[bethjames]

Down in South Wales we offer you the opportunity to be able to 'rear your own pig' from weaner to porker without having to commit your own time or have your garden ploughed up!

Simply choose your weaner, leave him/her with us and we will rear it for you all the way up to porker whether you would like pork joints and sausages or gammon joints and bacon, take him/her to the abbatoir and even organise butchery if you wish. All you have to do is sit back and wait for your freezer to be stocked up full of rare breed, outdoor reared local pork.

Why not join up with your neighbours or family and share the meat between you... You'd be more than welcome to arrange to visit your pig any time you like whilst it's with us and we can email you regular photos to show you how it's progressing and enjoying life.

Simply get in touch to find out more or to visit our smallholding to see exactly what sort of life your pig would enjoy.

Beth
www.cilwg.co.uk
www.bancyboblenanimalcare.co.uk

[bazzais]

What a fantastic idea!!!

A great way of marketing - and plus get to know loads of people too

You might even get a few come and help.

Brilliant.

Baz

[bethjames]

Thanks Baz  That's the hope  always looking for new and different things to get involved in, meet new people and explore different aspects 

[Plantoid]

Beth ,
We like the idea it needs exploring more perhaps. no offence is meant by any of my questions .
Questions are the answers to get a better view of things .

 Q .
As we don't eat a heck of a lot of pork could we say yes and only buy half the pig or a large selection of freezer bits inc some decent Licolnshire style sausages & soup bones ?
 
Q
Do you have any figure for price per pound in mind ?


 Q
Could everything be frozen  by the slaughter house with respect to our freezer instructions only reccommending  a max of 10 pounds of food to be frozen at once every 30 hours or so ?
  It could also help if people had to travel with the pork in the boot of a car.

 Q
When do you envisage starting this venture ?


 Q
Approx how long till slaughter day once little piggy is on some ones wanted list ?
People might need to plan carefully so as not to be away on holiday etc when the division time comes around.

Q
 Is there likely to be any up front payment to help with feed and vet things ?
 
Q
I have a pal who did this with a wild boar on a licenced farm  ,  he butchered some his own half share boar at the butchers shop after the carcass came back from the abbatoir , but most of what he had asked & paid for was not included in the final take home pack and it was also very very expensive acording to him . What will you do to prevent this scenario  ?

[JEP]

Ive been asked about doing something smiler by a Friend
he would like a pig of his own to keep with are pig
with me its how do you work out feed bill

[bethjames]

Hi Plantoid,
No offence taken - here's my provisional answers.

A.1. No, it would have to be a whole pig - you may buy a pig with a neighbour or a friend to save your costs and space in your freezer. You could simply buy meat from us from the porkers we keep for ourselves.

A.2. This aspect of our pork isn't sold on a per pound ratio, it's sold as the pig and its upkeep.

A.3. The slaughter house wouldn't be willing to freeze anything - especially bits and pieces to specific requirements. The carcasses are collected after slaughter and taken to be butchered - unless the client wanted the slaughterhouse to butcher, and then they would collect the butchered meat from the slaughterhouse - or we could deliver.

A.4. We are currently taking orders for weaners. We have a batch ready to be weaned in just under 2 weeks.

A.5. Weaners are sold at 2 months and slaughtered at approximately 6. We can accommodate if people make us aware that they will be on holiday in the month the pigs are due to be slaughtered.

A.6. The client pays for the weaner at 2 months old. They can choose to either pay the full upkeep up front or to pay each month in advance. Every weaner has an individual ear tag, the client would only be responsible for his own weaner's vet fees. To date we have never had a vet to any of our pigs.

A.7. Don't quite understand the scenario but we won't be doing any of our own butchery. If it eases your mind you can pick up your own meat from the butcher to be assured that you will receive every part of the pig that you request. We take no cuts whatsoever, your weaner is your weaner.

Hope this answers all your questions 
Beth

[bethjames]

Hi Jep,
We charge our feed bill on an daily basis, so the client only pays for however long the pig is on our premises and if feed bills go up while their pig is with us, that's our problem.
There's all sorts of ways you could charge. You could buy food simply for your friends pig and charge them per bag or look back at your costings and see how much on average it costs to rear a weaner and charge them that. Especially with it being a friend, you can work out an arrangement that suits you both 
Beth

[robert waddell]

what a novel approach to just buying a finished pig from a producer
how it would cost out your method of selling and rearing as opposed to just buying the finished pig obviously your system will make you more than buying the finished pig or you would not be doing it
if they have not got the time to feed and wonder at there pig on there premises how are they going to make the time to visit there growing asset
now don't just think i am being negative i am trying to see how this system can benefit the two parties without any illfealing = did it grow as expected    if it is to fat with not enough eye   the buyer may not have the transport or time to take to slaughter     your input and advice has to be accounted for up to the point  of slaughter and the butchery
what plans do you have if illness sets in or death   it does happen            are the buyers welcome at anytime just think of the worst scenario that could happen  and all your buyers descend on your premises at once will they be made welcome
i have been in this situation before with cattle wintering and they were not getting the volume of feed stated or the attention required
if everything falls into place it should work out    still think it is easier just selling the pig ready to go to slaughter no possible dark holes  for anybody to fall into

[bethjames]

We also sell finished pigs. Our alternative system actually makes us less money and is more profitable for the buyer - otherwise they would simply buy a finished pig - the advantage to us is a guaranteed buyer from a very early age.

If the customer chooses to periodically visit their pig, this need only take a half an hour visit once a month, considerably less time than it would take to feed and wonder at their pig every day, twice a day. The buyer most likely doesn't have the transport or time to take to slaughter, that is the point of the system, we take the pigs to slaughter.

With regard to benefiting both parties, we would have a guaranteed sale, the customer would have guaranteed high quality, rare breed pork, much cheaper than buying a whole finished pig - and certainly much cheaper than buying cuts every now and again. The whole enterprise depends on the customer being satisfied, every effort will be made to make sure it grows as expected. Without making light of the issue, if it doesn't grow as expected on our property, I can say with some confidence that it probably wouldn't grow as expected anywhere else.

We treat the pigs as our own, you cannot legislate against illness or death, these could happen to purchasers who buy their weaners conventionally and rear them themselves. So far we have never needed any veterinary input but if a customer's weaner needs treatment it would have to be paid for just as if the weaner was on the customer's own property. Likewise death, however unlikely, is an unfortunate part of life.

Customers would be welcome by prior arrangement so there wouldn't be a mass of visitors at the same time. Each buyer would have time dedicated to them and their pig to see their environment and have any questions answered.

With regard to your final point, it may well be easier just selling the pigs ready to go (as we also do) but this is something we have thought of to make the customer more part of the experience, their reward being inexpensive meat at the end of the day.

[robert waddell]

bethjames your post will certainly have the customers beating a path to your door
your making less money and the customer getting cheaper pork   that is a new spin on marketing and one i am lost on      i can usually think outside the box  but this marketing idea (from your description) really has me stumped         more input more faffing about more hassle yet a cheaper end product

[bethjames]

I think you've answered your confusion in your own first sentence there.......

I'd rather sell many pigs at 'x' price than sell only a few at 'x' plus 'y' price... Turns out it makes more financial sense

There's no extra work involved, as we have plenty of our own pigs at various ages, a few more doesn't add all that much. Plus, if we hadn't sold them as weaners to rear for other people, we'd only be rearing them for ourselves to finish anyway... So they'd still be here 'creating work'.

The only 'extra work' involved is having customers visit the farm every so often... And we're quite a social little farm really 

[robert waddell]

there is no confusion on my part   it depends on the market you are selling your finished pigs to  if you are trying to sell the finished pigs at market  or competing with commercially raised pigs well yes your new idea will make more money for you
i may be far enough away from you to not cause concern with competition      but i do know the costings and market values that is why i was asking     there are more - than + with this system  and figures can be made to represent anything you want your base line has be on a like for like basis
free range pedigree pork has a different value to commercial reared pork you only have to look at the price of pork quoted in the farmers weekly to see the difference    no pedigree producer would sell at these prices

[Pel]

Going off past customers who have done this with you before. What is the average outlay the customer can expect to pay? and how much do you sell your finished pigs for? Just to compare the two.
I understand the positive sides of your idea from the customers POV i.e. meeting the pig, monthly weight increase chart (or something similar if they wanted) so they can see their pig is getting bigger, compared to just meat at the end with a finished pig.

[lachlanandmarcus]

Having had a porker raised for us in the past, I can easily see why this would appeal to quite a few buyers.

There are quite a few fixed costs involved in setting up to have pigs which are saved if the pig is raised for you. Arc, electric fence etc for a start. Added to the fact eg our horses do not like pigs.

In our case the producer was doing it as he had some left of a litter which he wasnt able to sell. This way we bought the pig and paid for most of the feed, and then paid the rest and the abbatoir fees etc at the end. The butchery we organised ourselves.

While OH isnt enough of a pork fan to do this in the near future ourselves, I do think it has a lot to recommend it.

It didnt make the producer a lot of money in that case either, but it made a little and more importantly avoided a loss for them for a weaner that was going to carry on eating anyway!, and since they were buying feed in bulk/doing abbatoir trip etc anyway, their marginal costs were less.

There is an element of trust involved on both sides but that's the case with most things. The only sticky thing to cover before the start is 'what about vets fees and what if the pig dies'. Of course the other risk might be the producer 'selling' the same weaner to 35 different people (as we once experienced with a steel barn but that's another story!) but tag numbers should help in that respect and in the end we deal in good faith.

I certainly enjoyed the experience of my virtual pig!

[HappyHippy]

I do the same as Beth and offer a 'grow your own' type scheme.
I'm never going to get rich doing it - but it is something different to be able to offer your customers in terms of giving them an 'experience' instead of just pork  (Plus, if I wanted to be rich I wouldn't be keeping pigs  )
They pick a piglet @ weaning (or if I don't have any I source some) and I raise it along with ours. They get a monthly update (just a quick overview, some photo's, weight gain and mention of any funny incidents) and can come and visit (by prior arrangement)
It gives them satisfaction to see 'their' pig growing, and they can come visit and feed it extra treats (all legal obviously)
Granted, it might not be for everybody, but for those who do opt for this approach I think they find it quite rewarding & learn a bit more in the process. Now that everyone is learning about high welfare meat and where the cheap stuff comes from, I think people want more of a connection with their food - this is one way of doing it 
Just my tuppenceworth