The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: darkbrowneggs on February 13, 2012, 11:16:03 pm
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Hi All - Over the years I have kept the odd pair of weaners, but last year looked at the prices, added in the feed (which I will have to buy in) costs of getting home, getting to the abattoir 50ml round trip, collecting offal, collecting meat, paying slaughter and butchery and decided to live on chicken for a while
I can now have a pair of 16 wk old GOS cross for £120, being bigger they are going to be eating a lot, though not for quite as long, but then again I don't know how well they have been "done" so far.
Is it worth the effort. I am not as young and enthusiastic as I once was :( Plus still have plenty of beef chicken and pheasant in the freezer - just out of pork and lamb
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We put our costs on the main TAS site which you might find useful:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/livestock/pigs/pig-costs/ (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/livestock/pigs/pig-costs/)
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Assuming you're taking them to 24wks to kill, i'd base my feeding on a 25kg bag sow nuts lasting one pig 12 days (based on feeding them just over 2kg a day) therefore you'll be feeding them for approx 8wks (56 days) divided by 12 = approx 5 bags per pig which i buy in bulk at £7.50/bag so would cost me £75 for the two ( 10 bags). If you can add ito the mix fruit & veg you might bring it down but personally i use fruit and veg as extras rather than in place of nuts at this time of year.
I'm sure the others will be along with their costings shortly.
HTH
Mandy :pig:
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My figures would be 4.0, 4.25, 4.5, and 4.75 lbs per pig per day for weeks 17, 18, 19, and 20. After that 5 lbs per pig per day. This comes to 122 lbs (55.6 kgs) for the first 4 weeks, 140 lbs (63.5 kgs) for weeks 21 to 24.
So the total per pig from 17 to 24 weeks is 120 kg. My feed is more expensive than Mandy's, £7.00 for a 20 kg bag, so the total comes to £42 per pig, £84 for 2 pigs. Every week over 24 weeks old is another 35 lbs (15.9 kgs) per pig = £5.60 per pig per week at my feed prices. However, in another post on "fatty pigs", Chickenfeed talks about cutting back during the last 2 weeks - this is a new one on me and something I have not tried before. Our slaughter costs are £21 per pig, and fuel at whatever it costs. HTH Tamsaddle
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Still considering, and many thanks for the input everyone. I see in the store I have two and a half bags of ground soya meal. I bought this to boost the protein for the layers, but decided against using it as (apparently) it is not good for fowl
Could I use this or would I need to boil it first. If I can this may bring my feed costs down. There is a bull beef unit just up the road, maybe I could buy in some of their cattle mix and boost it with the soya?
Again many thanks for the input...... by the time I have made up my mind they will have probably gone ;D
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you can save money with buying rolled or milled barley and mixing the soya but you have to do it correctly to much protein and they s**t themselves
i did costings for the hamlops/ Hampshire's its on here somewhere and a kilo of pork cost 60p to put on with sow rolls
osb crossed with what and is that £120 for 2 or each
oh you Will need a mixing licence for the soya unless you are layering it :farmer:
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Thanks Robert. They are GOSxMiddlewhite
What is layering?
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a layer or rolled barley a layer of soya a layer of rolled barley ;) :farmer:
if they are well at themselves you should be able to get them to a good weight if they are lean and impoverished it takes more and longer to get them up to a suitable weight :farmer:
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But if I did that in a bucket then stirred it with a big wooden spoon it would be mixing an require a licence?
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Yes dbe, you would definitely need a licence
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the best thing is buy feed in that way you do not need to have a licence just a vermin proof container for storing feed
layering in feed troughs or buckets does not need a licence once you start to use wooden spoons or any stirring device ;) you need a licence even putting the the ingredients in a bag and shaking it about you need a licence in reality it is a bit like speeding we can all do it but not everybody gets caught :farmer:
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Has any small scale farmer ever been convicted by not having a licence?
Silly laws like this need breaking otherwise the world will go mad. Like same health and
safety laws. Don,t let the paperwork people run your life!!
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well if you have the balls just get wired in there we will watch from the side lines ;) :farmer:
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I was advised, by my sons tutor, that a licence was only required if mixing feed to sell and not for home use. When I got my first pigs, hence my new herd no, I was inspected by whoever and they were happy I was home milling feed and no mention made of a licence :)