Oink oink Pigs!

[Ouachita]

Besides feed cost being up, the processor went up on the kill fee, and the per pound butcher fee, AND he charged extra this year for requesting extra sage and red pepper on the sausage, AND the curing went up. I know they got bills to pay too, but it was a surprise when I hauled them in.
And this cost includes feeding alot of free tortillas and bread. BIL has a bread route up in Fort Smith, so about once a month we got a free batch of expired stuff. Wasn't near enough to make a big difference though.

 

[CottageFarm]

That's pretty close $$ to what my last batch would have been too if I'd been able get mine processed at 275 lbs. Unfortunately things didn't work out that way and they were 325 - 340 lbs and my costs ended up closer to 2.75/lb packaged. Still great meat though.

You can't make much money growing pork. period. If you're lucky you'll make about $50 /hd, gross profit, but by the time you figure in infrastructure costs, even amortized over 5 years, profits disappear. That said, I will always raise them for our own consumption as well as family, friends and a few customers. The stuff from the grocery store can't compare to what I can grow myself. The meat is redder, more richly flavored, and more tender.

Has anyone here raised Berks? I would really like to try some but haven't been able to find any around here that aren't Grand Champion show quality (ie $250 for a 40 lb weaner)

 

[JSCATTLE]

I raise one a year ... I have the butcher save the Bacon and everything he would normally make sausage out of and I make my own sausage and smoke my own Bacon ... They charge .50 c a pound to smoke and 1 dollar a lb to make sausage. And the butcher I use only makes regular sausage .. I like green onion jalapino etc.. I feed scraps to the pig until about 6 weeks before butcher .. I feed strait corn for 6 weeks ..

 

[andybob]

Gale, the red paint is from marking the females at weaning when I seperate the sexes, Slick, we have strict "welfare" legislation here in England, ear notching and tail docking are illegal, I tattoo birth dates in potential breeding gilts to trac them, the growers are raised in a series of paddocks set out in a waggon wheel configuration, they are weaned into the paddocs in consecutive order, so we know the age of the pigs by which paddock they are in, This year I am trying a new system I and some friends have been trying two sows will be farrowed in an acre paddock, the piglets will be left behind at weaning and finished in their birth paddock, then the fences moved down the field after slaughter and the vacant area ploughed and planted to an appropriate catch crop to utilise the residual fertility. Jo, they are very vocal and really enjoy visitors, especially the "celebrity" visitors with TV film crews.
We cut feed costs where possible by using home grown grain, whey from the on farm cheese factory, and seasonal waste such as windfall apples and acorns i breed a wild boar cross for the foraging and sell them at a premium for the Christmas/new year market. With the on site abattoir and direct marketing we manage to mae a reasonable return, we would lose money if we sold to the main markets at present prices.

 

[Chevy]

WOW! I :heart: THE auburn-RED PIGS! Awww...they are PRICELESS! I don't think I have ever seen any red pigs! I love hairheads too! Lil kids with hairhead are the BEST! I think they are unique...I am sure it has nothing to do with me having auburn hair either! ;-) I got that fireball redhead attitude when I get mad too. :hide: Do you have to worry about the coyotes getting the pigs!?

 

[Chevy]

Where do you get free tortillas and bread!? Put on a nice friendly howdy doody face and hit up some grocery stores & restaurants around? Just like trick or treating but for the piggys, huh? Should I take my pet piggy with me along in my car!? Say but please my piggys are hungry. What do you name piggys!? Miss Piggy, big mama! LOL! Haha! big daddy! Big papa! I think I love pigs!

 

[andybob]

the red pigs are Duroc crosses, there are several red breeds available, the Duroc is one of the best growers. I put perimeter fences around the farrowing paddocks where there are fox and dog problems, 4 ft step in posts with 5 strands of electric polywire keeps them out!

 

[Chevy]

Thank you.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Where do you get free tortillas and bread!? Put on a nice friendly howdy doody face and hit up some grocery stores & restaurants around? Just like trick or treating but for the piggys, huh? Should I take my pet piggy with me along in my car!? Say but please my piggys are hungry. What do you name piggys!? Miss Piggy, big mama! LOL! Haha! big daddy! Big papa! I think I love pigs!

Shell, yes, go to your local grocers or if there is a bread baking company near you, try them. The smaller outfits are more likely to work with you than the big chains, who worry about liability. Your pigs would probably enjoy vegetables, apples, etc., too -- we get still good, but just out-dated cabbage and lettuce and squash, etc. from one of our local grocers for our chickens, and they love it. But don't feed anything rotten! And if left in plastic in a warm location, the stuff will go bad quickly.

 

[Ouachita]

I have a friend who tells a story about himself and a buddy. Back in highschool (early 80's), they decided to make money raising a couple hogs and selling whole hog sausage. The buddies dad drove a truck for an creamery, delivering milk and icecream mostly. They also had a neighbor that drove a frito-lay truck. The hogs ate nothing but free chips and icecream. To hear him tell about the hogs reaction to "brain freeze" was priceless. They would back away from the icecream, close their eyes, tilt their heads back and then shake like a dog sheetin a peach seed, then go right back after it.

 

[Jogeephus]

I know someone who raised their pigs on potato chips too. As a kid I loved to help feed them cause chips were considered a luxury food at my house so out of date or not they still tasted wonderful to me. Mine are currently eating peanuts and fajita bread.

 

[Chevy]

:lol:

 

[chippie]

I am going to feed out a couple of pigs in our garden during the winter. Our garden is fenced with hog wire, however I am going to use electric netting to cross fence so that I can rotate them throughout the garden. We've raised hogs in the past, and just like your own beef, your home raised pork is delicious. We feed ours our extra milk, corn and a good pig ration.

I am hoping that they will get it turned over so that it won't take too much work in the Spring.

http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?mode=detail&fence_id=133

 

[cow pollinater]

Chippie, we did that same thing for the three years that we put up with pigs. At the time I milked a jersey cow so the pigs were finished on a bit of grain and a ton of milk/whey/cheese that didn't turn out like it should and whatever they could scrounge... Best pork I've ever had.... almost made it worth putting up with pigs.

 

[TexasBred]

Chippie, we did that same thing for the three years that we put up with pigs. At the time I milked a jersey cow so the pigs were finished on a bit of grain and a ton of milk/whey/cheese that didn't turn out like it should and whatever they could scrounge... Best pork I've ever had.... almost made it worth putting up with pigs.

I fed about a dozen on "dump milk" one year. They just turned out blubbery fat and drew thousands of flies and would hardly touch the grain mix. NEVER AGAIN.

 

[Ouachita]

We did feed ours the extra goat milk and chicken eggs everyday, but it was usually just enough for the bag feed to soak up and kinda clump together. They don't scatter and chase it accross the trough as much when it's all clobbered together

 

[chippie]

Chippie, we did that same thing for the three years that we put up with pigs. At the time I milked a jersey cow so the pigs were finished on a bit of grain and a ton of milk/whey/cheese that didn't turn out like it should and whatever they could scrounge... Best pork I've ever had.... almost made it worth putting up with pigs.

I fed about a dozen on "dump milk" one year. They just turned out blubbery fat and drew thousands of flies and would hardly touch the grain mix. NEVER AGAIN.

We haven't had that problem because we are usually milking one cow at a time and never have more than two pigs at a time. My husband has soaked the corn in the milk too. Luckily, we had pretty lean pigs.

Years ago, we had a sow that we sent to a friend's to get bred. The kids wanted to have piglets to raise. The guy fed day old donuts and pastries. When she came home, she just about starved because we fed plain old hog feed (pellets). She developed one heck of a sweet tooth.

 

[hillsdown]

Chippie, we did that same thing for the three years that we put up with pigs. At the time I milked a jersey cow so the pigs were finished on a bit of grain and a ton of milk/whey/cheese that didn't turn out like it should and whatever they could scrounge... Best pork I've ever had.... almost made it worth putting up with pigs.

I fed about a dozen on "dump milk" one year. They just turned out blubbery fat and drew thousands of flies and would hardly touch the grain mix. NEVER AGAIN.

We bought a couple of the neighbors kids pigs they raise each year to sell for their college fund . We were way over quota so sold them milk for WMP and they fed it to the pigs. OMG the best pork I have ever had, they weren't fat tubs of blubber at all. I don't know how they got them that way, but just about every single thing you prepared from it was so tender you could cut it with your fork .

 

[Ouachita]

This was the first year that we fed milk and eggs to ours. I was a bit nervous that the meat would turn out to be mush. But, they were actually still on the lean side of what I like. Very good flavor and tender. Had to add some fat for the sausage

 

[john250]

Daughter is dating a hog farmer. It is real good pork. Corn & SB meal.