What's the best way to actually turn a profit with pigs?

Massey675

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bristol
Recently started keeping pigs, not many just a handful as I dont want to get my self to tangled up with pigs at all if I can help it

I was a frome and seen some shockingly poor prices so I am just wondering what the best way to make profit out of them? Dont think I'll be getting anymore after these go [emoji848]
 

Massey675

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bristol
Get Your hands on as much free food as you can, bread from supermarkets, veg waste etc. Then have them killed and butchered at your local abbatoir. Sell in halves to friends, family and whoever else wants one. Only way on small scale I found.
Sheep are particularly my thing I haven't done pigs until now, I am trying to more or less do it on a very tight budget and cut my losses by as very little as possible

I am feeding bread at the moment but Someone said all I could feed it I wanted was bread but I dont think that would be enough for them unfortunately.
 

Steveyboy!

Member
They need some form of pig nut too. For vits and mins, protein etc. But as usual with pigs, prices go up and down like a flaming yoyo. I don't bother now but I just sold as many to people I knew as possible.
 

Massey675

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bristol
They need some form of pig nut too. For vits and mins, protein etc. But as usual with pigs, prices go up and down like a flaming yoyo. I don't bother now but I just sold as many to people I knew as possible.
Problem is though how much do you sink into to pigs to lose more profit, that is what it comes down to unfortunately
I would like to keep them on and sale fat but issue is they just seem to be making absolutely nothing at market and by the time they are fat they'll be owing me where as at moment they aren't
 

Newby

Member
Location
East Yorkshire
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So weaners are £35 each, COP is 156ppkg and the finished pig is worth 152ppkg :scratchhead:

That works out at a loss of £3.25 per pig, as long as the weaner cost is included in the 156ppkg COP :scratchhead:

Am I missing something?
 
So weaners are £35 each, COP is 156ppkg and the finished pig is worth 152ppkg :scratchhead:

That works out at a loss of £3.25 per pig, as long as the weaner cost is included in the 156ppkg COP :scratchhead:

Am I missing something?
I know nothing about pigs. I have a freind who works for a large pig breeder and finisher, he told me the finished pigs made an expected loss for half the year then made a profit recouping the loss in the other half. Quite interesting
 
Those videos are grim, apparently they were burnt before being buried. Animals are just objects to them, it shows how seriously they take disease control though.
 
At college we were taught about the Pig Cycle, where the value of pigmeat is driven by supply and demand, in the absence of perversion through subsidies.

Price is poor, producers drop out, supply drops, price increases, producers grow numbers, supply increases, price is poor etc etc

A bit like milk prices, but worse.
A pig farmer buys wheat from an arable farm.
Straw from an arable farm.
I buy barley from an arable farmer for cattle
I buy straw from an arable farm

Why do you think what I buy is effected by subsidies?
Why do you think what the pig farmer buys isn’t effected by subsidies?
 
So weaners are £35 each, COP is 156ppkg and the finished pig is worth 152ppkg :scratchhead:

That works out at a loss of £3.25 per pig, as long as the weaner cost is included in the 156ppkg COP :scratchhead:

Am I missing something?


The secret is attention to detail to aim to have a below average cost of production. Healthy stock is essential.

Then take a risk managed approach to what you buy and sell.

Don’t get too excited when things are good- and they can be extremely good. And put a bit away for a rainy day.

The most successful pig farmer that I knew built a very large business by holding off expansion when things were very profitable and picked up the pieces when times were hard.

I’ve given far too much good advice already!
 

Hilly

Member
A good friend of mine went into pigs just a hand full produced loads sold them all direct, everyone died in debt, something on media yesterday about every kilo of pork raised in uk looses 20p per kilo, not surprised its for next to nothing in the shops, ridiculously cheap. , but mostly dry and not very nice, tis quite rare to get a nice bit of pork from a super market.
 

Pan mixer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Near Colchester
A good friend of mine went into pigs just a hand full produced loads sold them all direct, everyone died in debt, something on media yesterday about every kilo of pork raised in uk looses 20p per kilo, not surprised its for next to nothing in the shops, ridiculously cheap. , but mostly dry and not very nice, tis quite rare to get a nice bit of pork from a super market.
I think that breeding the fat off the white pigs has made it all dry, rare breeds are too fatty IMHO but a nice gilt with about 14mm of P2 lovely.
 
I've been finishing about 70 per week of pigs sired by Berkshires, for a niche deal with a local abattoir.
The meat is tastes absolutely superb, it has a lot of intramuscular fat and a lot of backfat, 30mm or so.
Due to the fat level, the stuff has been almost unsaleable, so the job is coming to an end. The shopper buys with their eyes and the meat trade has become very blinkered by low fat. The stuff tastes absolutely exceptional. Some of the worst pork that i've ever eaten was pure Gloucester Old Spot, lots of fat on the outside but none in the muscle.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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