|
At the request of several friends and my own preferences for the taste of 'range
feed' animals, I have gotten into raising a few tasty range feed pigs (hogs) per
year. My emphasis is on taste, after all, I'm raising them for my
family and I to
eat - and I love to eat great food..
I've been asked if people can buy some, the answer is - maybe. I have a tight limit
imposed by the county, on how many animals I can raise at a time and, as a virtue
of being located in the cold North (Calgary area) I obviously can only raise range
feed andimals in the summer! So I can only realistically get one 'crop' of piggies
per year.
So, my excess pigs will be available on a first come first serve basis. If you want
to be on the list you can buy a whole pig, a side (half) pig, or specfic cuts, to
be delivered fresh in the fall (well, I'll only deliver if you are in the Airdrie
area, if you live further a field, better that you find someone local unless you
come by Airdrie anyway in the fall.)
To secure your pig (or cuts), you first check if I have some available (as of this writing, the answer is no) then you provide me with a 50% down payment. While I
fully expect to be able to deliver if, due to circumstances beyond my control I
can't, I will of course return your money and give you first right of refusal on
next years piggies. Then, when I know what day the meat will be packaged, I let
you know and we arrage for delivery. If you buy from me 'this' year, you'll also
get first right of refusual for next year.
But enough of the busiess side of things, lets get down to more interesting information.
If you are thinking about raising pigs, there are many things you need to know,
the first is - if you are raising pigs free range you aren't going to have the stink
that is normally associated with pigs. Pigs are not naturally stinky, but when confined
in production ways, yes, there is going to be a terrible manure smell - you just
can't have that much manure per day in such a small location without some stink.
But, with free range, your piggies will happily act in a
way that works for you
and your piggies.
Second, how much meat can you realistically expect from your piggies. I'm starting
with the assumption that you, like me, are planning on raising your pigs from weaners
(just weaned) to about 220-250 lbs, the exact weight depending on how much lard
you want and what variety of pig you are raising.
So, if you are taking a lean live weight 220-lb pig (hog), your hanging weight (carcass
weight) will likely be around 160 lbs. If you are selling your pigs by the whole
or the side, you will probably be selling them by the hanging weight. The next number
is the weight of the so called 'retail cuts' will be around 130 lbs.
Depending on how you have the pig butchered and how much fat your piggie has you
will get different amounts of each cuts. But again, lets assume that you had the
pig butchered when it reached 220 lbs, before it put on a lot of fat. You should
reasonable expect to be able to get the following: (These numbers come from 2 different
books I've read plus a government web site (US) and just approximate, there are
also several other ways to 'cut up' the pig that yield different quantities of several
items..)
- 23 lbs of bacon
- 38 lbs of ham
- 12 lbs of picnic roasts
- 28 lbs of either loin chops or roasts (you decide when you tell the bucher how to
cut it)
- 14 lbs of either shoulder chops or roasts.
- 2 lbs of ribs
- And with the leftover bits and scraps, about 11 lbs of ground pork or sausage.
When pricing it out, you need to consider - do you like free range more than store
bought? If you do, what premium would you pay - nothing? 1%? 10%? 30%? more? I read in the local paper several months back (2010) that the average person was willing
to pay a 15% premium, if that were true, tha would mean that some would pay more
and some would pay less. Based on people I've meet through the years, I'm willing
to bet that, while they will say they will pay 15% more - because they
are too embarrased to admit the truth, most people aren't willing to pay more than a 5% premium, if that! I know there are exceptions:
I've also met people willing to pay as much as double.
In any event, I doubt
you could find many people willing to pay a 15 or higher percent preimum without
a lot of work marketing - but I could be wrong! I'm very sure there are far more people
will say they will pay the premium than there are people who actually will
pay it. But interestingly enough, I find there are more people who would be willing
to do the work and pay 15% more (when they add up all the costs) then there
are people who would pay others the extra 15%. For them, like me they should consider
growing their own premium quality and taste pig.
New Terra Farm -completely unrelated to me- has a lot of interesting information. Some free with just your email, others at a cost. For information on both types of product, visit:
Click here to visit New Terra Farm.
But before you buy anything - check out their best offer: Click here to view more details I bought this best offer and I was really pleased with the info I got and I have made very good use of several suggestions in their information.
|
|