, 32.99, 31 86 and 33.69 kg
mean weights respectively. The feed conversion ratio across the different farms was 5.0, 4.5, 5.1, 3.9 and 5.0 for
farms A, B, C, D and E respectively. The 3.9 feed conversion ratio returned for duroc breed in farm D, indicted
superior performance of the breed under the feeding and management practices investigated. While growth
performance and proximate values of on-farm formulated feeds obtained tended to be lower then those obtained
from experimental stations, the educated farmers studied here seemed to prefer their present performance results.
There is need to evaluate the production components that drive this choice in order to properly situate small holder
pig production and performance in the study area.