Pigs Post Mortem 2022

It was a good year, and better is coming

I’ll will employ the usual modus operandi (MO); what went well and what didn’t go well, starting with pig procurement.

What Went Well (or better than 2021)

• I’m reasonably happy with our selection of Yorkshire/Hampshire cross pigs.

• Picking up the pigs is no problem; clear out the back of the truck, throw in some straw, followed by the piglets, head for home and unload. Since the pigs are small all of this is easy. We picked up the eight pigs on April 20.

• This year we trained the pigs to electric fencing in the pasture; one layer of hot wire inside, and one layer of hot fence netting as containment, surrounded by another layer of fence netting as a visual deterrent.

• We bought twelve 30 gallon barrels to reduce feed handling in 50lb bags, and to reduce trips to the feed store (an improvement from 2021

• We added a second pig feeder, and mounted both feeders on 4x4’s so we could move them with the tractor and forks

• We continued from 2021 the use of one 30 gallon barrel and three nipples for water

• We also used the “Sap Wagon” as a livestock “Water Wagon,” which meant we didn’t have to haul so many 5 gallon buckets; the IBC tote on the Water Wagon holds 275 gallons, and we were able to gravity fill (passably well) the 30 gallon waterer for several days before having to refill the Water Wagon.

• The pigs converted feed to hanging weight at the same rate as in 2021.

• The pigs were on pasture for their entire lives; more space, and an improvement on the garden and woven-wire fencing used in 2021.

A video made on April 20th will give you a good overview of the start of the season, including the fencing, feeders and waterer: 2022 Apr 20 Pig Adventure Year Two Begins.

And in terms of our effective and efficient management of the pigs, it pretty much went downhill from there.

What Didn’t Go So Well

• Fencing

  • The biggest problem was pig escapes, plural, and several; this cost a lot of time and money. This was documented in several videos on Rumble.

  • The next biggest problem was moving the pigs to a new paddock. Moving the pigs required two people and 2-3 hours in setting up the new paddock fencing, moving the pigs, food, and water, and taking down the old paddock fencing for reuse. It was a major pain.

• Watering

  • Thirty gallons on tap is not enough for eight pigs; the waterer needed to be refilled daily

  • Gravity filling from the Water Wagon was a good idea, but at times it was not possible to position the Wagon on sufficiently higher ground than the waterer; hence we were back to hauling water in 5 gallon buckets.

• Feeding

  • Our biggest pig was probably about 400 lbs before being slaughtered and butchered, and most of the pigs were about 350 lbs live weight; these big pigs literally destroyed one of the two feeders.

  • As the pigs grew the feeders were of insufficient capacity and needed to be refilled daily.

  • Even with the 12 barrels too many trips to the feed store were required. Additionally, in chatting with the feed store owner it sounds like next year they may only sell bagged feed. Feed handling is still a problem.

• Shade/Shelter: There are trees in the pasture/savanna, but they are not necessarily located in such a way as to provide sufficient shade, and do not provide shelter.

• We kept the pigs too long, and therefore they were far bigger than necessary. It snowed a significant amount the second day after I took the pigs to the butcher on November 14; that was too close, snow would have made it nearly impossible to keep the electric fencing hot enough to contain the pigs.

• The pigs tore up the pasture more than is desirable. Some “disturbance” is a good thing, destruction is something else. Since we put the pigs on pasture early, perhaps too early, and the soil was wet; even the piglets were able to tear up 5,000 square feet in just a few days.

• It took the better part of three hours to load the pigs for the trip to the butcher. And one of the eight pigs, try as we might, we couldn’t get aboard the stock trailer; I had to slaughter that last pig and take him to the butcher a day later.

In Summary Then…

It took far, far too much time to manage the pigs, and that’s down to me. We simply were not adequately prepared to do it as effectively (no pig escapes) and efficiently as necessary.

The good news is…

• we raised eight very active and healthy pigs on pasture

• we were able to compete with high quality store-bought pork on price

• we have a great deal of opportunity for improvement

• and, we learned, a lot

Let’s look then at some of what we learned in numerical terms.

By the Numbers

Raising the Pigs

• $125/pig; cost of the piglets, much higher than in 2021, and we will have to keep our eye on this in 2023

• 255.5 lbs; the average hanging weight of the pigs

• 2,044 lbs; total hanging weight of all pigs

• 12,190 lbs; total weight of feed fed

• $0.23; average cost of feed per lb, by buying in bulk, the barrels, we were able to keep this cost flat on 2021, in the face of inflation

• 0.17; pounds of hanging weight per pound of feed fed, aka the feed conversion rate (exactly the same as 2021)

• $2,444.19; investments in equipment over the past two years, virtually all of this is related to either fencing or feeding equipment

Slaughtering and Butchering

• $85/pig; regardless of pig size, the cost of slaughter and getting the pig to hanging weight (skinning, gutting, etc.)

• $0.79/lb of hanging weight; baseline cost of butchery for a whole pig

• $0.89/lb of hanging weight; baseline cost of butchery for a half pig

• $1.00/lb of product; the additional cost of curing (typically smoking) meat, and the cost of sausage-making

• $1.20/lb of hanging weight; average cost of slaughtering and basic butchering (all 8 pigs); please note that the cost of slaughtering, skinning and gutting, etc., that’s the $85, does not depend on pig size, hence the cost is more per pound for smaller pigs (range for the cost of slaughtering and basic butchering was from $1.06/lb to $1.35/lb of hanging weight)

• $0.25/lb of hanging weight; average cost of smoking and sausage-making (this is entirely dependent on customer choices as reflected on the “cut sheet”, it ranged from $0.10/lb to $0.51/lb of hanging weight)

Now What?

The biggest opportunities for improvement are in the three areas where we had the most trouble or were least efficient; fencing, feeding and watering.

• Fencing; the fencing arrangement will be right out of Polyface Designs, and include a perimeter fence and ten 50x100 foot paddocks inside the perimeter. This arrangement will make containment virtually absolute, and allow for easy movement of the pigs between paddocks. As you can see below, I’ve already been doing the math. This will also make loading of the pigs into a stock trailer an easier chore.

  

• Watering; probably something like the Franklin P-80 Waterer, which holds 85 gallons, almost three times as much as our 30 gallon barrel

  

• Feeding; probably the Osborne FAST START WEAN-TO-FINISH FEEDER, possibly two of these, if not something very similar. Of course we will also have to find a supplier to deliver feed to the homestead in bulk.

There will probably be several smaller improvements, but those are big-ticket items.

Okay, a bit quick and dirty, but I think you get the message. In spite of the troubles, it was a great year! And I give my sincere thanks to our customers, who undertake inconvenience in exchange for some great pork from a farmer they know. Thank you, and may God bless you and yours.

John