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Author Topic: Depressed Market & Weaners  (Read 41856 times)

Helencus

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • NW Leicestershire
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #15 on: March 24, 2011, 08:57:15 pm »
Hear hear Lillian. If my weaners don't sell well c'est la vie I'll have a lot of pork and maybe make some money from that or maybe not. Upshot is i won't give them away that just devalues them and what breeders who are trying to make a living from this are doing. I've researched the local market I'm not asking anything other than a reasonable price given mine are 12 weeks old but it's clear in my ad so we all know where we stand.
Anyone wanting cross breeds Or animals where folks can't afford to keep them can get them dead cheap from livestock markets and fair play that's up to them. I shallnt be selling mine at that price so yummy pork for me and loads of my friends  ;D

Padge

  • Joined Aug 2009
    • Facebook
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2011, 07:24:10 am »
for me it seems to be location...................would like 3 gos or berkshire gilts without having to travel too far and can't get them :( Lincs is a bit off the beaten track tho

Billy Rhomboid

  • Joined Sep 2010
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #17 on: March 25, 2011, 08:33:50 am »
Well, to put a slightly different angle on it, the economics of pig keeping are just the same for people buying in weaners to fatten. Feed costs at 1.75kg a day for 7 - 10 months, vet bills, straw, transoprt, slaughter, butchery and cold storage for those who don't do that themselves, etc etc. The difference between paying £25 for an unregistered 'Dolly Mixture' weaner and £65+ for a registered one is a couple of months worth of feed. Is that extra cost going to be reflected in the taste of the meat at the end? If the meat is being sold on will the consumer pay extra for the animal having been registered?
Yes every pig is special, and that applies just as much to crosses and unregistered boars as to fancy show pigs. The reason there is never a shortage of weaners at lower prices than breeders' is that there are many people who breed for their own meat production and sell on surplus animals.
 

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #18 on: March 25, 2011, 09:14:16 am »
From my point of view as a breeder (and pork enthusiast) I can see both sides. There's probably not going to be much difference in taste between a pedigree and non-pedigree pig, providing they've both been raised outdoors in the same fashion and yes, sometimes the crossing can be beneficial to the finishing time/meat produced BUT by buying a pedigree weaner for pork people are helping to preserve and grow the number of rare breed pigs in the UK. Non-pedigree pigs don't count towards the breed numbers held by the BPA :-[ At a time when pig farming is on it's knees and the threat of losing even more of our native breeds is very real, buying a pedigree weaner is a good way of helping the continuation of rare breeds in the UK. If no-one buys them, the breeders will stop breeding them  :'( :'( :'(
In the grand scheme of things, a saving of £25 when you consider the costs involved in raising and slaughtering is nothing, it's less than an extra 50p per kilo of meat and if it helps keep these breeds going then it's worth every penny  ;)
Karen x

Fowgill Farm

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #19 on: March 25, 2011, 09:30:21 am »
Well said LW & HH.
What makes my blood boil is people will happily pay £450 for a pedigree labrador pup but won't pay £40 for a pedigree GOS piglet! I bloody well hate cheapskates who encourage the breeding of mongrel stock which doesn't help anyone - pig keepers or the breeds. I know economic circumstances are difficult this year and may be for some years to come so i think things are going to get worse and we'll see litters of piglets dumped on the open market, i have another two litters planned for later this year and i honestly don't think i'll be able to sell the weaners so what do i do not put my girls in pig and run the risk of them going barren or let them have litters and euthanase at birth!  >:( :( or dump them at the local mart to their fate. Already on the GOS website there are herds & part of herds for sale due to the downturn and i fear its only the beginning................. :'(
Mandy  :pig:

Billy Rhomboid

  • Joined Sep 2010
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #20 on: March 25, 2011, 10:25:13 am »
My apologies if I have offended. I have clearly stumbled into the wrong forum. I had not realised this was exclusively for pedigree rare breeds. I realise that maintaining rare breeds is an important thing to do but it is not mandatory for every producer of charcuterie or meat to do so exclusively. To label anyone who buys cross-breeds either for price or preference as cheapskates or assuming they can't afford to keep them is intolerant and prejudiced. Having kept pedigree Berkshires, GOS and Saddlebacks and various crossbreeds, we now mainly rear Berkshire/Tamworth crosses because they produce the best carcasses for the products we make from them. We take them up to 12-14months before slaughter so £25 on their initial costs  is not that much of an issue for us, but, going back to the OP, I suspect the dip in the market recently has much more to do with the very small scale pig keeper and first-time keepers who, in better financial times, might be tempted to have a go at rearing a couple of pigs, but in leaner times are less tempted to embark on a new hobby. And to these would-be keepers, registered pedigree or local cross-breed or whatever pejorative term you choose, makes very little difference.

chickenfeed

  • Guest
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #21 on: March 25, 2011, 11:20:55 am »
don't apolgise billy every one has the right to air their point of view.

this time last year i was buying weaners for £25 from a local breeder this year he wanted £60 for the same age/weight weaner the feed price has rocketed the slaughter fees are still the same there is no point in me fattening them i cant pass the increase on as i would be competing with the same breeder that has just reduced his pork prices.

the guy i brought my last weaners from has had 20 sows slaughtered in the last 6 months due to being unable to sell the weaners and the cost of feed he is now selling his weaners at £25 - £40 each depending on age. the same guy is selling whole butchered pigs for £130 way to cheap imo but he says its the climate we are in.

i have seen the same thing in the 80's when my parents closed down the pig unit almost overnight ater years of 20ish pigs going every week to loosing more money than you could dream about.


littlemisspiggy!

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
    • just left of the 20th century
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #22 on: March 25, 2011, 11:27:50 am »
hi let me introduce myself........CHEAPSKATE here! nice to meet you...

i have x breed pigs and god forbid....x breed dogs too

great pork,great pets  (pigs and dogs ;))

i love pure bred pigs but cannot afford to buy one....my weaners are for sale at £30-£50 and i still have 4 left to sell but there going slowly.......£25 i have to say these days is a HUGE amount of money to me,it feeds me and the hub for a week!just! :D

'can't rain all the time!'

Fowgill Farm

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #23 on: March 25, 2011, 12:46:24 pm »
You're right this forum is for ALL pig keepers and perhaps cheapskates was the wrong term (we all like a bargain afterall!)but as a pedigree pig keeper i want to see some return from all my efforts to preserve a breed and its standards. I also want to get rid of the rogues who purport to sell 'pure' stock when its anything but when they pass it off to unsuspecting buyers who then call me wanting help to get a pedigree for it! >:( ::) and i have to break the news to them that they've paid good money for something that will never be pedigree.
Nothing against cross breeds persay ...........plenty in our family! ;) ;D

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #24 on: March 25, 2011, 03:12:18 pm »

i love pure bred pigs but cannot afford to buy one....my weaners are for sale at £30-£50
I'm a cheapskate too  ;D But not when it comes to my animals ;) ;D :love: :pig: :love: Just for the record I'm currently crossing Berkshires and KK's so there you go  :P ;) ;D
There's nothing wrong with breeding and selling cross bred pigs - each to their own, I have no axe to grind with anyone - you've got to do what suits you best. But MY point of view is that if I'm going to breed pigs I might as well do a little bit to help conserve rare breeds. Little miss piggy (I'm NOT having a go at you :-*) but you say you can't afford to buy pure bred pigs  ??? The last pedigree pigs I bought (as registered breeding stock) were £65 each, admittedly they were weaners so you've got 6 months of feeding before you can breed from them, but it's not that much more than buying a cross breed of the same age.
But lets not have another big barney about it - we all do things differently and that's just as it should be.
Karen  :wave:

czechmate

  • Joined Mar 2010
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #25 on: March 25, 2011, 09:20:04 pm »
Simple fact, surely, is the price of feed. Comercial pig farmers cant make it work at present prices and are killing sows like they are going out of fasion. This time last year I was bid £72/t for Barley. Just sold tyhe last load for £180. To get a 7 week old weaner, at current feed prices, for feed alone costs £30.
So, all I would say is, untill the price of pork goes up, or the price of feed goes down, those who look at keeping pigs with their money specs on will see it just doesnt stack up at the moment. Having said that, its been this way a thousand times before and will be plenty of times again.
Just spare a thought for the comercial pig producer loosing £20 per pig going to slaughter at the moment.

chickenfeed

  • Guest
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #26 on: March 25, 2011, 09:38:41 pm »
our biggest local pig farmer has decided enough is enough and has stopped breeding the sows have gone and the few fatners he has left will be finished then he is hanging up his hat.

ballingall

  • Joined Sep 2008
  • Avonbridge, Falkirk
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #27 on: March 25, 2011, 10:17:23 pm »
This thread has made interesting reading, it is worrying that trade is quiet. Also worrying, is the fact that we took two last year's lambs to the abbatoir a couple of weeks ago, and the girl there was saying they have never been as quiet and that they were finding times really hard. If we lose local abbatoirs, then people looking to raise a few weaners will be even less likely to want to buy some.

Regarding buying weaners, I think it depends entirely on the circumstances. I bought ours from Lillian, pure bred Tamworths. I wasn't fussed about them being pure bred, and to be honest, I would have been happy with cheaper crosses as well. BUT- for me, it just seemed ridiculous to go up to 40 miles away to get crosses, when I could get pure breeds from just 2 miles away (and know there was help and advice on hand if we needed it). Not only that, but I was able to get them at exactly the time of year I wanted them (after all our goat shows had finished so it didn't affect out movements from shows).



Beth

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #28 on: March 25, 2011, 10:22:11 pm »
I really feel for the commercial guys - they're so dictated to by the people that they supply because of the demand for cheap meat. :'( :'( :'(
If farmers in the UK can't supply it (because of the strict government welfare standards imposed) then our, ever so 'supportive'  ::) government will just import even cheaper stuff from abroad, where nobody knows what the welfare standards are - but hey, doesn't matter to them as long as UK farmers are doing it right they can have the moral highground >:(
But I think every breeder (large or small scale) is feeling the pinch and only the most dedicated will come through it. For me it's just not all about the money - preservation of rare bloodlines is far more important in the big picture.
I don't know if anyone watched the Great food revival on BBC the other night BBC iPlayer - Great British Food Revival: Gregg Wallace on Potatoes and Clarissa Dickson Wright on Pork (it's the last 30 minutes that are relevant ;)) If it hadn't been for 3 dedicated families continuing to breed from British Lop's - there wouldn't be ANY in the UK  :-\ With more and more people worried about the quality of meat (and the lives of the animals) it's hopefully a situation that's going to improve again shortly - before any more breeds fall by the wayside.
Here's hoping anyway........................
Karen x

binghamd

  • Joined Feb 2011
Re: Depressed Market & Weaners
« Reply #29 on: March 25, 2011, 10:23:15 pm »
With the current bad economic situation and the high price of feed its probable that people are deciding that they cannot afford that lovely home reared pork this year, they'll  have to do with the supermarket stuff.
Suspect its a bad decision though, the supermarkets will soon jack up the price of meat. Once that happens the buyers for weaners should come back. Hang in there.

 

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