How much $ to raise a pig to butcher?

[LoneCowboy]

Oh that's a great idea for the chickens. I had a hard time getting enough protein into them this winter. They picked feathers like crazy. Did you cook them first?

 

[SeaChick]

I did cook the heart, etc.... but I fed them raw fat/meat scraps from trimming the meat. I chopped the raw stuff up really well so that no one would choke on a big hunk of gristle.

You should see the madness whenever I bring out meat/fat/fish scraps. Seriously way way way crazier than scratch, BOS, bread, veggies or any other treat. I really believe they were massively craving more protein. Hoping that the bugs/worms they get free rangine a couple hours a day this summer will satisfy them!

 

[Triplell]

Can anyonw tell me that raising 2 pigs is better than just one? My friend tells me that they put the wieght better when there is 2. I am just learning and will be getting 1 or 2 pigs. Any advice would help.

 

[FarmGirl01]

I've always had 2 pigs at a time. They will keep each other company. Try to get the same sex. I usually raise one for me and one for a neighbor. He buys one bag and I buy the next one.

 

[Triplell]

Thank you, that's a good idea.

 

[SilverOakFarmer]

Pigs, like cattle, are competition feeders. If you only have one in the pen, he'll only eat enough to be satisfied. With two hogs, each one of them want's to eat as much as he can so the other guy doesn't get the food. This leads to better weight gains for each hog. Think of it like putting a plate full of chocolate chip cookies in front of two kids. They'll both snarf down as many as they can as quick as they can.

 

[SunnySkies]

I have two pigs now and grew up raising a group of pigs every year. Pigs are social animals and they seem happier with a friend.

Mine are plowing my garden, but I feed them twice a day, as much as they want to eat, which isn't too bad really since they get weeds and grass and garden gleanings. They live in a pen I made from four cattle panels ($21 each) with a shelter I built for about $60 and 4 hours of my time that I move every 2-3 days. I already had the feed pans, but I had to recently buy them a water trough they couldn't tip, which was $35.

Feed costs me $13/bag, and I buy 4 every 2 weeks. We collect all our food scrapings, etc into a bucket on the counter and feed that too.

Butcher cost here is $40/head to kill and price varies depending on what you want them to make your pigs into.

They cost me $50/each but I had to drive 2 hours each way to get them as nobody local had them when I wanted them. But I've seen them for $75 and up since. I'll have to see what a pig costs in the spring.

I donated part of one to the local Boy Scouts group for their fall fundraiser and will likely sell the second hog to folks at church. Don't care about making a profit...I just wanted my garden plowed and fertilized and the weeds removed in an easier way than hiring a guy with a tractor, which means I'm out there removing the weeds by hand. But some homegrown bacon and sausage will go down pretty easily too.

 

[donrae]

Pigs, like cattle, are competition feeders. If you only have one in the pen, he'll only eat enough to be satisfied. With two hogs, each one of them want's to eat as much as he can so the other guy doesn't get the food. This leads to better weight gains for each hog. Think of it like putting a plate full of chocolate chip cookies in front of two kids. They'll both snarf down as many as they can as quick as they can.

You've been watching my kids, haven't you?

 

[acro1010]

You simply cannot beat homegrown pork. It's absolutely nothing like pork you've eaten at a grocery store. Now, with that said, you need to separate yourself form industrial pork producers. DO let your pigs enjoy the light of the sun on their back. DO let your pigs root and be on grass/dirt. DO NOT put them in a dark unlit shed on a concrete pad and throw 'slop' at them, then expect good quality pork.

Animals which were allowed to move, exercise and display pig behavior have a tasty, pink/rose colored meat which is unbeatable. Pork should not be a white meat. It is marketed as that for 'health' reasons and the animals are fed and confined in a way to ensure the muscles get used as little as possible. It is simply wrong.

The best things about Pigs is that nothing from your garden or kitchen goes to waste. It's ecological to keep a pair of pigs. Never keep one pig, though, you must get two for the welfare of the animal. At the end of Summer, we let them "hog down" everything in the garden, meaning we don't have to till in the Fall.

My costs, in the Pacific Northwest, where everything is brutally more expensive than anywheere else:

Weaner pig: $65
Feed: $225 (with a heavy subsidy of garden gleaings)
Processing: $200 + curing charges (USDA inspected, vacuum packed)
Subtotal: $490 per pig

Other Costs - Here is where everyone gets turned sideways and loses money on pigs. These are all infrastructure costs ammoratized over a 2 year period, assuming 5 pigs per year:

Shelter: $18 per pig
Electric Polywire/Netting: $21 per pig
Fountains/Tanks: $4 per pig
Feeders: $5 per pig
Transport to Slaughter: $10 per pig
Insurance: ?? (too many variables to assing it simply to your pork)

I shoot for 250-285 hanging weight. It seems like a waste to do them any sooner as the bacon is too skinny for my tastes.

I watched a show about a Vegas casino that sent their food scraps to a pig farmer. The food for the pigs was Nasty!!!! The taste has to be better home growing.

 

[buzzardroost]

Raising pigs can be fun and the profit can be good. I've noticed that there are several ways to raise pigs. There is not just one correct way, but just about everyone agrees that the pigs must be feed, watered and have enough space to move.

I raised pigs when I was young growing up on a farm. I had about 20 sows and my pigs had the chance to move around in the pig lot, access to water, feed and clean shed to sleep in.

After working for 40 years I retired and started raising pigs again. My lots are not as nice as the ones on the farm 40 years ago, but I make sure that the pigs have enough water, food and shelter.

My cost is cut, since I've netwroked with farmers around my community. I get my corn from a farm at about half whet it cost at the local Co-op. I get bales of hay in the spring from farmers who had left over, much less than buying straw from the Co-op.

I feed the pigs Zipper feed, then move to Grower feed and then crack corn.

In just one year, I've been able to network enough to sale:
8 week old pigs $100.00 my cost $50.00
mature sows $450.00 my cost $272.00
250-300 lb pig killed & packaged $550.00 my cost $310.00