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Author Topic: Charging for Pork?  (Read 17069 times)

Tudful Tamworths

  • Joined Aug 2009
    • Liz's website
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #30 on: February 23, 2011, 10:27:36 am »
Love the presentation. Little touches count for so much - particularly with first-time customers.

Forgot to say, I charge £120 a half, £65 a quarter; £6 per kg for joints/chops. Have just started doing bacon at £15 per kg and that's going well.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2011, 10:29:45 am by Tudful Tamworths »
www.lizshankland.com www.biggingerpigs.com
Author of the Haynes Pig Manual, Haynes Smallholding Manual, and the Haynes Sheep Manual. Three times winner of the Tamworth Champion of Champions. Teaching smallholding courses at Kate Humble's farm: www.humblebynature.com

Fowgill Farm

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #31 on: February 23, 2011, 11:11:49 am »
I do same as Jason & agree with Tudful, nicely presented box, its amazing what you can knock up on microsoft word and my customers get a piggy newsletter telling all about whats been happening between batches of pork, encouraging them to see their pork on the trotter and come to see us at local shows. I think it does make a difference.
Mandy :pig:

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #32 on: February 23, 2011, 01:43:33 pm »
We didn't have pigs last year 'cos of the house move but we'd like to get some this year, if we get the fencing sorted.

I knocked up a wee spreadsheet; to keep 4 weaners from 8 weeks old for 6 months, to transport them for slaughter, have them butchered and packed (but not processed), it will cost me £1150 roughly.

If they kill at 90kg LW, with a 70% KO%, I have to get £5 per kg to break even, and the head, trotters etc are essentially worthless. And that's not including any allowance for capital costs or my time. From a 90kg pig, how much saleable pork do you actually get?

The butcher charges £1 / kg to  cut and bone, pack and label. Processing is obviously extra, but it looks like the added cost is well offset by the added value.

We keep a few pigs mainly to give us one for the freezer, and the others as company for "our" pig, and I expect to "pay" the right price for a premium product. Nevertheless, I don't want to give the "extra" pigs away so am keen to price it realistically.

peteinwilts

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #33 on: February 23, 2011, 02:14:54 pm »
My sister in law just spoke to Gribbles Butchers who will sell 25 kilo half side of Glos Old Spot at £90 special offer

Reared outdoors maturing slowly over 20 - 28 weeks. Their food is based on natural ingredients with no added promoters.

at £3.60 a Kg, it does not make life easy for us on a small scale  :'(

Hairy Hogs

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #34 on: February 23, 2011, 05:43:55 pm »
Forgive me, and my foreign tongue..............'bloody hell thats way too cheap'!  Thats what will be the kiss of death on the rare breeds, Tesco style pricing or G.O.S being used as a massive 'loss leader'!  Sad!
Jason

www.hairyhogs.co.uk

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #35 on: February 23, 2011, 05:50:25 pm »
yes but is it GOS or did it just say hello in the passing waitrose tried that urine before and were caught out
i will come back on pricing but it will not be to next wk

peteinwilts

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #36 on: February 23, 2011, 06:02:26 pm »
I am pricing up tonight!

Thank you all for your help on the subject. I will not aim too low, but I am also not having a fancy presentation box (maybe one day!)


Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #37 on: February 23, 2011, 08:54:57 pm »
Can someone tell me how much saleable pork you get from a carcase %age wise?

benkt

  • Joined Apr 2010
  • Cambridgeshire
    • Hempsals Community Farm
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #38 on: February 23, 2011, 09:08:47 pm »
My planning spreadsheet has the following calculations in it:
56% meat from kill weight split as follows:
ham   24%
belly   19%
loins   18%
fore/shoulder   9%
shoulder   8%
misc   22%
Total   100%

i.e. for a 90lb pig you get ~50lb of meat split
ham      12 lb
belly      9.5lb
loins      9lb
fore/shoulder      4.5lb
shoulder      4lb
misc        11lb

Although I have no idea now where the original data for that lot came from.

Hairy Hogs

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #39 on: February 23, 2011, 09:17:34 pm »
90 lb...........thats a small pig ?

65 to 70n kilo would be our 'norm'?

Interesting break down though........................ :farmer:
Jas.

www.hairyhogs.co.uk

Eve

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #40 on: February 23, 2011, 09:50:23 pm »
Jason, that box looks great, well done!

Benkt presumably means kilo's ;) the figures look about right. Anybody who knows what the 'meat percentages' are for the different rare breeds?

Rosemary, we had roughly the same costs for 5 pigs (kept for only 4 months). We sell them at £175 per half, unbutchered. As long as we have to pay for field rental, we'll never make more than some pocket money (but lots of free pork :D) out of it.  :( 

benkt

  • Joined Apr 2010
  • Cambridgeshire
    • Hempsals Community Farm
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #41 on: February 24, 2011, 12:34:12 am »
Eve, that may well be kilos I meant - among other helpful details the old spreadsheet I grabbed it from is missing units  ::)

oaklandspigs

  • Joined Nov 2009
  • East Sussex
    • OaklandsPigs
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #42 on: February 24, 2011, 09:49:25 am »
Anybody who knows what the 'meat percentages' are for the different rare breeds?

Eve - great question, as it gets to the heart of the difference between forumulas and guidleines.

In the really commercial indoor world, a pig producer needs consistency is his product - every finished pig should be the same as far as possible.  To achieve this you need to control 3 factors, source, input and output.  Source means the breeding of sows and boars that are as perfectly close to each other as possible - ie every sow they buy from  specialist supplier of breeding stock (and there are several in the UK) should be the same.  Specialist breeders work very hard to achieve this. Their customers don't want sows where one produces long pigs (lots of chops) and next door produces chunky pigs (lots of ham), they want every pig to be the same so if they want long pigs, every pig they buy should produce long pigs.  Second input - feed in commercial units is very tightly controlled, both in quantity and formulation, and changed at every stage of growth to be the optimum for the pigs.  Finally output - what energy the pig expends.  This covers movement and energy needed to keep warm.  Hence indoor units are temperature controlled and the amount space enough that the pigs move (meat = muscle so if you don't work muscles they don't grow), but not too much that they burn off and waste energy.

Now in this indoor world, you can talk of formulas as the final product is so tightly controlled, and indeed adjusted to get to the perfect answer.

Contrast that with us rarebreed lot – On source - there is lots of different bloodlines, and lots more variation as these are intermixed, hence why most litters only have a few that conform to standard.  Within any typical litter you will see long piglets and chunky piglets, these will produce different meat ratios – if you want bacon you choose a long pig, as that’s where the bacon comes from.

On input – most people keep theirs outside where they pick up nutrition from the environment as well as what we feed, and most of us don’t weigh the feed and ensure every pig has the same.  Many have varied and wonderful diets which will affect bone growth (size), muscle and fat.

On output, our outdoor pigs will need to expend energy to keep warm, and energy to forage.

Now since all three of these factors contribute to the amount of meat in which areas of the pig, it is not possible to produce formulas for different breeds, at best you can get an average – a guideline.  So just as you can say that the average white british male is somewhere around say 5foot10, it  doesn’t mean my child won’t be a Tom cruise or dragon Peter Jones (5’7 and 6’7” respectively).

Now having said all that some races do  have traits – eg Chinese will tend to be smaller, African Americans are more likely to play basketball as height is needed.  But just look around at your family to see how much variation there is within the broad trends.

Switch that to pigs, and yes some breeds tend to be longer, some tend to have larger hams, but not consistently enough to give % formulas on eating, as which piglet you choose from the litter, what you feed it, and environment play far larger parts in the finished product.

This is why the “which breed is best” question asked on all forums every month is really irrelevant, and why I say go for what you like the look of!
« Last Edit: February 24, 2011, 09:52:00 am by oaklandspigs »
www.Oaklandspigs.co.uk
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Hilarysmum

  • Joined Oct 2007
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #43 on: February 24, 2011, 01:00:10 pm »
Whatever you decide dont forget although some fat is good for taste, too much fat is a waste of money.  (Says she who has Hilary and Digby  ;D ;D)

Eve

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: Charging for Pork?
« Reply #44 on: February 24, 2011, 05:26:22 pm »
That's very interesting, indeed, Oaklandspigs, thankyou very much!  :bouquet:


The lifestyle of our pigs is of the eat-a-lot-run-a-lot variety. ;)  Maybe I should find some exercises (yoga for pigs?) to stretch their bellies - the bacon is just divine! ;D :yum:

 

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