The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: goosepimple on March 17, 2013, 05:58:11 pm
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That's it - how much do you charge for half a pig - butchered I mean?
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Hi, we charge £150 per half, average about 25 kilos,thats all joints boned and vacuum packed,whatever sausages you want flavoured in trays and head and trotters if you want them,
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£120, but sausages are extra.
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£120 her too but no sausages in that. A very good deal for the customer but not going to retire on the profits any time soon.
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is 25kg of meat per half an average accross the board?
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I pay £1.30/lb. First half we had was £85, the most recent was £95. So the £95 was 33kg.
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I charge £70 per half. And have been lambasted here for doing so too!
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£120 last time but it will have to go up because of feed costs....
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J2..... What are you doing £70 a half will Bankrupt the rest of us!!! Lol ;D
I would say 120 a half Minimum I think £135 is what you should look for We deserve to make a half decent profit for our hard work. :farmer:
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lol I was told that it makes the guys that charge more look like thieves but hell they are my pigs and so my prices ;D Plus I actually want to sell it not shove it in my freezers!!
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OK ANOTHER QUESTION: (wont bother doing a new topic):
What do you get for your money in meat cuts I mean?
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Trouble is that within the small scale pig keeping world there are a lot of different situations. There are the hobby keepers who rear a few for themselves and to whom the cost doesn't really matter. There are people who rear a few to sell but again don't pay too much attention to the costs. There are people who do it on a more businesslike footing but also have another income so don't worry if they don't make a profit. There are serious pedigree breeders who breed for showing but have to offload their "meat pigs". There are also people who are trying to run a small business and to whom costs and expenses are very important as they need to keep a roof over their heads. I would imagine that these are the people who get pissed off when someone down the road is selling pork for half what it really costs to produce.
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OK ANOTHER QUESTION: (wont bother doing a new topic):
What do you get for your money in meat cuts I mean?
I get leg and shoulder cut into 3 bone in, chops in packs of 3, knuckle, belly- 1/2 as strips 1/2 rolled ready to roast. Can have half the head but I swap for a pack of sausages instead :yum:
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I think there was an article a few years ago on this site saying how it is impossible to make a living with a smallholding and that still applies, you have to have some other form of income to live, doesn't matter how much you sell your pork for.
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I think you can feed yourself good food and sell left over but never make a living out of it unless your in mass production
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I think you can feed yourself good food and sell left over but never make a living out of it unless your in mass production
Exactly! ;D
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it is impossible to make a living with a smallholding and that still applies,
That would depend on what you produce and who you sell it to. You can't just state that it's impossible to make a living from a smallholding as some people clearly do.
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Do they?
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Yes they do Jackie but not by selling pork at £70 a half.
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Im going to make a fortune out of mine...... ive decided to grow Twenty acres of truffles :excited: and keep a few sheep for fun
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I would never make a living from the 5 acres and farming. Maybe if I had 20 acres and lots of pigs I could charge in excess of £100 but hell, my pigs my price and if no one likes it then tough!!
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None the less its that attitude that means smallholding is not profitable, as you say they are your pigs so the rest of us can whistle, all that attitude shows your lack of consideration for those trying to eek a living out of livestock production and sales while you just play at it.
Its none of my business but if you will humour me, what do to service the financial needs of your hobby?
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I would never make a living from the 5 acres and farming. Maybe if I had 20 acres and lots of pigs I could charge in excess of £100 but hell, my pigs my price and if no one likes it then tough!!
It's quite a shame that this is the second time you've come on here to stick two fingers up to the rest of the forum on the same subject......particularly after reappearing following a long absence and begging support and advice from many of the kindly and knowledgeable people on here. I wouldn't imagine anyone really cares THAT much just what you sell for....more find it difficult to make the numbers add up ....which clearly they don't.
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morning!!! :eyelashes: :eyelashes:
i know its monday but please play nicely!.
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Trouble is that within the small scale pig keeping world there are a lot of different situations. There are the hobby keepers who rear a few for themselves and to whom the cost doesn't really matter. There are people who rear a few to sell but again don't pay too much attention to the costs. There are people who do it on a more businesslike footing but also have another income so don't worry if they don't make a profit. There are serious pedigree breeders who breed for showing but have to offload their "meat pigs". There are also people who are trying to run a small business and to whom costs and expenses are very important as they need to keep a roof over their heads. I would imagine that these are the people who get pissed off when someone down the road is selling pork for half what it really costs to produce.
I think this is spot-on and, while not advocating a cartel, it would be good if smallholders across the board helped to support each other.
We couldn't live off the profits we make from our smallholding (and we don't live particularly high) - our main aim is to produce food that we want to eat, of high quality and known provenance. If there is a surplus, then we sell it but we sell it at a realistic price - that recognises the costs involved and also the care that goes into the product.
Of course, everyone is free to make their own decisions, but if you consider yourself to part of a wider community, then the needs of that community should also be considered.
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For the record, here's an old post about profitable smallholdings on ten acres and fewer
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=13084.0 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=13084.0)
Although to be fair none of the people in the linked article keep pigs...
We do keep pigs, (selling halfs last year at £125-145) and our six acres pays me a small wage each month - not enough to live off but improving every year!
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Unfortunately with Jackie already selling cheap it would probably be impossible for her to sell at a reasonable cost. Her customers are now used to paying the price and for her to raise it to almost twice what she is currently charging would be difficult to understand and stomach... even if we as a forum where buying it. Her customers are no doubt aware of the value of items and are probably selling it on to their friends making the profit, which I have seen done many a time on items sold cheaply.
The other side though is we have or at least know someone who just does a hobby for love ( i know people who knit and then sell items that have taken many many hours for less than the price of the wool).
In the end it's there choice if they want to pay to for charity, let them
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I have to second what Padge & Rosemary have both posted. I only sell my pork as a means to keep my pigs i.e alledgedly self financing hobby ::) :innocent: but even at £140 for half a pig i cannot and do not break even so IMO Jackie2 is definetly selling herself, her animals and the rest of us short so long as shes not selling in my area......................
Mandy :pig:
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£150 half a pig including sausages.
You can make a living off smallholding, but you've got to be clever about what you do and work hard.
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Ok, so back to my original question, it seems that averagely its circa £150 for half a piggy, only asking as I was just wondering how it compared to our local butcher, but then its a question of quality of meat I expect, no disrespect to our local butcher who is excellent.
We used to keep Tamworths and we decided after the first slaughter that we wouldn't do it again and although that was years ago now and I keep thinking we should do it again, I just have to look at pigs and I know I can't do it, think I'd need to keep a dozen before I'd be ok with that again. That tiny bit of soppy townie still remains in me. So only other option is to buy from someone who doesn't mind doing it ;)
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You could tell your local butcher you'd like to buy half a pig from a traditional breed.
If he (she) knows there's a demand for it, maybe they'll start to support a local traditional breed farmer.
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Ooh, good idea :thumbsup:
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I have a new business idea now. Find people local that are selling their meat for half what it costs to produce, buy it, and sell it on for the proper price! I could make a profit from that without ever having to go out in the rain and the mud and I'd never have to moan about the price of pig feed again! Move over tesco, her I come!
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I am very saddened that within this forum there are those who choose to try and influence my life and my actions because THEY don't think what I do is right. What the hell? Who gave you the right to even comment on what I do or don't do? How dare you!!!!
It has also been suggested that I have come on here after a long absence and asked (or as was said, begging) for help and that is somehow 'not allowed'? Isn't that what this forum is about? Asking for information and help from those that do know? Anyone is welcome to any help or advice I can give. I will do this willingly and not expect anything back apart from "Hey thanks."
I didn't for one minute think that asking for help from the forum people was dependent on behaving the way some people want me to? Is that a form of payment for the help and advice received? Just asking! Or is there a little clique that thinks its better than the rest of us on here?
I bow to your greatness! hahahaha
I will though explain, although I don't HAVE to do anything......
I started this venture as a way to get 'good' food for my family and came to it very bright eyed and bushy tailed. I did all the 'right' things by getting pedigree registered stock, and the 'better' breed of turkeys, and large chickens and a few lambs for our own consumption. Any excess I thought would sell easily.
Hahahahaha how wrong was I??
We ended up buying 6 large freezers to put the meat into as I hate waste.
I advertised everywhere, local papers, flyers, talking to people and even at my diet class I gave away joints to generate interest.
I contacted local butchers to see if they would take some and was told that they wouldn't sell and they buy whole pigs for less than £100 direct from slaughter houses, yes the commercial pink pigs.
I even approached the local good eating house to see if the chef would buy some but no even there they use commercial pink pigs.
The market here is sown up by a very large commercial piggery. :(
I have tried selling my pork for more money and ended up putting it all in my freezers of which I now have 5 because of not wanting to waste good home grown pork.
I have a large notice on my front gates too and cant even seem to sell eggs here. I sold 2 bronze turkeys and 1 black turkey at Christmas only, the rest I put in my freezers. This year I will only raise enough for my family's needs. I didn't even sell one goose!
I love living on my smallholding, and raising pigs especially, but have now sold off 2 of the rare breeds and am concentrating only on lops as they are a bigger pig overall and after taking advice from a butcher as to which breeds sell better.
The price I now ask for my pork actually sells the EXCESS pork. I don't care if my customers sell on to others, as has been suggested, which in this area I very much doubt.
People don't like shelling out a lump sum of money here and its classed as a poor area.
I have so far only sold in total 3 pigs, that's 6 halves, not a lot but hopefully its a start.
Hubby did suggest that he buys a refrigerated van and sell 'down south' to see if we got more but with the price of fuel thats probably not an option.
This year I have also turned an ace into cropping food, I wont even try to sell that but will give the excess to the pensioners in my village and the pigs to avoid waste.
And as for the question about what I/we do to earn money, that, my dear, is none of your business!!!
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and yes one freezer died on me and I lost all the frozen turkeys and geese as the others freezers were full with pork :(
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Hi Jackie,
Sorry that you feel bullied, it's really horrible - I had a touch of all that business a while back ::). I meant to post a few days ago but am a bit down in the dumps as I had to close up shop as I couldn' t operate in the way I wanted to anymore (I was a landless keeper). You know your own local marketplace and it will be different from others. I can sympathise with your commercial White pig competition - we have Blythburgh pigs this way, a top class outdoor unit that distributes widely across this region. Excellent meat - for standard White pigs :-J
When did you start selling? I only ask as I have found that repeat business is really the crux of this sort of business. People who had my halves a few years back have kept coming back, sometimes asking for larger amounts (a lady took 2 wholes from me this week). Getting the initial business can be a struggle but it is do-able. My orders mostly came from repeats and word of mouth (alot of friends) but I did eventually get a steady trickle from flyers and from local parish mag ads. I'm not how much income has to do with it tbh. The monied lot were hugely outweighed by those with alot less (a local veggie box scheme finds this the same too). The critical factor was whether people had big enough freezers.
It sounds like your scaling back for a bit might be the best idea, raising for what you can sell on as weaners for breeding and then others as meat. If you are breeding each sow twice a year then I would look at having a year round advertising set up, nothing fancy but small ads in the local mags, board outside your farm etc.
I had 5 sows with my last set up and although I am now in a tricky position of 'overselling' (had a massive sleepless nights panic mid way though) - next time (i reckon an eventual house move is down the line somewhere :idea: ) I am still going to start off with just a couple of breeding LB sows. slow and steady ! - a more gradual build up. porker halves for £120, quarters £65. I sold half sow for £150 to someone who wanted to make own sausages, cuts, bacon, hams etc themselves. ALOT of meat there to work with!
Keep going - you obviously love it.
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I'm glad to see Jackie's post this morning, I was worried she might have lost the confidance to express her opinion on here which would have been a shame, and downright sad tbh.
I can compltely appreciate both sides. Rare breed pork should fetch a premium and its worth the money but at the same time, if it won't sell you have to get rid of it somehow and anything is better than nothing. Also for families like my own who couldnt afford £140+ for half a pig, Jackie provides an opportunity to sample, what I'm sure, is going to be a fabulous load of meat. And once we got a taste, like Mrs Snoodles said, maybe we could find the extra to money to pay more for it next time? So for that opportunity for my family, I have to thank her.
Jackie - maybe another idea would be to advertise the halves on special offer, that way when you get repeat business people will expect a change in price already.
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Thank you Mrs Snoodles, I hope you are feeling better now?
The formite bullies don't know me if they think I would bow to pressure from people I dont even know and owe nothing to :)
I can fight back just as hard :) but was trying to be more polite than they obviously were.:)
Its a good idea about having a year round advert, I shall do that :)
I have only just started selling the pork, after two years of trying, and it seems to be travelling by word of mouth as I have a whole pig ordered (2 halves) for next time I slaughter which is great news for me.
Onwards and upwards eh? I do so very much love it.
Hi Clarebelle :) In an ideal world we would all get a premium price for our pork but that aint gonna happen, at least not near me. I live near Immingham in Lincs and its a very poor area with not much money to invest a lot in a half pig so the price has to be low enough to make it worth while. Most people here live hand to mouth, they just dont have spare money.
I think the price will go up as lops are bigger as the half pig so yes the price will have to go up, Im sure the customers will understand that :)
Thanks for your support ladies xx
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Just a thought :thinking: if your selling to friends and family, what about offering an instalment scheme? So they pay you £20 a month for five months then get the pork when it's paid for and ready?
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I Do a meat-pack at £25, 2 joints (about 1.5kg inc. belly), 4 chops, a dozen sausages, a dozen rashers, chuck in a dozen fresh eggs, back about 10 of these easy from a pig with plenty of sausages and meat left for us. so I guess I sell half a pig for about £125, but keep the profit as sausage! This works well for me as it's not alot of money for people to put down, it fits in their freezer, and I freeze the the excess, then often sell another pack to the same person before the next pigs are ready! I'm only a hobby farmer, have a day job, but I do try and make the books balance, but the people who buy from be always feel like they are getting a good deal, I'm cheaper than the supermarket and a whole lot better!
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I Do a meat-pack at £25, 2 joints (about 1.5kg inc. belly), 4 chops, a dozen sausages, a dozen rashers, chuck in a dozen fresh eggs, back about 10 of these easy from a pig with plenty of sausages and meat left for us. so I guess I sell half a pig for about £125, but keep the profit as sausage! This works well for me as it's not alot of money for people to put down, it fits in their freezer, and I freeze the the excess, then often sell another pack to the same person before the next pigs are ready! I'm only a hobby farmer, have a day job, but I do try and make the books balance, but the people who buy from be always feel like they are getting a good deal, I'm cheaper than the supermarket and a whole lot better!
This seems like a good idea - a half pig can be a bit daunting for folk. We sell it as £/kg, since I'm hopeless at working out how much pig meat there will be ;D
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Jackie
thank you for your explanation, if you had told us this in the first place we may not have been so quick to jump on you, but you chose to get on your high horse.
Now we understand your plight living in a deprived area like immingham we can understand your trouble in selling at a higher price.
best of luck
mandy :pig:
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Thank you Derby that's a great idea :)
Fowgill Farm why should I have had to explain so that you and others dont jump on me?
On my high horse? I think you will find that I was defending myself and my actions, but again you try to make it MY fault and you abdicate responsibility for what you post!!!
I didn't, and don't have to explain anything to anyone and neither does anyone else on this forum and I suggest you and others of your ilk stop jumping on other posters so quick and being so very judgmental.
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Sbom thank you but its not to family :)
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This is a last warning to everyone, play nice or we will lock the thread.
I believe both sides of the argument have merit so it can run for now but keep it civil please!!!
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I don't see the point of having a forum if nobody is allowed to disagree with anything. People post their opinions, and we all have different ones. The issues that have been raised here are very relevant to a lot of people. I reckon that if you post stuff on a public forum you should be ready to hear opinions even if they are not what you wanted to hear. I think that this forum has a bit too much hugs and kisses sometimes and not enough telling it like it is.
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I don't see the point of having a forum if nobody is allowed to disagree with anything. People post their opinions, and we all have different ones. The issues that have been raised here are very relevant to a lot of people. I think that this forum has a bit too much hugs and kisses sometimes and not enough telling it like it is.
??? I don't see anyone's opinion being pulled in this thread, just a reminder to be polite and civil.
"Telling it like it is" based on a post on a public forum is usually at best "telling it like you think it is" - and based on multiple assumptions. And as Samuel L Jackson once memorably said, "Do not make an assumption, cause when you make an assumption, you make an ass outta you and umption."
If you disagree with someone's opinion or actions that can be expressed without personal attack or abuse. Some earlier context from Jackie might have helped to understand the differences here, but she chose not to volunteer that information.
I reckon that if you post stuff on a public forum you should be ready to hear opinions even if they are not what you wanted to hear.
Absolutely, that's the rub, but you still have the right to expect a bit of civility and care to be taken over those responses.
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yeah, what he said. innit. :innocent:
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Please, thank you, kind regards... ok that's the civility out the way. :)
Jackie I'm sorry if you didn't like my opinion, i'm not really internet brave, i actually tend to delete 90% of my posts prior to hitting return. I would actually tell you to the face the same as I type, it's not because I don't respect you or because I think you should behave in a certain way, it's actually because like you I have an opinion. The problem with English is it can be read in so many ways with different tines and highlights. But posting anything on a forum will mean questions being raised unless you only post smiles.
I hear you about Lincolnshire being poor, I live there, I see it all over the county. But I feel you shouldn't sell yourself short. Ok you have freezers full of stuff that you have grown ... don't worry you aren't the only one I have too. Personally I think this site is only half utilised we should be working together, getting the best price for items, selling stuff for the best price after all we have the numbers on small holders we should be able to tie up the market :)
This group should also be able to offer support/ comfort /ideas when things aren't going right ... ok not all will be seen as good ideas but you should be able to pick and choose.
How internet savvy are you, what about doing a web page selling your meat, and then over nighting it by post with people making monthly payments prior to delivery, I'm not saying it's going to suddenly take off; but it does work :)
Anyway good luck and please don't pay to be a charity because I'm sure the forum wants you to be expressing your opinion in another 5 10 or 20 more years at least
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I come South Yorkshire and there is a long tradition of cheap food and the culture of three jobs. I have lived in East Anglia for nearly 30 years and still find it hard to work out why nobody seeems to want the mucky jobs in life and money is a dirty word.
Last week I visited Southall market where there was an abundance of artisan food and did some market research for pig pricing. Do not if they were selling much but they were there.
Having run a very small business myself its hard to maintain your enthusiasm when there is only you doing all the thinking ,doing and planning. I live in an area where are lots of food producers small and large but apart from the very big boys there seems to be no local network to swop produce and ideas, even such a basic thing as a face book page. Perhaps after a day spent outside all you want to do is slump in front of a telly, but one local farmer sells his hay, cattle and pork from the local horsefacebook page, free advertising.
I think the meat packs are brillant ideas, also flavoured sausages as you are selling your cheaper cuts of meat at premium price.I do also think that people have forgotten how to cook the more unusual cuts of meat so perhaps paying the butcher to prepare users friendly joints in a pack may make them easier to sell.
Perhaps we need a thread started with sales ideas.
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Thank you Dan :hug:
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To bring you all back to topic with a gasp....£210 per half were my last pigs. Large Blacks so biggish but around 30kg plus sausages of meat in each half. I am registered organic so the feed cost is horrendous, but I found people were happy to pay the premium having seen the pigs and knowing that organic = higher costs of production.
I still only covered my costs - feed, vet (vaccination for erysipilis), bedding, cost of 6 weaners and collection (£50 each from Devon), butchery and slaughter plus about £25 profit per half.
This year I may just do 4, depending on the mud situation....
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Im impressed its a good price :) Yeah organic is more expensive.
Did you have to be inspected to sell the sausages? I make sausages for my own family but am a little wary of selling them.
OMG hasnt the mud been awful?? Ive had to make new pig runs as each gets too muddy for the pigs, the ground is like mud soup in most places here, :(
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I charge £180 for a half , I pay £50 per weaner at 8 weeks and it costs me £90 + to feed them, butchering is 93 pence per kilo £19 to kill and £12 transport so I think £180 is a fair price. My customers are all repeat and are happy to pay for quality pork. BUT I am lucky they are all relatively well off a couple of them are farmers.
If I couldn't cover my costs I wouldn't do it. I had a friend lived in your area for a while Jackie so I understand your problem selling at a higher price.
I must add that at £180 I don't make a profit. :-\
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I can only speak as a customer at the moment, early last year i was lucky enough to do a job on a small holding, installing a new safety vinyl floor in a preparation room.. we came to an agreement that a days labour at £150 would be worth half a pig
so we went down this road, and i have got to say...it was worth every penny..i had never ever tasted Pork like this..in fact H and myself, must of made noises of shere content at each mouthful :lol:
I think if you can get what you would expect to get , then thats fantastic, the smallholding i worked at supplied a very good local restaurant which also advertised on their website where they got their pork from... this then worked in two ways
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£150 for a days labour??? id have given u 50. ;)
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Come on DIW :innocent: you know £50 would get your flooring cut a little short around the edges :excited: and stuck down with chewing gum :dog: and why am i using all these smilies :farmer: :roflanim:
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These half pigs selling at 120-160, can I be nosey and ask the rough weight in kg? Thank you.
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My parents own a pub In yorkshire and buy pigs from local breeders. Their customer have become used to Local rare breed pork on the menu. I asked the chef and he said he has paid anywhere between 160 and 220 for a half in the past 6 months.
Now i have my own pigs (first time) and they are in the field across the road from the pub, they will def be buying from me!
I also plan to make things like salami, dried hams to sell them.
Good luck to everyone selling their pork.....But Jackie..Our chef wants your phone number. Im sure he could shift some for you. good luck with the 5 freezers full
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I wish, really wish I could sell for the prices quoted :(
Thanks Liam will message you
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If you can't sell your produce for a profit why produce so much excess, if its to provide for your family's needs why not produce what your family needs.
Your pigs your pork your prices, your inconcideration for others, your inconciderate and you don't care one hoot for others. Did I miss what you where trying to say context or not? Your right we don't need to or deserve to know but you don't deserve our respect so don't expect it. Don't defend yourself but also don't dig holes for us to metaphorically bury you in and collect stones.
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Oh I see one of the keyboard warriors is back then.
Why the hell SHOULD I care about you? Do I know you? Do I owe you anything?
NO I DONT!!
Who the hell do you think you are that I would even want or need any respect from a person like you???
You live in northern Scotland and I live in Lincolnshire, what I do or dont do will have very little impact, if any, on your life and you sit there trying to control what I do?? You, sir, are a bully!
Nasty, judgmental, person with a huge chip that thinks anyone here owes them something and who thinks people should change their lives to suit you..
Dont like my posts then dont read them, dont like what I do then tough s**t mate!!
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Why do you assume MKay is talking about you ???
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[quote
If you disagree with someone's opinion or actions that can be expressed without personal attack or abuse. Some earlier context from Jackie might have helped to understand the differences here, but she chose not to volunteer that information.
I reckon that if you post stuff on a public forum you should be ready to hear opinions even if they are not what you wanted to hear.
Absolutely, that's the rub, but you still have the right to expect a bit of civility and care to be taken over those responses.
I think Jackie2 believes the civility doesn't apply to her having made herself a victim of ' bullying' ::)
In my opinion of the 2 threads concerned folk were merely asking in todays climate of escalating feed costs how those sort of prices were indeed achievable...if at all. The short answer as it turns out was they're not.Within this thread she's made more than one directly abusive comment and I don't see where anyone else has been THAT abusive if at all.Shameful...time it was laid to rest methinks :gloomy:
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It's quite a shame that this is the second time you've come on here to stick two fingers up to the rest of the forum on the same subject......particularly after reappearing following a long absence and begging support and advice from many of the kindly and knowledgeable people on here. I wouldn't imagine anyone really cares THAT much just what you sell for....more find it difficult to make the numbers add up ....which clearly they don't.
Want to quote Padge? Abusive? Yes very!
I was alerted to Mkays post by message several times so its not just me who thinks it was directed at me, besides it being straight after my post.
Im am sick to death of guys even making comments about how I sell my pork, I have tried and tried to sell at a higher price, I have cut back to one breeding female, one is still a weaner. So now what?
Seriously, leave me alone guys my life has nothing to do with you!!!
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whilst the start of this thread had merit it has now become personal
I am locking the thread now
if you wish to discuss prices only start a new thread if you want to shout at each other find an alternative venue
the guide lines for TAS are treat it as you would a friends home where other people you don't know are also invited.