[robert waddell]

captain a very simplified explanation but you forgot that Britain imports a lot of pork  and cheap pork at that             not reared to the same welfare standards as British   we are members of the EU and therefore have free trade with other countries and good old Britain lets anything and everything in
i don't think the pig industry  has ever had incremental stability through learning     o and the biggest factor global debt leading to the end buyer   the housewife    having less to spend on food 

[windymiller]

exactly, the best thing we could do to stabalise prices is ban illegally produced imports. irt may happen but like everything in europe it will take long time... if it ever happens.
that would bring prices quickly in line, especially with cheap mass imports. big legal uk producers at current feed prices are loosing money hand over fist.
food is generally too cheap, though not a popular view with the masses, joe public don't know what effort goes into growing food either animal or vegtable,
if you look at the food a pig eats to grow its got to fetch 2-300£ if you had to buy it in, with a free range system plus the costs of transport and killing, vet bills etc,

[Beewyched]

The british government won't ban the cheap, no-welfare pork coming into this country & they'll do the same with the eggs 

If they do, then they might lose the next election, coz the masses will b****y starve - what with no jobs & withdrawel of benefits 

Thanks - that's my rant over for tonight folks 

[oldhinton]

There is also the fact that retailers have become very adept at ignoring any drop in cost of their 'buy in', prices in the shop window do not show any significant fall regardless of market conditions, so perhaps there is better prospects for direct sales.

[Fowgill Farm]

Was talking to somebody last night who told me porkers at killing weight at a local mart were fetching only £50 they were saddleback crosses so somebody there has lost shed loads of money and the butcher got a bargain and will probably sell at top dollar in his shop!
Mandy 

[chickenfeed]

sounds about right we were at our local auction yesterday finished pigs were fetching anything from £40 for coloured  to £86 for hybrids on the plus side some rather nice GOS sows fetched £180 - £190 and boars £100-£150 which is up on previous sales.

still the weaners of x's were in the £3 field some hybrid weaners brought in £40 each so the market is very much up and down as always quality will sell.

[Tiva Diva]

I don't think the government CAN ban pork imports from countries inside the EU unless they fail to meet EU welfare standards, which are pretty poor. They COULD ban the import of battery eggs on these grounds. The pig cycle will apply to these overseas producers too: the price they get for their pork will also be depressed due to the glut of home produced pork.
I agree everyone should think twice about breeding pigs unless they have a decent business plan. If people re offloading surplus pork (or pigs) at a loss it affects us all. Hopefully enough of us will continue breeding pigs to prevent any more bloodlines becoming extinct!

[robert waddell]

the situation isn't much better in Scotland  and if anything a lot worse      the pigs that are brought forward to auction are cross bred with dubious parentage and underfed going by the age declared and there size
large black 13 week old weeners unsold at £5 each they did go back to try to sell them  but i left
saddelback males intact 6 months old 2x £16 and 2x £22
a 3 and a half year old boar £38  meant to be a osb  but must have passed one on the journey there
the best ones there were Tammie's 3 month old intact males £20  3 month old gilts £27
other large pigs were selling for less than half there value if sold to the cast trade
and the stories just keep coming of large numbers of pigs that are looking for new homes for various reasons
to many people deciding to breed with crosses and poor quality stock they are overwhelmed with a population explosion even if you have a market for your pigs this can disappear overnight and left with them
in the commercial pig industry the males are not castrated because of the contracts that suppliers have that is alright as they are all for meat  there are separate breedding farms for the gilts and stock boars
however the pedigree and small scale pig keeper i believe should be more vigilant with what boars are allowed to mate   far to often i hear  o they are pedigree pigs i just don't bother with the paperwork   if they were to bother  they just might find it financially rewarding and get rid of the crap that is breeding a perfusion of unwanted underperfoming pigs

[sabrina]

A good answer to this would be if you only intend to have pigs for meat, buy weaners and do not breed/ Or is that too simple.

[Fowgill Farm]

A good answer to this would be if you only intend to have pigs for meat, buy weaners and do not breed/ Or is that too simple.

Because people think they can do it cheaper by breeding their own which is a big fat myth, it costs approx £5 per week to keep weaners/fatteners so if you're left with a litter of 9 as i was a year or so ago thats £45 a wk you have to find, people breed only wanting one or two pigs for themselves and think ok i'll sell the rest  but oh oh it don't work like that and as Robert says the marts are full of 'em. Which is why i raised this subject in the first place to get people to really think about it before they decide to breed, note how many pigs are for sale in marketplace at the moment! not just weaners whole herds!
  Mandy 

[robert waddell]

OK so some people think they can breed there own meat weeners they buy some cross bred piglets  aw they are to cute to eat and the children love them the wife /biddy in loves them the Hubie loves them so they keep them a year then want a boar  any old shite will do so they end up with a piglet that is a four way split 25% off sod all now to farrowing stage it has taken them 18 months and no pork  by there reckoning it has cost them a few bags of feed by my reckoning it costs £700 a year to keep an feed a sow  so they keep two piglets  what to do with the rest sell them for a fiver at market they don't bother about the money they have lost they just want shot of them and everybody thinks that the going rate for weeners is £5 fork off
so there breeding programme has taken at least two years  probably cost them £1500   but they don't mind the family loves them  o and because they are social animals they need two so they breed with two 
and don't even think i am having a rant  i have not even started yet

[princesspiggy]

we bought our first piglets 7 years ago from thainstone - unreg tamworths £14 each, the year after black crossbreds £18 each. then one year we bought un-reg tammies direct from the smallholder for £25 each, and that was quite expensive compared to adverts in local paper.

[tizaala]

Further to my earlier posting, the 2 I took to Hereford market  , 19 month old gos x pietrain gilts. 1 made £106, the other made £120 , 

there were a couple of tamwoth gilts looked like racing snakes , hellish skinny, less than £20

[trying]

Hi, I agree that everthing is very gloomy at the moment, we have been breeding Registered British lop pigs for a few years now, only 2, mother & daughter, the mother has now retired and we will not be breeding our younger one again, when we first started we had no problem getting £40 per weaner but now you really can't get anything near that. We have decided that we will just buy in 2 weaners grow them on and send to slaughter when ready. A very sad time for pigs.

[JEP]

every one seems down beet
what has the bpa put up your costs for it will only make you keep less
have they done and promoting or trying to stop illegally produced pigs from coming into the country