[acrown64]

Hi Folks,

Next week I will be taking two of my saddleback pigs to slaughter. These two are primarily for our own us and will be for the freezer. I still have another two pigs which I reckon will be ready come March time. I was hoping to sell the other two, mainly to family and friends, which will hopefully recoup some of the cost of feed/slaughter/and butchery.

i'm a bit unsure how much i should be charging for the other two. Does any one have any advice on what to charge for a side or for a full pig. The pigs will be properly butchered as well (although i am considering giving it a bash myself ).

Has anyone done this in the past or does any one have any experience in selling commercially?

Thanks 

[hughesy]

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" job really. Things to consider are: How much have the pigs cost you to produce? Are you doing this for profit or just to cover costs? How much do other people charge in your area for similar? Who are your customers?  If you check the shops, butchers, websites of pork sellers etc you'll find a wide variation in prices. Some seem cheap, others are ridiculously expensive. You have to consider all of these things and price your meat at what you are comfortable with. One thing I will say is don't go too cheap. If you sell too cheap you do no one any favours and you'll find it hard to ask for more next time when you realise you made a loss.

[acrown64]

Thanks for the reply Hughsey!

There is a local seller that dones free-range organic pork priced at £300 for full pig or £160 for a side.
I was thinking along the lines of maybe £130 a side as I think this SHOULD cover costs.

My only worry is that not alot of people might want a full side as there is quite a lot of meat. If I was to split it up what would be the best way to do so. Should I then just charge the same as the local butcher is charging??

Thanks
A

[Mrs Snoodles]

Your local organic seller - is he offering standard White pig pork?  Check to see if it is rare breed.  If not, bear in mind your pigs have taken longer to get to slaughter weight and organic or not, they will produce a different better meat, that is worth paying extra for most people find the meat more succulent and with a stronger flavour.  Check if you are selling like for like .   You won't have a shortage of buyers, just explain to friends what you are up, how good it all is to and they soon get an idea of things.  People will buy sides (half pig boxes).  I have just sold 24.  Freezer space is the biggest issue.

[scarlettoara]

we first sold our pork by a fixed price per half, but after speaking to a business advisor, it was recommended that it was sold per kilo, as although people would be happy to get a big half - they will remember when they get a small half.
work out your price ie £5 per kilo and then sell halves or pork boxes based on what ever it actually weighs.
you can still advertise the meat as " approx £150 per half pig - based on £5 per kilo". or what ever you charge.

wev never split the carcusses down to prime cuts but just find a similar producer and copy their prices (have a look at jimmys farm website for ideas) 

[benkt]

We charge effectively £145 for a side and easily sold a dozen at those prices. Our butcher doesn't like doing quarters as  it is hard to get a fair division of meat - better to do a 'front quarter' (cheaper) and a 'back quarter' (more expensive). If selling in parts, we find sausages and chops are easy to shift but the larger joints tend to be less in demand. Our pigs more or less break even but work as an advertising mechanism to let more people find out about what we are doing and get involved with the community farm.

[HappyHippy]

We do a 'Taster Box' which goes down well with folks.
It's basically 5 or 10Kg of mixed cuts - folks get a bit of everything, we usually include some cured pork and sausages too, it might be worth offering something like that for folks to try (that way, when you're next lot are ready they'll be wanting a half  )
Definately make sure your costs are all covered though - otherwise you're effectively giving folks food for free 
HTH
Karen

[Fowgill Farm]

We sell halves @ £140 and quarters at £75 i get the pigs back as halves and if people want quarters i just divide the half up myself as equally as poss.
Don't go down the route of selling individual cuts as peopel will take the choice cuts and you'll end up with the rest!
mandy

[Hassle]

I don't charge per se for all my pork / sausages sometimes I trade 

[Daisys Mum]

 
I charge £190 for a half pig, this is butchered vac packed and labeled,it includes sausages and bacon. never had anyone query the price and all have booked their halves again for this year.

[twizzel]

I paid £1.30/lb from our butchers not too long ago, half a pig cost me just over £85... reared by the butcher and the meat was fantastic- don't mind if it was rare breed or not (although I expect it was as they have a lot of rare breeds on the farm)

[Button End Beasts]

Hello,


We do sell pork boxes and these are completely standardised, no choices allowed. From half a pig we get 6-7 meat boxes and these will consist of a roasting joint, 2-4 chops and 12 sausages. There are a few left over bits usually and these are what we keep for ourselves. The only choice people get is if they want 2 or 4 chops. We weigh the meat and charge £8 per kilo. I've never had anybody quibble over the price but I guess we live in a fairly affluent area. The prices are certainly much cheaper than say jimmys farm and about an equal price to waitrose quality or tesco finest, neither of which are rare breed or even free range!


We also offer halfs and quarters and the price is reduced a bit (it's a lot less work!)


I say do try and get as much as you can for the area and market you live in.

[MAK]

in our supermarket butchers section an half a pig with head but no tongue was 1.1 Euro/kg last week. Silly price !

[acrown64]

Thanks for the replies folks. Very helpful.
So far ive had orders for 3 halves which im happy about. Two are wanting theirs butchered so im thinking a price of about £140. The other half is going to a butcher so I'll do him a better price and hopefully get some cheap butchery done in return 

Thanks
A