The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Piggingtons on January 23, 2012, 07:14:34 pm
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Can anyone advise about how to go about working out what to charge for a half pig. Our first two boars are going off on 22nd Feb (at 27 weeks) and we know friends will be interested but need to work out a price so we can get some definites asap. They have cost so far £275 (weaners, feed, straw plus slaughter and butchering costs) plus there will be a few more bags of pig nuts needed and possibly a transport cost. We haven't included the costs of fencing, ark and trough and are happy to provide the labour.
We live in Ceredigion so cannot charge premium prices here and really we are happy just to get some free meat for ourselves but also we don't want to underprice it as hopefully there will be enough interest for us to have some more pigs in the Spring/Summer. If anyone could say how they go about it that would be really useful.
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I go to the nearest, really good, butcher and charge the same as him. Ask him how much he would sell a rare breed, free-range pig for :) :pig:
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The going rate around here is £120 to £150 for half a happily farm/smallholding-reared but not pedigree rare breed pig, if that helps.
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I charge £180 for a half and have no problem selling them at that.
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We charge £140/half (approx 22kg box so approx £6.36/kg i break evenish at this and get half for myself) but given the area you live in and times being what they are you may want to go a bit lower but make sure people who get the meat know they are getting a good deal and hopefully they'll come back for more.
Best of
Mandy :pig:
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WOW I had NO idea my little piggies were worth so much (although I have registered that they are COSTING a fortune) - Its hard to imagine that much meat when you only buy sausages by the few quids worth - I think I am in for a shock when they come back from the buthers!! Great thread thanks.
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i would do a little local research to see whats the going rate around your area, around here the going rate for a butchered rare breed pig is around the £200 mark for a whole pig, one guy sells his for £110 (i have never worked out how he can afford to sell so low but he does).
the same thing arises when it comes to weaners and regional prices so best check out you area, you dont want to be selling to high or too low but you have to go with your areas prices.
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i would do a little local research to see whats the going rate around your area, around here the going rate for a butchered rare breed pig is around the £200 mark for a whole pig, one guy sells his for £110 (i have never worked out how he can afford to sell so low but he does).
We have an email network down here and someone is advertising a half pig for £90! I know how much it costs us to raise them and doing all that work and then selling for what would be a major loss seems nuts!
At the beginning of last year I worked out that it cost about £175 per pig to take from 2 months to 7 months (and that did not include time, fencing etc etc) Also those costs were calculated when feed cost about £5.85 per 25kg bag - that cost itself went up to £7.15 a bag by the time the pigs went to slaughter in August so I think the additional cost was probably another £15 or so per pig.
Don't undersell what is a superior product!
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We sell half pigs for £175 and whole pigs for £350, we're in Hertfordshire. The price doens't include butchering as everyone's requirements are different and they talk to the butcher directly, but other than that everything's included.
:wave:
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I have just been costing out my pigs and have come up with a price of my fixed costs of rearing 2 pigs as £167 per pig - they were boar OSB and were killed yesterday at 7 months hanging weight 60kg and 67kg respectively. This doesn't include the butchery, any costs for my time and all equipment was in place prior to rearing them.
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interesting everybodys view on this both pricing and weights
finished pigs can vary drastically in just weight alone somebody could be selling a 20 kilo half carcass for £x and somebody could also sell a 45 kilo carcass at£y there is no comparison once you start talking £ per kilo then a comparison can be made just for argument sake say £4 per kilo that makes £80 for the light half carcass and £180 for the heavy half carsass a huge variation also the breed is very important if kunies they are going to be light at 6 months whereas Hampshire's could be a lot heavier depending on feeding housing and management
it can be confusing to new pig keepers a constant reference to half carcasses and mega prices if they look at price alone the price paid for weaners is also worth considering why pay over the odds for some piglets when others are available that will finish quicker and heavier with less cost per kilo to achieve that finished weight it costs the same to transport and kill a small pig as a large one (120 kilos) just my opinion on this :farmer:
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we sell ours for £160 for half, which works out at approx £6.40 a kilo. ours are rare and pedigree and dead weight carcuss of approx 40-50kg.
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We get £100 for half, thats for GOS about 70kg live wieght, but looking on the internet around my area and found this, cant see how they can do it so cheap
http://www.hmdbutchers.co.uk/boxed_deals_6.html# (http://www.hmdbutchers.co.uk/boxed_deals_6.html#)
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we sell ours for £160 for half, which works out at approx £6.40 a kilo. ours are rare and pedigree and dead weight carcuss of approx 40-50kg.
Ditto here, weve 3 osbs going in on the 31st. probably around the 6.5 kilo. all registered etc...
i've been doing the sums,and recon the break even is around 6.30 excl straw, housing fence etc...
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digit i think they have special pigs and lambs one legged pig halfs and two hearted lambs :D :farmer:
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Kilo pricing makes indeed the best comparison. We charged £4.75 per kilo.
The first lot of seven was 70kilos (the boys) and the females went 4 weeks
later and came in at 95 kilos
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we've a neighbour who was at hereford market the other day the finished weaners were making around £3.5 lb for a bog std. pig deadweight by his reconing.
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digit i think they have special pigs and lambs one legged pig halfs and two hearted lambs :D :farmer:
It's still cheap for a one legged half pig ;D
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hi w
we add up the cost and divide by the number of halves (taking out one for us)
sell for about £130 1/2 pig and make sure this covers cost. we add on the cost of sausage
usually works out ok make sure around £5 kilo
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I sell mine at £6 kilo, the last few were very large (left them to 8 months saddlebacks) and the two largest were £220 for a half. Both people who ordered them knew they were large and having had previous pigs were more than happy to pay the price.
By charging per kilo, its fair to all my customers, I am also able to split into quarters if needed and its easy for me to work out. I am in Dorset.
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I have now fully costed my pigs and am selling for £6/kg plus cost of making the sausages
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Ah, yes, I should have mentioned weights, not just price. Our customers get literally half a pig, not x-number of joints or sausages, and also the pluck. They had about 97lbs of meat of half a 6-month old GOS boar (so inc head and trotters etc) and it cost them £175 + £16-£18 for butchering at the abattoir (non-abattoir butchers in this area charge around £30-40 per half).
GOS weaners here cost at least £50.
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Well, Robert, why not? I once sent away a lamb that, apparently had three shoulders ;D
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Kilo pricing makes indeed the best comparison. We charged £4.75 per kilo.
The first lot of seven was 70kilos (the boys) and the females went 4 weeks
later and came in at 95 kilos
DutchJim £4.75/kg is way too cheap we only just break even at £6.30kg so you must be losing money hand over fist unless you get your feed for free!? I think you should look at your costings mate.
Mandy :pig:
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Crumbs - the prices you all charge seem awfully low to me. We don't sell half pigs as there isn't the demand, but sell boned & rolled roasting joints, and sausages, at £7.50 a kg, bacon and ham for more at £10 to £12 a kg. So far we have had more customers than we can keep up with - Tamsaddle
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Say 90 kilos of meat times £ 4.75 = £427.50 per pig.!! I think that's a load of money.
I have done the sums and I make £100 profit per pig.
But my feed cost are very low. Endless supply of apple pulp,
Vegetable waste from veg shop and rolled barley in ton bags and weaner
pellets to up the protein. Mutchmeats kill and butcher.
In these hard times I find it hard to charge much more.
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If buying in bulk I charge £6.00 a kilo for pork boxes, quater, half and whole pigs. Sausages are £6.50 a kilo. If selling individual cuts I price depending on joint, chop etc.
Feedcosts are most people's stumbling blocks...
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Has any one tried growing a crop to feed pigs and if so what? We have been selling pork for £6 a kilo but not had a market here in Carmarthenshire as yet, we are able to get rid of a lot back in Hampshire but this adds to the fuel cost, posting is just as expensive. A bog standard weaner can be picked up at just £5 but we are rearing Berkshire and just slaughtered 8 Saddle backs, the nearest slaughter house is over an hour away but they do butcher to our requests there on site which saves a bit.
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Have you thought of converting chipfat into diesel instead? Might be an easier way to cut down on costs than growing a crop?
:wave:
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Has any one tried growing a crop to feed pigs and if so what? We have been selling pork for £6 a kilo but not had a market here in Carmarthenshire as yet, we are able to get rid of a lot back in Hampshire but this adds to the fuel cost, posting is just as expensive. A bog standard weaner can be picked up at just £5 but we are rearing Berkshire and just slaughtered 8 Saddle backs, the nearest slaughter house is over an hour away but they do butcher to our requests there on site which saves a bit.
yep 12 acres of feed wheat and 8 of long straw marris wigeon this year, all cut with binder and threshed by steam, we'll also put in 4 acres of fodder beet this next year as were buying it in at the moment, pigs grow well on the beet but still get some GLW nuts, feed wheat ground/ kibbled and fed as a wet mash with water or milk.
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Sadly we only have five acres in total so can not put that much down to a crop but every little will help. We still need to find a plough! Seems people are willing to pay for £50 of pork which at £6 a kilo leaves out a should from each 1/4 of a 22 week old saddle back.
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if you could get some one to do it and could spare the land, 2 acres should give you 6 ton of feed wheat, dependant on ground so that should keep you going a year or so, certainly cut our feed bills. try the local arable farmers, seed and ploughing wouldn't ammount to £200 on 2 acres.
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Thanks for all the posts on this which have been enormously useful and interesting to see what everyone charges. I've decided to charge between £100-£120 /half depending on what the weights are (the boars are different sizes and according to our calculations are currently 59.5 and 67.3 kg at nearly 24 weeks), plus sausages etc and take Mandy's advice to let people know this is really good value (and why!).
It will be very interesting to see what the per kilo price works out (presumably this includes joints with bones). My total costs not including labour/fencing etc will be £320 -weaners costs £35 each. Have just found out I will get 4 big bags back from the butchers full of the cuts so will then have to spend many hours bagging and labelling - not looking forward to that part!
Sally
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Sally
Will your butcher not vac pack & label for you, it does cost a bit extra but looks more professional if you're selling it and will save you an awful lot of time and work.
HTH
mandy :pig:
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I'll check with him. Not sure what it costs but like you say its probably worth it. I think I'll try and have a meeting with him as there's a lot to get to grips with first time round.