A formulator's experience: about the red hair of pigskin
August 06 12:01:51, 2025
As a formulator, I’ve always found it difficult to talk about this topic. However, recently, I visited Henan, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu provinces to check the market, and I was surprised to find that there's still strong demand for piglets with high-quality fur. My former company is located in Rong County, Guangxi, which is the largest pig breeding county in China. The term "pig flower" refers to pigs that weigh around 90 pounds after being raised from 12-pound piglets. But when they’re sold, they aren’t just called pigs—they’re referred to as “flower pigs.†These pigs are valued for their rosy skin, short, sparse, and shiny hair, and can be sold for 50 yuan each. Even if your pig is slightly heavier than mine, if your fur is better, you’ll get a higher price. Rong County has a monthly capacity of around 2,000 tons of such pigs. Many large companies have tried to compete, but because their fur isn’t good enough, even if their prices are lower, no one buys them. That’s why a product with quality fur often leads to big sales.
When I first joined the company in Rongxian, I was constantly criticized and laughed at by the sales team. It took me two years to deeply study the fur issue, and now we've managed to solve about 80% of the problem. I'm not saying it's fully resolved yet, but we're on the right track. In the following paragraphs, I'll share some of my failure experiences and lessons learned, including some of the recipes we tried along the way.
1. Ascorbic Acid: At the beginning of the formula development, I added aspartic acid in quantities between 200 and 250 ppm, hoping to meet market demands. However, later I realized that the redness of the skin wasn't significantly improved. Instead, the ears became more red, but the overall fur condition worsened. I conducted experiments with 250 ppm and 300 ppm of aspartic acid, and the pigs showed clear signs of poisoning. I want to warn everyone: when using excessive amounts of oxalic acid or other toxic drugs like neomycin, sputum, or olaquindox, you must be extremely careful. Otherwise, you might face complaints or even legal issues.
2. High Energy, High Fat: Many experts believe that increasing energy levels can improve fur quality. There are two different recipes used in practice:
[Image 1: A screenshot from Sogou, June 18, 2013, 08:39]
[Image 2: Another Sogou screenshot from the same date, 08:40]
These images show some of the formulations we tested during our research. Although we made progress, there’s still a long way to go before we achieve full success. This experience has taught me a lot, and I hope sharing these insights will help others avoid similar mistakes.