Farm Economics - The Pig Lesson

Everyone pencils it out differently. From what I see, I think that the milk and garden waste isn't really as much as you'd expect. To get the simular conversion as corn you'd have to at least double it. Most would come in the fall when you'd want the pig on more corn.
Check the local sale barn for weekly sales figures over the past year. What you spend in processing you hog or one you buy is going to be the same. If you can get your hog to market weight cheaper than you can buy a finished hog, you are doing well. For most folks the cheapest way is to tell the local livestock hauler that you want a 240 pound hog and tell him your max bid and while he's at the sale he can bid on one for you. If the price is to high, you'll have to wait until he can get one bought for your price.

THe thought of that scares me. People do not all care for and feed their animals the same way and I prefer to know what has went into my hog. Just because it was raised on a farm does not mean it is any better than what you buy at the store-- it honestly may be worse.

Heres a little story:

When I bought this place at tax sale the man that was living here still had all of his animals on the property. Well, I went up to one of the barns, looked inside and could not believe what I saw... a bunch of hogs in a pen full of garbage. Not scraps-- real bags of garbage. The man was a garbage man and obviously he threw whole bags of trash off his truck into the pig pen. This wasn't separated trash-- it was everything people around town had thrown away. Poor pigs. A few guys came and took them-- I guess they had them butchered and ate them **shudder** Why anyone would eat garbage fed hogs is beyond me....

Sooo.... just keep in mind that not all people raise them the same and some people are outright nasty.

Michelle

About feeding pigs garbage....

I've seen kids eating at the dump on TV in 3rd world countries...certainly a pigs digestive system is better equipped to make do with it.

I know more people that scrape their fussy kids dinner plate into the trash than those who dont.

I dont feed my critters trash but if a depressed economic time comes lots of folk will resort to it.

Did you know that rabbit poop is an excellent source of food for pigs? about 16% protien. You could finish on straight corn before slaughter time of course.

I've seen our dogs eat a load of the goats' wild raisins so there must be some good in that deal too. None get sick and they seem to savor it actually. Cows in India eat cardboard and actually get feed value out of it!

If you eat bear or wild hogs you never know what or whose trash they might have been into.... or rotted meat or poop.....just food for thought!

Using butterfly pork chops for pork is about like using T-bone steaks for a beefer.

From The Stockman's Handbook (1978). A 210 lb hog will produce about 150 lbs of unprocessed wholesale cuts - essentially a hanging carcass (71%) and 135 lbs of retail cuts (64%). Of that, Hams - 24 lbs, bacon - 20 lbs, pork roast - 17 lbs, picnic & smoked shoulder butt - pork chops - 7 lbs, pork sausage - 8 lbs, miscellaneous cuts - 7 lbs, ribs (listed as salt pork) - 5 lbs and lard - 31 lbs.

Now admittedly the hogs today are leaner than in 1978. Also, it is unlikely the cutting percentages have remained the same. But it does show about what you would have to use in a calculation on value, such as going to several grocery store and average pricing out each of those cuts, including the lard.

It also doesn't include the processing byproducts, such as head cheese, the heart, liver and lungs;pickled pigs feet; the value from composting unused intestines and such (or in offsetting the purchase of dog food) and the value of the bones initially for soup and then as dog food. I've heard beef and pork processing plants make more money on the sale of byproducts than they do on the carcass itself.

Also to be considered is the fertility being provided by the manure, whether on pasture or if it is collected and added to a compost pile.

On food scraps, USDA frowns very heavily on the feeding of any food scraps fed to hogs intended for the market (even private sales) unless it is cooked at a certain temperature for a certain length of time. It is thought the last outbreaks of hoof and mouth disease in England started with a farmer feeding unprocessed food scraps which came off of a ship. My understanding if for your own consumption, you are on your own.

On this, in a nearby community we have a fish buyer who buys catfish directly out of KY Lake and processes them into fillets for restaurants. At one time they fed the heads, guts and spines to hogs and noted sometimes they made more out of the hogs than the processing shop. USDA put a stop to that also. Now this waste has to go to a landfill at their expense.

Locally field corn is $5.75 per 50-lb bag, or $.115 pound. If you have a way to haul it (such as an old grain wagon), it is significantly cheaper directly out of a farmer's bin.

Swine feed conversion can be picked out of this article: http://www.pork.org/newsandinformati...orkstory2.aspx. Note the crude protein requirements change over the life of the animal.

You can feed corn directly, obtain pre-mixed feed at a feedstore or even have your own mix made at a feedmill. For example, one might feed out a pre-mix intended for young feeders and then taper it off as other feedstuffs become available.

I once heard a story about a guy who only passed by a skunk roadkill. Rest were tossed in the back of the truck and tossed over the pig fence.

Pigs will convert corn at about 3-1, so to get a 40 pound pig to 240 will take about 600 pounds of corn.
4 months is about right to finish a pig.
It depends on the pigs of course, some will fill out a little faster, some slower.
If you are going to sell a pig commercially, to the sale barn, whatever, you'll lose money unless you have a really cheap feed source.
Selling packaged pork is the only way to make money on a small scale as far as i can see.

__________________
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
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Enforced tolerance is oppression

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"I know more people that scrape their fussy kids dinner plate into the trash than those who dont."

My mother had a simply remedy for this - you ate or went hungry. Six kids and I don't think she every cooked a meal separately for any of us.

If you like hamburger you can go to a livestock auction and wait for the killer cows to come through. Avoid dairy, but the rest, in all likelihood, came in straight off of a pasture. Some as still fairly young, for example, bad bags. Locally $.40 pound liveweight seems to be the norm. (I've seen them go for as little as $.05 pound if a cripple or cancer eyed.) Have the processor cut out the best cuts and make burger out of the rest.

I wasn't talking about plate scraps... I certainly don't want to eat a hog that was fed used tampons, motor oil containers and diapers.

Michelle

just my 2 cents worth
last year i raised a single pig
pig cost $50.
500# hog grower & corn $133.81
butcher $165.
total price $348.81
i did not add any labor because i did all the work myself and was working in the barn doing other chores anyway
grew from 45# to slaughter weight of 281# in 111 days
281# live wieght 195# hanging weight that 69%
all that being siad i could have probably bought meat from store (with a little shopping) for the same price. but i would have missed out on raising my own meat and teaching my son the reasponsability of taking care of livestock.
we are currently raising a steer and will be raising another pig this spring. i is my goal to produce most of our meat (pork, beef, rabbit, and chicken) off of our poperty. if i save a little money great if not i'll still have the satasfaction of knowing what my family is eating and im willing to spend a little more for that

Any financial analysis that does not adequately account for opportunity costs ( of labor AND capital) fails. Period. Even if all the OP's numbers are correct (and they aren't), all the equation demonstrates is that someone who is only capable of earning minimum wage might, just possibly, be better off spending some time raising food.

The original equation undervalues inputs (labor) and overvalues outputs (not all pork is butterflyed chops).

I also don't see risk adequately accounted for in the OP.

__________________
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law." -- Winston Churchill

Yeah, a dead or sick animal needed medication can really screw up the equasion.

If you have a produce stand in your area stop by and see what they do with trimmings and overaged produce. If they just dump it on a compost pile you might offer a nominal amount to pick it up on a regular basis as feed.

If you are going to figure labor into raising a pig, you my as well figure labor into driving to the store, pushing a cart around and writing the check.
As has been pointed out, it's not all about saving money. It's about eating real food, not the soggy 1/4 inch think stuff you get at Wal-Mart.
A person can make money raising pigs on a small scale, but you can't do it like the big boys.

__________________
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
______________________________________________

Enforced tolerance is oppression

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

I understand the other values of growing your own food. Indeed, I understand so well that I do it myself.

Ernie is trying to make a financial argument, not a lifestyle argument. Lifestyle arguments are subjective; what appears to one person to be a good and valuable lifestyle may not appear so to another.

The financial analysis presented fails. It just does. I'm not even saying that an adequate financial case cannot be made for Ernie's point: maybe it can. But it hasn't been done yet.

__________________
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law." -- Winston Churchill

Yeah, I'll conclude that this breakdown didn't work out. I think the equation is sound, but the number aren't right. My fault for going with something I'm unfamiliar with (pigs) and pulling the data from internet sources. Garbage in, garbage out.

I am encouraged by the number of people who responded that they are successful with pigs. That tells us something right there. Even in failure we learn ...

Just too many variables. Also many people do not keep records of the money spent on animals. Some people raise them for their personal food and do not care about the cost. Some are hobby farmers.

If you are raising pigs for your own consumption, that's one thing. I say you get more and better for your money.
If you want to make a few bucks, you'll either have to sell them wrapped and frozen or teach them to sing and dance.
Right now however it's pretty tough to sell live fat hogs and make any money.

__________________
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
______________________________________________

Enforced tolerance is oppression

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

I like the lifestyle too - however, I have to make it economically feasable.

I USED to buy piglets either at auction, or at a breeders - the cost ranged from $21 to $75, respectively. I USED to butcher at the local shop - which USED to end up costing about $135, but now costs $175 per pig, and I don't have any meat smoked or cured.

So, I took a $21 auction gilt, raised her and had her bred. After she farrowed 13 piglets, we had her butchered. Six piglets survived, three will be 2008 pork, and the other three will be breeders. The piglets are half farm hog/ half pot belly - so small enough for me to handle butchering in my city location.

I raise my pigs on rolled barley, household scraps, and surplus dairy from our herd of 22 dairy goats. Whey from cheese making, failed batches of cheese, skim milk, etc. By cutting out purchase price, processing price, and supplementing just the barley, raising pigs is far more economical for me, the price per pound plummets. In fact, I've decided that I can't NOT raise pigs, as it is by far more economical than any other meat I can currently raise - not having very much irrigated pasture here in the desert. Although, I would like to experiment with raising meat chickens on surplus milk.

Niki

It isn't just that the numbers are wrong; the equation itself has deficiencies.

I suggest accounting for risk. Risk can in fact be monetized.

Also, a fairer accounting for the value of labor.

Finally, assigning a value to "surplus" feed. Such surplus is often, in fact, a subsidy. The same is true of the goats' milk in the post above this one. You can't assume the milk is free if the milk has production costs associated with it. And if you are regularly producing surplus milk, you should consider cutting production and its associated costs.

__________________
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law." -- Winston Churchill

we raise our two pigs for about 5 months, we pick up bad produce for free when we are at the grocery, take it home and cook it and feed to the pigs, the grain consumption is right about 136 bucks for 5 months, plus we raise two huge gardens and have fruit trees. the pigs get all the excess produce, veg scraps, meat scraps from butchering our smaller livestock etc we raise a little bit longer cause i like the lard for soap making and cooking. we butcher all our animals ourselves. and feed as natural a diet as possible. for the two pigs the price to raise is about 200 bucks. we cure and smoke our own meat too. i cant afford to buy pork from the store period. we butchered a free cow that got shocked by the branding iron in 3 hours with 6 people helping. there is really no excuse for not butchering your own meat. we can do a hog in 1 hr. its a waste of way too much money to hire it done.use that money to buy more pigglets.i know it depends a lot on what access you have to alternative feed, the price of grain in different areas varies wildly. you can fatten hogs on just grocery store old produce if thats all you have, may take a little longer. there are grocery stores in every town, get your neighbors to save thier scraps in a bucket for you, what ever you gotta do. if your desperate enough to feed your family cheaper healthy food youll figure a way to do it. get the kids to go in the woods and pick up acorns and other nuts, pigs love them. or gentle your pigs and let the kids take them for walks in the woods to eat every day. fence in your garden area and let the pigs till it and eat there, put them in after the last harvest to clean up all the excess scrap corn etc. sew some turnip greens and beets for them to eat. toss some pumpkins and butternut squash seeds in as soon as you get finished gardening fo the season. all your animals can eat beets squash and turnips to cut down on the feed bill.

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www.kritterwoodcreations.etsy.com
just an ol nannagoat.

Here in Sask Canada the market trend says hogs are bringing
96 dollars per hundred kilograms which comes out to be 220 lb and 7.39619 oz
So 96 dollars for a 220 pound hog is not a bad price Eh!
so about 2.29 a pound before other cost

I do agree that is kinda high for your pork.
Here in Canada
Pork chops are on sale 2.59 lb they are thin and have bone
pork ribs are 5.99lb pork steaks are 5.59lb
bacon is 3.99 lb
bone in ham is 1.99lb

Chicken is 3.99 lb
and boneless chicken breast are 4.99 lb
These are the prices taken from todays sale flyers