Anyone have Hogs ?

[Arkansas]

I have a friend that just paid off his house out in the country and he wants to raise pigs. He wants to pasture raise if he can and wants to know is it possible to gross 25k a year with just 20 acres of land. He said he has about 5 or 6 acres in Woods and the rest in grass and a 2 acre pond. He wants to gross enough he can still get by with and he seems to think 25k will do it. I don't know how he thinks it unless he plans on being on welfare his entire life but maybe he can.. He does a lot of canning foods so maybe he is planning of still working on the side not sure.. He does have a wife and 2 kids... I am pretty sure that's gonna be a factor in the Gross income..lol

Thanks

 

[1982vett]

Grossing is easy.....netting is a whole nother story.

Market swine are roughly $1 a pound....so that's $200-250 a head. Only takes 100 head to get to $25000.

 

[chippie]

If he is good at marketing he can sell the meat at a premium price if he lives near a major city. I have a friend who is raising a heritage breed on pasture to sell to the hipsters in Houston.

This site can be helpful in marketing products and getting an idea of what people are producing: http://www.localharvest.org/

https://www.stockmangrassfarmer.com/events/graziers-pastured-pork-production-school/

 

[1982vett]

Grossing is easy.....netting is a whole nother story.

Market swine are roughly $1 a pound....so that's $200-250 a head. Only takes 100 head to get to $25000.

That is until the big boys get their panties in a wad and take them back to 10 cents a pound.

One thing about it he needs to keep in mind. The more hogs, the more pressure put on the environment.
Those wooded acres won't stay wooded very long and the pond will be nothing but a mud hole if he puts to many out their.

 

[Arkansas]

I read somewhere that its 20 hogs to an acre is that right ? He wants to raise Red Wattle is what he said I have never heard of them and thought he was just saying it wrong. But I seen some on youtube today. I don't believe he is going to put them anywhere near the pond because he has stock'd it recently with blue channel cat. I got fined a few times helping him. He is wanting to do something like the Kingbird Farms like he seen on youtube. He said he can't find a whole lot online saying how many you can actually keep to an acre and how to pasture raise them without feeding much else.

 

[chippie]

My friend who is raising pigs, does not allow them to run the whole place, but does rotational grazing. He is raising 5 right now. He's had good luck with the Premier Electric Net fence for dividing the pasture.

20 pigs per acre will really tear the ground up.

 

[john250]

This seems like a sideline, not a full time income. He could make a lot of money if he's really good with hogs. Other wise, low production from a pasture system vs. indoor systems will eat the business alive. What is the litter size on pastured hogs? If you aren't real good and real dedicated, you are going to lose a lot of pigs at birth.
Where is the feed going to come from to fatten these pigs? I don't think 20 acres is going to support 100 pigs to market weight (considered 240-250 lbs).
For a living from 20 acres, he's gonna have to hustle hard. Even if his goal is poverty level, he's gonna have a hard time.

 

[Arkansas]

I told him he should do chickens, I read a book by Joel Salatin that says Pastured Poultry Net 25,000 in 6 months.. Said all you need is 20 acres.. How many pigs do you think will be able to be ran on 20 acres without killing himself to do it.. He has been a factory worker his whole career so I am sure he wants to take it easy or easier..lol

 

[chippie]

The thing is that he should not use all 20 acres at once and expect to raise a pig per acre. The land will need time to recover.
Have you ever seen pastures that wild hogs root in? They will destroy a pasture. They don't just graze the top.

 

[iowafarmer]

You have to put hog rings in their noses to keep them from tearing it up so bad.

 

[Atgreene]

I think he better start small. Letting them root is fine, but they need to be rotated, when the pasture comes back a different animal should then be run through. Beef, sheep, whatever. Diversification will be his key to success. Loading a piece of ground with just one species leads to issues, ever seen a feedlot?

 

[mwj]

If he is not a good salesman he will go broke in short order! They will grow slow if they have to hustle for there feed and will still have to have purchased feed. He will have to sell to a premium market at an above average price. There is not a lot of people like that and they don't all live in one location. Joel S. is a pitchman deluxe! He makes his money from books and promotions. He gets a lot of free help from people that come to ''learn the system''.

 

[Arkansas]

If he is not a good salesman he will go broke in short order! They will grow slow if they have to hustle for there feed and will still have to have purchased feed. He will have to sell to a premium market at an above average price. There is not a lot of people like that and they don't all live in one location. Joel S. is a pitchman deluxe! He makes his money from books and promotions. He gets a lot of free help from people that come to ''learn the system''.

O he is a great Pitchman Joel that is but he makes money from his books etc because He knows what he is doing and people see what he has done. Hence the reason his books do well is because his system works and has been proven that's why people buy his products is because he has proved it works.

 

[Arkansas]

The thing is that he should not use all 20 acres at once and expect to raise a pig per acre. The land will need time to recover.
Have you ever seen pastures that wild hogs root in? They will destroy a pasture. They don't just graze the top.

I wouldn't want Hogs at all if that's what they do.. Maybe a few in some pins for the freezer but that's it.. That looks horrible, why he wants hogs is beyond me.. Maybe he has watched Charletts Web to many times..lol

 

[suzorse]

I have 1 with 10 babies, and I do not have her on my pasture, but to learn about pastured pigs visit this site,
you will be able to get answers to a lot of questions
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/home/ Suzanne

 

[mwj]

I have 1 with 10 babies, and I do not have her on my pasture, but to learn about pastured pigs visit this site,
you will be able to get answers to a lot of questions
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/home/ Suzanne

Make sure you read and understand that he uses thousands of gallons of free whey thru a pipeline system to do this . If you have unlimited access to free dairy products his system will work for you!