[P6te]

I think a division needs to be made when asking this question. Clearly there are a lot of people who fit into the hobby pigkeeper category and some who are doing it as a business. The two things don't compare really. Much the same as smallholding in general really.

I think you've hit the nail right on the hear there.  We are literally Accidental Smallholders .... we bought the house we wanted and it happened to have 5 1/2 acres with it.  Initially we let the 'field' out but have now reclaimed it for our own expanding smallholding.  We both have full time jobs which funded the setting up and the steep learning phase. Increasingly it is paying its way .... but most certainly not what you could ever consider to be an 'income'.

Those with 'Farms' to make a living from I'd consider to be in a different category altogether.

Pete

[ferretkeeper]

Is feeding straights cheaper?

It can be Suzie, but it's hard to get the mix right if you do it yourself - I didn't want to buy pellets any more so I get a grain-based feed for want of a better term, from a local-ish supplier who took vets advice and got the nutrient levels correct. Incidentally it's a lot cheaper than the bags of sow/weaner pellets, which are around £8 per 20kg here; even if you buy it bagged the grain stuff is only £6.50, but I get it in half tonne bags, at about £270 per tonne.

It still has soya in, which I still don't agree with on sustainability grounds and will move away from as soon as I can, but at least it's much less processed, you can see all the different bits which the pigs like 

I am hoping to make money from my pigs, they're the best chance on a small acreage, and I have just secured a deal with a posh local restaurant who want a pig a week, maybe two in future. I will be looking for more outlets as it's pretty risky relying on one place, but this is already enough to make the "hobby" start paying for itself, profitable even, and I can't wait to prove my bank manager wrong  !

Market prices were a bit bonkers at Carmarthen on Friday, the rare breed types were going cheaper than the commercial pink pigs, and doing the maths on the way home (with 13 pigs on board - none of them pink) it probably is possible to make more/easier money from them but not giving them anything like the life that we do and I bet the meat would be filth! 

[Berkshire Boy]

Ferretkeeper what do you buy from the market, are they weaners and are they birth notified.

[ferretkeeper]

Hi BB,

This was my first time at this particular market, and it's a bit hit and miss. I got three saddlebacks, close to finishing as I need some animals to be ready within the next month or so, and also brought back 10 weaners, none of which had any paperwork and are yet to be fully identified but they have rare breed written all over them 

There were a couple of GOS adults that had paperwork but I think they were the only two pigs in the whole place that did, and TBH unless you can read the tattoo or ear notches or whatever identified them, those printed records could have been for any pig, I don't trust anyone that sells at the local markets to tell the truth and some of the buyers were pretty dodgy too!!!

I'd always say if you want pedigree go straight to a breeder, see the animals in situ and that's what I have done in the past with all my lot. This time I wasn't being particularly picky and I need a certain amount of pigs to be in the pipeline so to speak, I was happy to go with the flow.

Out of interest whereabouts are you? I quite fancy some berkshires and you seem to have plenty on the go!!! 

[hughesy]

One thing you can't do is sell pigs or pork as "rare breed" if they have no provenance. They must be birth notified to qualify as rare breed. I've seen a few fancy websites selling rare breed pork but when you read the small print it turns out they're crosses. It's cheating as far as I'm concerned.

[Berkshire Boy]

Hi Fk I'm near Presteigne, Powys. Usually have piglets causing chaos somewhere. 

[Bodger]

One thing you can't do is sell pigs or pork as "rare breed" if they have no provenance. They must be birth notified to qualify as rare breed. I've seen a few fancy websites selling rare breed pork but when you read the small print it turns out they're crosses. It's cheating as far as I'm concerned.

I thought that GOS were the only breed which had that sort of protection of name. If I don't birth register my GOS piglets, then I can't sell thier meat as having come from GOS. I'm fairly sure that isn't the case with the other breeds of pig.
 
Have a look at this.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10349174
 
How I see it, if I go to market and buy a pen of what appear be pure bred pigs rare breed pigs, then I'm quite within my rights at a later date, to sell them as rare breed pork.

[hughesy]

Yes the GOS are the only one of our rare breeds to have that status but it applies to the name Gloucestershire Old Spots, not the fact that they are rare breed. If a pig comes from a market with no paperwork or identification it could be anything. It might look like a saddleback, or a tamworth or whatever, but without provenance it can't be described as any particular breed or as rare breed, because it probably isn't. Don't suppose the trading standards give a s**t though.

[Berkshire Boy]

It's true what Hughesy says if a pig is not birth notified it is just a pig because you can't prove anything conected with that pig. In theory if you know the parents are pure Berkshire but not notified you shouldn't even call them Berkshire.

[Bodger]

I don't agree with that.
I've decided on GOS and should hopefully have some piglets at the end of August. I only have one sow and I've got to decide wether or not join the BPA so that I can register the litter. If I do, then thats going to cost me £75.00, which in todays market is probably what I'd get for two weaners. Its because of this, that I thought long and hard before going into them. I was very tempted because of this to go with another breed.
I can understand why the GOS people were chuffed to get the protected status but the system doesn't work for the small guys like myself.

[ferretkeeper]

The differentiation for me, and what my customers really want to know, is that my pork is not from a commercial type of pig, it is grown slowly outdoors, as naturally as possible and with actual flavour and texture. I will and do say the pork I produce is from rare breeds but I have never hidden the fact that there are crosses in there, in fact I actively tell people what they're buying, whether they want to know or not. Equally I have never said I was selling all pure breed pedigree meat but if that's what I have on a particular occasion, because some of my stock is, I will say so.

I am trying different types of pigs and different crosses to give my customers some variety and the chance to find what they prefer. No-one that buys pork from me has ever queried whether it was birth notified or whatever else, most customers don't have that sort of insight into breeding, all they want is good quality local meat and they trust that I know where it has come from. Theory and practice are not always the same thing, like being "organic" with a lower case "o"

[Bodger]

I think you're doing the right thing Ferretkeeper.
 
Its tricky enough for us smallholders to make a go of things as it is, but add the cost  of BPA membership to whatever the current fee is you have to pay to the Soil Association to become 'organic' and it makes it nigh on impossible to make a profit.

[ferretkeeper]

Thanks OTG, I was quite upset to think I might be considered to be cheating esp by a fellow smallholder   

[Berkshire Boy]

FK I have no problem with what you are doing and good luck with it. I was only pointing out the way that technically a pig needs to be birth notified to be called rare breed. A couple of my sows aren't registered but I only sell their weaners for meat but still call them Berkshires.

[Bodger]

I don't really get the 'technically' bit, surely a Berkshire is a Berkshire, wether it be registered or unregistered and the same with Tamworths etc.