[Alastair]

Not sure if we are going about it the wrong way or if it's just the climate (both financial and meteorological) but we are having no joy in selling weaners. 
Had our first litter of LB’s at the beginning of the year. Sold 4 of the 8 to a local farmer friend, fattened one up for a mate who wanted a whole carcass and ended up sending the remaining 3 off for meat and sausages most of which we managed to sell to friends and colleagues. 10 weeks ago she had her second litter again of 8. This time however we’ve had zero interest. So we’ve got 8 rapidly growing piglets that we can see staying with us for the next few months. They’re not good enough to keep for breeding but will make good meat pigs but our freezers are already full to bursting so our intention now is to sell to local restaurants or butchers which means we should just about break even. We’re not trying to get rich on this, I don’t think any pig farmer, small or large, has any illusions of that, but we would hope not to lose money.
So is anyone having any luck selling wiener at the moment? If so what’s you secret? We’ve advertised locally and in country small holder but, with the exception of a couple of time wasters, we’ve had no interest.

[HappyHippy]

I think probably weather, time of year and cost of feed will all be factors this year 

Most folks looking to raise a couple of weaners prefer to do it spring til Autumn so sales in the later part of the year would be slower anyway. Add to that the bl**dy awful weather this year (which shows no signs of changing) and maybe folk who normally raised over winter have had to change plans because of the state of their ground. Feed prices, well - less said about that the better 

Our last litters were in July and we sold all that had been earmarked for selling, leaving us enough to run on for pork (we hope  ) the next ones being born now and towards the end of January will hopefully fill the spring demand 

We do a 'grow your own pork' scheme where folks can have a pig raised for them (with monthly payments to cover feed costs) which attracts interest and we've had folk buy them as Xmas pressies for others too.

Why not think about going down the road of selling the finished produce straight to consumers too ? Either from home or out and about at farmers markets ?
Register with environmental health and trading standards and make sure the butcher is approved and meets labelling laws (if you want to go down the offical, can sell anywhere to anybody route) and do a few markets/fairs in your local area in the spring. This attracts interest in the pork, but also in your pigs and you, so you have a future target market for weaner sales or orders for half pigs. I'd concentrate on your local area for advertising first, making use of free publications and notice boards where available - not saying country smallholding isn't a good place to advertise, but there will be cheaper and better local options  A vet surgery, argi-store, local market etc etc - just got to do a bit of groundwork 

Butchers are mostly unlikely to be interested in buying an occaisional pig from you (they'll have contracts already in place for X pigs per week, at X weight for X amount) you are selling a premium product compared to what they'll be buying from the abattoir. By selling direct to the public (with careful cost monitoring and planning) you should be able to make a wee bit of profit from your finished pigs. It seems like a whole load of paperwork and hassle but it's really not and if you've got space for a seperate 'pork only' freezer at home and a bit of common sense you're halfway there already 

Good luck,
Karen 

[P6te]

I endorse everything Karen has said ... time of year being the major factor in my mind made worse by the state of the ground due to the never ending rain. 

Pete

[Rhodie]

I have a high demand in Spring as indicated by Karen, all I sell now are finished pigs for the Christmas/New year trade, including my pannage or "Acorn pigs". I haven't even had interest in my boars which I usually replace earlier in the year,and are usually snapped up quickly when I advertise them, so the financial aspect comes into play at this time of the year.

[hughesy]

I last advertised weaners for sale back in october and had no interest at all. No matter as I'm keeping them all on for pork. I had a call from a bloke a few weeks ago who'd seen my advert back in october. He wanted to know if I still had "weaners" for sale. I told him that I had grower pigs which I might sell but they wouldn't be 40 quid each anymore. He was most put out as he was expecting me to be desperate to get rid of them and was under the impression that he could buy them at a bargain price. He also asked if I would let him take pigs away without any movement licence or other paperwork in the belief that this would prompt a further discount as it would save me a lot of bother. Suffice to say that he didn't get any pigs and after a few minutes talking to him on the phone I'd decided he wasn't having any at any price.
All I can say is, don't put up with idiots, stick to your guns regarding prices and get advertising your pork for sale.

[rispainfarm]

Weaners aren't selling at the moment and if you do manage to sell any then it is more by luck then anything else. i know of 3 or 4 big breeders in trads who are really having difficulties in selling anything at the moment and they are cutting back on the breeding big time. It is a really sad situation at the moment with no immediate light at the end of the tunnel. Weaners traditionally don't sell well in the winter in anycase so you have a double whammy, recession and its winter.

[kja]

we sold our last litter in october.

our local mart is always a good indicator for the current market 2 weeks ago coloured weaners £1 - £ whites £30 - £40. same old story sad but true.

we will have 3 litters to go in march so  for a upturn.

[Sylvia]

I've had weaners offered to me for free. I've had to say  no as I can't afford to feed them. Same for folk everywhere  I dare say.

[Berkshire Boy]

I have sold 150 weaners this year and expect to do the same next year. I am lucky that mine go off to a guy who finishes them and then sells at farmers markets. He only does Berkshires and his business seems to still be pretty good. Only problem is having all my eggs in one basket and if he stopped that would be 8 sows and 2 boars off to slaughter. Blimey what a thought all those sausages 

[Alastair]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the sound advice.
Karen, your advice pretty much backs up what we had been thinking, so at least we know we weren't going far wrong . We have been advertising locally in vet's, agri stores and notice boards, using the country small holder was an expensive experiment.
We've been selling in the local country market but we probably need to push the products out to the wider market, take the plunge and do it properly
Luckily we do have a 'pork only' freezer, a decent sized chest freezer....but that's the one that's currently 95% full althought friends and family have been helping us empty it , given the amount we're eating we will both start oinking soon
We're going to bite the bullet, hope the  will stop at some time, and get our sow back in pig now so we have another batch of weaners ready to go in June when the  is back..... That's going to be our make or break point.

Cheers,

Alastair

[HappyHippy]

Good luck with it and keep us posted 

[Foobar]

I buy weaners, but not at this time of year.  Having to deal with the relentless rain and then freezing water pipes in winter just isn't worth the effort, and I suspect many people feel the same way.  If you aren't keeping pigs all year round, i.e. not breeding them (that's a generalisation I know ), what's the point of making life hard for yourself.  I will be buying come March .

[twizzel]

I was thinking of having a few weaners and putting them on the fields that are going in potatoes next season... but our butcher sells pork at £1.30/lb and I bought half a pig for £80 instead, rare breed pork reared on the farm and sold in the farm shop.

[rispainfarm]

You also want to build up your reputation for quality stock, try some showing in the summer if you don't already and build your name up that way, if your name is constantly in lights so to speak, you will find it easier to sell your pigs. Also do some PR such as writing a blog about your smallholding or pigs, sponsor relevant classes under your pig herd prefix at local agricultural shows, maybe organises local schools to come for education days. The more you get your name out there for pork and pigs the easier it will be to bring in customers all the year round.  And as cleopatra mentions have a website and advertise on all free forums constantly.

[Victorian Farmer]

I Carnot see things changing diesel food wether barley this week £220 last January £70 red diesel 80 p naw £1 the wether would be a start to get right .If the wether hits the crops this summer . it could be £250 a ton