The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: mowhaugh on October 05, 2014, 08:05:01 pm
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So, our first pigglies are almost ready to go, and we have customers (all family!) for them, can anyone tell me approximately what price per kg I should be saying to them, for a whole pig? Just looking for an idea of what is fair, bearing in mind that we've not done this before, we've tried to be very careful, weighing the food and weighing the pigs and so on, but until they are cut up, we won't know how well we've done. We'd like to not make a loss on the piglets (we accept the costs of running the sows as a wee hobby, fun for the children etc) but also don't want to be ripping anyone off - we want them to come back for more!
Thanks.
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We only sell to family too and charge what the butcher would charge for non free range pork.
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We only sell to family too and charge what the butcher would charge for non free range pork.
Thank you - I am just not sure what that would average out at across a whole pig!
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We don't charge by the Kilo , we charge by the half or whole Pig. £120 a half or £200 for a whole pig.
that's butchered and wrapped .
I know others do charge more and some less but when we have pork available its usually returning customers
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we charged £5.50 on average (on the bone) which at the time was cheaper than Tesco and was approx. £150 per half pig.
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We charge on average £6-00/Kg, slightly more for bacon, sausage & ham, works out at around £120 for half a pig.
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Well bugger me, I charge something like 2.80 a kilo to friends and family, and maybe £3-4 a kilo for strangers or businesses. Even on the 2.80 a kilo, I still make a decent enough profit. That equates to about £200 a whole pig, of which at least £80 is profit. Pigs are coming back at 70 kilo dead weight.
If I tried to charge £150 a half pig, I wouldn't sell very much, and i'd feel pretty shitty about it, especially to friends and family!
At the moment I can't keep up with orders for pork, whereas some of the folk I know who sell it at £5-6 a kilo complain it's hard to shift!
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It's never clear in these conversations whether we're talking about on the bone or butchered/boned/processed. There's a big difference.
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I charge £150 per half to include some sausages. Equal to £6.50 per kilo.
Sausages I sell at 2.25 Lb.
We only sell 2-3 per year and they always sell well. Can't get enough sausages to keep up with demand, people love them.
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It's never clear in these conversations whether we're talking about on the bone or butchered/boned/processed. There's a big difference.
always on the bone here. Just because I prefer my meat on the bone
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Our butcher used to sell half pig for £1.30/lb and it was fantastic meat.
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We don't charge by the Kilo , we charge by the half or whole Pig. £120 a half or £200 for a whole pig.
that's butchered and wrapped .
I know others do charge more and some less but when we have pork available its usually returning customers
Do you have any idea approximately how heavy your pigs are?
Thanks for all the help, everyone. I have no qualms at all about trying to make money out of it, this is our business, but I also don't want to be ripping people off, just trying to get it right! Equally, if it is more sensible to charge by the whole/half pig, I am happy to do that, but again need an idea of what is fair for what size of pig - ours will be between 65 and 75kg liveweight - they will all have to go together due to the length of trip to the abbatoir, which is why I had thought to charge per kg, or it would not be very fair for the people getting the smaller pigs.
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£65/qtr here and extra for sausages. This lot of 6 were sold and i had a waiting list before I'd even picked them up.
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£10/kg. That's boned and rolled with sausages and vacuum packed, labled and boxed.
People get what they pay for- so if you are producing a premium product- charge a premium price.
Nb- I have a waiting list for all my products, Pork, Lamb and Beef.
I sell Beef fillet hung for 45 days for £50/kg. The demand is there for small scale producers to fill if they don't price themselves for the budget market.
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People who are charging the high prices, how much turnover do they have?
If I could get £600-£700 a pig, i'd be loaded!!!! But I just couldn't justify it to myself.
I know we produce a premium product, and i'd say the pork I produce is as good or better than many, but I like to give people a good deal, while making a good profit myself. It's nice to be able to sell quality meat to families who just couldn't justify it at the highest prices.
But with a decent enough turnover (and we could do a lot more), we make a good profit off the pigs, at least i'm happy. We've concentrated on slashing inputs rather than raising prices.
I'd be very interested to know what profit per kilo folk are making? It might not be so different between the low and high prices.
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Do you have any idea approximately how heavy your pigs are?
The last ones where GOSs and without checking back through my records I seem to remember that one was just under 70kg and the other just over 70kg ,
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I prefer to sell to family,at least I get paid! Sold £400 worth to a deli in town and still haven't been paid for it. His reason? An employee had accidently turned the deep freeze off and the meat was spoiled. ::) ::)
The thing that grieves me most isn't the loss of money but the fact that those poor old pigs died for nothing. Another thing I sometimes do is sell a weaner to family, keep it here and they pay for feed, killing and butchery costs etc. plus a little more for my time.
My DIL and I are also starting a veg box scheme for family only.
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Do you have any idea approximately how heavy your pigs are?
The last ones where GOSs and without checking back through my records I seem to remember that one was just under 70kg and the other just over 70kg ,
Thank you!
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People who are charging the high prices, how much turnover do they have?
If I could get £600-£700 a pig, i'd be loaded!!!! But I just couldn't justify it to myself.
I know we produce a premium product, and i'd say the pork I produce is as good or better than many, but I like to give people a good deal, while making a good profit myself. It's nice to be able to sell quality meat to families who just couldn't justify it at the highest prices.
But with a decent enough turnover (and we could do a lot more), we make a good profit off the pigs, at least i'm happy. We've concentrated on slashing inputs rather than raising prices.
I'd be very interested to know what profit per kilo folk are making? It might not be so different between the low and high prices.
Porterlauren
I would look at your costs again becoz I sell at £150 a half and I break even if I'm lucky, there must be something you're not factoring in!
Plus don't undersell your pigs and your hard work, no wonder people are queueing up, they can spot a mug when they meet one! ::)
never feel guilty for charging what they're worth.
mandy :pig:
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I've said this before but there's a big difference between selling the odd pig or two every now and then and actually making a business of selling your pork week in week out throughout the year. It's all very well saying your meat is superior and high prices are justified but if you're trying to make a living it needs to be sold and the price has a big influence on wether that happens or not.
I also suspect that many people who sell the odd pig every now and then have no real idea of what it cost them to produce it.
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I'm a bit busy a sec, but will put up my costs later, i've costed it over and over and just think I pay less for most things than a lot of others. We do about 4 pigs a month at the moment. But will be upping it next year.
P.S I don't take kindly to being called a mug. I could think of a few names for folk charging the earth to family and friends, but I refrain.
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£10/kg!! For pork!! Sorry but that is extortionate no matter how good it tastes.
I'm happy with buying my commercial pork, not overfat at £3 a kilo... Not had any complaints yet when I've served up a huge roast to friends!
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I've said this before but there's a big difference between selling the odd pig or two every now and then and actually making a business of selling your pork week in week out throughout the year. It's all very well saying your meat is superior and high prices are justified but if you're trying to make a living it needs to be sold and the price has a big influence on wether that happens or not.
I also suspect that many people who sell the odd pig every now and then have no real idea of what it cost them to produce it.
It difficult to make a living selling a pemium product like this BECAUSE the other smallholders under price you by 70%! They destroy the market place as thoroughly as China do.
I am self employed and the Croft forms 50% of my income but I could never live off it.
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£10/kg!! For pork!! Sorry but that is extortionate no matter how good it tastes.
I'm happy with buying my commercial pork, not overfat at £3 a kilo... Not had any complaints yet when I've served up a huge roast to friends!
Exactly, most of the population don't care about where their food comes from and those that say they do only mean it if it is convenient. Ie on price.
Ethical pork production is; a traditional breed/cross sow who is slow grown outdoors (10mnth a year min) in company on a nutritional diet with many acres to roam. Only put in pig once she is mature -2y old, only made to have one litter a year, fed to a standard that she maintains her full condition during lactation and weans naturally at her choosing (normally 15-17weeks here). Growers who are then grown on free range on many acres and then meeting a humane end.
This is what I do and it is why I charge (and my customers pay) £10/kg. If this is what you do... Perhaps you need to consider upping you price(even if you then discount it for friends and family or the impoverished).
Let them know the price its worth, ie 10/kg but then treat them to a hefty discount if you feel so inclined.
You must remember Tesco finest is not up to the standard we do, ethically, welfare, quality or taste and that's about the best commersial pork you will get. We are not heartless meat factories. We are cruelly free meat, whether our friends have the acuity to taste the difference is another matter entirely. (Plus who complains about the quality of the the produce prepared after a dinner party??? It could have come out of skip and wed all smile to the hostess.) So poor example.
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Finally, (sorry my phone makes it difficult to do single long posts)
Costs;
Feeding sow through lactation @upto 20kg/day £500
Feeding Growers to 40kgDW@upto 2.5kg/day £50
Transport to abattoir £35(upto5)
Kill, cut, vp £36, £30, £15
So that's £185 per carcass at a boned out weight of say 28kg- £6.60/kg
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£10/kg!! For pork!! Sorry but that is extortionate no matter how good it tastes.
I'm happy with buying my commercial pork, not overfat at £3 a kilo... Not had any complaints yet when I've served up a huge roast to friends!
Exactly, most of the population don't care about where their food comes from and those that say they do only mean it if it is convenient. Ie on price.
Ethical pork production is; a traditional breed/cross sow who is slow grown outdoors (10mnth a year min) in company on a nutritional diet with many acres to roam. Only put in pig once she is mature -2y old, only made to have one litter a year, fed to a standard that she maintains her full condition during lactation and weans naturally at her choosing (normally 15-17weeks here). Growers who are then grown on free range on many acres and then meeting a humane end.
This is what I do and it is why I charge (and my customers pay) £10/kg. If this is what you do... Perhaps you need to consider upping you price(even if you then discount it for friends and family or the impoverished).
Let them know the price its worth, ie 10/kg but then treat them to a hefty discount if you feel so inclined.
You must remember Tesco finest is not up to the standard we do, ethically, welfare, quality or taste and that's about the best commersial pork you will get. We are not heartless meat factories. We are cruelly free meat, whether our friends have the acuity to taste the difference is another matter entirely. (Plus who complains about the quality of the the produce prepared after a dinner party??? It could have come out of skip and wed all smile to the hostess.) So poor example.
I can see what you're saying but slightly tarring people who charge less per kg with the same brush here. I don't rear pigs but do rear a small number of lambs each year and my partner is a commercial beef farmer. We definitely aren't a 'heartless meat factory' and definitely not cruel. Cows and lamb free range outside as the weather allows- then the cows come in and are well fed, bedded out of the elements (the majority calve over winter too).
The lamb we rear is second to none in taste and quality. No it isn't rare breed and they are commercial lambs but I have had no complaints on the quality of it from friends who have had some from us. They definitely finish slower than commercial lambs- 6-8 months instead of the normal 16weeks. I'm not comparing us to Tesco nor you but our lamb fits in the middle of the pricing scale (supermarkets selling at rock bottom prices, farm butchery at higher prices, ours is in the middle of both).
The other issue I see selling per kg is half a pig or lamb will have some premium cuts i.e. legs, chops, and some less popular, cheaper cuts i.e. breast/belly, shoulder. To price yourself at the top of those range of cuts means your cheaper cuts are actually very expensive ! And the more expensive cuts are in line with your price. If you're selling per half pig or lamb I think the price per kg needs to be the average price on all of those cuts.
Just speaking from experience here but down here in Cornwall you'd be hard pushed to sell pork at £10/kg, very hard pushed. Not saying it's not nice pork, have no doubt that it is, but probably not the best thing to tar all producers no matter what meat they produce with the same brush that if they aren't charging premium (slightly extortionate) prices then animal welfare is at risk...
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I was referring to the commercial pork you spoke off, I have yet to see truelly ethical pork production in that scale period.
Lamb and beef production in the UK is pretty good so again a terrible idea to compare the two, if we were including American feedlots then we could have some comparisons but we are not.
I'm sure a good butcher will sell your husband's fillet steak hung for 21days for 30/kg mine hung for 45 has lost a lot mode weight through dehydration so 45d@50/kg is equivalent to 21d@35/kg so as you can see my prices are fair.
Anyway back to pork, my method has high costs as you can see a porker @40kgDW is costing me £6/kg to produce (for the cheaper cuts as well) so £4 a kg profit is probably not much more than Tesco are making on theirs! They just do it worse and cheaper.
Speaking of cheap cuts, what is a cheap cut? My belly becomes panchetta, jowls-guanciale, neck -sausages.
On that point though perhaps I should shoulder orate, my pork box will contain 10/15kg mix of; pork chump steak, leg roast, loin steak, chops & sausage. I dont sell the shoulders, fillet or belly.
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Finally, (sorry my phone makes it difficult to do single long posts)
Costs;
Feeding sow through lactation @upto 20kg/day £500
Feeding Growers to 40kgDW@upto 2.5kg/day £50
Transport to abattoir £35(upto5)
Kill, cut, vp £36, £30, £15
So that's £185 per carcass at a boned out weight of say 28kg- £6.60/kg
Must be little pigs my boned out weights per pig are approx 44kg
So half pig at £150 is roughly £6.82/kg and usually inc 2kg sausages and 1kg of bacon in the price
All i'm saying is don't undersell your produce we cant compete with supermrkts so dont try
Mandy :pig:
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Ours are killing at at around 70-80 kilo dw.
We run a mix of pedigree saddlebacks, pie train x largewhite/landrace and pie train x saddleback.
The latter x breeds, convert food far better, and grow quicker and to be honest no one ever says oooo those saddelbacks taste so much better. All are fed the same food, on the same system, and I think that has more to do with how they taste than the breed often. As a result, the latter breeds grow to kill weight quicker, taking less feed.
Feed costs us 25p per kilo, and is a tasty mix of wheat, oats, barley, soya, beans etc etc, rather than a grey, dull, pelleted diet.
Bought in weaners cost 1.60 a kilo live weight. So a ten kilo piglet is £16, a twenty kilo piglet is £32. Good value I think.
They are slaughtered and butchered by a master butcher, about 5 mins from my house, at a total cost of £35.
There are very minimal transport costs, a couple of 5-10 min journeys maximum.
I think a lot of pricing comes from where you are and the market you are approaching. I'm in a rural area, and my clientele are normal folk, if I worked in the city or had access to a large upper middle class market i the south, then I'd probably get away with charging more!
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That is incredibly low costs! You should increase your price in line with Tesco finest and you would make enough for an extra holiday.
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On the back of this thread, we've decided to do just that. And also to start doing 10 kg pork boxes. We can afford to do them for 40 / 45 quid, and make a real healthy profit off them, while giving people a good sized and mixed box of pork, with a couple of joints, some chops, belly and sausages for a pretty low price. :thumbsup:
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I have never been able to sell mine at any less that £180 for a half pig, but that was taking into account that I was paying £50 a weaner, my butchering costs were 92pence a kilo just for cutting, sausages and bacon were extra, I also had to pay for bone waste and then vat on top. If you do happen to have any spare I would be interested as I couldn't do pigs this year!
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Looking at Porterlaurens inputs/costs seems is running a toned down commercial set up using commercial pigs crossed with traditional(pietrains which were speciffically imported into the UK to give commercial pigs a better bigger carcass), if she were running traditional breeds of pigs lpure like saddlebacks or gos it wouldn't do so well as you can't rush them to finish so difficult to compare to what the majority of us do.
Good luck if thats your thing but i'll stick to the traditional breeds without any modern breeds mixed in.I like my pork grown slowly.
mandy :pig:
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Well, actually we have, and do, run pure GOS, pure saddlebacks, and OSBs. We had a saddleback back from the butcher last week, and have two OSBs going of the week after next. The last saddleback came back at 70 kilos dead weight (pork) and 10 kilos of sausages. It was killed at 8 months old, and was a very good quality carcass. It didn't blow our budget. We also AI the ped saddleback sows to a pie train boar, as, just like you say, it gives a great carcass conformation, and with it being half saddleback, and outdoor reared on a free range system, with a good wholesome diet the taste is excellent. I would imagine many would struggle to tell you it wasn't a traditional breed, it certainly doesn't taste like it came from a super market. What people DO notice, is that the chops are larger, the joints fuller etc.
The other advantages of the x bred pigs we keep, is that you can run them on as long as you like and has a lower risk of running to fat.
P.S Do you really feed your sows 20kg of feed a day? And not mate them until 2 years old. We have one with a litter of 11, her second litter, by age 2, who is certainly not fed 20 kg a day, and was pronounced by the vet to be in excellent condition.
We run a small scale set up, but everything here has to be justifiable financially.
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We do very similar to you Porterlauren. We have pure Tamworths and Hampshires and also do crosses of the two with success. The Hams put some shape on the Tams but the Tams put a nice amount of fat on the meat too so not really lean.
Louise going back to your original question, we sell half pigs for £130 and that is for around 25kg of meat plus packs of sausage. We make some money from this but not enough to give up the day job!!
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I think that must be a typo, usually 2kg or 4lb of nuts a day I think. I think this is a recurring conversation but round this way (unless buying at market) weaners are £35-50, feed is £9 a bag roughly and slaughter costs are £40-50 depending on size. Cost me £112 for my sausages and £80 for the bacon and gammon. So that was £422 plus approx £300 on feed for 3 pigs. So. Now you can see they have to fetch £250-300 to make a profit as no account here for vets or equipment.
This was OSB killed at 7-8 months. Sold in quarter boxes with one or two packs of sausages depending on box weight (10-12kg) £70 a box. 3 packs of sausages for £10, gammon and bacon £10/kg. no problem selling like this.
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It does sound a lot more palatable when you say a 10-12 kg pork box for 70 quid. When you say a half pig at £10/kg it makes my eyes water. Mind you, if someone wanted to pay me £700 for one of my pigs, i'd probably take it!
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Smokey our sow is a big girl and feeding ten piglets at 10weeks old she was getting a 10kg bucket twice a day, the piglets always dive in but Smokey would hog the lions share (say 75%) but that's what it takes to keep her in cs4 and feed ten piglets until 15weeks when she chose to wean them. That was outside in march up here with a straw bale shelter.
Secondly yes I wouldn't put a gilt in pig until she was mature. Just because they are sexually mature doesn't mean you have to put them in. But most people cannot justify having them doing nothing and eating food until they are mature so start them producing litters as soon as possible. I can and do.
My ten kg box will contain; chops, steaks(loin and chump), leg joint and sausages. All vac packed and labeled(custom mooprint lables). So perhaps due to the lack of 'cheap' cuts (which I love to much to sell to people who may not appreciate its value-ie cconsider it a cheap cut) my box is worth £100/10kg.
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Never underestimate the amount of feed a sow and litter can get through. 20kg a day wasn't enough to stop one of ours going out of condition with 14 piglets hanging on.
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I would imagine many would struggle to tell you it wasn't a traditional breed, it certainly doesn't taste like it came from a super market. What people DO notice, is that the chops are larger, the joints fuller etc.
I second this with our lamb- they are all commercial lambs but never had a complaint yet and again doesn't taste like supermarket or even farm shop lamb... again the people who have our lambs notice larger fuller joints and thicker chops, and they can run on longer without the risk of them going overfat like a lot of rare breeds can do. So there's a lot to be said for commercial types...
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Some people can't tell the difference between blue nun and eroica. It does not mean there is not a difference for those with a more perceptive pallet.
I can tell you the type, feed and maturation of of a backstrap, sirloin or loin steak. So can my customers and they are willing to pay for it.
Again I am not saying your commercial lamb is poor but I would be able to tell the difference if you served it to me alongside a heb, Jacob or Soay.
I don't eat for sustenance I eat because I love the taste of food, either your a meat eater or a meat connoisseur I suppose, nothing wrong with either. But being one doesn't justify deniying the other doesn't exist.
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And even then- those that can will often buy inferior yet acceptable produce to ensure finances go far enough.
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Have a read back through that.
Are you that 'superior' in real life? Do you spend much of your time looking down on / slagging off others, who don't entirely agree with you or your method of doing things?
That's not meant to be an insult particularly, just an observation. It kind of makes me smile. The world is very lucky to have you around with your superior produce, more perceptive pallet and connoisseur's attitude toward food. God help the rest of us lowly mortals :innocent: :-J
Just because something is less expensive does not make it inferior.
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Really? Considering I have been called extortionate and the previous poster was trying to say that there is no difference between commercial breeds and natives. If I extoll the virtues of my produce and my ability to discern the two I am conceited? Fair enough. Do you feel the same about the artist with tetracroma who is currently circulating in the media?
Yes most cheaper products are inferior to their more expensive rivals, blue nun-eroica, Peugeot-Audi, silverline-grandfors.
If I raise a commercial white turkey and a Narragansett side by side together- they will not taste the same on the plate.
And I too thank the imaginary lord for Michael Ruhlman, Gordon Ramsey and everyone else with a pallet who will not humour mediocrity.
Again, not that any of my fello Smallholders produce is such(mediocre) but yes my neighbouring farmers do, as do danepack, Bernard Mathews and Halls and I do lament the loss of traditional farming with native breeds and butchers who hang and cut with skill and care.
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Ever heard the phrase, it's not what you say, it's the way you say it?
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Again, not that any of my fello Smallholders produce is such(mediocre) but yes my neighbouring farmers do, as do danepack, Bernard Mathews and Halls and I do lament the loss of traditional farming with native breeds and butchers who hang and cut with skill and care.
Lament all you like but farming has been modernised thanks to supermarkets and processors driving down prices- doesn't mean farmers produce sub standard meat or grain, just that they are being pushed to produce a product at a price that is not sustainable. As you know my OH is a beef farmer, far from traditional with continental stock- because commercial buyers demand a certain carcass quality, price and traditional breeds cannot normally compete with continental.
I'll still continue to eat our mediocre inferior commercial lambs, they taste good to me and all that have eaten them; I may not be a connoisseur of meat but most of my friends and family do not describe themselves as this too, we just want good food at a reasonable price (note I do not buy meat from the supermarkets either, until recently beef and pork came from a local traditional family farm butchery) and this is something I can provide with our commercially bred lambs. It is obvious that you have a different market for your produce to Porterlauren and I which is fine and if you can get a premium price per kg then bravo but not acceptable to look down on our products when you've not even tasted them yourself, and also look at where we are in the country- I am in one of the most economically deprived counties in the UK- you'd get laughed out of town charging those prices down here no matter how good your product is.
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Its difficult to tell how someone means something when it is in writing.
I am glad you accept our products are different and that you choose mass production and are happy with the results, its a shame you cannot accept the same from me. I am sure I could find customers for my produce in your town, but alass- I have a waiting list...
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You are quite priceless.
I'd quite like to know how my 'mass produced', out door born, and raised pedigree saddleback, born, reared and killed within 2 square miles, which lived it's life running around a bramble and tree filled field, tastes quite so inferior to your pork, because I sell it for less.
As for the cross bred pigs and sheep, they may taste different than the traditional breed pigs and the wee native sheep, but when reared well, fed well (grass only in the case of the sheep) and killed, hung and butchered properly, I would argue that they taste no worse, it;s just a different meat. The upside is that they have been selectively bred for improved performance and so can be reared in a more cost effective manner, and hence cost less.
I live in the middle of nowhere, so i'm not sure you;d have much success. Lucky really, because perhaps your order book might dry up, if someone offered high quality produce at a lower price, in your local area :-J Just joking.
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I'm sorry that you assume I am always refering to you Porter, however in that paragraph I happened to be speaking to the lady who told me she kept both a commercial suckler herd and flock.
We shall agree to disagree on the taste of commercial stock, the verdict is in though, the world's top chefs wouldn't be using the native breeds if they did not taste better than their somewhat more economical cousins.
Forman and Field do not sell it either.
I do have such competition and it does indeed effect my business, it limits growth. Hence why I, like many others have a second business. My order book could probably handle a doubling of my output and I will be putting my money where my mouth is next year. Time will tell.
On the note of taste(again, I'm sorry) does your commercial really taste as good as your saddlebacks? Although the point is really mute as my "slagging off" as you called it was myopicaly directed at twizzles supermarket bought commercial pork that she receives no complaints about. Although you did suggest that the taste of commercial and traditional breed was the same.
Its like saying that carling and punk IPA taste the same
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Ah twizzle, a final finale. You may note I only began "looking down" on your produce after you suggested I was extortionate and said there was no difference in taste between it and commercially reared pork that you buy.
You then brought in other comparisons, I appreciate that you now accept that I have a premium product for which I can charge such. I wish you had expressed this initially, the comments mentioned above were always going to be inflammatory if not mildly offensive. A rebuttal was in order.
If I was told someone was selling their Koby style beef for double what I sell mine for I would have been supportive and interested,not a twt. But that's just magnanimous, superior old me. Chow, I'm off for tea with a Lord...
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Pricing is a perennial problem for small holders. Faced with "how much ? I can buy it in Aldi for less than that" most smallholders back down and subsequently complain about not getting a proper return.
It's all about marketing. You produce a product that can be differentiated from the mass market. You highlight those differences. You target a market that will appreciate, and can afford, your product. You present it as a premium product - not some lumps of meat in a poly bag.
Those principles apply to virtually every product. Take 400 grams of chocolates, put them in a fancy box with a bit of ribbon and a well written insert extolling the virtues of your chocolates and you can sell them for a fiver or more. Put the same chocolates in a poly bag and you'll be lucky to get £1. That's marketing.
It costs more and it requires a lot more effort but if it were that easy then everyone would be doing it
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We've decided to go with our local butcher prices, it seems fair in that our meat is fattier, but rare breed and free range so balance out ? He charges £3.00/ kg for half a pig boxed, no sausage or bacon. So we have been charging the same and get about 20kg of chops belly and joints back, then charge £6/ kg sausages (he charges 6.5) ..... So £100 gets you 20Kg pork on bone and 6kg sausages ish. We don't charge for the trotters ears etc....
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On my rough figures I think our weaners will have cost us about £4.50/kg to produce - not counting costs of our time/electric (fencing) materials (ark, fencing, troughs etc etc)
I did a quick search of our local butchers and also local supermarkets for prices re free range pork/bacon/sausages and figure that pricing it at between £6/kg to £10/kg (sausages up to bacon) is fair - it is under the supermarket stuff (which ranged from £7 to £13/kg), covers our basic costs and will provide a bit of a fund to buy in the next lot of weaners next year.
Never embarked on this to produce cheap pork, but am happy to produce good, free range, small number pork etc at an appropriate cost.
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We've just had three saddlebacks back from the butcher. Just for us so we can enjoy proper pork and bacon (and sausages :yum:) and sell some extra to friends. My OH has unexpectedly lost his job so we are considering developing the smallholding into something a bit more commercial and it's a nightmare!
I have got a really clear idea of how much it cost to raise the last three. We weren't keeping an eye on the bottom line so they didn't go off until they were 10 months which massively increased the cost per kg. But I still reckon it cost us £6.50/kg and that doesn't factor in mileage, labour or make any allowances for illness or loss. Even if I send the next batch off a few months earlier I can't see enough profit...
Our pigs are truly free-range and furtle around in the woods for most of their lives and it really does taste better from anything I've had from a supermarket. I'd be interested in any tips for reducing costs without negatively impacting quality of life or flavour.
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You can't, that's the point. Pher wise the pork at he supermarket would have better welfare.
£10/kg for boned out, vacuum packed, premium lables, of the most popular cuts. IS excellent value.
If you want to make money though go to a calf sale and buy a beef shorthorn sired calf at 3mth then sell it at 650kg. £700 easy money.