# What is a fair price?



## Pig in a poke (Mar 27, 2013)

Our American Guinea Hog piglets are 6 weeks old and ready for weaning. What is a fair price to ask for them as feeders? The few I've seen for sale are as high as $150-200, but I gather those are intended for breeding. We mostly have barrows. 

But then, I have seen similar prices for feeder pigs of larger breeds. I get that the buyer will end up with more meat, but will also have to buy more feed for a larger breed. So I am puzzled by the vast range of feeder prices/

So, What is a fair price for an AGH feeder 6-8 weeks old? Should barrows and gilts be the same amount? Should size also influence price (between the largest and smallest piglet)?

At what point is there a shift from a stock price per piglet to a price per pound on the hoof? Or do I just keep upping the set price per animal as they consume food/$$ ?


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

We have farm pigs for raising for meat. We charge $150 to $200 depending on the season for boar weaner feeder piglets, $50 more for gilts. Breeder quality weaner pigs are more expensive. Spring and summer pigs are more expensive than fall piglets due to demand.

Price varies greatly with location, breed, line and quality.

At six weeks they're probably still in the weaner class, by the pig pricing. At 40 or more pounds they're getting into the roaster class where you might do by the pound but have a floor price. We charge $5 per pound for roaster pigs based on _hanging weight_ with a minimum price being what ever the boar feeder weaner price is that season. (There is a $55 butcher fee for processing on top of that.) If you want to figure live weight prices rather than hanging weight then figure yield at 72% so our $5/lb hanging becomes $3.60/lb live weight. For live weight I estimate using the tape method LiveWeight=LxGxG/400 per:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2006/01/13/how-to-weigh-a-pig-with-a-string/

I am very cautious about selling live larger pigs to people because I worry how they will do a humane slaughter. I ask questions to make sure I'm satisfied they know how. Long ago a group of officer school candidates from the local military academy tried to buy a pig they wanted to take out in the woods and hunt down. I don't cotton having any part in supporting such activities. I care how the animal dies. Thus my caution.


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

I knew someone that insisted on shooting his pig with a rifle from afar whilest the pig grazed. It has to do with not stressing the pig which releases hormones that will put off-flavors in the meat. Perhaps you misunderstood them... or they were very poor officer candidates.


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## Pig in a poke (Mar 27, 2013)

highlands,
thanks so much for all the input. Very useful information!
Some of our weaners are gentle enough for me to hold and get an actual weight, then test against the string method to see how accurate at this size/age.


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

Weaner pigs should sell for 2.5 x market per cwt. Ie: a weaner that is 50 pounds and current market is $97 per cwt. So a weaner of 50 pounds would be 97 x 2.5 = 243 x .5 (50 pounds is half cwt) = $122 roughly.

Yes there is an exact formula for pig prices based on size. NOT for breeding stock though.

Growers and finishers have similar formulas... 2 x mkt price per cwt x % weight of cwt and 1.5 x respectively.

What gets me irritated is everybody thinks their pig is 50 pounds! NOT! Re-do the formulas using an accurate weight of say 30 pounds and see what that weaner is actually worth!


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

Even breeding stock should be in the correct weight /size otherwise you are over-paying.


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## M88A1 (May 21, 2012)

Hersey, do you know any Officers that have common sense?


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

HerseyMI said:


> Even breeding stock should be in the correct weight /size otherwise you are over-paying.


At a lot of live auction on the net the very young livestock under a certain age and weight, sales by the animal not by weight of that animal. I sale to a lot of 4h and farm kids. Wean pigs and pigs under 75 lbs. i sell by the animal not by the pound. Breeding stock vs. feeder pigs. I get 3x the amount for young breeding stock. A very good boar or sow that is 6-12 mos. age or older when selling i sell by the pig not by the weight. Roasters i sell by the live weight. Butcher hogs i sell by the live weight. Works for me. Price of pigs are up right now. 

Best,
Gerold.


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

gerold said:


> At a lot of live auction on the net the very young livestock under a certain age and weight, sales by the animal not by weight of that animal. I sale to a lot of 4h and farm kids. Wean pigs and pigs under 75 lbs. i sell by the animal not by the pound. Breeding stock vs. feeder pigs. I get 3x the amount for young breeding stock. A very good boar or sow that is 6-12 mos. age or older when selling i sell by the pig not by the weight. Roasters i sell by the live weight. Butcher hogs i sell by the live weight. Works for me. Price of pigs are up right now.
> 
> Best,
> Gerold.


If you and they think its fair, fine. But there is a formula for a reason. ;-)


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

I use weigh scales ... no guessing or wondering. Eusta-coulda-shoulda-woulda........


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

Miss-read OP

But here in the Midwest, feeder pigs are feeder pigs, and AGH won't sell for much more unless they are breeders. Here is some information on regular breeds, which sell from $40-$75 around the Midwest.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/3911305819.html


http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/grd/3827404230.html

 
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/grd/3877031651.html

 
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/3880856570.html


http://springfield.craigslist.org/grd/3908471717.html 

Yep, they are on Craig's list, but I am familiar with one of the farms and they have good healthy pigs.


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

HerseyMI said:


> I use weigh scales ... no guessing or wondering. Eusta-coulda-shoulda-woulda........


There is no guessing here on my farm. All the pigs i sell are weighted . I do have scales. However i will not sell a 40 lb. pig for a dollar a pound. I see that on crags list sometimes. I have a waiting list on most of my stock.


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## "SPIKE" (Dec 7, 2011)

Pig in a poke said:


> Our American Guinea Hog piglets are 6 weeks old and ready for weaning. What is a fair price to ask for them as feeders? The few I've seen for sale are as high as $150-200, but I gather those are intended for breeding. We mostly have barrows.
> 
> But then, I have seen similar prices for feeder pigs of larger breeds. I get that the buyer will end up with more meat, but will also have to buy more feed for a larger breed. So I am puzzled by the vast range of feeder prices/
> 
> ...


I got my breeding trio in 2011 as piglets, so 2012 was the first year I had any for sale. Here in west TN, I was able to get $40 for 6 to 8 week old. I had no problem selling the 4 litters that the 2 sows produced last year.
So far this year the craigslist add has not produced any buyers. Nobody in this area had been interested in registered breeding animals.
I have 14 that will be 8 weeks old next Monday.

SPIKE


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

One way to think about price is what will the pig bring as meat at market size and what is the time and cost to get it there. It takes four months to gestate a litter plus four to six weeks to get them to weaning plus another week or two to transition them. This means at weaner feeder sale time one has five to six months already invested in the piglets.

It takes another four to six months to get the weaner pig to market weight. This means that half the time is spent producing the piglet. There is also a cost for your time, facilities, feed if you're buying or growing it, etc.

That first half of that time is also the riskiest. If a piglet makes it past weaning it is very likely to make it to market weight. Thus the breeder is taking most of the risk while the person doing weaning to market raising takes the least risk.

We can get $630 per pig for sales of market pigs as meat. Processing is additional. It took about ten months to get there so if you ignore the risk part of the equation it is a simple $63/month. Thus a feeder piglet is worth 5 months x $63/month = $315 at weaning time. 

Our primary sales are meat to stores, restaurants and some individual sales. We keep a few more sows than we need to produce just for our meat customers. This gives us some elasticity in our production capacity. In the spring high demand season we sell those 'extra' piglets for $200 for boars and $250 for gilts. That isn't as much as they're 'worth' to me if I raised them to market weight - we have the market for it - but I don't want to grow too large.

(I charge more for gilts because we keep back only 0.5% of the boars to test for breeding while we keep back 5% of the gilts to test for breeding. This means I want to watch more gilts grow to market size and beyond so I can pick the best to become replacement sows.)

Balance your investment in both time & money, your future opportunity and what it is that you want to do. If you're willing to raise all the piglets then the value is higher. If you don't want to raise them all then you may be willing to sell them for less so as not to have to feed and care for so many.

In the free market, a fair price is one agreed to by a willing buyer and seller.


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## BobbyB (Apr 6, 2009)

HerseyMI said:


> Weaner pigs should sell for 2.5 x market per cwt. Ie: a weaner that is 50 pounds and current market is $97 per cwt. So a weaner of 50 pounds would be 97 x 2.5 = 243 x .5 (50 pounds is half cwt) = $122 roughly.
> 
> Yes there is an exact formula for pig prices based on size. NOT for breeding stock though.
> 
> ...


Where did these formulas come from?

There is an auction not far from me that sells all classes of pigs, shoats and hogs. Pigs and shoats are by the head. Sows and boars by the pound. 

Thee is another auction that has a monthly hog sale. He always gives his reports by the pound, but when you do the math, those prices are running neck and neck with the by the head sale.

Then on CL you will see folks asking anywhere from a fair price to asking the moon. 

I still maintain there are 2 prices for all hog classes. The price that the breeder asks and the price the buyer will pay. Whatever those may be. 

And Walter, I know you'll read this, the following is a local CL listing for " Heritage Pork CSA shares

*We look forward to raising good food with you and your family.
Whole Hog: $850 + $45 delivery to processor 
---->$150 deposit, $87.50 monthly installment (8)
Half Hog: $425 + $22.50 delivery fee
---->$75 deposit, $43.75 monthly installment (8), 

**you pay processing fee to processor***

They say the hogs will weigh 250 on the hoof. If they can get it, man, more power to them, but it doesnt dollar out for me as far as putting meat in the freezer, I dont care how they are raised. What do you think about those prices ?


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

On the high end but I've seen higher. These things vary tremendously with location. Our prices are lower. New York City, urban California, etc are much higher.

Many people do care a lot about how the animal was raised, flavor, etc. For them these things are more important than just putting meat in the freezer and they're willing to pay for the extra quality. The wonderful thing is there are levels of price and quality to meet everyone's needs so you don't have to pay some arbitrary government set price (e.g., like in milk).

The problem with using auction prices to compare are they are the best way to get the worst price for the seller and the lowest quality for the buyer. Auctions are where sellers dump stuff and buyers look to pickup it up cheap. Not always the case, but often. Note I'm not talking about the high end auctions, they're another matter all together. 

I would also not compare to the 'market hog prices' as those are really the factory farm prices and have nothing to do with what people here are looking to do.

The beauty of a free market is you're able to take your money elsewhere. Vote with your pocket book.


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