[90driver]

Today I picked up our 3 pigs from the abattoir. It has taken me quite a few years to actually pull my finger out and actually do it. I am so glad that I did. For those of you thinking about doing the same I thought I would list the cost as a bit of a guide.

3 x weaners                        £75
40 x pig feed                   £ 324
slaughter and butchering £ 330 !!!!
Total cost                         £ 729

The sale of 5 x 1/2 pig     £ 600.

Well I knew I was not going to make any money.... but did not cost the earth either.  I am not sure how we got away with feeding them so little, and they certainly were not small (80kg) .

I created them a 30m square enclosure with mains water, stock fencing, electric fencing and a swishy new 1/2 mesh field gate. the total cost for that was £850. All work was done myself and I did not have to hire a digger for the water pipe as I have one on site.

For an Ark i used an old Series 3 lwb roof, which proved perfect for 3 80kg pigs. I modified it for purpose with some scrap timber and purely for looks fitted it with a roof rack complete with spare wheel.

It has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience from start to finish and will do it again next spring and maybe even twice.

It was a bit of a voyage into the unknown  but I would encourage anyone who is thinking about doing it to get out there and do it.

[danconfessed]

Great news, exactly how i started out as an 18 year old!!  8 years later and im just as enthusiastic as i was back then.  Pig keeping, rearing, breeding is an addiction I indulge in

[Small Plot Big Ideas]

Very interesting - thanks for summarising the figures, I'll have to do the same when our first 2 pigs go off sometime in November!

[jimmy]

We did pretty much the same. Had 3 weaners, and similar costings over the summer.

However, about half of the butcher cost was for making sausages and bacon/ham, so if you're not bothered about sausages, you can cut £100 off the bill.

I think ours worked out at about £3.50 per kg.
Rare breed pork sells for about £8/kg round here, and the average cost at supermarket seems to be about £5/kg, so I was pretty happy having a good amount of meat for cheaper than Tesco!

Tastes better as well

3 weaners: £135 (They were already a bit older)
feed: £200
Slaughter+Butcher: £355
Total cost: £690

We sold a couple of half pig for £120 as well, then have the rest in the freezer (2 pigs is about the limit in a chest freezer).

Getting our new pigs (3 gilts to raise for breeding) on Saturday, and can't wait

[Bionic]

Thanks 90driver and jimmy, it's interesting to see the cost on paper.
I wish I had taken note of how much pig food I was buying now. I will have to do that when I get the next 2 in the spring

[Foobar]

slaughter and butchering £ 330 !!!!

Ouch. Out of interest, can you give us a break down of what that consisted of please?

[jimmy]

For us, it was about £55/pig slaughter+cut. - £165
Bagging and labeling was an extra £19/pig. - £57 (We didn't know what all the cuts were, so next time we might do this ourselves).
Sausages were about £100 (We had a lot, but boy are they tasty).
Bacon/ham was about £40

I think you can really cut those costs down if you can make sausages yourself, and maybe even do some of the butchering. For our first time we just wanted the butcher to do it all though.

Pig feed is certainly a big cost Bionic. Our local supplier does £10 25kg bags which isn't bad. There's a place that delivers by the half ton or ton load which works out nearer £8.50 / 25kg. Best to also find places that have waste you can legally use to add into the mix e.g. windfall apples, sugarbeet that's not up to scratch, etc etc (I'm working on that now for next time).

[AndynJ]

Wow your slaughter butchery costs surprised me, we have been told £60 a pig, we assumed butchery would include bacon/ham and sausage maybe we will have a surprise  We have found feed at £9.90 for 25kg how did Jimmy get his so low £200 for 3  & they want £40 for weaners
 

[90driver]

Looking at it now it was a mistake to pre sell them as 1/2 pigs... should of been sold per kilo with different rates for joints and Sausages.  But as this was our first time I wanted to make sure we did not have any hanging around. As it turns out I could of sold twice as many and for a greater amount.

[jimmy]

Wow your slaughter butchery costs surprised me, we have been told £60 a pig, we assumed butchery would include bacon/ham and sausage maybe we will have a surprise  We have found feed at £9.90 for 25kg how did Jimmy get his so low £200 for 3  & they want £40 for weaners

I'd be astounded if £60 includes any sausages or bacon/ham, that sounds like the basic slaughter+cut cost to me. Sausages are fairly costly - casings, time to make them, and any flavourings.

Just for fun, here's a graph showing the average growth of our 3 pigs (Based on measuring every so often). We got them when they were already 81 days old, so they were over half way done already.

Ours would go off food when it was boiling hot, but then catch up when it was cooler.

[jimmy]

Looking at it now it was a mistake to pre sell them as 1/2 pigs... should of been sold per kilo with different rates for joints and Sausages.  But as this was our first time I wanted to make sure we did not have any hanging around. As it turns out I could of sold twice as many and for a greater amount.

We did the same. Also we priced ours fairly low (£120 / half pig) just to make sure we weren't stuck with more than we could eat/store.
Live and learn for next time eh

[AndynJ]

So how would you sell now 1/2 pig or by the kilo ? if by the kilo would you take pre orders ?
If by the Kilo then what prices for what
Pork joint, pork chops, ham, bacon, sausage
Assuming either Oxfords or Berkshires
Aiming for one at 80Kg the other being where it is so maybe 70-75kg, between them maybe dead at 105kg previous post stated they finished out at £3.50 a kilo finished, if £3.50 finished but sold at 120 per 1/2 that's not a lot of profit or contingency.

[Sbom]

That is seriously expensive butchering! 
My basic is £25, £4.00 for a side of bacon and 50p/lb for sausages.
Although we don't have it bagged and labelled as it's extra.

[AndynJ]

Ye but even houses are only 2s 6d in Staffordshire 

[Sbom]

What's 2s 6d? Or am I totally out of touch  (or just a lot younger!  )