B and B pigs

[JP1]

So a 200x50 split in 10 pens to house 1000 pigs as per the bqp system is going to cost £2mil? I reckon you need a new calculator

I thought the original comment said £16-20 a pig place , the other chap said 10 x that. I would say that was about right?

 

[DieselRob]

I thought the original comment said £16-20 a pig place , the other chap said 10 x that. I would say that was about right?

Deleted my original comment rather than edited it by mistake but yes £200/place sounds more like it

 

[browny88]

We were a breeding unit, 650 outdoor sows. We couldn't get any decent staff and a few bad winters where my dad started to stuggle with his legs. We were contract breeders and the company we were on for were looking for nursery accommodation so we made the decision to pack up breeding.
All our accommodation was in good order but would have needed replacing in the next couple of years. As it was tidy all our kit sold well.
We now have 5600 weaners on to 40 kg. Most are outside but 2000 are in sheds.
It's not as an interesting job (my dad finds it boring) but it is a lot easier and the only time we really need help is when power washing all the kit down.
Companies are always desperate for finisher accommodation and not so much nursery.

We’re only a 200 sow indoor unit but it’d take little effort to remove the sow crates and change the partitions for weaners. And certainly less effort to dig out the other shed for a slurry pit as planned and stick weaners in instead of fitting out for more sow crates.

We finish 120ish (only running 140 sows these days)a fortnight ourselves on contract for Morrison’s currently and we’re not doing badly off it by any means but it’s an awful lot of work and time spent for little gain.

It leaves little time for our sheep, firewood and caravan site business’s. Which are all doing well but we don’t have time to go any bigger with them because of the pigs.

It’s paid for everything we have over the years but it doesn’t give us a much time to enjoy what we have all the same.
The last time dad had a full week off on holiday must have been 10 years ago now!

I think we’ll have to get in touch with the big boys locally and see if they have any need for what we can offer.

Just roughly though @tomg, do you do better/similar/worse per pig than you did breeding your own? In actual numerical terms?

 

[franklin]

£200 a place is too high.
£16 a place too low.

You can get it kitted out and built for more like £150 a place, depending on ground work, utilities etc.

 

[Daniel]

Feed system. Muck midden. Side curtains. Penning. Feeders. Drinkers. Pressurised water system with header tank / airbreak. Gates. Concrete panels. Intermediate removable panels for early stages. Two dunging passages. Medication lines.


You can also add through gates in the lying areas, roof insulation, ridge ventilation fans and chimneys if you want to go higher spec and a good few do

View attachment 701868

Looks smart, fan ventilation as well.

Either the rates have gone up a lot for b&b pigs though or he isn't intending to make any money for a decade or so!

 

[franklin]

Looks smart, fan ventilation as well.

Either the rates have gone up a lot for b&b pigs though or he isn't intending to make any money for a decade or so!

Yup. Building it cheap is the key it would seem. If you have to buy the straw and can't use the muck then forget it.....unless you need to build a house.

 

[ollie989898]

Feed system. Muck midden. Side curtains. Penning. Feeders. Drinkers. Pressurised water system with header tank / airbreak. Gates. Concrete panels. Intermediate removable panels for early stages. Two dunging passages. Medication lines.


You can also add through gates in the lying areas, roof insulation, ridge ventilation fans and chimneys if you want to go higher spec and a good few do

View attachment 701868

Heck man, that is some setup.

 

[ollie989898]

Does anyone do B and B pigs on deep straw (their own home grown stuff, obviously), in a plain old barn with some partitions etc?

I remember doing some contracting work for a big estate and they had finisher pigs in what was basically a big old dutch barn, threw plenty of straw in, fed them and sent them on, the FYM came out and was spread on the OSR ground annually?

From what I could see, the accommodation cost very little, didn't need massive labour inputs and worked well because the staff were otherwise unoccupied all winter?

 

[RWG Contracts]

Does anyone do B and B pigs on deep straw (their own home grown stuff, obviously), in a plain old barn with some partitions etc?

I remember doing some contracting work for a big estate and they had finisher pigs in what was basically a big old dutch barn, threw plenty of straw in, fed them and sent them on, the FYM came out and was spread on the OSR ground annually?

From what I could see, the accommodation cost very little, didn't need massive labour inputs and worked well because the staff were otherwise unoccupied all winter?

@DieselRob does

 

[DieselRob]

Does anyone do B and B pigs on deep straw (their own home grown stuff, obviously), in a plain old barn with some partitions etc?

I remember doing some contracting work for a big estate and they had finisher pigs in what was basically a big old dutch barn, threw plenty of straw in, fed them and sent them on, the FYM came out and was spread on the OSR ground annually?

From what I could see, the accommodation cost very little, didn't need massive labour inputs and worked well because the staff were otherwise unoccupied all winter?

That's exactly what I've done, old cattle shed 90'x60' I've put a concrete panel partition up to create 2 90'x30" pens, deep straw bedding (4x3 size square bales on their edge that I cut open and let them bed themselves) each pen can hold 180ish pigs and they're fed by a 20 space bulk feeder which I fill with the telehandler

 

[JP1]

Does anyone do B and B pigs on deep straw (their own home grown stuff, obviously), in a plain old barn with some partitions etc?

I remember doing some contracting work for a big estate and they had finisher pigs in what was basically a big old dutch barn, threw plenty of straw in, fed them and sent them on, the FYM came out and was spread on the OSR ground annually?

From what I could see, the accommodation cost very little, didn't need massive labour inputs and worked well because the staff were otherwise unoccupied all winter?

Some do. I would say max I ever really see is 100 finishers to a pen. Plenty of folks rearing first stage outdoor weaners to 35-45kg. Big groups - some like the Great Plains in terms of numbers

 

[JP1]

Does anyone do B and B pigs on deep straw (their own home grown stuff, obviously), in a plain old barn with some partitions etc?

I remember doing some contracting work for a big estate and they had finisher pigs in what was basically a big old dutch barn, threw plenty of straw in, fed them and sent them on, the FYM came out and was spread on the OSR ground annually?

From what I could see, the accommodation cost very little, didn't need massive labour inputs and worked well because the staff were otherwise unoccupied all winter?

A typical 1000 place straw based finisher unit in 20 pens of 50 uses 120t of straw and yields 700t of FYM annually

 

[Hilly]

Does anyone do B and B pigs on deep straw (their own home grown stuff, obviously), in a plain old barn with some partitions etc?

I remember doing some contracting work for a big estate and they had finisher pigs in what was basically a big old dutch barn, threw plenty of straw in, fed them and sent them on, the FYM came out and was spread on the OSR ground annually?

From what I could see, the accommodation cost very little, didn't need massive labour inputs and worked well because the staff were otherwise unoccupied all winter?

About every 3rd farm up here dose, i even looked at it myself but wasnt that exited by it, ok if you have your own straw and need the manure and have staff needing more work, beyond that its not very attractive.

 

[Shorty]

We do wean to finish under contract. We have a straw for muck deal with neighbouring farmer. We built a 500 space 100 x 50 unit 2 1/2 years ago and are now building our second. We have borrowed to build both units based around a Bqp style. I see them as a good asset which there is huge demand for which pay for themselves in quite a short time. But the biggest single attraction for me and the wife is that we can earn a good bread and butter income of the pigs in a 1 1/2 hrs each day (one of us) and free up time to do other things like enjoy our kids. We can draw a better income from the pigs than I could draw from sitting on a tractor for 60hrs a week. Plus I still have time to top up and do other work when it suits me. I think it’s a no brainer for smaller farmers who have the assets to borrow against more so if they want to keep there siblings on site. Yes they are smelly at times, but like my missus says “sh!t is sh!t” cow sh!t, horse sh!t, pig sh!t, it all sh!t and it’s all the same.

 

[Hilly]

We do wean to finish under contract. We have a straw for muck deal with neighbouring farmer. We built a 500 space 100 x 50 unit 2 1/2 years ago and are now building our second. We have borrowed to build both units based around a Bqp style. I see them as a good asset which there is huge demand for which pay for themselves in quite a short time. But the biggest single attraction for me and the wife is that we can earn a good bread and butter income of the pigs in a 1 1/2 hrs each day (one of us) and free up time to do other things like enjoy our kids. We can draw a better income from the pigs than I could draw from sitting on a tractor for 60hrs a week. Plus I still have time to top up and do other work when it suits me. I think it’s a no brainer for smaller farmers who have the assets to borrow against more so if they want to keep there siblings on site. Yes they are smelly at times, but like my missus says “sh!t is sh!t” cow sh!t, horse sh!t, pig sh!t, it all sh!t and it’s all the same.

Your brave man borrowing when you are reliant upon someone else for straw !

 

[Shorty]

Plenty near me want muck. In fact they are queuing up. Those little prills don’t condition soil

 

[JP1]

We do wean to finish under contract. We have a straw for muck deal with neighbouring farmer. We built a 500 space 100 x 50 unit 2 1/2 years ago and are now building our second. We have borrowed to build both units based around a Bqp style. I see them as a good asset which there is huge demand for which pay for themselves in quite a short time. But the biggest single attraction for me and the wife is that we can earn a good bread and butter income of the pigs in a 1 1/2 hrs each day (one of us) and free up time to do other things like enjoy our kids. We can draw a better income from the pigs than I could draw from sitting on a tractor for 60hrs a week. Plus I still have time to top up and do other work when it suits me. I think it’s a no brainer for smaller farmers who have the assets to borrow against more so if they want to keep there siblings on site. Yes they are smelly at times, but like my missus says “sh!t is sh!t” cow sh!t, horse sh!t, pig sh!t, it all sh!t and it’s all the same.

Need you in our (or Mark's) marketing department

 

[Cowcalf]

We do wean to finish under contract. We have a straw for muck deal with neighbouring farmer. We built a 500 space 100 x 50 unit 2 1/2 years ago and are now building our second. We have borrowed to build both units based around a Bqp style. I see them as a good asset which there is huge demand for which pay for themselves in quite a short time. But the biggest single attraction for me and the wife is that we can earn a good bread and butter income of the pigs in a 1 1/2 hrs each day (one of us) and free up time to do other things like enjoy our kids. We can draw a better income from the pigs than I could draw from sitting on a tractor for 60hrs a week. Plus I still have time to top up and do other work when it suits me. I think it’s a no brainer for smaller farmers who have the assets to borrow against more so if they want to keep there siblings on site. Yes they are smelly at times, but like my missus says “sh!t is sh!t” cow sh!t, horse sh!t, pig sh!t, it all sh!t and it’s all the same.

presume you would get £10/ hr for sitting on tractor and 60 hrs that means each pig giving £1.20p a week thats going sum .We used to keep 2500 finishers and would have fraction of that money

 

[Shorty]

1000 pigs at t 60p seems to be the rate that most are offering there abouts, but some are a bit more and have performance related bonuses which are a pat on the back for attention to detail and doing your job properly as apposed to seeing how quick you can get them done and get out, we average quite abit more than that and are happy with what we get considering the time put in. Normally pigs are done by 7.30 to 8.00am which gives us the rest of the day to do what ever.

 

[Turra farmer]

Feed system. Muck midden. Side curtains. Penning. Feeders. Drinkers. Pressurised water system with header tank / airbreak. Gates. Concrete panels. Intermediate removable panels for early stages. Two dunging passages. Medication lines.


You can also add through gates in the lying areas, roof insulation, ridge ventilation fans and chimneys if you want to go higher spec and a good few do

View attachment 701868

What ventilation system ?