50 heads · semi-commercial
Semi-Commercial — 50 Heads, Hired Worker, Direct Feed
Fifty heads is where pig farming starts looking like a business instead of a hobby. You hire a full-time caretaker, you negotiate feed direct, you can afford biosecurity that brings mortality below 4%, and the per-head profit reflects all of that.
Open this scenario in the Profit Simulator
The numbers below are pre-filled. Adjust feed price, mortality, or market price to match your area.
- Capital
- ₱600,000 – ₱720,000
- Time to market
- 4.5 months
- ₱ per head
- ₱4,500 – ₱6,500
At 50 heads the economics shift in three ways. First, feed cost drops because you can buy direct from a B-MEG or Thunderbird dealer at ₱50-100/sack below retail. Second, weaner sourcing improves — multiplier farms accept smaller orders from semi-commercial operators they recognise, and the price drops to ₱3,200-3,400 per 12-kg weaner. Third, biosecurity becomes affordable: a foot-dip, a small disinfection room, and an "all-in all-out" pen rotation cut mortality from the backyard 5-8% to a realistic 3-4%.
The catch is the worker. A 50-head farm needs daily attention — feeding twice a day, manure removal, water checks, weight monitoring. ₱9,000-12,000/month for a live-in caretaker in 2026 is the going rate in most provincial settings. That is ₱45,000-60,000 per batch baked into the cost, and it is what separates this scenario from the 20-pig OFW scenario above.
ADG also tends to be 5-10% higher at this scale, partly because the worker is dedicated and partly because pen density is properly managed. 0.6 kg/day to a 100-kg target is a fair assumption with commercial-hybrid weaners, putting grow-out at about 4.5 months instead of 5.
Cost breakdown
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| 50 weaners @ ₱3,300 | ₱165,000 |
| Direct-sourced feeds (₱1,550/sack) | ₱465,000 |
| Full-time caretaker (4.5 months × ₱10,000) | ₱45,000 |
| Vaccines, dewormer, vet retainer | ₱15,000 |
| Biosecurity (footdip, lime, disinfectant) | ₱8,000 |
| Pen depreciation (₱250k build / 5 years × ½ year) | ₱25,000 |
| Mortality buffer (4% = 2 pigs) | ₱32,000 |
| Electricity & water | ₱8,000 |
| Total batch cost | ₱763,000 |
Revenue line
48 pigs × 100 kg × ₱190/kg = ₱912,000
₱190/kg is a realistic price for a semi-commercial seller who can sell to a buyer in lot rather than one head at a time. The ₱149,000 batch profit works out to ~₱3,100 per head after every cost — or about ₱27,000/month if you average it across the 4.5-month batch.
What this leaves out
- ⚠ The per-head profit ranges quoted in DA promotional materials usually assume zero labour cost. Honest semi-commercial math costs in the caretaker — you should too.
- ⚠ A 4% mortality assumption needs real biosecurity. Without footdips, vaccine compliance, and pen rotation, you will see backyard-level losses (8-12%) even at this scale.
- ⚠ Semi-commercial is the awkward middle: too big to manage yourself, too small to absorb a single ASF case the way a 500-head farm can. Have an emergency feed budget for at least 2 weeks of held inventory if a movement ban hits.
Bisaya / Cebuano
Para sa mga mag-uuma
- Para sa 50 ka baboy nga semi-commercial, gikinahanglan og ₱600,000-720,000 ang kapital sa usa ka batch.
- Ang ganansya, kung tarong ang biosecurity ug 4% lang ang namatay, mga ₱150,000 sa 4.5 ka bulan — mga ₱3,000 matag baboy.
- Ang kalainan sa backyard: kinahanglan og full-time caretaker (₱10,000/buwan), tarong nga foot-dip, ug direkta nga feed sourcing. Kung dili nimo mahimo ang tulo, magpabilin ka lang sa backyard scale.
Try your own numbers
The Profit Simulator opens pre-loaded with this scenario.