[shygirl]

does it have to be pigs? geese are profitable as they require little feed, plenty of grass

[Bodger]

Sue.
Buy yourself a couple of weaners and fatten them up for yourself and a couple of friends. At the end of the project you'll have some super pork to eat and a much better grip of the economics of keeping pigs.

[hughesy]

Sue sorry we all thought it was a wind up! Believe me there are a lot of people who try to make something out of pig keeping and fail. It's not easy. There is a lot of experience and expertise on this forum but still none of the pig keepers here are ordering themself a new Bentley for Xmas that's for sure. We agonised over how we could turn a profit from our small acreage and pigs are the way we've gone. But we've spent thousands and are still spending, even though we have a fairly consistent turnover now we expect to break even this year at best. Next year will see us in profit but I still won't be paying myself a wage out of it. To have any chance at all you need to forget trying to make anything out of selling weaners or sending pigs to market. Or indeed selling to butchers or any other wholesale. The only way is to sell your produce direct to the end user and doing this opens so many cans of worms and presents so many hurdles I'd need to write a book to describe it all. And apparently there isn't much to be made from writing books either. As has been said, get yourself a couple of weaners, rear them and sell some meat to friends and family. See how that goes and take it from there.

[Steph Hen]

I've only got as far as reading a couple of how to keep pigs, but will sometime take the plunge and get a couple for the freezer. I know people who have done the same, as well as reading posts one here, it seems from this bit of research that if you break even and have a freezer full of pork you're doing ok. I would be inclined to think about other things you could do with your four acres. If it's well fenced, and has water and a field shelter, horsey people might pay you £7-10 a week per pony, times three ponies, over a year, you'll be looking at proper money. My mum does this, it almost pays for her horses keep and the lease. Although it's hassle as any dragging gates or broken fences or anything are her responsibility.
This year I had a go with chickens. I bought eggs, hatched and reared them and sold the pullets... I just broke even... And am now down £60 odd after buying wormer. I feel like this was pretty good going for year one! Best of luck to you!

[Curly Sue]

Some really good advice here, thank you all so much.  A few have asked if it needs to be pigs...?  I think it does, only because I like the little blighters!  I don't think I'd have as much fun with geese or ponnies.
Year 1 costs will include fencing and housing of pigs so yes, capital outlay.  Having said that, my partner in crime is from farming stock so I'll be knocking on a few friendly doors for donations!!
I shall temper my ambitions to a freezer full of good food and hope not to lose any money.  Are there many onerous regulations when selling to friends or friends of friends???

[Fowgill Farm]

I shall temper my ambitions to a freezer full of good food and hope not to lose any money.  Are there many onerous regulations when selling to friends or friends of friends???

Yes & No
Yes if you follow the letter of the law however most EHO's turn a blind eye to one off sales to family & friends provided your 'customers' either collect from the butcher who does your cutting & packing or you collect and deliver it to them within a couple of hours.
If you cut yourself then theres millions of expensive rules & regs to go thro. Find a good abattoir/butcher who will kill, cut and bag for you, collect and deliver to your pals, job done. Simples
We only do pork twice a year and this works for us, that's part of the reason my butchering is perhaps a tad more expensive than most because its jointed, vac-packed, labelled & boxed and sausages are made and packed in trays. You can save money by just getting it jointed and put in large poly sacks for your customers to put in freezer bags themselves and not get your sausages trayed, this is ok if they know what the respective joints are and are happy to weigh the meat themselves.
HTH, feel free to ask away for anymore info. the best part of rearing your own pork is knowing you have done a good job, that your pork had the best life it possibly could and you know what it has been fed.
Good luck
Mandy

[benkt]

The easiest way to sell to friends and family is to get them butchered by a local butcher and have your customers collect halves or quarters direct from the butcher. That way you never have to touch the actual meat and the butcher should have all the right certificates and processes in place. Getting a reliable local butcher has been our biggest problem though.

We do about 25 pigs a year, of which about 20 go to members of our community farm and we sell five to friends. I reckon we 'make' about £50 a pig when sold as halves when accounting for costs but not capital expenditure or my time!

[Bodger]

Many butchers wont do this, they see us pig producers as poaching their customers.

[hughesy]

Many butchers wont do this, they see us pig producers as poaching their customers.

Hehe I have a mate who has a butcher's shop and I try to poach his customers whenever I'm there! To be honest a butcher would be mad to turn down some occasional cutting work as it's money for old rope if they've got the time to do it.

[devonlad]

I'm sure those with a keener business brain could make a slightly better go of it but we now reckon that if we end up with half a free pig we've had a result and that's by writing off set up costs . We managed that last year from 8 bought as weaners. Feed cost just too high for anything more. . There's an old adage which I think comes from horse racing which is that the way to make a small fortune in racing is to start with a large fortune- so I guess the way to end up with £1200 is to start with £2200- having pigs is great fun and we miss them terribly when they go and the result is blooming delicious but there's no money in it for us

[hughesy]

Really it's like any other business. You need to control the costs, produce a quality item that people will want to buy, and then you have to sell it, hopefully all of it without incurring any wastage, and for more money than it cost to produce. Simples.

[darkbrowneggs]

I always used to keep a couple of weaners to fatten every couple of years or so and make bacon sausages hams etc plus fresh pork and pates.


A few years ago (before the feed prices were this high even) I decided to work it out on paper before going ahead   It came out to £5.50 a Kilo allowing for the things you often dont allow for ie bedding and driving backwards and forwards to collect them, take them to the abbatoir and collect the offal same day etc


I bought some nice woodland reared Berkshire pork instead Just ready for straight into the freezer  (thankyou Debbie)  - and very nice it is too

[RaisinHall Tamworths]

Really it's like any other business. You need to control the costs, produce a quality item that people will want to buy, and then you have to sell it, hopefully all of it without incurring any wastage, and for more money than it cost to produce. Simples.

It most certainly would be simples if pig feed cost less!!


Curly Sue, we have got 11 sows (I think if I've added up right  ) plus 4 boars and however many piglets/growers/porkers/baconers/young breeding gilts this lot have produced, getting through approx 4 ton of feed a month.  Over the year we cover our costs so the pigs pay for themselves mostly.  We certainly don't make a living, myself and OH both have proper jobs alongside doing the pigs.  Money from them doesn't come in regular so more often than not feed is paid for out of our wages.  We keep our pigs as a hobby for showing and because we enjoy having them.  They are bloody expensive, take up all our spare time, I HATE doing them in the winter but when you have a sow farrow and see the piglets grow up and keep one to breed the next generation and get them out to shows in the summer and socialise with like minded friends it becomes worth it[size=78%] [/size] [/size][size=78%].  [/size]


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[Fowgill Farm]

 We keep our pigs as a hobby for showing and because we enjoy having them.  They are bloody expensive, take up all our spare time, I HATE doing them in the winter but when you have a sow farrow and see the piglets grow up and keep one to breed the next generation and get them out to shows in the summer and socialise with like minded friends it becomes worth it

Ditto! As the L'Oreal advert keeps saying "because they're worth it!" ha ha
mandy 

[hughesy]

I've made this point before but there has to be a line drawn between hobby and business. it's not fair to compare to compare an enterprise which is seriously trying to make a living with one that is not. It does seem that often it's the people who have a wage paying job and keep pigs in their spare time that are the same people who tell us there's no money in pigs. And no point moaning about the cost of feed either we all know what the costs are and we have to cut our cloth to suit. Like I said before it is simple really. Turnover minus costs = profit or loss.