Bought more than I wanted :)

Fall is a great time to raise pigs. No flies, no smell! Great looking bunch of piggies you got there! You did fantastic on the prices too!
 
I agree with the fantastic prices. Process fluctuate a lot around here based on futures. Some years they are hard to find, some years the farmers can't get rid of them.

I remember many many years ago (40+) butchering about 10 or 15 at 40 pounds because the prices were so low the feed costs exceeded probable sales price.

Had them smoked whole and just cut off a chunk of Han whenever we were hungry. Ahhh, the good old days, lol
 
When I raised my two pigs I worked at a school and brought home two 5 gallon buckets a day of lunch scraps; amazing what kids waste. I put buckets out with pictures of the pigs on them and the kids filled them up for me...milk, granola bars, sandwiches, burritos, cheese, apples, etc. It made a huge dent in the price of feeding them. I don't work there anymore so if I do another pig I will do it in spring until Dec. so it gets fruit drop, garden waste and whey from cheese making, then butcher no matter the size. Feed is way to much money.
 
Pigs are so much fun! We are going to get our winter pig tomorrow. We'll be butchering one of our sows in October or November and this little guy will be butchered in the spring. They're all duroc crosses. Love durocs!
 
Cheapest Piglets I've seen around here are $80 a head. I will see them get around $50-$60 around this time of year because not many people want to raise them through the winter, myself included. That was a great price
 
Same here. Usually piglets are $100+ in the spring. Fall is less. We are getting a piglet tonight for I think $40 or 50 (husband is bad at remembering haha). But we will have a sow over winter so we don't care about having a piglet too.
 
The auction houses are cheap around here. It's where people dump their excessand culls.

Some bed and breakfasts on "farms" but at auction in the spring so they have cute animals for tourist season, then resell at auction in the fall since they don't want to feed and care for them over the winter. Deals can be had in the 'off seasons"
 
I'm currently making a spreadsheet to balance rations for these guys. I did it with my chickens and used the Solver plug in on Excel to solve for the least cost ration that met the nutrient requirements of chickens, and I got feed down to about $14.40/cwt avg for each stage of growth. So I'm trying to do the same with the pigs but I just hate the spreadsheet building part lol...I just wish it was all done and I could figure out how much it's gonna cost me to feed them hahaha.
 
You are so much better than me. I always forget to keep track with the pigs. I do try to keep track of costs with our meat birds but it's hard because the birds all share food.
 
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