I really appreciate that you and your wife ask and answer such a wide variety of questions in each of your topics so it's easier for viewers to get information from different aspects. I've watched your video about the dexters and ladybug, now the hogs. Thanks so much, cheers!
Thank you for your input. I'm on your side. Prices for feeders and feed vary everywhere. I can drive 3 hours to get a feeder for $50. But 15 min from me they are $100. I raise just two a year for our family. We use NON GMO feed and it is $12.75 for 50 lb bag here. It takes 15 bags per pig to raise them. All in all with processing it ends up netting out at $2.50 per pound in our freezer. I'm looking into processing them myself to save more.
This makes a lot of sense. we have one boar and three sows. When you have breeders say goodbye to a weekend off. Don't get me wrong it is a rewarding life, but you need to be sure your willing to make the commitment. 😀
My son and I are getting ready to start with 2 feeder pigs. We will raise them for personal use, buy two, let them forest forage, slaughter them both at the age of about 5 months.When we have 4 months worth of pork in the freezer left, we will buy two new bacon seeds.
I've watched a bunch of back-to-nature fanboy videos over the last few years that really gave bad information on raising pigs. Yours is a pleasant relief. The preparation information is vital to be ready, as is the advise about good fences. If you raise pigs, a daily walk around your fence line is a must do to find the weak spots before the pigs can exploit them. The good thing about raising so few pigs is that to an extent they can become 'pets'. This can help with herding them back in the pen if you can play on their sense of curiosity to corral them. As are others responding to your video, your quoted cost seem extremely high verses other parts of the country. You're hooked up with a farmer for feeders you are confident in, so pay the price to get the quality. But I would seriously shop around for a better deal on feed. Are there other local pig farmers you could buy home milled feed from? There are disease issues to contend with, but if you could over come them you could save a lot on your costs. Over all this is a really good, informative video. I also think you sell yourself short on being able to market more hogs (especially iif you can gain control of your feed costs).
The most critical quote from this vid: "Is it right for me?" Finances, time, health, opportunity, infrastructure, personality, interests, etc, etc..... A friend wants to get into running a goat dairy. She's starting with 3 does for a year. That's a test of "right"!
Timeout. $800-900 per pig? I can get a feeder for $50 at 8 weeks old. I usually have $120-130 in feed and then my butcher cost. I may have $300 in my pigs...
@@opengatefarmstead3609 I live in the Midwest where a feed plants are a plenty. This is bulk feed. Bag feed is about $14 per 50lbs. So bulk is the way to go for me. I understand it's all about location. Definitely didn't mean any negativity to what you're doing. Great work, always looking for different ideas to do things. Appreciate the video. 👍
I could never eat pig personally (I have pigs for pets and they remind me of dogs) but I support this a lot more since they are not tortured while they are alive. They have good lives and you are not giving money to factory farms.
Red October dude you need to chill, just because he/she doesn’t feel comfortable being responsible for the death of a tot her creature doesn’t mean she’s/he’s emotionally underdeveloped lmao
i know you have a bigger size family but could you do a video of how many animals you raise just for food? so say 3 pigs, a cow, 25 chickens etc? and do you alternate years on animals? mebbe show how much freezer space is needed to store said butchered animals? its just me n the wife but i was thinking alternating years on say 3 pigs then a cow or 2 next year etc.
LOL I didn't realize how hilarious piglets are. Thank you for making this great video. I live in the city and have only 1.1ac BUT we are zoned as agricultural. Maybe someday we will try our hand at 2 piglets? Thanks to you and many others, we now have 11 chickens in the brooder who are 5 weeks old. Before watching your videos, I never realized exactly how farmers operated or made money at a smaller scale. Very enlightening!
your so right Austin raising pigs is great, that's eactly what my family and I are trying to do Icant wait for more vids about pigs..all this information is so helpful thanks your pig guy know a lot of stuf.. we have one boar right now like 3 sows we breed,, we are trying to find another boar so no inbreeding, I'm so excited to get bigger one day they are very tough year around that's what we do also
Lol I felt so bad for the piggies when their bums kept touching the electric fence They didn’t mean to touch the fence, they just got junk in the trunk I love piggies
What you don't include in your calculation of feasibility of keeping breeders is the sale of piglets to others. If you get several litters a year that you don't need, you could sell those for $100 a piglet and pay for the cost of your breeders. One or two litters sold and you have all of your costs covered plus profit.
You just didn't catch it, he said it it would cost $1,200 feed a pair for a year which means that they would have to have 12 piglets for him to just break even
Been thinking that if you keep a boar and three (if not more) sows together you essentially have two pairs but each sow can have 5-15 piglets. If two pairs cost $2400 and you would need 12 piglets per litter to break even selling piglets, each sow would only need to produce 8 piglets each, and some will have large litters while others may be average. 8 isnt generally too big of a load and as long as the pigs are breeding as much as they can why not have more sows than boars? If you need 24 piglets to break even on a 4 pig breeding harem, and each sow gives between 8-10 piglets (average), then you still have extra piglets for profit and, if you want, some for your own family to eat or sell as butcher pigs.
Starting with feeder pigs is the best option for any homestead. Only in very specific circumstances can you make good money in the pork industry and most of the time you have to have some kind of family or close friend connected to high paying clientele in restaurants or personal parties like catering companies.
Hey Austin hello from Illinois, I raise and farrow my own hogs here at our farm. Only thing that you may have not brought into consideration is we make quite a bit of income per year on selling feeder pigs to people like yourself for a quality price due to our feed and our pasture style and pen style birthing, we always make good money if we have 24 piglets per farrowing and we keep back 12 to butcher for our customers we take the other 12 and sell them just an idea with your new farm yo do :)
Sows can produce two litters per year, that be weaned at 5 weeks, you can artificially inseminate your sow ... they are the easiest of livestock to artificially inseminate. Also, the bulk of the feed is used during lactation that's 9-15 lbs per day (litter size plays a big role) ... remember to keep the condition score at 3 - 3.5: pigs CAN over eat. Sell the surplus piglets at weaning and keep the ones needed to maintain your orders. Breed and management best determine the rate of consumption. Animals will often eat more than they need when fed ad lib so asking a commercial farmer will get you only 1 perspective. If you obtain scraps from a reliable source supermarket, deli, etc (as you have a micro-operation) you can substitute about 25%. Excess feed means more poop to clean, plant matter make them feel fuller faster - but don't over do constipation and anal prolapse are common in pigs. Given the opportunity you have I would have a micro farrowing operation 2-3 sows even if I chose to relax in winter time. Not trying to be confrontational just saying you may have missed a few points. Not to mention if you went Berkshire ... that makes some folks giddy! I hope this was useful!
Some good advice Zikki I have 5 gilts I'm getting ready soon to ai just waiting till my second heats, everything you said in your post is my plans for the future ..I have the buyers as soon as I get my litters going ..right now my girls have been working some land for me when they are done every rock will be on the surface every weed will be gone :)
Great video, very helpful. I’m taking your advice and moving methodically along. I cleared out an area in the woods with easy access for water and food. It is 125‘ x 125‘. I’ve ordered the hog panels and I have the electric fencing already because I use it for my chickens and B yard. I plan to get pigs in March, but just two to start with. Located in north west Georgia.. Thanks again.
I know this is old but my husband and I are thinking about raising two pigs for meat. Are the "feeder" pigs you recommend in this video the best for food, or are there other options that are good too? I only ask because I bought half a pig from a friend a couple of years ago but they were not pink piggies. They were a black and white color and I believe he said they were about 6-9 months old when he took them to processing plant? We live on a very small property in the country but we have an area that we would be totally fine with them rooting out and clearing for us while we wait for them to get to processing age. So my next question is do you strictly do pig feed or do you supplement by letting them free range? Or table scraps? I'm sorry for my ignorance but just like I spent almost a year learning before deciding to get chickens, I want to make sure I soak up as much knowledge as I can, even if my questions sound dumb. LOL! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your channel to bits! Subscribed with all notifications!
Heather, thanks for watching! When you leave a question on our channel use the hashtag #askhomesteady. That way I can find it when we do our weekly QnA video! This is a topic I need to cover, it’s been too long! Stay tuned for a video
For me is an issue of availability, if I had a Tom nearby that could supply me with piglets it would all be a walk in the park, but unfortunately I can either breed my own pigs or deal with low quality local breeders. One way to save money on feed is to supplement with produce from your own farm.
Hi there, so we did the opposite lol. Starting out we got 8 pigs, yikes. However now we are in it to win it. However we are truly busy and most of the time it is one person available to maintain them. Currently we are really having issues with our fencing. We had premier electric fence but as you mentioned they just root it up. I heard you mention something about logs underneath for this reason. What exactly do you mean?
One thing you forgot to mention that I'd like to add, what happens if you can't find a buyer for all your excess piglets? In my local classifieds I can often find 6 month old pigs for sale extremely cheap because they couldn't find a buyer and the next litter is due and they don't have the space and need them gone asap. One was selling 4 butcher weight at £40 each and 6 160-170 lbs for £35. You can also find numerous breeding pairs or trios because people have given it up. That can vary greatly by area due to supply and demand, regulations ext. At least in my area theres a lot more people breeding than there is a market for, unless you breed mangalisa. You might never have that problem but you have to be prepared for that possibility. Every extra mouth reduces your profit or will you cull. All options need to be carefully considered.
For myself personally it's not about turning a profit, while I live in a rural area and have livestock rights on my property. My concern it how the animal is raised, fed and processed; Having my own breeders insures all those concerns will be eliminated. In the example I gave to a friend when he asked me why, I told him that with a litter of 6 piglets raised to 200 to 250# just figuring 150# of meat off each pig works out to 900# of pork. This will not only be a good source of quality pork, it will also be a marketable barter item. As I said I live in a rural area and people out here are more likely to trade goods and or services than buy or pay for the same goods or services. I have also been making contacts for bulk feed to reduce my feed costs, this is something that is very important to me because I want non gmo feed. The only store bought feed I will need to get is for when the sow is nursing to promote milk production
Yes this is my mentality too. But I still think Homesteady has a point that not everyone needs or should have breeding pigs. It diversifies the market this way and people can preform individual parts of the industry at a much better quality because they only worry about one aspect of getting a pig from bred to born to fed to plate.
If you have a family of 5 that eats good. How many feeder pigs do you recommend for butchering out? How much does one pig fill when it comes to a basic chest freezer?
That's a lot for the cost. Ypur feed bill os way too high . Your local grocery stores will give you all their bad produce if you leave a 50 gallon drum there. Not only does it help you but it helps them keep pest down. Also of you have any meat processing plants near you they will sell you discards for extremely cheap
I wanna do pigs so bad. I think this year is too soon. I've got too many fires on the stove right now. But I have my plan and it's a good one. So how bad do 2 or 3 pigs smell? They will have a 1/4 acre.
Pigs can have 2.4 litters a year @ 8 to 10 piglets per litter. Based on those figures, your math doesn't add up. With 2 sows you will have about 38.4 piglets which you can sell at 8 weeks of age for around $100 each.($3,840)
and who will buy those piglets? You have 38 people on your phone that you can call and guarantee a sale of each those piglets? MOST people don't and can't raise their own feeder pigs and the market is small, especially with commercial farming so cheap. Did you even watch the video and listen to him? He explained this very easily.
I just started listening to your podcasts a couple months ago and have been loving them! You made a video where you reevaluated the feasibility of getting a family cow where you talked about being able to keep pigs on just hay and milk. Can you tell me more about that? Seems like something like that could really cut down on costs and people I've asked haven't known much about it.
You had some good points which made sense to me. I'm thinking though that if you want to raise heritage breeds, you'll be more likely to need to keep a sow or two around all year (using artificial insemination) to be able to source your feeder pigs. You would otherwise need to travel farther distances for your feeders if you don't happen to have a breeder in your area.
Thanks for the tip bro!!! I was actually thinking of raising ny own breeders but nvm lol i have enough with my goats With them i break even as is on the meat, but still the taste of the meat and quality lol keeps me going. Will start looking for feeder pigs,
Few questions, Could you buy feed straight from that guy? For $400? He makes a hundred and you save 2. How many pigs would you need to breed just for yourself? If I were to do this id want to do Iberian pigs and I assume it would be cheaper long term to breed for specialty breeds
Hi I'm from India. I'm Saran ..i love to growing pigs.. Can u please give me a idea about .... Pig raising is profit or pig breeding is profit.. I'm eagerly waiting for ur reply Bro...
You mentioned a follow up video where you would discuss whether or not to butcher the pigs yourself and why you choose not to. I couldn’t find the video. Can you reply with the link? Thanks
Great video. We will share this with our customers for sure :) We sell land in rural areas and this will help generate some great ideas. Thanks for creating this!
Hi bro, do you mix your own feeds? Need some tip on how to mix my own. I currently have 20 pigs, (pigs in our country are relatively cheap 50$ only for 1 feeder) . Anyway i decided to research and try mixing my own feed, but its like theres no clear recipe online.
Eastern TN. Are you buying food mill feed or food from places like tractor supply? I've noticed local feed mills/ feed elevators offer great quality blends for a great price! Love the videos tho, I've got a small hobby farm that I'm trying to work up to a small scale home stead once I can move to a larger acreage. I really only want 2 pigs a year (one for me , one to pay for the cost of mine lol) , more poultry and possibly an ostrich (instead of beef)
If I put some effort into automation, how long would I be able to leave them alone for? This seems like it might be a great plan for me, but I want to be able to do things like camping trips.
Aust, I agree with your ideas and also add a thought from your moving video I thought the children would leave and that would be it, but all my children have left to their own families or careers. I'm retired and so raise my sows and a boar and then raise three for the children's families, something to do. I raise the hogs on corn and pastured in the spring, summer, and fall. Also I was raised growing pigs and dad would put in a 1/4 acre garden and we (I) would have to pull a buskel of weeds a day for each of the pigs. Helps cut the cost. I'm a little surprised at what you are paying for feed and feeders, it takes me 700 - 800# to fatten a pig to around 300# and I only pay $120 per pig for everything. Plus I get 4 to 6 litters a year (2 york x tamworth sows with a PB hamshire boar) and the extra weiners I sell for 40 in the fall and 45 in the spring and pay for my feed and straw and other needs, if I raise one for someone else I get $1.50 per lb. hanging weight. I've gotten as many as 12 weiners per litter and I only raise 4 for myself and family. I'm wondering if the higher cost is from your location. Although I'm a little low on price but I have to be, because of competition around me. Just was wondering. Any feedback is appreciated.
Austin i get my feed from a feed mill your right TSC is more expensive. You should be able to save a lot in PA hoping you the best. I see a profit of 85 to 95 clear profit per pig and that includes feed.
Aust, 100 lbs 16 % pro cost 15 plus change last two months on corn based feed is 12 to 13 and cost 13 plus change. Butchering is $25 plus .55 per hanging weight for cut and rap and .65 for smoking. We pay $40 / weaner $120 for feed and $97 for processing for a 350 lb pig. Hope yhis helps.
Very mistitled video. This video doesn't tell me, "How to Raise Pigs for Meat on the Homestead" as much as it tells me, "Why to Raise Feeder Pigs Instead of Breeding Your Own."
We discussed their feed and water needs, infrastructure, results, not just the feeder aspect. BUT that is the biggest mistake people can make, so pretty important.
Out of your roughly 13 minute video you have about 2 1/2 minutes in the beginning where you talk about your acreage and legality of owning pigs and then you go into the necessary infrastructure. You talk about how they need a lot of food and a lot of water, but never how much or what you use. I've researched homesteaders reusing many food scraps to partially feed their pigs. You didn't mention anything about portion sizes, cleaning out their barns, literally nothing significant that can be applied to actually learning how to raise a pig. I'm not saying that the video wasn't informative about the specific aspect that you touched on during the video. I simply said that it was wrongly titled and that the primary information included in the video was more so why to raise feeder pigs over breeding your own and not how to actually raise them in detail.
There is another video of ours all about waterers, feeders, and housing, which I talk about at the end of this video and link too. This was a follow-up video. No need to cover that topic twice. This was the method on how to raise meat pigs, not how to care for pigs, or feed them, or clean up after them. Sorry you were disappointed with the free content we provided on our channel.
Seriously? This is a free video and your complaining about the title! Maybe you should ask him to buy and raise the pigs for you. To insult someone that takes the time to teach people "how to video's" should be ashamed of themselves! And... Like he said this was a follow up video!
So I'm new to the farm lifestyle bought 20 acres and want to raise pigs for meat I want to start off with only 2 so they can mate and so I can get a good understanding of how much it will cost me to raise, I guess what I'm ultimately trying to get at is how often should I buy feed and can they not survive on just grass alone please give me advice guys
...or just get sows and have them serviced by a vet....no need to keep boars. Also some locations don't experience winter so year round care is consistent. You have a wide audience...I'm watching from Kenya so some of your advise is good, but consider other localized advantages that may work. Keep up the good work!
hi m name is anand from india .i am planning to start a pig farm but for fattening purpose .i want to start with 50 pigs ,so i wanted ur advice in that.am i better off in getting piglets and fattening them or better to get a bore and sow and wait for litter ,but i guess its not of work when it comes to having a bore and sow.an advice from you is much appreciated.thankyou
I would not start with 50 pigs unless you have farming experience and some fantastic infrastructure. But as far as 50 pigs goes, at that point a boar and some sows is worth it.
The prices in your are are CRAZY! MY feed $180/1000# and I can pick up feeders for $20-$60 and butchering is $.47/# hanging weight. You should look into AI you could get a dose for $30 and make about $1200 on one litter and get a litter each year for almost free.
Jeremy Brua I'm not sure where your getting pigs for 20 but Aust is getting taken for a ride. Here where i live it's 20 - 25 for killing and butchering, 50 - 55 for cut and rap and 60 to 65 for smoking over cut and rap. That's pooling 4 shops , i hope it's less for him in PA.
Pigs are definitely my.favorite animals on the homestead. Easy to fence.with electric line, they have a ton of piglets, birth to freezer in a few months and on top of it all BACONN. what's your favorite pork recipe?
Butcher fees are $.80/lb on the low end in Las Vegas where I'm at and non of them provide slaughtering services. You need to bring only the carcass... such a pain
I found some land up here in Maidstone, Vermont, 23 acres for $40,000. How do I get a grant to buy the land and start a homestead? I already have the knowledge, the experience, the large family, and the drive to do it... We just have no land or money.
You could get a loan but you would need a job and some good credit...or save up money like me and other people do....I can’t think of anything else you could do
The pork is on sale in the local supermarket for $2.99 lb. I'm sure your meat tastes better and it's organic. But, boy, do you have to work really hard for that.
So lets just say, hypothetically, that I knew somebody who was concerned that financial collapse or civil war or some other apocalyptic scenario could happen, and this person wanted to be prepared: Can you buy feeders, and then keep some of them a male and female to mate for a litter JUST IN CASE your source for feeders happened to dry up?
Hello. I have a boar and gilt, both over 2 years old, that are not displaying sexual behavior any time of the month. What can I do to get them to breed?
I apprrciate what you folks do. I love pork, bacon, and ham.
I really appreciate that you and your wife ask and answer such a wide variety of questions in each of your topics so it's easier for viewers to get information from different aspects. I've watched your video about the dexters and ladybug, now the hogs. Thanks so much, cheers!
Thank you for your input. I'm on your side. Prices for feeders and feed vary everywhere. I can drive 3 hours to get a feeder for $50. But 15 min from me they are $100. I raise just two a year for our family. We use NON GMO feed and it is $12.75 for 50 lb bag here. It takes 15 bags per pig to raise them. All in all with processing it ends up netting out at $2.50 per pound in our freezer. I'm looking into processing them myself to save more.
How bad did 2 smell?
This makes a lot of sense. we have one boar and three sows. When you have breeders say goodbye to a weekend off. Don't get me wrong it is a rewarding life, but you need to be sure your willing to make the commitment. 😀
My son and I are getting ready to start with 2 feeder pigs. We will raise them for personal use, buy two, let them forest forage, slaughter them both at the age of about 5 months.When we have 4 months worth of pork in the freezer left, we will buy two new bacon seeds.
Good neighbors and a great system are key to taking vacations.
I've watched a bunch of back-to-nature fanboy videos over the last few years that really gave bad information on raising pigs. Yours is a pleasant relief. The preparation information is vital to be ready, as is the advise about good fences. If you raise pigs, a daily walk around your fence line is a must do to find the weak spots before the pigs can exploit them. The good thing about raising so few pigs is that to an extent they can become 'pets'. This can help with herding them back in the pen if you can play on their sense of curiosity to corral them.
As are others responding to your video, your quoted cost seem extremely high verses other parts of the country. You're hooked up with a farmer for feeders you are confident in, so pay the price to get the quality. But I would seriously shop around for a better deal on feed. Are there other local pig farmers you could buy home milled feed from? There are disease issues to contend with, but if you could over come them you could save a lot on your costs.
Over all this is a really good, informative video. I also think you sell yourself short on being able to market more hogs (especially iif you can gain control of your feed costs).
Getting mines soon. Getting my pen setup on my Ranch. Got 24 acres here in NE Mississippi. Happy Homesteader.
I'm so glad you addressed that issue. Makes total sense. thank you! good info
The most critical quote from this vid: "Is it right for me?"
Finances, time, health, opportunity, infrastructure, personality, interests, etc, etc.....
A friend wants to get into running a goat dairy. She's starting with 3 does for a year.
That's a test of "right"!
Timeout. $800-900 per pig? I can get a feeder for $50 at 8 weeks old. I usually have $120-130 in feed and then my butcher cost. I may have $300 in my pigs...
CoyoteFur I was thinking the same thing.
$100 for a feeder is crazy.. $350 for feed, I can get almost 3 tons of feed for that price. Guess it's all about location.
@@MrQ23 what kind of feed can you get.for $100 a ton. I wish I had that!! Is it by the bag or do you have a silo?
@@opengatefarmstead3609 I live in the Midwest where a feed plants are a plenty. This is bulk feed. Bag feed is about $14 per 50lbs. So bulk is the way to go for me. I understand it's all about location. Definitely didn't mean any negativity to what you're doing. Great work, always looking for different ideas to do things. Appreciate the video. 👍
@@MrQ23 that is awesome, I cant wait to get a silo for bulk feed its going to be so much better for raising pigs. All love brother!
Great info, you have kept me from making a bad decision.. I'll start with some feeders! Thanks Derek from blue cactus dairy goats!
I could never eat pig personally (I have pigs for pets and they remind me of dogs) but I support this a lot more since they are not tortured while they are alive. They have good lives and you are not giving money to factory farms.
For me it is wrong to slaughter any type of animal. Your pet pig is pig just the same like pigs in this video.
@@lightnirvana2900 Maybe so but the difference is the amount of empathy in each person raising said pigs
Are you taking any prescription medication?
@Kenneth Wilkins lol
Red October dude you need to chill, just because he/she doesn’t feel comfortable being responsible for the death of a tot her creature doesn’t mean she’s/he’s emotionally underdeveloped lmao
Hey great video! We are local in Massachusetts and just picked up our first two today.... should be great
i know you have a bigger size family but could you do a video of how many animals you raise just for food? so say 3 pigs, a cow, 25 chickens etc? and do you alternate years on animals? mebbe show how much freezer space is needed to store said butchered animals? its just me n the wife but i was thinking alternating years on say 3 pigs then a cow or 2 next year etc.
Love this video reliable, honest practical information
LOL I didn't realize how hilarious piglets are. Thank you for making this great video. I live in the city and have only 1.1ac BUT we are zoned as agricultural. Maybe someday we will try our hand at 2 piglets? Thanks to you and many others, we now have 11 chickens in the brooder who are 5 weeks old. Before watching your videos, I never realized exactly how farmers operated or made money at a smaller scale. Very enlightening!
your so right Austin raising pigs is great, that's eactly what my family and I are trying to do Icant wait for more vids about pigs..all this information is so helpful thanks your pig guy know a lot of stuf.. we have one boar right now like 3 sows we breed,, we are trying to find another boar so no inbreeding, I'm so excited to get bigger one day they are very tough year around that's what we do also
Lol I felt so bad for the piggies when their bums kept touching the electric fence
They didn’t mean to touch the fence, they just got junk in the trunk
I love piggies
What you don't include in your calculation of feasibility of keeping breeders is the sale of piglets to others. If you get several litters a year that you don't need, you could sell those for $100 a piglet and pay for the cost of your breeders. One or two litters sold and you have all of your costs covered plus profit.
You just didn't catch it, he said it it would cost $1,200 feed a pair for a year which means that they would have to have 12 piglets for him to just break even
Chuck Warnimont if you are paying $100 for a pig, you're getting ripped off.
Been thinking that if you keep a boar and three (if not more) sows together you essentially have two pairs but each sow can have 5-15 piglets. If two pairs cost $2400 and you would need 12 piglets per litter to break even selling piglets, each sow would only need to produce 8 piglets each, and some will have large litters while others may be average. 8 isnt generally too big of a load and as long as the pigs are breeding as much as they can why not have more sows than boars? If you need 24 piglets to break even on a 4 pig breeding harem, and each sow gives between 8-10 piglets (average), then you still have extra piglets for profit and, if you want, some for your own family to eat or sell as butcher pigs.
You are right on
Great video I learned alot !
Starting with feeder pigs is the best option for any homestead. Only in very specific circumstances can you make good money in the pork industry and most of the time you have to have some kind of family or close friend connected to high paying clientele in restaurants or personal parties like catering companies.
What's the growth rate during the 5 months you raise them? Meaning how many pounds per pig when you butcher.
Hey Austin hello from Illinois, I raise and farrow my own hogs here at our farm. Only thing that you may have not brought into consideration is we make quite a bit of income per year on selling feeder pigs to people like yourself for a quality price due to our feed and our pasture style and pen style birthing, we always make good money if we have 24 piglets per farrowing and we keep back 12 to butcher for our customers we take the other 12 and sell them just an idea with your new farm yo do :)
Sows can produce two litters per year, that be weaned at 5 weeks, you can artificially inseminate your sow ... they are the easiest of livestock to artificially inseminate. Also, the bulk of the feed is used during lactation that's 9-15 lbs per day (litter size plays a big role) ... remember to keep the condition score at 3 - 3.5: pigs CAN over eat. Sell the surplus piglets at weaning and keep the ones needed to maintain your orders. Breed and management best determine the rate of consumption. Animals will often eat more than they need when fed ad lib so asking a commercial farmer will get you only 1 perspective. If you obtain scraps from a reliable source supermarket, deli, etc (as you have a micro-operation) you can substitute about 25%. Excess feed means more poop to clean, plant matter make them feel fuller faster - but don't over do constipation and anal prolapse are common in pigs. Given the opportunity you have I would have a micro farrowing operation 2-3 sows even if I chose to relax in winter time. Not trying to be confrontational just saying you may have missed a few points. Not to mention if you went Berkshire ... that makes some folks giddy! I hope this was useful!
Some good advice Zikki I have 5 gilts I'm getting ready soon to ai just waiting till my second heats, everything you said in your post is my plans for the future ..I have the buyers as soon as I get my litters going ..right now my girls have been working some land for me when they are done every rock will be on the surface every weed will be gone :)
Great video, very helpful. I’m taking your advice and moving methodically along. I cleared out an area in the woods with easy access for water and food. It is 125‘ x 125‘. I’ve ordered the hog panels and I have the electric fencing already because I use it for my chickens and B yard. I plan to get pigs in March, but just two to start with. Located in north west Georgia.. Thanks again.
thank u for ur knowledge means alot im up here in New Hampshire
Excellent video, you definitely earned my subscription. Thanks for the awesome content!
This. This is where I subscribed.
I know this is old but my husband and I are thinking about raising two pigs for meat. Are the "feeder" pigs you recommend in this video the best for food, or are there other options that are good too? I only ask because I bought half a pig from a friend a couple of years ago but they were not pink piggies. They were a black and white color and I believe he said they were about 6-9 months old when he took them to processing plant? We live on a very small property in the country but we have an area that we would be totally fine with them rooting out and clearing for us while we wait for them to get to processing age. So my next question is do you strictly do pig feed or do you supplement by letting them free range? Or table scraps? I'm sorry for my ignorance but just like I spent almost a year learning before deciding to get chickens, I want to make sure I soak up as much knowledge as I can, even if my questions sound dumb. LOL!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your channel to bits! Subscribed with all notifications!
Heather, thanks for watching! When you leave a question on our channel use the hashtag #askhomesteady. That way I can find it when we do our weekly QnA video! This is a topic I need to cover, it’s been too long! Stay tuned for a video
@@Homesteadyshow ohhh, I gotcha! I'm noobish to your channel but thanks for letting me know! :)
For me is an issue of availability, if I had a Tom nearby that could supply me with piglets it would all be a walk in the park, but unfortunately I can either breed my own pigs or deal with low quality local breeders.
One way to save money on feed is to supplement with produce from your own farm.
Great video! Hogs are a must on a homestead..
Very helpful! Great video!
Hi there, so we did the opposite lol. Starting out we got 8 pigs, yikes. However now we are in it to win it. However we are truly busy and most of the time it is one person available to maintain them. Currently we are really having issues with our fencing. We had premier electric fence but as you mentioned they just root it up. I heard you mention something about logs underneath for this reason. What exactly do you mean?
One thing you forgot to mention that I'd like to add, what happens if you can't find a buyer for all your excess piglets? In my local classifieds I can often find 6 month old pigs for sale extremely cheap because they couldn't find a buyer and the next litter is due and they don't have the space and need them gone asap. One was selling 4 butcher weight at £40 each and 6 160-170 lbs for £35. You can also find numerous breeding pairs or trios because people have given it up. That can vary greatly by area due to supply and demand, regulations ext. At least in my area theres a lot more people breeding than there is a market for, unless you breed mangalisa. You might never have that problem but you have to be prepared for that possibility. Every extra mouth reduces your profit or will you cull. All options need to be carefully considered.
Very cool and interesting
Thanks for all of the info.
For myself personally it's not about turning a profit, while I live in a rural area and have livestock rights on my property. My concern it how the animal is raised, fed and processed; Having my own breeders insures all those concerns will be eliminated. In the example I gave to a friend when he asked me why, I told him that with a litter of 6 piglets raised to 200 to 250# just figuring 150# of meat off each pig works out to 900# of pork.
This will not only be a good source of quality pork, it will also be a marketable barter item. As I said I live in a rural area and people out here are more likely to trade goods and or services than buy or pay for the same goods or services.
I have also been making contacts for bulk feed to reduce my feed costs, this is something that is very important to me because I want non gmo feed. The only store bought feed I will need to get is for when the sow is nursing to promote milk production
Trading is a great way to get "profit" from your land! Keep it up!
Yes this is my mentality too. But I still think Homesteady has a point that not everyone needs or should have breeding pigs. It diversifies the market this way and people can preform individual parts of the industry at a much better quality because they only worry about one aspect of getting a pig from bred to born to fed to plate.
If you have a family of 5 that eats good. How many feeder pigs do you recommend for butchering out? How much does one pig fill when it comes to a basic chest freezer?
Have you experimented with supplementing their feed with easy, starchy crops? Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, sunchokes and the like?
+leoncaruthers yes! We had a bumper crop of pumpkins that everyone enjoyed last year
Really great information!
Thanks, Very interesting...I am looking into raising pigs here in south for the family & sell a few.
Wow, outstanding information. Thanks so much for this video.
Dang bro, I looked up how to raise a pig because I want one and I'm met with this video.
Did you not read? 🤦🏼♀️
That's a lot for the cost. Ypur feed bill os way too high . Your local grocery stores will give you all their bad produce if you leave a 50 gallon drum there. Not only does it help you but it helps them keep pest down. Also of you have any meat processing plants near you they will sell you discards for extremely cheap
Jaywels? You mean jaws? Like the movie. Killin me 🤣
Kevin McDonald
Jowls, silly! Basically the jaw is the bone the jowls the fat or meet in that region. Same for humans
Thanks for the information. I'm not able to raise pigs but love agriculture. I was interested in the specifics of raising pigs.
I wanna do pigs so bad. I think this year is too soon. I've got too many fires on the stove right now. But I have my plan and it's a good one. So how bad do 2 or 3 pigs smell? They will have a 1/4 acre.
Did you just say $450 to process your pig? You can do it yourself for 50 bucks (cost of vacuum sealing)
But I dont think you can legally sell them if you butcher it yourself
@@hunterjacobs2178 Not the meat itself, but if you part out a pig before butchering, then you could
I used to have 100 here in Michigan but they are harder to find today but i usually get them for $50 to $60 each
Pigs can have 2.4 litters a year @ 8 to 10 piglets per litter. Based on those figures, your math doesn't add up. With 2 sows you will have about 38.4 piglets which you can sell at 8 weeks of age for around $100 each.($3,840)
I have a friend that raises pigs and he can't even give piglets away.... If I had a pen, which I will soon, I would take some of them.
and who will buy those piglets? You have 38 people on your phone that you can call and guarantee a sale of each those piglets? MOST people don't and can't raise their own feeder pigs and the market is small, especially with commercial farming so cheap. Did you even watch the video and listen to him? He explained this very easily.
I just started listening to your podcasts a couple months ago and have been loving them! You made a video where you reevaluated the feasibility of getting a family cow where you talked about being able to keep pigs on just hay and milk. Can you tell me more about that? Seems like something like that could really cut down on costs and people I've asked haven't known much about it.
You had some good points which made sense to me. I'm thinking though that if you want to raise heritage breeds, you'll be more likely to need to keep a sow or two around all year (using artificial insemination) to be able to source your feeder pigs. You would otherwise need to travel farther distances for your feeders if you don't happen to have a breeder in your area.
Thanks for the tip bro!!! I was actually thinking of raising ny own breeders but nvm lol i have enough with my goats
With them i break even as is on the meat, but still the taste of the meat and quality lol keeps me going. Will start looking for feeder pigs,
I can't find the video about why you don't butcher your own pigs. Can you help me find it or tell me why here? Thanks.
Austin, did you make the video where you explain why you don't butcher the hogs yourself?
+The Grass-fed Homestead not yet on the to do list 😝
Few questions,
Could you buy feed straight from that guy? For $400? He makes a hundred and you save 2.
How many pigs would you need to breed just for yourself? If I were to do this id want to do Iberian pigs and I assume it would be cheaper long term to breed for specialty breeds
Hi I'm from India. I'm Saran ..i love to growing pigs.. Can u please give me a idea about .... Pig raising is profit or pig breeding is profit.. I'm eagerly waiting for ur reply Bro...
You mentioned a follow up video where you would discuss whether or not to butcher the pigs yourself and why you choose not to.
I couldn’t find the video. Can you reply with the link?
Thanks
Great video. We will share this with our customers for sure :) We sell land in rural areas and this will help generate some great ideas. Thanks for creating this!
Hi bro, do you mix your own feeds? Need some tip on how to mix my own. I currently have 20 pigs, (pigs in our country are relatively cheap 50$ only for 1 feeder) . Anyway i decided to research and try mixing my own feed, but its like theres no clear recipe online.
How do you know for sure that the pig sent to the butcher is the one you get back, or is that a problem, thanks
Eastern TN. Are you buying food mill feed or food from places like tractor supply? I've noticed local feed mills/ feed elevators offer great quality blends for a great price!
Love the videos tho, I've got a small hobby farm that I'm trying to work up to a small scale home stead once I can move to a larger acreage.
I really only want 2 pigs a year (one for me , one to pay for the cost of mine lol) , more poultry and possibly an ostrich (instead of beef)
+Paul Eberly we buy in bulk from a local granary most of the time. Ostrich sounds like a great adventure! Let us know how it goes.
We are in the same transition Paul, Moving from smaller homestead to more of a farmstead as our customer base improves.
If I put some effort into automation, how long would I be able to leave them alone for? This seems like it might be a great plan for me, but I want to be able to do things like camping trips.
Aust, I agree with your ideas and also add a thought from your moving video I thought the children would leave and that would be it, but all my children have left to their own families or careers. I'm retired and so raise my sows and a boar and then raise three for the children's families, something to do. I raise the hogs on corn and pastured in the spring, summer, and fall. Also I was raised growing pigs and dad would put in a 1/4 acre garden and we (I) would have to pull a buskel of weeds a day for each of the pigs. Helps cut the cost. I'm a little surprised at what you are paying for feed and feeders, it takes me 700 - 800# to fatten a pig to around 300# and I only pay $120 per pig for everything. Plus I get 4 to 6 litters a year (2 york x tamworth sows with a PB hamshire boar) and the extra weiners I sell for 40 in the fall and 45 in the spring and pay for my feed and straw and other needs, if I raise one for someone else I get $1.50 per lb. hanging weight. I've gotten as many as 12 weiners per litter and I only raise 4 for myself and family. I'm wondering if the higher cost is from your location. Although I'm a little low on price but I have to be, because of competition around me. Just was wondering. Any feedback is appreciated.
Ron, a 50 lb bag of regular TSC feed costs me $16 how about you? And I pay $650 a ton for the better stuff. That’s probably the difference
Austin i get my feed from a feed mill your right TSC is more expensive. You should be able to save a lot in PA hoping you the best. I see a profit of 85 to 95 clear profit per pig and that includes feed.
Aust, 100 lbs 16 % pro cost 15 plus change last two months on corn based feed is 12 to 13 and cost 13 plus change. Butchering is $25 plus .55 per hanging weight for cut and rap and .65 for smoking. We pay $40 / weaner $120 for feed and $97 for processing for a 350 lb pig. Hope yhis helps.
You should buy your feed from the guy you buy your pigs from.
Great informative video. Thanks. ~Smile!
Awesome.. Thanks for the info.
Good video, thanks
Very mistitled video. This video doesn't tell me, "How to Raise Pigs for Meat on the Homestead" as much as it tells me, "Why to Raise Feeder Pigs Instead of Breeding Your Own."
We discussed their feed and water needs, infrastructure, results, not just the feeder aspect. BUT that is the biggest mistake people can make, so pretty important.
Out of your roughly 13 minute video you have about 2 1/2 minutes in the beginning where you talk about your acreage and legality of owning pigs and then you go into the necessary infrastructure. You talk about how they need a lot of food and a lot of water, but never how much or what you use. I've researched homesteaders reusing many food scraps to partially feed their pigs. You didn't mention anything about portion sizes, cleaning out their barns, literally nothing significant that can be applied to actually learning how to raise a pig. I'm not saying that the video wasn't informative about the specific aspect that you touched on during the video. I simply said that it was wrongly titled and that the primary information included in the video was more so why to raise feeder pigs over breeding your own and not how to actually raise them in detail.
There is another video of ours all about waterers, feeders, and housing, which I talk about at the end of this video and link too. This was a follow-up video. No need to cover that topic twice. This was the method on how to raise meat pigs, not how to care for pigs, or feed them, or clean up after them. Sorry you were disappointed with the free content we provided on our channel.
I'm not disappointed with the information, I'm disappointed with the title.
Seriously? This is a free video and your complaining about the title! Maybe you should ask him to buy and raise the pigs for you. To insult someone that takes the time to teach people "how to video's" should be ashamed of themselves! And... Like he said this was a follow up video!
How are the pasture after the pigs are done with them? Do they root and dig up the ground?
They look like the moon 😂
I buy 16% hol feed by the ton @ $265. Where you are buying your feed from?
He uses organic feed. How much is the organic feed where you buy or in your area? Janice
I work at a McDonald's and we just threw out a 5 pound box of granola . Good or bad idea to feed to pigs ?
So I'm new to the farm lifestyle bought 20 acres and want to raise pigs for meat I want to start off with only 2 so they can mate and so I can get a good understanding of how much it will cost me to raise, I guess what I'm ultimately trying to get at is how often should I buy feed and can they not survive on just grass alone please give me advice guys
...or just get sows and have them serviced by a vet....no need to keep boars. Also some locations don't experience winter so year round care is consistent. You have a wide audience...I'm watching from Kenya so some of your advise is good, but consider other localized advantages that may work.
Keep up the good work!
The video of his farm is very good, but it is similar to some of my video farms. Because my farm is raising pigs.
hi m name is anand from india .i am planning to start a pig farm but for fattening purpose .i want to start with 50 pigs ,so i wanted ur advice in that.am i better off in getting piglets and fattening them or better to get a bore and sow and wait for litter ,but i guess its not of work when it comes to having a bore and sow.an advice from you is much appreciated.thankyou
I would not start with 50 pigs unless you have farming experience and some fantastic infrastructure. But as far as 50 pigs goes, at that point a boar and some sows is worth it.
You want to make a H1N1 Swine flu Hotspot
You have to agree
The prices in your are are CRAZY! MY feed $180/1000# and I can pick up feeders for $20-$60 and butchering is $.47/# hanging weight.
You should look into AI you could get a dose for $30 and make about $1200 on one litter and get a litter each year for almost free.
Jeremy Brua I'm not sure where your getting pigs for 20 but Aust is getting taken for a ride. Here where i live it's 20 - 25 for killing and butchering, 50 - 55 for cut and rap and 60 to 65 for smoking over cut and rap. That's pooling 4 shops , i hope it's less for him in PA.
I’m from central California and looking into buying a pink pig. Any recommendations on where ?
I like Tom! Looks like a fun guy.
How about a tour or something of his place like you did with the cows?
+Chris de Wet Tom is great. Just the kind of guy that makes farming a pleasure. Good idea to do a tour!
Pigs are definitely my.favorite animals on the homestead. Easy to fence.with electric line, they have a ton of piglets, birth to freezer in a few months and on top of it all BACONN. what's your favorite pork recipe?
Open Gate Farmstead you sick fuck!!!
Gyit out you pansy
wow!!! prices are so high there. pigs are about $40 here and butcher fees are about .35/.40 a lb here .....
That is awesome!
Butcher fees are $.80/lb on the low end in Las Vegas where I'm at and non of them provide slaughtering services. You need to bring only the carcass... such a pain
Great video, thanks! I think your pigs want to make their own video. Probably need their own GoPro. Natural hams.
+donald wycoff 😂
Gotta supplement the feed with something to lower those costs, methinks.
House food. That's it. All that $ in feeding is just 1st world wasting mentality.
@@AlexCruz-wc1yo ‘xactly. Pigs can just eat apples or home grown grain. No need to spend this bullshit feed and waste money.
Go to restaurants and get scraps feed them that until a few months before butchering then go to grain
I raised pigs. It did not seem like work because I enjoyed working with them.
I found some land up here in Maidstone, Vermont, 23 acres for $40,000. How do I get a grant to buy the land and start a homestead?
I already have the knowledge, the experience, the large family, and the drive to do it... We just have no land or money.
Get a job?
You could get a loan but you would need a job and some good credit...or save up money like me and other people do....I can’t think of anything else you could do
6 feeders how many do you butcher. And or do you cell others for cost .
The pork is on sale in the local supermarket for $2.99 lb. I'm sure your meat tastes better and it's organic. But, boy, do you have to work really hard for that.
hello. im in dutchess county of NY. where is your pig breeder? i always have a hard time finding yorkshire piglets.
+Brett Cason he is in Bristol CT. Email me if you want his info
Hey I live in Connecticut! I would love to visit that pig farmers website or farm for pigs, would you mind sharing that information?
you can get feeder pigs here in indiana for $30. $100 seems really high.
+Blair's Hoosier Homestead We're in CT. Prices are definitely higher here than other areas.
It seems the price on feeder pigs in my area around Las Vegas or surrounding states are in the $75-$100 range for 8 wk old pigglets
So do you make a good profit selling your other pigs to your customers?
could you set up a fodder system to save on feed prices
So lets just say, hypothetically, that I knew somebody who was concerned that financial collapse or civil war or some other apocalyptic scenario could happen, and this person wanted to be prepared:
Can you buy feeders, and then keep some of them a male and female to mate for a litter JUST IN CASE your source for feeders happened to dry up?
Jordan P yes
You could but Feeder pigs are normally neutered if male and breeding stock is often different quality from a feeder pig.
How big do those feeder pigs grow out to in 5-6 months?
I got my feed for $50.
Being in the FFA isn't cheap, but it's not that expensive.
So the subject at 4:45 is "if you don't use it, you lose it"
Hello. I have a boar and gilt, both over 2 years old, that are not displaying sexual behavior any time of the month. What can I do to get them to breed?
Nice video! reminds me of my rabbits. I have 1 buck and 5 does. Most people that buy them from me get 1 buck and 1 doe...not economical
I had two "bucks" and magicaly turned into 29. 3 died though. hehe. I now know how to tell them apart
Do you give your pigs constant feed for the whole 5 months to get them to butcher size
+Brian Miller yes, they have free choice feed. Plus kitchen scraps when we have them.