Farm Economics - The Pig Lesson

[Ernie]

Awhile back, a poster argued that we cannot raise our own food cheaper than we can buy it. Arguments ensued. Illusions were trampled. Emotional fingers were slammed in the car doors of logic. In this post, I aim to revisit this argument, though in a slightly different way. I want to break down the simple economics of homesteading life, if done precisely and efficiently, and see if we can't uncover the truth.

Because I don't have pigs of my own, I just went to the local meat market and picked up some pork chops for tonight's dinner. It's not a corporate chain, so the price is a little higher. I paid $5.99 per pound for some butterfly pork chops. I'll round down for the purposes of math and say that I bought 8 pounds for a total price of $47.92, then a 6% sales tax which brought me to about $50.79 for a total. (The government collected a whopping $2.87 on this transaction for educating children, keeping the highways free of banditry, and for securing our national borders.)

Illinois minimum wage (which is what I'd get paid if I did all this farm labor for someone else) is $7.50 an hour. For my $50.79, I had to work about 6 hours and 45 minutes. Tonight's dinner, for a family of 6, is costing me almost a full day's salary. That's not counting yet the potatoes I've got to peel and cut in order to boil and mash for a side dish.

Now let's say I bought a feeder pig in St Paul come spring. I'll pay roughly $50 (commodity prices vary widely, but I'm taking an average here) for a 35 pound, 8 week old feeder pig. In order to get our baby pig up to a decent eating weight (estimated 240 pounds), we've got to feed him 2 pounds of corn per day, or its energy equivalent. Ours is a household that produces lots of table scraps (small children are wasteful regardless of how hard you try) and so those go into a bucket by the back door for the pig. He also gets garden waste all summer consisting of potatoes I hit with the spade, carrot tops and greens, etc. When I slaughter chickens he gets the scraps and offal. He gets the milk when the goat puts her nasty manure-covered hoof into the bucket. On a diversified family homestead like ours, this pig will get 80% of his nutrition from what would otherwise be considered waste. Now according to the Illinois county extension office, a pig's total corn consumption from feeder pig stage to a 240 pound finishing pig is 530 pounds of corn. Remember, 80% of his nutrition came from other things, so that left me feeding 20% of his ration in corn, which is 106 pounds of corn. At about $0.51 per pound (darn ethanol driving the costs up), this pig will require $54.06 more money for his ration cost. That brings us up to a total of $104.06 for the price of this pig over his 4 month (120 day) stay with us.

His housing cost me nothing ... I used scrap lumber to build a pen. For labor, estimate 3 hours of time in the beginning to go pick out the feeder pig and return to the farm with him. Then there's about 15 minutes per day of dumping food in his trough and making sure he has water. Since that doesn't always take 15 minutes per day, add in the additional time for things such as taking his temperature, scratching him behind the ears, or that one day when someone left the gate open and we had to chase him across the pasture. At the end of this, I've got 33 man hours of labor into this pig. (The bulk of that was the 15 minutes per day over 120 days, though it was accomplished by my 11 year old son who would not be able to get a job outside of our farm.)

So when it's time to slaughter, you'll return about 70% of the pig's weight in actual meat. We butchered him at 240 pounds exactly, so that's 168 pounds of meat. Not all of that is beautiful butterflied pork chops (plenty of sausage and such) but you can see my cost per pound, not including processing costs because I couldn't find a reliable source for that.

Cost of pig + pig food - $104.06
Cost of labor at minimum wage - $247.50
Total cost of pig - $351.56
Price of pork per pound for 168 pounds - $2.09

Now it breaks down a little differently and it's not comparing apples to apples, but $2.09 is a bargain by any standard. I'll get pork chops, bacon, some pork roasts, and plenty of sausage out of all of that. No matter what the cut of meat ... it's still only $2.09 per pound.

For 120 days worth of work, you can see that the pig experiment was worthwhile economically. At the minimum wage salary, it would have taken me many more hours of labor to earn enough for 168 pounds of pork, whereas raising one myself was profitable and worthwhile. Even more so because much of the labor was unemployable elsewhere ... my 11 year old son providing the bulk of the feeding time. (Some would say that I'm somewhat unemployable due to temperament, but that's another post at another time.)

Does this put a little more meat into the argument?

[canadiangirl]

Well I know I still came out ahead BUT I spent a lot more on feed and labour. Some could be put down to management too. At the beginning of the season when I bought my piggy my garden was no where near producing (I am north so not much extra happening until later in July), and my goats all still had babes taking the extra milk. Solution- I could delay getting said pig until July if possible and finish him later or not as large. I also did not have piggy on a pasture so there were a lot of extra labour hours involved in bringing the food to him. I gathered all apple drops/ acorns/ garden trimmings/ etc in wheelbarrow loads daily. I underestimated how much pigs eat. The bucket of kitchen scaps the kids produce just does not cut it. The labour cost could be reduced per pig if I did 2 at once.

[mpillow]

Butchering and smoking done prof. for one pig---$100-150.

We dont produce many table scraps.....its not allowed and/or recycled to leftovers.

Store price on boneless ribs is $1.49 a pound this week....

[BTO]

It's been a few years since I've raised pigs but there are kill, cut and wrap costs plus the cost of smoking hams and bacon. I don't know what the current rates for these sevices are now, anyone have an approximation?

[BTO]

Originally Posted by mpillow

Butchering and smoking done prof. for one pig---$100-150.

We dont produce many table scraps.....its not allowed and/or recycled to leftovers.

Store price on boneless ribs is $1.49 a pound this week....

You read my mind! :baby04:

[muzzelloader]

Ernie, I would say you have come fairly close to it if you are raising that pig on a general homesteading,working type farm. You will indeed have a lot of general scraps of food type items about pluse if that pig is on pasture you will be getting a good deal of free food for miss piggy. Having been raised on an old fashioned small farm as a kid I can speak about hogs. They are a big main food source on a small working farm or just some one who has some room for a pig or two and a garden. They are not totally free but certainley are a good choice for inexpensive meat.

[ponyboy123]

Hey Canadiangirl, where bouts in NS are you? I am in Earltown NS, just outside of Truro, and in this neck of the woods we are seeing a sharp decline in the price of pork and I cannot see raising a porker for close to what I can but one for either. We have seen a lot of pork producers sell out or convert to mink ranching round here, which is what I do, cause the market has just gone in the dumper. I have considered purchasing a few pigs just to handle the waste feed we produce. This mat help offset the cost but whos to know.

Pony

[BTO]

Originally Posted by Ernie

Snip........So when it's time to slaughter, you'll return about 70% of the pig's weight in actual meat. We butchered him at 240 pounds exactly, so that's 168 pounds of meat. Snip......

I think 70% of live weight is high. I used to figure 40-50%. Of course I'm often wrong!

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

And no one figured out what the cost comparison would be if 2-3 little pigs were raised at the same time and then sold as "NATURAL" Pasture raised pork. I think one might come out handsomely ahead in this case. Labor is essentially the same - and that btw is how big producers win - less labor per animal and buying in much larger quantities. BUT - the pork just ain't nearly as good.

I sure hope you city Homesteaders never catch on.

"think 70% of live weight is high. I used to figure 40-50%. Of course I'm often wrong! "

YOU ARE STILL WRONG - BUT AT LEAST CONSISTENT. Heck we get 55-60% dress out on steers we raise and lambs we kill.

[pancho]

Years ago just about every farmer and homestead raised their own hogs. Hogs were considered the most money making animal a farmer could raise. What they raised that they could not use they could just about always sell at a profit. In many areas hogs were released on the open range and gathered later for sale or slaughter.
Times changed. Along came the huge mega hog farms. They raised a high number of animals in a much smallers space than a farmer would raise his hogs. They also bought feed in such large amounts they were given discounts no farmer could get. Their hogs went to market heavier with less food and a shorter time. Farmers could make more money by selling pigs to these mega farms. In later years the mega farms built their own breeder farms and the farmer/homesteader was cut out again.
It does seem like in the last few years farmers/homesteaders have had better luck with their hogs. The mega farms have come under fire because of the odor and waste.
There are cases when a person can raise a hog cheaper than they can buy the meat but it still is a minority of people who can do that. Large chain stores will run specials on pork and it can be bought very cheap at those times. I can't remember paying $5.99 a pound for pork ever. I buy when it is on sale.

[mpillow]

We are breeding two sows the end of Jan. if anyone in Maine-ish wants to test this theory come Spring. I got orphans for free and raised them on goat milk/grain.

[Rocky Fields]

Ernie,

You're paying way too much for pork.

RF

[canadiangirl]

Hi Pony- I am Valley way, between Windsor and Hantsport. Pitiful whats happening to pork around here...vertical integration.

[BTO]

Originally Posted by YuccaFlatsRanch

And no one figured out what the cost comparison would be if 2-3 little pigs were raised at the same time and then sold as "NATURAL" Pasture raised pork. I think one might come out handsomely ahead in this case. Labor is essentially the same - and that btw is how big producers win - less labor per animal and buying in much larger quantities. BUT - the pork just ain't nearly as good.

I sure hope you city Homesteaders never catch on.

"think 70% of live weight is high. I used to figure 40-50%. Of course I'm often wrong! "

YOU ARE STILL WRONG - BUT AT LEAST CONSISTENT. Heck we get 55-60% dress out on steers we raise and lambs we kill.

I believe Ernie was refering to meat, not including bone. I still think 70% is on the high side.

[sammyd]

At about $0.51 per pound

Is that organic corn? Priciest regular stuff I've seen is around .14
I think you may be overestimating your scraps and garden production.
Spring time gardens don't have too many potatoes ready to harvest, or carrot tops.
If you put your scraps in the hog trough, are you taking them away from the chickens?
Seems like most of your extra feed comes later in the pigs life when it is fleshing out, but if you don't have a good diet to start you will have a smaller frame for that flesh resulting in lower production and longer growing time. You may have to allow for a bit more corn to cover the early months.

[mpillow]

Sweet 16% dairy is 16cents a pound.....pigs are thriving on it as well as laying hens, Pekin ducks, goats and calf. Not organic but not medicated.

[Cornhusker]

Originally Posted by Rocky Fields

Ernie,

You're paying way too much for pork.

RF

And corn.
If you are paying .51 per pound of cournm that's $28.56 per bushel.
Corn is around 4.24 a bushel.
It takes 600 pounds of corn to raise a feeder pig to market weight, or about 11 bushels. That would make the price $46.64 to feed whole corn to a pig.
That's if you don't have it ground or protein added.
Add 50 for the pig and you are still under a hundred.
I'm not arguing with the OP, I think he's getting ripped off on corn.
Have the pig butchered, it's yield about 165 pounds.
Processing will cost about 75 bucks.
All told, you will have about 175 not counting labor and if you don't process yourself.
That's still a little over a buck a pound.
Labor will vary on how many you have.
If you sell them as a half a hog or even a whole, you can easily aske 3 or more a pound, but even at $2 dollars a pound, you can gross $330 a pig, or $155 for your labor.
At 7 hours, that's $22.14 per hour.
If you raise 6, eat one and sell 5 as processed pork, you'll come out of it with about $775 plus a freezer full of pork, and you'll have made over a undred dollars an hour.
Or you can sell them on the hoof and lose about 30 bucks apiece.

[OntarioMan]

I really doubt you can make/produce any "common items" nowadays for cheaper than you can buy it - its not "farm economics", its "WallMart economics".

I can buy butterfly pork chops for under $3 per pound, and that is from my butcher.

You really should be comparing the cost of raising/processing a pig to the cost of purchasing a pig - i.e. purchase the complete pig (a "freezer order").

Kudos to those that do raise their own pigs - maybe its not cheaper - but you are reducing waste and you are teaching your children some very valuable life lessons - and that you cannot buy at WallMart.

[boren]

Ernie,

The problem is you can't do one set of numbers for everyone. Some people may come out ahead, some people don't. We don't, and for us they are just plain wrong.

1. We did'n't buy pork chops for $6/lbs, be bought a whole pig, for $2/lbs or something like that, it's been too long.

2. I don't work for minimum wage, or anywhere near it.

3. I can't build a pig pen in 3 hours from scrap wood. A 240lbs pig is very strong, and I've chased pigs on the loose. I've got pigs out of the garden. I am never doing it again. Cattle/combination panels work well. By the time I drive into town and back I've lost half a day, if not more.

4. 2lbs/day or corn? Does your household really produce 10-15lbs of scrap food per day? That's what they'll be eating by the end. (ok maybe I exagerate a bit)

5. Why is the goat even moving an inch on the milk stand? Kill it, get a dairy animal.

6. I'm going to pick up our pork from the butcher tomorrow, so I'll know the price this year. Last year I think it we paid over $200 for kill+butcher+smoke on 2 hogs. The price was something like $30 kill, 0.3/lb butcher+0.4/lb smoking. I can't remember exactly, it seemed very expensive. We're not using that butcher this year, no matter how good their hams were.

We don't have much waste to feed or a source of scrap. The feed mill down the way feeds all the fines to the hogs. It's basically free to raise hogs except for the time. No everyone gets free food.

Oh well, I hope I didn't offend anyone.

[Lizza]

Originally Posted by OntarioMan

I really doubt you can make/produce any "common items" nowadays for cheaper than you can buy it - its not "farm economics", its "WallMart economics".

I can buy butterfly pork chops for under $3 per pound, and that is from my butcher.

You really should be comparing the cost of raising/processing a pig to the cost of purchasing a pig - i.e. purchase the complete pig (a "freezer order").

Kudos to those that do raise their own pigs - maybe its not cheaper - but you are reducing waste and you are teaching your children some very valuable life lessons - and that you cannot buy at WallMart.

Ditto. We raised produce, pigs, chickens (layers & meat), lamb, and goats (milk & meat) this year. We don't do it because it is cheap (although to buy the equivalent we are probably still coming out ahead, i.e. pastured eggs are $4.25 a dozen right now in the store) but for our own health and we like the lifestyle.