shawnspeed3
04-28-2008 19:47:21
|
Re: O/T Feeder pigs in reply to JMS/.MN, 04-28-2008 18:31:30
|
|
I ask 1.25 lb. , not demand it, and I do not sell hundreds of hogs a year,usually I sell under 20 or whatever my 2 sows will farrow on 1 freshining a year. My customers have been buying from me for over 10 years , and many times I do not have enough pigs to sell,but I have no desire to get bigger . I am comfortable with the numbers of stock I run and my ability to care for them . I do not have a desire to gouge anybody , with my small numbers of stock , I get no Volume discounts on anything, so I end up paying more. I also try to stay away from GMO crops , that also means I pay more for feed ,( About 3 times more)than the market hog farmer that is getting 36 cents a lb. and feeding GMO's . I guess ,I made my market niche , and am filling it , My customers rave about my pork,and return every year to buy pork and other farm products , and it all pays for the farm. It is about providing Quality product , and being a price maker , not a price taker. to qoute Joel Salatan. I am not getting rich farming, but it is paying for itself, and my wife and I enjoy the lifestyle,but If it didn't pay , we could not continue doing it, and niether should you. with todays input cost you couldn't possibly break even at 36 cents a pound with 6 dollar corn and 14 dollar beans, feeding a 15% ration , Feed would cost 14-16 dollars a hundered,at 14 a hundred for feed , 800 lb to get the hog to 225 lb would cost 112 bucks, then you sell it for 36 cents a lb or 81 dollars , for a loss of 31 bucks, if my math is correct. nobody could sustain those losses for long, and they shouldn't have to. If they don't want to pay , they can go to wally world and buy the gass packaged meat that is ussually bad when you buy it for 2.99 a lb... Rant over
|
|
|