[kjohnson34]

Just doing some sums and wondered if anyone could tell me if I'm close,  i'm thinking about 7 sacks of feed per weaner that's from 8 weeks to slaughter, about 40 quid each for the weaners and about  40 quid for slaughter and butchering does this sound about right

[farmershort]

Just doing some sums and wondered if anyone could tell me if I'm close,  i'm thinking about 7 sacks of feed per weaner that's from 8 weeks to slaughter, about 40 quid each for the weaners and about  40 quid for slaughter and butchering does this sound about right

prices for weaners and slaughter sounds right - same as us... feed will depends on exactly how you run the diet I'd say 7 to 9 bags of feed - at £6 per 20kg bag, that's about £54 per weaner as a max feed cost. Anything left over is a bonus

[Rosemary]

How do you get 7-9 bags? If you buy a weaner at 2 months and keep it for 6 months

Feed @ 1lb per month of age per day from 2months
30 days @ 2lb   60lb   April
30 days @ 3lb   90lb   May
30 days @ 4lb   120lb   June
30 days @ 5lb   150lb   July
30 days @ 6lb   180lb   August
30 days @ 6lb   180lb   September
15 days @ 6lb   90lb   Mid October slaughter
         870lb / 395kg / 19.75 bags feed (20kg bag)

Depends when you slaughter, of course, but 7 - 9 bags seems a bit light IMHO

[farmershort]

How do you get 7-9 bags? If you buy a weaner at 2 months and keep it for 6 months

Feed @ 1lb per month of age per day from 2months
30 days @ 2lb   60lb   April
30 days @ 3lb   90lb   May
30 days @ 4lb   120lb   June
30 days @ 5lb   150lb   July
30 days @ 6lb   180lb   August
30 days @ 6lb   180lb   September
15 days @ 6lb   90lb   Mid October slaughter
         870lb / 395kg / 19.75 bags feed (20kg bag)

Depends when you slaughter, of course, but 7 - 9 bags seems a bit light IMHO

wow, they must be huge pigs! fair play to you!

sorry, I wasn't assuming growing for the normal starter porker sort of size... 50kg odd dead weight.

we buy them in a 10-12 weeks ish, and keep them roughly 3 months.

[robert waddell]

its not cheep rearing your own pigs if you have been to lanark pig sales ever vendor is selling at a loss happy hippy your getting ripped of with the feeding you want to have aword with  the wife

[Eve]

Cheapest pig feed here is £6 when bought per 20 bags or so but that particular supplier is so useless beyond belief that we had to go to a more expensive one: £7+ per bag (£7.30 if memory serves me right) but 1 free per every 10 bought.

Then there's the weaners and their transport to our field, the rent for the field, the battery and energiser (though they should last for years), the abattoir which went up big time this year to just over £40 per pig inc VAT, loads of sunscreen for the piggies' ears, a little tub of antiseptic powder, a dozen or so bales of straw at £1 each, shade netting used to give them more shade as they didn't have enough...

But it's still worth it!! 

[Cobra]

Pig feed here is £8.00 per bag for growers 25Kg, I get rolled barley for £3.00 a bag 20kg.

Nothing quite like barley feed pork  Add that to your growers at a ratio and your feed costs will drop, provided you can source good priced rolled barley. 

[farmershort]

Ok,

just to prove I'm not mental:

buy weaners @ £40 each

2 weeks @ 2lb per day = 14lb

4 weeks @ 3 lb per day = 84lb

4 weeks @ 4lb per day = 112lb

4 weeks @ 5lb per day = 140lb

= 350lb per pig = 159Kg Divide by 20KG bags = 7.9 bags = about £50

Another £40 for slaughter (well, it's actually £33 now, but best to build in some slack)

so, £40 + £50 + £40 = £130 to rear a pig from 10 weeks old to 50kg deadweight.

[Eve]

We keep ours until 25-26 weeks and they're much bigger. They get loads of free fruit and veg on top of their pellets.
Don't forget to include your freezer, as well. Our pigs fill a tall standing freezer each, so we had to buy freezers.

Your sums sound about right, if you don't need to buy fencing etc. The first year is generally the more expensive one.
 

[farmershort]

We keep ours until 25-26 weeks and they're much bigger. They get loads of free fruit and veg on top of their pellets.
Don't forget to include your freezer, as well. Our pigs fill a tall standing freezer each, so we had to buy freezers.

Your sums sound about right, if you don't need to buy fencing etc. The first year is generally the more expensive one.
 

What do they end up as, deadweight, eve? It might be interesting to keep a batch a bit longer, and see how big ours get...

[OhLaLa]

Remember folks, if you overfeed you will get pigs that lay on a lot of fat. I made that mistake with my first pig - 125kg at slaughter! Way too much fat which all had to be cut away.

  

[TheCaptain]

Farmershort, I reckon you're a bit under but nowhere near the 20 bags!

My sums go along the lines of:

31 days @ 1.3 Kg = 40 Kg
31 days @ 1.75 Kg = 54 Kg
31 days @ 2.2 Kg = 68 Kg
31 days @ 2.6 Kg = 81 Kg  
Total = 243 Kg
243 Kg / 25 Kg bag = 9.7 bag - 10 bags for arguments sake.  Bag of feed = £7.20 (ish) = £72 in feed for four months of feeding!

[kjohnson34]

I'm amazed at the difference, my theory was buy them at 8 weeks old slaughter at about 6 months old and that would use about 190 Kgs of feed per pig which would be between 7-9 sacks depending on 20 or 25 Kgs sacks, the equipment i already have so my sums came to weaner+feed+slaughter/butcher   £40+£60+£40 = £140 for each pig which i thought was a bargin

[pikilily]

Ha, ha!! I think there is a lot of cross purpose chatting here....

some folk are buying weaners at 8 weeks, some at 12 weeks
some folk are buying 20kg bags, and some 25kg bags, and there are different prices according to where we live.
and of course there are different desired slaughter weights, and different prices for slaughter.

getting a headache trying to decipher it all....

LOL
Emma T

[Eve]

Pikilily made a good point, we need to mention weights and ages 
We buy weaners at 8-9 weeks old, the bags of feed weigh only £20kgs, and they go to slaughter at 6 months if mainly for fresh pork. They're usually around 85-90kgs liveweight and chubbier than pigs whose food is strictly controlled (not obese, though ).

We feed our oinkers the normal amount of pellets according to the pound-per-month system, or more if they need it as they run around a lot, and lots of free fruit and veg on top of that. The latter won't get them uberfat, just happy and healthy on a varied diet (we're not talking only starch-rich bananas here, but also lots of cucumbers, or crunchy water, as I like think of it! ).
We don't get less meat, but the same meat with a bit more fat on it, mostly backfat. We cut if off before it goes on our plate as by then it's given its flavour to the cooked meat, and it's very useful for air dried hams and salami's for which backfat works best. So we're not fussed about keeping them lean, they are pigs, after all.   

OhLala, you could always try selling excess fat as Carpaccio Bianco - costs a fortune in Harrods et al!   

KJohnson, make sure you always keep pig pellets dry. You're lucky having the equipment already, you'll probably do well out of your pigs, then!