How much do pigs cost

For Yorkshire, Duroc, Hampshire, and Landrace click here. For Chester, Poland, and Spots click here once there click on the members link under each breed. For Berkshire Pigs click here. For Gloucestershire Old Spots say that 3 times real fast click here.

For Hereford Hogs click here. But, I hope that you get a better understanding of the true value a pig has. Keep in mind that some of these pigs sell at shows for thousands of dollars. Yep, you read it right. As the saying goes, garbage in garbage out. You get the picture. Finding quality grain however, without breaking the bank is a delicate balance.

Beware of the temptation to go and buy the cheapest feed you can. It may seem like you are getting a good deal if you look at it from the standpoint of price per pound of feed. But, if the feed is garbage, you very well could end up feeding out x the amount as you would with quality. In turn, you could spend more money! While mycotoxins are a concern with any animal, pigs are particularly susceptible to their effects. These are toxins created by different molds that get into an animals feed by improper harvesting and storage of grains.

A quality feed company will regularly check for mycotoxins. They can have devastating effects not only on the animals overall health and reproduction, but growth. I went through a mycotoxin scare when I was buying feed from a local farm. Lesson learned.

I have tried several different feeds over the years, and purchased it in varying amounts. We finally have a good system in place where we purchase feed in bulk to get the best price and have it shipped to us. Always buy it in bulk if you can properly store it, it saves a TON of money.

So, quality is paramount. Last year we ended up with an FCR of 3. This may seem like an obvious thing to mention, but I feel like it could be easily overlooked. Level of activity is going to have a significant impact on the cost to raise a pig for meat. An animal kept in confinement is less active, meaning it burns less calories.

We have a system of rotational grazing pigs through the woods on electric and finishing them in the fall. Exercise is something we not only allow, but encourage.

Not only do our pigs have an exceptional quality of life running around a half acre at a time, but using those muscles creates delicious pork. Sure, you may need some more feed to generate a pound than an animal that lives in a barn stall. The size of the hog at butcher all comes down to a matter of personal preference. For the longest time it was pounds live, but over time as genetics have improved it has slowly crept up to the pound range.

That means if you raised a pound hog, it would yield a hanging weight carcass. Nor would those cuts have a hefty enough fat cap and marbling for me. Luckily, one of the many benefits to raising your own animals for meat is that they can be as big or as little as you want when it comes time to butcher. Aside from that, there is in fact some scientific basis for this.

Once a pig reaches ish pounds, there is a noted drop in their feed conversion efficiency. So if you raise them over the mark, it will have an effect on your overall FCR.

In the commercial industry, they are constantly striving to improve the genetics to produce an efficient FCR closer to this pound range. Hence the slowly creeping market weight size. Remember, these are commercial hogs though, not the average homesteaders stock.

Manage your expectations appropriately. The downward yo-yo pattern in GB finished pig prices continued during the week ended November 6, with the EU-spec SPP partially recovering from the larger decline last week. At The volatile pattern reflects changes in the number of low-priced pigs intended for export with minimal butchery in the sample each week.

This aside, EU prices have continued to ease in recent weeks, and the large price differential between prices here and on the continent continues to drive a general downward trend in the British market. We also spent a bit more time preparing their meals than normal people do, ha ha.

We had a huge cauldron where cull potatoes, kitchen scraps were boiled up, then some grain plus grower was added and it was topped up with leftover milk we had a couple of goats , and cracked eggs. One year, we raised a boar he never did any breeding, though , and at 11 months of age, he weighed around lbs. He was delicious, the bacon was unbelievable. Can you imagine a 90 lb ham? Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Practical Self Reliance is a personal blog and a woman-owned small business. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.

For more details, visit my disclosures page. We tracked our costs for a year raising our own pigs in Vermont and found that the costs vary based on the age of the pig and the season.

Our overwintered ladies are another matter. Cost to Raise a Pig Winter Months The final hanging weight of our month-old pigs was around lbs each.