raising animals for meat-not cost effective here!

[rideaway]

I made some calls to start figuring feed costs for our 4-H market animals plus our own for the freezer. This may be the last year we do it...

Pig feed is up to $500 or so a ton here...

We had an offer of a free bummer lamb, but lamb milk replacer is $75 for a 25 lb bag. Ouch! So, no lamb! I'll buy ours already weaned for $90, which is still expensive to me for a just-weaned lamb, but other places in our area were asking $140 or $175 for just-weaned lambs. Dang!

I know that it is healthier to eat the meat we raise ourselves, and the animals have a much better life, but realistically, with home and property payments totaling $2600 a month, I really can't afford to any more...

Gas costs affect everything!

[Deberosa]

I think the way you have to go is to generate some of that food on site. It might be hard to grow all of it but I am sure trying to grow some of the feed because I don't want to buy any more slaughterhouse meat...

Otherwise growing your own is getting expensive. We were just talking to the feed store guy today about how much it takes to raise a pig to 200 lbs. He was saying 80 bags of feed (not sure if that's right) so that is $800 for one pig! If you get two that's just real expensive! Just feeding the cows hay in the winter and the chickens is expensive any more.

So I put in a plot of comfrey this weekend that I hope will grow into a nice supply in short order. I am also growing mangel beets, pumpkins and lots of other veggies just for the animals like carrots and beets. I plan on feeding the extra eggs to the pigs and if Daisy does have a calf I may milk her a bit more and give that milk to the chickens and pigs. That way I am hoping to bring down the feed cost.

[gardenfay]

Another idea is getting free feed. This is really easy for pigs an chickens since they are omnivores like people - and on chickens; i've never even worried about having to cook raw meat or anything like that
you can sometimes get free scraps from school cafeterias; nursing homes, senior citiziens, restaurants, produce department of the grocery store. maybe even a food bank.
i have gotten venison and elk bones from game processing plants for my hens; they peck the rest of the meat off and love it.

don't be afraid to ask; all they can do is say no.

be careful of toothpicks in restaurant food; also some bones may be dangerous to pigs or even greedy chickens.

[High_Desert]

I hear you,

Not only has feed gone up but so has the cost of wiener pigs and such. I am not sure what we are going to do this year yet....

HD

[gardenfay]

how much are weaner pigs going for there now?
i don't know about here; you can barely find them.

[AlchemyAcres]

We were just talking to the feed store guy today about how much it takes to raise a pig to 200 lbs. He was saying 80 bags of feed (not sure if that's right) so that is $800 for one pig!


:o

I always figured 900 lbs. of 15% protein grower/finisher to raise a hog from 30 lbs. up to 230 to 250 lbs. +/-.

YMMV

~Martin :)

[Deberosa]

:o

I always figured 900 lbs. of 15% protein grower/finisher to raise a hog from 30 lbs. up to 230 to 250 lbs. +/-.

YMMV

~Martin :)

OK, He might have said 18 bags and I heard 80 bags! ;-) I thought 80 bags was an awful lot of feed at any price! 18 is not so bad...

Thanks!

[AlchemyAcres]

There's lotsa good cheap, high quality feed that's easy to grow or collect for hogs...

The comfrey Debbie mentioned...nettles and kale...root crops...turnips, beats, rutabagas, potatoes...especially cooked...cooking triples the feed value of potatoes...

Jerusalem artichokes have got to be one the the easiest fodder crops to grow, and they're perennial....

Pumpkins and squash.....Styrian pumpkins have naked seeds...I feed the seeds to the chickens and the flesh to other animals.

Collect acorns.....I collected 600 lbs. of acorns last year at my brother's place.

Eggs....if you have the land...indian runner ducks convert forage (grass) to high quality protein for hogs.

Amaranth is great for grain and forage...millet and sorghum are both super easy to grow and harvest....


~Martin :)

[High_Desert]

how much are weaner pigs going for there now?
i don't know about here; you can barely find them.

75.00 seems to be the standard. I know the 4H kids pay more, but then they get more for them at the fair.
The best deal I have seen this year was 40.00 but you needed to take the whole litter and I couldnt...

HD

[gardenfay]

Thank you HD; that is pretty high, i think; but i haven't bought any in awhile.
i would probably try buying the whole litter and selling the excess immediately for more than i paid; but less than the $75 a piece. but i know a person can't always do that stuff.
sure helps out when you can though.

[CountryKitty]

I can attest to Jerusalem artichokes as a producer--I bought a storebought pack of maybe 6 tubers 2 years back. I planted them along a fence between my neighbor's place and mine...ony to have him spray down the 'big weeds' not knowing what they were. Only 2 pants survived and last spring I dug up 50+ little tubers that were transplanted to a bed and to various other spots around the property. The 2 dozen plants in the bed each produced a dozen tubers at least; several others will be 'seed' for this year.

In 2 years I went from 6 tubers to a lifetime supply for the family---If I had critters, I could easily increase the amount in a single season.

[rideaway]

We are now having problems locating pigs for the 4-H'ers. Looks like I'll be driving 40 miles one way for weiner pigs at $150 a piece...ouch!

The 4-H market auction does not allow us to feed the pigs scraps, etc. They can have milk or eggs that are pasturized, or bread products, but no scraps from stores, restaurants, etc because of the chance of contaminated meat after butchering.

The restaurants and stores here in our small town are pretty much locked in to the regulars that have picked up the old produce or food scraps, so doing that for chickens, or pigs for us is not an option.

We do not have a local feed store, just the local ace hardware that stocks rabbit feed, chicken scratch, certain brands of horse feed, and can order some feeds (a 50 lb bag of beet pulp for my mare costs right at $14).

We have 5 acres, mostly hillside covered with trees and underbrush that we are working on clearing carefully to protect the integrity of our spring. Then it will be fenced for the horse and the 4-H lambs to run in. We do have a large garden, and I supplement the horse's feed with corn stalks, beets, etc. and some goes to the pigs, as we use absolutely no chemicals on it. We grow enough to help out our food budget, but don't have the capability to grow for the animals.

But, I'm not giving up hope totally-if I can save up enough money to purchase in large quantities, then that makes it worth the gas to drive 3 hours to stock up on good feed.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[gardenfay]

Well it is sad that the 4H feels the need to dictate what you can and cannot feed your pigs. But i guess it is the way of the world these days.
my DH says why don't you ask the person in charge if they think the milk coming out of the sow's udder is pasteurised. ;D

[mtwildflower]

how much are weaner pigs going for there now?
i don't know about here; you can barely find them.

Check with a Hutterite colony. (I'll PM you with a specific one close by. My husband knows the pig boss!) A lot of times they will sell the runts for less. That's where my DH got his pigs when he was raising them. They would probably have some good advice as far as feeding them too.

[mtwildflower]

The 4-H market auction does not allow us to feed the pigs scraps, etc. *They can have milk or eggs that are pasturized, or bread products, but no scraps from stores, restaurants, etc because of the chance of contaminated meat after butchering. *


This is probably not as much *a 4-H reg as it is a USDA reg enforced by any slaughterhouse that will slaughter 4-H animals. When we had lambs slaughtered last summer, we wanted the brains to keep so that we could try and brain tan the sheep hides. We were told that they not only couldn't crack the skulls and give us the brains, but they couldn't give us the heads and that the spinal colum had to stay completly intact. This is due to the mad cow disease kafuffle and the attempts to keep it from spreading. (Which in my opinion are waaay over blown.)

And someone mentioned giving their chickens venison bones. Regarding pigs, any venision scraps are alos a no no in regard to possibly passing along trichinosis (sp?) which frankly, I'd be more concerned about than mad cow disease.