[thenovice]

Taking into account feed, transport and butchery costs, does anyone actually make any money from their pigs, or break even? 

[Fowgill Farm]

NO
mandy

[HappyHippy]

After 2 years of officially being a business - NO 
It's kinda rock and hard place stuff though - I'd rather sell all my pork (at a reasonable price) than be left with lots of expensive stuff in the freezer unsold.

[hughesy]

I think the feed suppliers do. And the abatoirs/butchers. And the equipment suppliers. As HH says it's a hard job to sell everything and not have wastage. As anyone in a fresh food business will tell you wastage is a big problem. I don't just mean stuff that ends up in the bin but also the loss when you have to sell cheap to get rid.

[RaisinHall Tamworths]

We have just sold some Hampshire gilts at market and got 130 p/kg which is the sort of price you need for covering costs. We have also sold quite a few half pigs recently so again cover our costs with them. However we certainly dont make any money to actually live off, we both work and most of our money goes on the pigs!! We have a very expensive and time consuming hobby!!!

[devonlad]

the general concensus is not really and i would agree. at best we got some cheap fabulously yumptious rare breed pork.on this, our current only try,  I reduced costs by making the ark from reclaimed paletts and shopping around for best price of weaners, we had a trouble free run with them with no vet bills  but the cost of bought in feed is just too darned much to make it financially viable at our small level. great hobby though

[suziequeue]

NO


Last year I started a spreadsheet to keep track of costs and gave up after about six weeks.


But then..... that's not why I keep pigs

[Raine]

 


I've gone into having three weaners with the attitude that I will be ecstatic if we break even (without including the cost of setting up)! 
I have convinced my husband that if we don't enjoy pigs, we will be able to sell on all the items we've bought for a bit of a loss and at least we have tried it (I hope he believes me      [size=78%])[/size]

[Berkshire Boy]

I do make money but its not a living wage. I don't have the problem of unsold meat and wastage because I mainly sell weaners, about 160 a year. There is more money to be made selling the meat but a regular client list for large amounts is hard to get. Its only a hobby for me and the weaner route is less trouble.

[Eve]

We make a small profit but per hour it's far below the minimum wage. We'd still keep pigs if we only managed to break even.

[thenovice]

Interesting to hear the candid comments. I suppose if you don't have a tv series, a book deal, and a celebrity chef (with deep pockets) behind you, trying to start out rearing rare breed pigs will never make you any money! 

[Daisys Mum]

Interesting to hear the candid comments. I suppose if you don't have a tv series, a book deal, and a celebrity chef (with deep pockets) behind you, trying to start out rearing rare breed pigs will never make you any money! 

Got it in one! BUT.........what a fantastic hobby.

[thenovice]

Luckily there are people about, like you lot, who really care about their rare breed pigs, and continue to promote and save them 

[Pasture Farm]

Taking into account feed, transport and butchery costs, does anyone actually make any money from their pigs, or break even? 

       NO NO oh and NO

[P6te]

If you take all setup costs into account we have made a BIG loss.  If you take the pigs batch by batch, some we have made a loss on (particularly when we incurred a £100+ vet bill) but increasingly are returning a modest profit.

The key is not to pay an excessive amount for the weaners, we pay around £315 / tonne delivered for feed and in the region of £40 for slaughter and butchering. (Sausages and bacon cost more).

I track ALL the costs whether it be fuel to collect weaners or to collect feed (if not delivered), bedding, feed, slaughter and butchery plus packaging etc.