[JulieWall]

Can anyone tell me how much a GOS weaner should cost to buy please, preferably the non-pedigree type for raising for the freezer.

Also how much would you expect to pay for a bog standard farmers pig, so I can make the comparison.

Thanks

[Bodger]

There shouldn't be a difference between what you have just called a pedigree and a none pedigree type GOS. We aren't talking about non pedigree and KC registered dogs here. The only real difference between the two, should in reality be the bit of paper that you get from the BPA saying that your pig is a pedigree animal.

I sold two nine week old GOS weaners a couple of months ago for £40.00 each for fattening.

[shygirl]

There shouldn't be a difference between what you have just called a pedigree and a none pedigree type GOS. We aren't talking about non pedigree and KC registered dogs here. The only real difference between the two, should in reality be the bit of paper that you get from the BPA saying that your pig is a pedigree animal.

I sold two nine week old GOS weaners a couple of months ago for £40.00 each for fattening.

it costs the breeder an extra £8 to reg a pig so it would reasonable to charge at least £10 more for the paperwork. and then only the best 20% should be registered so it would be unfair to compare them to unreg and non-pedigree pigs.
only birth-notified or reg can be thought of as pedigree.
i sold my xbreds at £45 and registered at £60 and birth-notified at £50.
iv no idea how much a farm hybrid would cost but i wouldnt see them as inferior -more specialists in quick growth.
the cheaper pigs, in my opinion would be the slow growing mongrels that are neither fast growing nor from a recognised breed.

[benkt]

My understanding was that because of the GOS status as a 'Traditional Speciality Guaranteed' within the EU, you can only sell meat as 'Gloucester Old Spot' if it comes from birth-notified or registered pigs (and meets some other welfare standards). I assume this would increase the value of said reg/notified pigs - at least against other tradditional breads. In the past I have paid as much as £55 for birth-notified GOS and as little as £25 for cross-bred weaners.

[Bodger]

Your GOS piglets need to be birth notified to be able to be sold as GOS pork but in the light of my recent dealings with the BPA, I've given some thought to this and as I see it, if I decide not to stick with the BPA, I should be able to sell my pork as having come from pigs whose parents are both pedigree GOS.  I'm not sure if this is a loop hole that actually exists, or whether I shall ever seek to use it but needless to say, I'm still seething.

[hughesy]

My understanding was that because of the GOS status as a 'Traditional Speciality Guaranteed' within the EU, you can only sell meat as 'Gloucester Old Spot' if it comes from birth-notified or registered pigs (and meets some other welfare standards). I assume this would increase the value of said reg/notified pigs - at least against other tradditional breads. In the past I have paid as much as £55 for birth-notified GOS and as little as £25 for cross-bred weaners.

This came about after the revelation that supermarkets were selling pork as GOS when it in fact wasn't. I can't see how this would increase the price of a weaner. They're worth whatever someone is willing to pay, birth notified, pedigree or not. A pig for meat is a pig for meat. Breeding animals are a different story but even so there are a lot of unregistered and cross bred pigs out there that people are asking the same money for.

[Marches Farmer]

Your GOS piglets need to be birth notified to be able to be sold as GOS pork but in the light of my recent dealings with the BPA, I've given some thought to this and as I see it, if I decide not to stick with the BPA, I should be able to sell my pork as having come from pigs whose parents are both pedigree GOS.  I'm not sure if this is a loop hole that actually exists, or whether I shall ever seek to use it but needless to say, I'm still seething.

Supermarkets like Waitrose were selling pork as "GOS" even though it was crossbred with a commercial breed.  For the good of the breed and its good name for excellent pork the GOS Pig Breeders Club took years and a lot of fund-raising effort to obtain TSG status.  You're right to say that the pigs have to be raised to an extremely high standard of husbandry.  Comparing a TSG GOS weaner to a crossbreed weaner of unknown history from a local livestock market is like comparing pearls to plastic beads1 

[shygirl]

meat like aberdeen angus or shorthorns etc only has to be from a first cross (i believe) so i wonder if this is the same scenario in supermarkets ?

The only real difference between the two, should in reality be the bit of paper that you get from the BPA saying that your pig is a pedigree animal.

im sorry but i really dont agree. whilst there are many pedigree pigs that shouldnt be registered as novice breeders have just registered the whole litter as they are a "rare breed", i think the geniune quality registered animals are a symbol of far more than just a piece of paper. they are years of selective breeding, culling, showing to produce consistent litters worthy of being registered as pedigree.

if you only aim to breed porkers then non-pedigree is fine but pedigree breeding is world in itself that isnt as trivial as may appear.

[Bodger]

You misunderstand. We're talking about pure bred pigs that are destined for meat.

[Eve]

Prices vary greatly depending on where you are in the country. Here in the Home Counties a GOS weaner costs £50-60. All the other costs e.g. slaughter are also higher.
But then again, the meat is sold for more money, half a pig around here costs around £175.

[Fowgill Farm]

You misunderstand. We're talking about pure bred pigs that are destined for meat.

Sorry but have to wade in on this as a member of the GOS committee that has fought long and hard to protrect the GOS breed. Regardless of your GOS porker having pedigree parents it is still just any old pig if it has not been birth notified. The words 'pure bred' and its ilk mean nothing. The ruling from both Trading Standards authority and TSG states that ONLY pork from a birth notified pig can be legally classed as GOS. Even if you state it comes from registered parentage it is still not a GOS unless it has that birth certificate. Be very wary of advertising GOS pork that isn't, we will  and have clamped down very hard on producers who have tried. It doesn't matter if you are a small producer or a large.Waitrose did and got severely thumped in the courts.
Mandy
Ps the price for Old Spot weaners regardless is still outrageously too low averaging £40-£60, consider how much a pedigre Labrador pup will set you back!

[shygirl]

and £50 a weaner is only just breaking even for a breeder.

[Marches Farmer]

I'm with you on that one, Mandy!  Selling weaners that aren't excellent examples of their breed enables a breeder (of any breed) to continue to keep the very best and improve the breed.  We all know how hard the last two Winters have been for stock-keepers of all classes of livestock.  When you also take into account that a sow has been fed, watered, housed and mucked out for six months by the time those weaners are ready, £40-£60 is laughable.  Yes, you can add value by selling pork direct, but not everyone has the time, resources or potential customers in their area to do so.  Even if you do you have to incur the cost of feeding, housing and mucking out fast-growing animals for another 14-16 weeks.

OK, if you want to make the "bottom line" the only thing that matters then intensive pork production by the supermarket suppliers is the way forward, but if that's[b] all[/b] that matters I'm obviously living on the wrong planet!

[Q]

I have a bit of a problem with this statement.

'Regardless of your GOS porker having pedigree parents it is still just any old pig if it has not been birth notified'.

erm...  no its not - its still a pedigree pig.  Just because you choose not to recognise it because the owner didnt stump up for the correct piece of paper doesnt change the fact of its parentage.

Dont jump on me because I know the breeds are worth preserving but its the bureaucracy and the cost of that piece of paper that raises prices.  The quality of the pork is the same.

[Fowgill Farm]

I have a bit of a problem with this statement.

'Regardless of your GOS porker having pedigree parents it is still just any old pig if it has not been birth notified'.

erm...  no its not - its still a pedigree pig.  Just because you choose not to recognise it because the owner didnt stump up for the correct piece of paper doesnt change the fact of its parentage.

Dont jump on me because I know the breeds are worth preserving but its the bureaucracy and the cost of that piece of paper that raises prices.  The quality of the pork is the same.

Sorry but you're wrong as regards GOS it is the ONLY breed where the statement is correct. Pedigree GOS are ONLY pedigree if they have been birth notified, as regards other breeds then what you say is correct. If you choose to breed and rear GOS then do it properly please.
In theory i agree you can't tell the difference between a piece of pork from a pedigree GOS or a non certified GOS but how can we go on protecting these breeds if people wilfully ignore the protections put in place to preserve the breed. 
Mandy