From a hunter
Ho Xuan Trach used to be a boar hunter in A Luoi mountain district. Anyone that needs to buy boar meat from a few kilos to a whole boar is immediately introduced by A Luoi people to Trach; even some boars are also provided. Most restaurants with boar meat in A Luoi District are supplied by Trach.
Caring for female boars on Ho Xuan Trach’s family farm
During a hunt more than 8 years ago, although wandering through the forests, Ho Xuan Trach could not find any boars; he realized that boars are increasingly scarce on account of the indiscriminate hunting. Since then, he has thought of cross-breeding boars in the home garden to satisfy the consumption demand in the district and surrounding areas.
"Hunting and hunting will certainly lead to extermination; there is no source to meet the market demand." Perhaps it is time to cross-breed and develop boars in the home garden for sale,” Trach thought.
Ho Xuan Trach packed and went into the forest to hunt boars for a breed source. After a few days of searching in many forests, he caught 2 individual male boars and three female ones. In the first days of being bred in the home garden, 3 out of 5 boars have not yet adapted to the new environment, so they often gave up eating and were at risk of illness. Through referring to the books, learning about the treatments on the Internet, the individuals were methodically cared for, released and bred in the same way as the natural environment, so they quickly adapted and developed well.
With the method of breeding boars loosely in the home garden, feeding them wild vegetables, banana stalks, after more than a month, individual boars reached maturity; the average weight of each individual was 15kg. From all-natural mating instincts, all 3 individual female boars conceived and reproduced the first litter of 25 young. The first litters of young boars were retained by Trach for commercially breeding and expanding the family farm scale.
"I really never think that breeding reproductive boars is so easy! For the first litter, each sow produced 8 young. However, for long the forest hunting has got the number of natural boars to decline sharply,” regretted Trach.
"To breed boars on a family farm scale, the farm requires an area ranging from a few thousand square meters to a few hectares so that pigs can move freely as in their natural environment. In the grazing garden, there must be a variety of plants and wild vegetables to create food and shelter for boars in hot season. The source of drinking water for them was originally completely from spring water; the process of accustoming and adapting will enable them to gradually shift to drinking water at home,” said Mr. Trach.
To the boar family farm
According to Trach, breeding boars is basically the same as breeding common pigs, even simpler, with almost no epidemic diseases. Their source of food is mainly wild vegetables with a little more sweet potato vegetables and bananas grown in the garden, thus reducing investment costs a lot.
However, the breeding process needs active care, adequate diet; the breeding farm cage has to be cool and warm to achieve high productivity. On his farm, there are often 3-5 laborers knowledgeable about veterinary work, farm cage sanitation, food processing and so on with an average per capita salary of VND 3 million a month.
In addition to supplying boar meat to traders and restaurants in the province, Trach develops the herd of parent boars for reproduction to meet the breed demand in A Luoi District and the whole province in general. Up to now, his family farm has had more than 100 parent boars with fast fertility. Each year, a sow produces two litters, averaging 20 or more.
Boar meat with a delicious taste is popular with many people, so it is not only easy to sell but also high-priced. At the moment, the price of 1 kg of boar meat fluctuates around VND 150,000. Trach's customers are not only those in A Luoi District but also the restaurants in Hue City and surrounding areas. On average, each year, the Pa Co young man provides the market with 80-90 quintals of commercial meat.
Realizing the effectiveness of the boar-breeding model, many households in the plain, including the sea area, came to Trach's farm to learn techniques, experience and buy the breeding boars to rear. His family becomes the first prestigious large-scale “center” for provision of the breeding boars in the province. For every pair of the breeding boars, the price ranges from VND 5 million or more, depending on the weight-the heavier the weight is, the higher the price is. Each year, his family earns more than VND 50 million from selling the breeding boars.
According to Mr. Tran Quoc Suu, Head of Epidemiology Division under Provincial Animal Husbandry-Veterinary Agency, in recent years, breeding boars has become an agricultural economic model, bringing stable economic efficiency. Until now, the province has had hundreds of boar-breeding models, from the plains to the mountain areas of Nam Dong and A Luoi; on average, each model has a scale of several dozen young to 100 or more. The original source of boar breed was originated from Ho Xuan Trach’s family farm in Hong Kim Commune (A Luoi). Later, the households can breed boars and develop the herd themselves.
Story and photo: HOANG TRIEU