spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
driving around local estate seems to have fields of growing pigs in them...40-50kg at a guess.....do they get taken thru to finish outside?
fattening pigs outside?
- Thread starter spin cycle
- Start date
- Location
- Fife
Yes.
Chasingmytail
Member
- Location
- Newport, SE Wales
only raised a few pigs at a time (did breed for a while) all raised and finished outside. Not an issue. Good to see.
- Location
- Near Colchester
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
Only about 5% or less are finished outside. Much less feed efficient so needs a premium "free range" contract.
In my case, I was rather forced in to it as I needed to accommodate the things very quickly.
The recession means much less demand for free range as consumers "trade down" which is part of the reason for my getting out of it.
In your neck of the woods North Farm Livestock do an excellent job of it.
In my case, I was rather forced in to it as I needed to accommodate the things very quickly.
The recession means much less demand for free range as consumers "trade down" which is part of the reason for my getting out of it.
In your neck of the woods North Farm Livestock do an excellent job of it.
I tried a bunch once, food conversion went from 2.3/1 to 3.1/1 (30 to 90 kg) decided it wasn't good for me or the enviroment!
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
I agree with that, plus when it was very dry last summer none of the fences were working well and complete anarchy reigned for a few days until we could build straw bale pens.
I’ve never seen the police so often.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
keep driving past them as they grow in the sunshine
...presumably they keep boars/gilts separate?...how well does that work?
...presumably they keep boars/gilts separate?...how well does that work?
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Tight on margins and poor food conversion
You need a good price premium / outlet
You need a good price premium / outlet
borderterribles
Member
- Location
- South Shropshire
Keeping them separate works best for us but the boars ride each other relentlessly and don't do aswell as they ought to,but the gilts do far better by not being ridden relentlessly by their male siblings. The difficulty is that it's the boars that I want to get away first. I eye up and mark the main culprits in the boars to get them away, as soon as they are fit enough.keep driving past them as they grow in the sunshine
ollie989898
Member
How long to bring a pig to finish outside? In a reasonable season of weather? I've only ever seen pigs finished inside in deep straw beds. They seemed pretty happy with their lot at the time but produced mountains of FYM- I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the pigs or the crops.
borderterribles
Member
- Location
- South Shropshire
Far too long for me. Some of ours have concrete yards outside their indoor sleeping quarters, which were originally used as heifer cubicles. Some of our pigs are finished completely inside and do it far quicker than the ones who have access to the outdoor yards, especially in Winter.
Outside on soil isn't a good option round here as we are in a former Lead mining area.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
i suppose 0.8 kg feed /kg lwt is £24/pig if feed is £300t....so quite a lot 
Yes. We process and retail from whole pigs so can in a sense dictate retail price, though of course this is influenced by surrounding prices as to what customers will pay. We pay a significant premium for buying outdoor, proper free range pigs but that's the way it should be eg us paying what it costs them to produce so there is margin (hopefully) for both parties.i suppose 0.8 kg feed /kg lwt is £24/pig if feed is £300t....so quite a lot
You're not saving labour by any means, you haven't got the advantage of automatic feeders or slats that don't need bedding. Not to mention the pigs are more spread out so you don't get round them as quickly to check on them/ treat them as necessary.but surely there's massive savings on labour and machinery
Plant costs are possibly lower because you don't have the capital of a shed or electric bills for lights. You do still have machinery costs though for bedding, mucking out sleeping areas, fencing, ect. though so I'd imagine it's not far off paying a building off over 5-10 years.
ollie989898
Member
How long would it take to finish a batch? Are we talking 5 months or what? Could it be done out on cover crops and fit in with other cropping do you think? Just trying to see if there is a way of mitigating the damage to the ground and how it would fit into an arable farm. I appreciate you'd probably want to put them in a shed over winter but the system I saw was pretty simple, basically a converted old straw barn with one big group on straw. Put straw in and keep them fed and watered was about it. Dung out at the end was a simple enough task.
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
it's a piece of pee. An absolute doddle. Can't think why everyone isn't doing it, or why i'm getting out of it.