Denpasar, In the City
Wayan Sujendra : Pig Breeder

A part of Hindu Balinese social life revolves around pigs for two reasons. Firstly, Balinese need the cattle in rituals and secondly, pork is the main food served during receptions, weddings, and other feasts. Moreover, there are many food stalls or restaurants specializing in selling roast “babi guling” or suckling pig.

Breeding pigs in Bali is therefore a big business, both individually and professionally, as a source of income. Take the example of a business enterprise of a group of 65 members in Jalan Lumba-lumba IV No. 11 Denpasar. Every member of this group known as “Kresek”, more or less owns 25 pigs.
According to the group secretary, I Wayan Sujendra, it differentiates places for breeding and fattening, in order to attain better results and prime quality pigs. This is why this cattle group owns two kinds of stable located in Jalan Palapa XIV, Denpasar, and a fattening stable in Jalan By Pass Ngurah Rai.
Castration of seven-day old pigs should take place to get good seeds, while it is also a specific way to assist their growth for the sake of maintaining good and healthy conditions. Further treatments are to give cholera vaccines and to separate them from their mothers at the age of 50 days. “Nevertheless, piglets expected to become mothers are vaccinated again at the age of six months,” the association secretary said.
A six-month pig is ready for market. Sujendra acknowledged buyers come to his stable, as well as direct sale to members of the surrounding community and to hotels wishing to hold spiritual rites or other needs. A pig is usually sold at Rp 75.000/kg . “In effect, there are many sectors that rely on pig breeding. Sujendra said, such as the businesses that sell roast suckling pig.
Wayan Sujendra, who owns 30 breeders, said that they can give birth to up to two youngsters in one week. The gestation period is 3 or 4 months or around 115 days. He gets most of their feed from waste from hotels, which helps keep the maintenance costs down and is an example of how the government program of decreasing waste with a system of the “4R’s”, “Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, and Residue” is put in place.
In re-using the waste from pig breeding, Wayan Sujendra begins by collecting this waste in a septic tank, from which he then produces stable fertilizer. Otherwise, a WWG (Waste Water Garden) system is useful to collect the rubbish. (Budarsana)