How do you keep track of animal costs? We need a better way for next season. Thanks for liking and subscribing!

Next round of hog raising, clip the corner off the feed bags, and keep them in a box. That way you can keep a tally and wont have bags taking up space.

These pigs are a lot cheaper than my ex-wife, and I bet they were a lot smarter and prettier.

I agree with everyone else, what your family consumes is just as valuable as what you are selling to other families. If you saved $800 by not purchasing pork, then it’s a credit to your income.

I've never seen your channel before and I really enjoyed this video. I appreciate it when people discuss real numbers. I'm buying a chunk of land and doing research on selling food from it and this video helps a lot. I like how you do it, not really trying to make a business, just offsetting the cost of raising the animals. Pretty much free pork :)

Great job on the video and raising the pigs. I like that you finished them on acorns and pumpkins, which are a natural de-wormer. A couple things I would like to comment on. First, you should include the pig you kept as "profit" as it would cost you to buy that meat that you are consuming. Second, unless I missed it, you did not factor your own labor into operating costs. Estimate how much time you spent each day on feeding, watering, tending fencing etc, and multiply by an hourly wage. Your time is worth money in opportunity cost. This total should be subtracted from your profit. Lastly there are a couple things I do to reduce operating costs that you might want to try. First it is super easy to slaughter, butcher and process a pig. Learn to do it yourself and you can process the hog you keep. I do my own and wouldn't have it any other way. Furthermore, if you do gain these skills you can slaughter/butcher/process all your pigs, then "gift" them to friends and family, and accept donations that on paper at least, are unrelated to your hog operation. This is 100% legal in NH and VT. Lastly, I like that you included forage and donated pumpkins to help reduce feed costs. These costs can be further reduced by planting forage crops and by inquiring on the availability of food scraps and dumpster refuse from local grocery stores and eateries. Again, 100% legal. Some folk raise their hogs entirely on older baked goods, expired dairy products, not rotten but not sellable produce, and industry by-products like cheese and soy trimmings, apple pomace from cider mills, spent brewer's grains, the list goes on. Some businesses will be open to filling a 5 gallon bucket with veg trimmings that you pickup and rotate through a couple times a week. Some will even like to mention that sort of thing on their menus or websites as part of their effort to upcycle and may want to buy some of the pork back from you. Your number one cost will always be feed. Why buy it when you can get it for free? The worst someone can say is no. Just some ideas. Good luck with the next lot!

Great, very useful video. Thanks, Jack.

That was a great video, thanks!

This helps me so much with planning my first year on the homestead! Its really hard to estimate what something will cost you when you've never done it before so this video gives me some peace of mind! Thanks!

That was encouraging. We are looking at raising pigs next spring.

Awesome. Thanks for this info

Wow, thats awesome! Great info here. I’m just getting our homestead started and have been considering whether I want to try pigs. This gives me a much better idea of return on investment. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing your info...

Enjoyed the video! Thanks

Great idea on offering to collect pumpkins and fallen apples! I am looking into buying my homestead in the next 18 months... Great idea for fall feeding before butchering.

Wow! What an informative video! Well done, Sir!!

Great video thanks for sharing

Great video, Last year we raised 2 IPPs. We sold 1 to a dear friend for our cost. Which came out to $2.08 per pound (hanging weight). We fermented our organic feed, which was a good way to stretch our feed dollar. Plus, all the sweet green grass. We also feed the all the free apples we could find. We were not out to make money on this venture, as we had many hours of entertainment raising them. This year we plan on raising 3 more. Wisconsin

new subscriber here.. this is awesome.. i've been thinking about raising pigs since 2 years ago..

So much information here. I love that you started saving the feed bags - that's the ONLY way we have been able to really keep track of our costs here. When you intend to write it down, you forget...or don't remember if that last tally mark was the bag you just opened or... ;) Good point about waiting to butcher later in the year, we like to have ours done by deer hunting (Nov.) but now I'm wondering if grabbing everyone's pumpkins (etc) and doing it a little later is a better idea. Great video!

Try buying (bulk) feed grains & ferment it prior to feeding with a range of mixed in chopped alpha alpha , fodder, and some limited calcium/ mineral supplements. More work but much cheaper than buying feed in bags. Acorns are the best if you have plenty. Also, for close friends and family, you should be processing your own hogs at home thus further reducing your costs Great video 👍👍👍

Just came across video. I’m looking to try to start a homestead in downeast Maine area in next few years. I’ll subscribe. I imagine I’ll be able to learn a lot from someone in similar climate.

I horde feed bags. They make great roofing material for rustic builds. If you fold them neatly you can stuff almost 60 bags in to one. 👍

Excellent

Eating your own pig is a huge benefit. You can not eliminate or ignore the benefits of the pork you put in your freezer from your profit loss calculations.

@2:35 accountants use depreciation for capital investments. for example, the shed might last for 10 years, so you could depreciate/count the the total cost of the shed at 10%/year. and as others have said, the meat for your consumption has a value, even if not $4/pound.

Yeh cool! We also did a couple pigs a few yrs ago, agh's. Finished them on acorns, and yeh that got them pretty delish!

I thought this was a recent video. I started to ask, "didn't you do this same thing last year?", then I looked at how old the comments were.

I agree with leaving out the "infrastructure" in your operating costs. It needs to be calculated. And your annual profit tells you how long it takes to "pay back your investment". ROI....

Great video, thanks for sharing. Only thing that you forgot to mention is that your pig was actually free and you still made 240 profit.

Great video! I didn’t see you capture the butchering costs for the two pigs you sold (though, I think you did somewhere). Also, one big difference between a homestead and a farmstead (lifestyle vs. business) is that if a business, you would would need to pay yourself out of the gross profit (you’ve got value, brother), capture costs like mileage to buy feed, and amortize infrastructure costs like the pig pin and other durable goods that would need to be replaced after a few of years. I’m going to be doing forest/pasture pigs here in Liberia in the next year or two as part of our permaculture model farm and training center. Maybe I can show my students your video as an example of how to calculate costs. People not capturing all their costs is a big challenge here and leads to many failed ventures.

I use them for wallpaper in the barn

I love this. I'm so glad you said you lost track of feed I've had that happen on meat birds. I just chalk it up to raising my own you can't put a price on it. Ide rather pay more for my own meat. But you are pretty profitable, imho I would shoot for butchering yourself. I know you like this way but it takes a big cost out of the loop. Especially since you're selling to friends etc. The down side is it Sooo much work lol. I need to my infrastructure in place I've been saying this for 4 years. That and goats we want to try. That's why I hate these videos they remind me I'm not working hard enough lol. But seriously awesome job!

Thank you, buddy. I loved how you cut right to it. I'm starting to look at raw land to purchase and use forresting/pasture pigs to clear the land over the next two or three years and hopefully help pay the mortgage in the meantime. I don't know where to begin, I have never farmed. Do you have any resources you'd recommend?

You did make a profit on the pig you ate. The profit you made is the money you have not spent on buying pork of the same high quality you produced.

Very nice! Thanks for the info. Wife and I will do this. Great ideas for getting extra feed. We are learn all we can..looked at Joel Salatin, Sheraton park farms, red tool house,...I was asking myself...do you guys ferment the dryed grains? Are they whole seeds that actually sprout and may improve forest/pasture areas. Thank you for your tips with the timing on the trees dropping nuts..🥜🌈😃🤙

I love that you did this, and I'll do similar with my egg layers soon (chicken math)... but... why not keep receipts ? They're smaller :)

Hey we feed our pigs with our homegrown crops and grass / We raise Mangalica pigs in Transylvania Mountains

Apart from family or friends, don't sell yourself short. A premium product should sell at a premium price. You could still undercut the competition, say 20%. Many would loss a limb to get hold of your pork!

You do have to factor in housing/fencing/etc. You also have to consider a labor cost for yourself.....it's not free pumpkins if you have to go out and get them. We raise 2 a year on pasture and feed, and I keep very good records. This year, my first pig weighed 430lbs slaughter weight (I only weigh them at that point, mostly out of curiosity). I'll kill the next one tomorrow morning...it will probably run a bit heavier, being a few weeks older now..but say the same. My piglet ($75 this year), and feed costs ran 82 cents/lb live weight....figure about 50% yield by the time you get to 2 hanging halves, and double that to 1.60/lb. We do our own slaughter/butchering. Some years back, we figured out you can't compete with commercial agriculture on price. Only way a small guy can make it is some kind of niche market where you get 4 times grocery store prices. Some folks seem to tap into a market like that, but it ain't easy. So we decided there are 3 REAL value of raising food for yourself. The quality of the food we eat at a price that is somewhat competitive with what we would have spent at the store, and raised in a much more humane and healthy environment. The next factor is by raising your own, you don't have to pay taxes on income needed to purchase food after tax. (plus sales tax on that after tax money in many situations) And that is true for ANYTHING you do for yourself....cut/burn firewood, sawmill your own lumber, repair you own appliances, etc......you have to factor in what you would have paid in tax to earn the money to have after tax leftovers to buy whatever. That can easily run 25% if you include SS tax along with income tax (federal....and State in many locations)(NH is like TN, we have no state income tax, but we do have a high sales tax....9 3/4%) The only thing we currently make any income from is eggs. Our flock runs 20-30 chickens, and egg sales (less feed/etc costs) mean our eggs are 'free' (not counting out labor). The FINAL factor is the education and experience you get raising your own, plus tooling up for it plus setting up the infrastructure. At some point down the road, that may well blow away the other two, as YOU will have some control on your food production, (among other things) unlike SO many that are 100% dependent on other people being able, and willing, to go to work to provide for them things that sustain life. THIS is a huge factor not often considered.

Not sure if you are looking into it yet buying food in bulk can get your food cost well where you are at it is hard to say but around here pig feed is a little over 200 a ton they make them feed buggies they are well worth the money if you’re in it for the long run.

Hey I’m new to your channel and I love it! I am interested in getting pigs myself. 1. What season is best to get them? 2. How much land per pig do you need when raising in the forest?

thanks for sharing. do you use electric fence to keep them within an area?

Kool

If you are buying in the bag you are paying 30% more than you should…it should be $100-125 per pig to finish. Acorns/ pasture is bonus

You absolutely should have included the value of the large male pig, as that is money you didn't have to spend to feed your family.

How did you keep your pigs contained in their forest pasture? I live in a forest,my pigs’s shelter and pen are in a cleared area and fenced. I’d like to utilize a larger piece of my property for the pigs but fencing it …how? How long does it take for pigs to uproot stumps in a clear cut area of forest?

Very well explained. Feed here is wayyyyy more expensive.... Butchers aren't alout to come slaughter on the spot either. We can't even slaughter it and bring it to the butcher. We have to bring them to a facility that it 1h30h awaw and then go get it when its done. So far I did, cows, and meat chichens. Meat chickens were the best bang for my buck. Never tried pigs on pasture before. Maybe when i'm a bit more set up. We processed our own goat last year but we are lacking skills to have descent cuts for sure lol

Hi there. I plan to rotate my four pigs through heavily wooded forest every week. With that in mind, how much feed would you supplement. Would you still go with the six lbs a day even though they’re clearing the woods too?

I think the pig you butchered for yourself should be counted too. If you hadn't taken it, you might have had to buy one at a similar price. So, with that one, the profit would go above 1k, pretty damn good if I may say so myself

Thinking about raising a few pigs here in NW Washington State. How do you move the animals from the "pen" area to the forest pasture? And what would be the difference between keeping them in the pen all the time and letting the graze.

Wow... are there no locally run feed stores up there?

Did your two extra pigs sell live? (I only caught that you added in butchering cost on your own pig)

Is that a Tom Hanks voiceover ? 🤔

Doesn't your feed company/dealer give you a receipt or bill of sale when you get feed? My dealer always gives me a receipt, and if I make a cash purchase somewhere else for feed or supplys I tell them to give me a receipt, then I put them into an envelope before I enter them into my ledger or spreadsheet. Also, check in your state. If you buy parts or supplies that are ag related you don't pay sales tax on it.

when you did your total cost, did you add the amount of meat you got from the 3rd pig you kept?

How much gas did you burn to and from the feed store

You need to add the value of the pig you kept for yourself to your profitability. The money you saved is money in the bank for your pig operation. 🐖

Was just the 239 lbs pig $360 to butcher? Or all 3 was $360? Or did you add butchering price into the $4/lbs? Im in the next town over and just starting my homestead stuff. Would love to meet and see your setups and get ideas, once this whole quarantine is over

Hi, just wondering about when you say people bought ’half a pig’ was it butchered into pieces or literally still half a pig?

You aren't giving value to the meat you eat. Your profit is higher, IMO. Maybe take a grocery store "good quality pork" price average, and value your own food at that. So maybe the meat you keep is worth $3.00? $3.50?

I’m single with a full-time job. Can I raise pigs?

"Antibiotics free" refers to antibiotics added to the feed source because the livestock live in squalor. It does not refer to a veterinarian dose of antibiotics.

It would've been a whole lot easier if you just simply kept all the receipts for your purchases. You could very easily add up how much you you spent far faster than saving a pile of feed bags and trying to remember how much you paid for the various feed bags. You need to be careful with being consistent with your pigs, because people will be expecting for next year's pigs to be like what you sold them the previous year.

It's even better to plant your own crops for pig food. Non GMO and stuff.

it's called fixed costs and variable costs and depreciating the fixed cost. Simple accounting.

But the pig you had cut up for you you need to add that because you did not have to go out and buy any pork

Capx is a cost.

A simple Google spreadsheet would save space literally...

Wait, you should count the value of the pig you kept for yourself. The only thing different with that pig is that you were the customer and you benefitted financially from all that meat.

I wouldn't subtract the pig you kept from the profit. You got the meat, which has value. If you had to purchase that meat it would have cost you cash. Saving cash is often better than making cash because you don't pay tax on money you save. From an accounting perspective, you mixed your personal ledgers with your business ledgers. Don't treat meat you keep like meat you throw away.

Since you didn't add the pig you kept for eating into the profit, then you can't count the cost to raise it and to butch it.

100$ i hope you cost went down i can get them for 25$ ..... im also surrounded by pig farms so that might make a difference :)

No worries with coyotes?

Purchasing 101... Buy in bulk for the best price.. Feeding pigs by the bag can't are as expensive as it can get.

And now you have to spend another $300 for new feeder pigs.

your gonna lose money buying those tiny bags u need to get those huge in bulk bags als of you are in the usa consider having a milking cow to feed the pigs milk

Math nerd here…if you can’t count the profit, you can’t count the cost. You also produced almost $1000 of meat you didn’t have to buy. It is erroneous to calculate your costs like that

That is not how you calculate profit. The third pig you didn't sell was also your profit. So you made over $1300 from 3 pigs!

Should of breed off some piglets than you actually make some money. I got chickens rn but looking to scale up to other animals

You didn’t pay yourself a salary for raising and caring for these pigs. If you add that in along with land cost (over head) you are at a deficit. So infact you did lose money raising these three pigs.

I think I'd skip my own meat sell all the meat for profit.

Now do Biden prices.