[mowhaugh]

So, our first pigglies are almost ready to go, and we have customers (all family!) for them, can anyone tell me approximately what price per kg I should be saying to them, for a whole pig?  Just looking for an idea of what is fair, bearing in mind that we've not done this before, we've tried to be very careful, weighing the food and weighing the pigs and so on, but until they are cut up, we won't know how well we've done.  We'd like to not make a loss on the piglets (we accept the costs of running the sows as a wee hobby, fun for the children etc) but also don't want to be ripping anyone off - we want them to come back for more!

Thanks.

[devonlady]

We only sell to family too and charge what the butcher would charge for non free range pork.

[mowhaugh]

We only sell to family too and charge what the butcher would charge for non free range pork.

Thank you - I am just not sure what that would average out at across a whole pig!

[sokel]

We don't charge by the Kilo , we charge by the half or whole Pig. £120 a half or £200 for a whole pig.
that's butchered and wrapped .
I know others do charge more and some less but when we have pork available its usually returning customers

[shygirl]

we charged £5.50 on average (on the bone) which at the time was cheaper than Tesco and was approx. £150 per half pig.

[reedos]

We charge on average £6-00/Kg, slightly more for bacon, sausage & ham, works out at around £120 for half a pig.

[Porterlauren]

Well bugger me, I charge something like 2.80 a kilo to friends and family, and maybe £3-4 a kilo for strangers or businesses. Even on the 2.80 a kilo, I still make a decent enough profit. That equates to about £200 a whole pig, of which at least £80 is profit. Pigs are coming back at 70 kilo dead weight.

If I tried to charge £150 a half pig, I wouldn't sell very much, and i'd feel pretty shitty about it, especially to friends and family!

At the moment I can't keep up with orders for pork, whereas some of the folk I know who sell it at £5-6 a kilo complain it's hard to shift!

[hughesy]

It's never clear in these conversations whether we're talking about on the bone or butchered/boned/processed. There's a big difference.

[Sbom]

I charge £150 per half to include some sausages. Equal to £6.50 per kilo.
Sausages I sell at 2.25 Lb.
We only sell 2-3 per year and they always sell well. Can't get enough sausages to keep up with demand, people love them.

[sokel]

It's never clear in these conversations whether we're talking about on the bone or butchered/boned/processed. There's a big difference.

always on the bone here. Just because I prefer my meat on the bone

[twizzel]

Our butcher used to sell half pig for £1.30/lb and it was fantastic meat.

[mowhaugh]

We don't charge by the Kilo , we charge by the half or whole Pig. £120 a half or £200 for a whole pig.
that's butchered and wrapped .
I know others do charge more and some less but when we have pork available its usually returning customers

Do you have any idea approximately how heavy your pigs are?

Thanks for all the help, everyone.  I have no qualms at all about trying to make money out of it, this is our business, but I also don't want to be ripping people off, just trying to get it right!  Equally, if it is more sensible to charge by the whole/half pig, I am happy to do that, but again need an idea of what is fair for what size of pig - ours will be between 65 and 75kg liveweight - they will all have to go together due to the length of trip to the abbatoir, which is why I had thought to charge per kg, or it would not be very fair for the people getting the smaller pigs.

[County Dangler]

£65/qtr here and extra for sausages. This lot of 6 were sold and i had a waiting list before I'd even picked them up. 

[MKay]

£10/kg. That's boned and rolled with sausages and vacuum packed, labled and boxed.

People get what they pay for- so if you are producing a premium product- charge a premium price.

Nb- I have a waiting list for all my products, Pork, Lamb and Beef.

I sell Beef fillet hung for 45 days for £50/kg. The demand is there for small scale producers to fill if they don't price themselves for the budget market.

[Porterlauren]

People who are charging the high prices, how much turnover do they have?

If I could get £600-£700 a pig, i'd be loaded!!!! But I just couldn't justify it to myself.

I know we produce a premium product, and i'd say the pork I produce is as good or better than many, but I like to give people a good deal, while making a good profit myself. It's nice to be able to sell quality meat to families who just couldn't justify it at the highest prices.

But with a decent enough turnover (and we could do a lot more), we make a good profit off the pigs, at least i'm happy. We've concentrated on slashing inputs rather than raising prices.

I'd be very interested to know what profit per kilo folk are making? It might not be so different between the low and high prices.