The financial reality of raising pork

Part of raising two pigs as a 4-H project is that L. was accountable for keeping records of every cost involved in feeding, sheltering and selling her animals. The 4-H motto of "learning by doing" is no token sentiment when it comes to raising and selling an animal at the county fair.

The kids are responsible for real-life accounting of the money they spend on their animals because the 4-H program and the county fairs around the state offer a special venue to get some amazing real-life experience as both a care-giver for animals as well as a small business owner. Selling an animal at the livestock auction can involve hundreds of dollars (thousands when selling beef cows) and the kids are taught to take the business-end of raising livestock through this experience seriously by keeping records of their expenses and income as any responsible adult business owner would do.

Since a couple of people have asked me about the costs involved in raising two pigs, I thought I'd share L.'s accounting of her swine project this year here.

Start Up Costs = $339.29
$140 = 2 mixed breed piglets
$15 = Swine Resource Book
$9.98 = 2 rubber feed bowls
$8.39 = replacement rubber bowl (pigs chewed and destroyed others)
$5.29 = Weight tape
$29.39 = Shelter roofing materials
$131.24 = Electric Fencing materials
$0.00 = Wood to build shelter (used recycled materials from town dump)

Grain Costs = $370.63
This was for 1,750 pounds of grain to feed two pigs for approx. five months.
Grain costs per 50 pounds varied from April to September with a range of $9.60 to $11.20. This price range doesn't seem all that significant but when you're buying as much grain as we did, a dollar or two per bag adds up. I now understand why farmers lament fluctuations in grain costs.

De-wormer = $14
Two doses are necessary to keep the pigs healthy and standard practice for swine.

Shavings and Hay for Pig Shelter = $44.53
The bulk of this was spent in the early spring when the pigs were young and needed to be warm in their shelter to stay healthy.

Auction price for one pig = $668
L. sold her 304-pound pig at the Cumberland Fair auction for $2.20/per pound. This is an inflated price compared to what a typical commercial farmer will get per pound for a pig. It's only due to the wonderful people who support the 4-H program that the kids can sell their animals at the auction fair for such a good price. L. was in a bit of shock about her final selling price and very much appreciated the generosity of the person who purchased her pig. Our deal with L. was that she had to pay us back for the cost of the piglets and then she decided to put the rest of the money in her bank savings account for college.

Commercial price for one pig = $380.90
Were L. to have sold her 293-pound pig as a commercial farmer, she'd likely get $1.30/per pound so she estimated that cost for her 4-H records for the second pig we actually processed for our family.

Processing fee for one pig = $189
This fee is based on the 'hanging weight' of 240 pounds at the butcher (for the 293 live weight pig). This included a significant portion of the meat being smoked, which is a bit more expensive per pound than fresh meat cuts.

So to tally things up....

Total expense = $957.45
(Includes raising two pigs and processing one of them for meat)

Total income = $1,048.90
(Includes auction price for one pig and 'market value' for the other)

Next year (yes, L. is enthusiastic to go for another round) she will have a better profit margin because she won't have all the start-up costs ($213.29). But that also depends on how much two piglets will cost in the spring, as well as the price of grain so we'll see how things end up shaking out with next year's bottom line.

I now have a much deeper appreciation about farming being tricky business with a not-so-great profit margin given how much work can be involved in raising livestock. A friend of ours who raises his own meat told us this past spring that we would not likely save money raising our own pork (verses buying same poundage of meat at grocery store) but that if our focus was on knowing where our meat comes from (and that the animals were grain-fed and treated humanely) then we'd likely find it worth the effort and expense. Fino said it absolutely was worth it and is happy that L. wants to raise more pigs next year.

Now if I could just get over knowing the name of the meat sitting in my freezer I'd be on board with the whole thing too...