Pricing Direct Market Butcher Hogs?

[Up North]

We are getting requests for Butcher Hogs at our new location here in Central Kansas. Our hogs are raised on milk, hay, and a small amount of grain.
They are not Organic, just raised on a family farm in simple outdoor housing.
At this point they are not pastured(due to a lack of hog-apropos fencing), but we will work towards that end in the future.

So what price per pound hanging weight is realistic?
One of the established business in the area sells theirs(non Organic) for $1.59 per pound hanging weight, but their price *includes* butchering, cutting & wrapping.

[tyusclan]

The last batches I sold I got $1.50 per lb. plus processing. The processing always varied because of what the customer wanted done, but usually came to around $2.00 a pound total.

Edited to add: The above prices are based on hanging weights.

[highlands]

We have forty sows plus boars and about 100 growers through finishers. We can't keep up with the demand. We get what works out to $3 (whole pig) to $4 (half pig) per lb of cuts. That comes to about $2.50 or so by the hanging weight due to the trim, bones, etc. Customer pays for slaughter ($35 to $60 depending on butcher) and cutting ($0.45 to $0.65).

Careful not to underprice yourself but also remember that prices vary tremendously with the region and with what you're producing (penned hogs fed commercial grain vs organic vs pastured vs etc).

I would suggest checking out http://NaturallyGrown.org which is a good certification organization. That is something that can help you get the best price for your pork.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[RedHogs]

I think your market rate has already been set, 1.20 hanging weight plus processing would put you on the mark. If your farming community is like mine, it will take years for you to not be a newcomer and at that price you would be doubling the market and if my math is correct doubling what you would have got for your milk if you fed straight milk and corn. A farming community is an educated crowd as to pricing....A large city is quite the killing field profit wise.

The other option is to stick and run, If you get 3-4.00 a pound, all your neighbors will be in the business and no one will sell anything after a while.

In Nashville, a local farm was getting closer to 6.00 a lb for pastured pork, when news got out about this, me and about 6 other farms were there in force with the same product, after a couple weeks we were just walking around spending more money than we were making talking pigs with each other.... The original lady is now driving to huntsville and the nashville price is 1.80 - 2.00 a pound, thats a 300% drop in a year.

[gimpy]

A lot of the rules have changed. Check to see if it is still legal in your area first. I dont know if Kansas was affected.

[Up North]

Thanks for all the Replies. One cost we have to account for is that we would load and transport the live hog to the butcher shop. Clearly it is to our benefit to schedule a few for the trip, as hauling 3-8 hogs costs the same as hauling 1 hog.
One concern we have is that with butcher hogs, folks want a price and an agreement sometimes months before "their" hog is ready. Once you quote a price you are locked in to provide a hog at that price. If corn goes to $11.50 a hundredweight the last two months you feed the hog and gas goes to $3.75 for the trip to the butcher, well, that difference could eat up your profits.
The customer will hold you to your original quote, irregardless of what cost of production increases have occurred. So I think a person has to leave some margin of error in the pricing.