Daydream thread continues.....

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

Davesnave, after the first sort of stuff I think its Devon 1, Glamorgan 0

Oh......:(

Still, at least you enjoyed the atmosphere in Okehampton.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave wrote: »

:eek: Mercy! I don't think I gave him permission! :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Alfie glad mabel is getting better....

Had another builder in yesturday older guy, and he gave us advice no end... and told us once we had done this, that and the other to give him a ring for some prices:rotfl:

And he said as well there is no need to knock down the 'leaning wall'

so the good news is confirmed:T

We have had our piggies 4 weeks today:j was going to go to the pig auction today, but too much work to do..

I have been thinking about the price to charge for our pigs?

I have been looking on the supermarkets websites, and they charge anything from £3 to £6 odd a kg..

I know there should be a premium price for locally reared pigs etc, BUT I dont want to over price either, as I want people to come back and buy more...

what do you think?

Going to buy a pumkin for the piggies to see if they like them, as I should imagine there will be alot of cheap/reduced pumpkins around this month

lostinrates

Well, I pay more for ethically raised meat.

(for what it's worth my ideal would be ones shot on the forest like Alfie's where they roam free and have a life....).

Short of that then humanely handled, scratched, room to move well, housed well.....they matter to me.

I can buy whole pigs near here, they are rare breed ones, a breed I have never eaten and is not indigenous, but I would buy more for ones I knew someone who liked them had raised.

In future years ctc maybe you could consider a 'we raise your meat pig' scheme, where you take a sort of livery fee..a local beef farmer is doing that now.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Funny you should say that ITSME..

when we told people we had bought the place and were going to have pigs etc, they all said they wished they had a bit of land or had pigs etc..so we did have a quick discusion with another biker about a community pig enterpise:D.. where people could have all the fun of looking after, rearing pigs etc, with either free meat or cheap meat..( second option is better:D)

The thing is, if it is done right, with a group of people, committee etc, you can apply for funding ( if there is still any grants out there) sustainable living, healthy eating, etc

It is a thought we have flirted over, but not delved into it, or found out any 'proper' info on it...

For all the lurkers this might be done with all livestock, ( might delete this post later;):D)

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

....And he said as well there is no need to knock down the 'leaning wall'

I have been thinking about the price to charge for our pigs?

what do you think?

That's good, if more than one builder has given the wall the OK.:)

I'd work out my costs and see what price I could achieve for pork whilst still giving myself a small profit. Hopefully, it would match local butcher prices.

At first, it's important to build a customer base, so giving people a good price is important. Once you're up & running on a regular piggy production cycle, you might start to look for outlets where the price could be higher.

Unfortunately, it may be like our eggs, which sell at 'normal' prices, even though they are better than normal. If we wanted to get more £££ we'd have to upscale, change the type of hen and do all manner of things differently. As I've yet to taste an egg from an upscaled producer which matches ours, I'm pretty sceptical about ever doing that.

But pork is higher value than eggs, which can be ridiculously cheap around here......and maybe you can harness the power of networking?

lostinrates

Past. If you did it ctc I might well join your scheme.

(it was me not itsme, but she has lots of piggy knowledge so will have more valuable stuff to say than me anyway!)

lostinrates

Pork is low price right now though, innit? That's the issue. IMO the fact they are happy pigs, not mass production animals is the main value IMO.

Itismehonest

lostinrates wrote: »

Pork is low price right now though, innit? That's the issue. IMO the fact they are happy pigs, not mass production animals is the main value IMO.

Yes, lir, the last I heard there was little money in the pig market. I'm not the one to advise about pricing meat because we bred pigs which were not for the table.
You may find something useful on the trade sites like this one

COOLTRIKERCHICK

We know there isnt much profit ( if any) in rearing pigs for the table, But I think if you hit/find the right buyers then it could be a good cottage business, but dont go too big as then you lose sight of the whole ethos of it, and cant spend the time in playing socialing with all the pigs

Where we are lucky as the pigs are by a public footpath people can see how the pigs are being reared, and see them playing, scratching, and making a mess covered in mud:rotfl:

Was also thinking of putting a sign up on the fence saying half pigs for sale at x amount per kg... I know quite a few people did say they would buy some, but when the time comes who would actually want to buy...as if i say £4 a kg, that would work out roughly about £100 - £120 for half a pig.

With this lot we are lucky as they were well grown on, so we have saved a few weeks feed.

RAS

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

We have had our piggies 4 weeks today:j was going to go to the pig auction today, but too much work to do..

I have been thinking about the price to charge for our pigs?

I have been looking on the supermarkets websites, and they charge anything from £3 to £6 odd a kg..

I know there should be a premium price for locally reared pigs etc, BUT I dont want to over price either, as I want people to come back and buy more...

Worth reading stoney http://stoneheadcroft.com/2012/09/10/herds-culled-as-feed-prices-rise/

His BIG issue is that he cannot get them to a slaughterhouse a reasonable distance away or get them butchered and returned because of his location but worth a read anyway.