pig feed

spin cycle · Jan 3, 2019

how much feed and what cost to keep one sow and rear/fatten her progeny per annum

i'm no pig farmer but a m8 just asked me guess monthly feed bill for 12 sows as per question...i was £600/month to much....but it was a calculated guess in under a min

just for fun

Greenbeast · Jan 4, 2019

costs about £250-300/year to keep a sow alive, iirc that doesn't include farrowing/lactating ration, although i could be wrong

Pan mixer · Jan 6, 2019

A sow will eat about 1.5 tonnes of feed a year if kept indoors, outside it will be a bit more, some of this ration should be a bit higher spec for when she is milking, that will be for about 10 weeks a year (assuming just over 2 litters per year)
Dry sow meal will be about £200 per tonne (more if it is bags) lactating about £275

Assuming that you rear 10 piglets per litter then they are going to eat about 3 tonnes of several different rations to get to 70 Kg deadweight, roughly £260 per tonne.

The sow will cost say £350 to feed divide by say 24 piglets sold in an average year, i.e. £14.50 per pig sold

Each pig will eat £75 to £80 worth of feed.

Each pig will be worth about £100 shortly (pig price nose-diving)

There are one or two other costs like housing, water, straw, labour, vet and med, machinery costs (even a wheelbarrow wears out, so do hand muck forks and shovels)

The feed figures are ball park, depends on how much you are buying, what the wheat/barley and soya markets are doing that week etc.

Chasingmytail · Jan 7, 2019

Having raised a few for the table though to 6m traditional breeds. Mine have always been high welfare/outdoors in large area. Min feed cost to about 6m old is around £80 min us being organic a lot more. So I would say if you were buying in a bag at a time Id say cost in £100 min in feed to fatten that is. I have fed poultry feed when I ran out worked fine. Purchase of weaner say £25. Straw bedding. Water system, feeding system. If you have whey/apples etc that's a bonus. Man hours have been low for us as kept outdoor but your fences need to be good.

We used to keep sows but I have no records to work on. Stopped raising pigs to sell half a few years ago people don't want to pay the real price so we usually do it just for us now.

I know its not about fattening pigs but the cost of feeding them, kill and butchery adds up and see far too many people selling half a pig too cheap. I paid £150 for half an organic pig before Christmas. Its very good. Profit is not a dirty word and think small scale producers don't do their figures only basing them on what their neighbour is selling at. Surely you need to make absolute min £50 profit which is really a joke as that is less than £10pm. So so wrong

Greenbeast · Jan 7, 2019

Chasingmytail said:
I know its not about fattening pigs but the cost of feeding them, kill and butchery adds up and see far too many people selling half a pig too cheap. I paid £150 for half an organic pig before Christmas. Its very good. Profit is not a dirty word and think small scale producers don't do their figures only basing them on what their neighbour is selling at. Surely you need to make absolute min £50 profit which is really a joke as that is less than £10pm. So so wrong

We sell half for £140, free range traditional breed but not organic

Stewart Setter · Jan 10, 2019

wow, considering the effort alone in keeping up the welfare standards, the profit is harsh.. To be honest though I don't do it for the money and volunteer my time on a rare breeds farm, I love working with Pigs.

Greenbeast · Jan 11, 2019

I don't do it for the money either, because there isn't any

Massey675 · Jan 30, 2019

Bugger the pigs this is my first time keeping pigs and I wouldn't do it again at all no chance what so ever it's more hassle then it's worth in my opinion

Stevethemeat · Jan 31, 2019

Pigs are easy to look after and very rewarding to see a nice littter being born then growing them on to sell however financially there a nightmare especially now we are flooded with Eu pork imports I’m trying to contain losses to less than £20 a head at moment as the figures above are bang on right you should have a £10 profit a head of things are normal
But things are far from normal at the moment

Massey675 · Jan 31, 2019

Stevethemeat said:
Pigs are easy to look after and very rewarding to see a nice littter being born then growing them on to sell however financially there a nightmare especially now we are flooded with Eu pork imports I’m trying to contain losses to less than £20 a head at moment as the figures above are bang on right you should have a £10 profit a head of things are normal
But things are far from normal at the moment

But then again can people really go on rearing a product at a loss? It'll soon be a issue if you continue at a loss

davieh3350 · Jan 31, 2019

After trying to sell some top quality pork to friends/strangers and even give it away... And some friends even said no thanks to that... I say f¥ck the lot of them, last ones are getting sold to a butcher hopefully, and I'm only ever going to keep them for myself and those who ask me to feed one and work it in with mine at full cost to them. Let the people eat co-op shite

Massey675 · Jan 31, 2019

davieh3350 said:
After trying to sell some top quality pork to friends/strangers and even give it away... And some friends even said no thanks to that... I say f¥ck the lot of them, last ones are getting sold to a butcher hopefully, and I'm only ever going to keep them for myself and those who ask me to feed one and work it in with mine at full cost to them. Let the people eat co-op shite

I have a few pigs as abit of experiment to see how I go with them but after reading on here I think I'll get rid asap rather than keep them[emoji848]

davieh3350 · Jan 31, 2019

Massey675 said:
I have a few pigs as abit of experiment to see how I go with them but after reading on here I think I'll get rid asap rather than keep them[emoji848]

they do ok on oats and ground to turn over. I wanted them to break up old grass. If you have the facilities to grow your own grain and then get them processed and sold direct to folk you should be ok.

think it was in a book by Friend Sykes, where he said only keep pigs to clear up waste food. Pretty much true I reckon.
I love them. Brilliant animals.

Stevethemeat · Jan 31, 2019

Massey675 said:
But then again can people really go on rearing a product at a loss? It'll soon be a issue if you continue at a loss

It’s an issue now so yes I’m cutting back and ready to cease production I don’t care anymore if there’s no bacon on the nations breakfast table

pig feed

spin cycle

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