Truely appreciate the cost comparison. This is something majority of homesteaders dont break down. For us a family of two we decided growing out chicken & pork doesn't make financial sense for personal use.
Good Morning Troy, We Found that with our laying chickens pay for the pig food and their food thru the spring and summer and the pigs pay for everything else in the fall and winter. The sale of eggs averages 100 dozen a month in the spring, summer, and fall and winter is closer to 50 dozen a month. We have a lot of regular customers. We sell piglets and keep 5 or 6 to raise for butchering every year. Of course, the boar we got from you called RT does a great job at keeping 3 sows pregnant...lol
This year was my first year raising pigs and I had 3 Red Waddles. Up here in northern michigan our feed prices are way more than yours. The feed mill near me charged me $15 per bag of 15%. it cost me $1500 in feed total, $600 processing fee. I kept a 1/2 pig and sold the rest and ended up breaking even. not profitable and not worth the effort but it cleared the land for me and they were fun to be around/children loved them... so a win really.
Profit margin is slim to none everywhere. The profit comes in eating a better product than what you can buy at the store. Don’t fall for the “ how I made 100k farming 1 acre” bull crap on RU-vid. It’s not possible.
Great analysis. You are bringing up some of the same questions we are asking ourselves right now in deciding where we are going for the business. Big driver for us is using pasture ground for pigs that could be used for cattle which are more profitable by the numbers. Thinking about how to increase efficiency in the broiler works and have some ideas there. We are always evaluating positions on species and overall sales. Refreshing to hear others are coming to similar conclusions.
I sure applaud you processing chickens, it's at the top of my list for things I'd rather not do. For us, pigs aren't profitable at all unless we sell them whole or half hanging weight. Sold and done at processing time with customer paying processing. I also prefer to sell weaned piglets as a good way to profit with minimal input. With where we are in Missouri, and with being able to produce hay ourselves, beef is always a better bet for us, even with the 18-24 month timeline. Beef and pork on the hook or weaned, and probably processed rabbits will be our mainstays. I'll keep the chickens to make eggs for my bacon. LOL
You’re on the right track. Crunch the numbers. Extrapolate everything. Keep digging on the labour involved per animal - perhaps break it down into how many man hours / pound? And don’t forget - you’ve included the processing costs for the pigs, but I might have missed it for the chickens. Okay, maybe some friends, family or neighbours ‘donated’ their time, but you should still include that. Do you give them a ‘gift’ to take home; perhaps a chicken? Then that’s a cost. And then finally, the things you can’t put a dollar figure to, but still qualify: how much joy do you get from one as opposed to the other? How much of a strain / worry one to the other? How much time to do you invest in marketing one as opposed to the other? In other words, are people calling you asking ‘when is this ready’ or do you have to get out there and work the phones? Just a few thoughts from the Wild West Coast of Vancouver Island
As a newcomer to pigs and chickens its nice to see what the future possibilities hold. We will farrow to finish Kunekunes as we are mostly set up for that now...broilers are under consideration since we have free ranger pullets to offset egg prices and control insects...every animal has a job here in the HydeAway 😎
Troy ?? about those red wattles. what was live weight, and then hanging weight, and then the finished processed weight, size of the hams. What was the amount of back fat, ie 1/2" 3/4" etc along with the bacon meat to fat ratio, the inner muscle marbeling in the chops and steaks etc. Could we see pics of the cuts? On another note could there be 2 videos a week, sure like the info/stuff you put out, very down to earth. You are more real and factual compared to many other homesteaders out there with all the fancy/sponsored stuff they promote, which very few could afford
As far as the pigs are concerned, I think the exotic or "homesteader fancy" "flavor of the month" "look they get me clicks" pigs like the red waddles are kind of a waste. You could probably buy Berks or Durocs for less money, raise them faster and probably get more yield and better food conversion. Also, breeding them as opposed to buying is probably a better thing, but a more controlled environment than what you've done historically would be needed if you want to do it consistently with better survival rate. Not saying what you did was wrong as you do what you do and that's fine.
Our family is just at the stage of making decisions on what animals to raise, and why. We have plenty of land (300 acres in eastern Kansas) so running pigs would help with some land clearing issues and fit well into our homestead. We have one advantage with our farm that most don't and that is a cornered market through the clients of another business (that our son runs) who have expressed interest in buying direct, keeping our marketing costs down. But the profitability surprised me a bit and gives me a more realistic view of outcomes. Thank you for sharing. It looks like you run a sensible small business there. We will continue to follow your progress.
Good evening Troy amd family , a subscriner from Greece !It would a fantastic series of videos the clearing of a new stretch of land for handling two more chicken traktors , and the cinstruction assembly of them ..Plus the gained wood for lumber!
I can’t make pork work on my farm for what the customer wants to pay. Maybe when the industrial food complex fails I can do it. Chickens continue to be my mainstay
I would try to raise 1 or 2 more batches of chickens if i felt i had a market for them . And i would try to find a farmer that raises non gmo grains that you can buy directly from the farm and mix your own feed cheaper . I found a source for me to buy it in 2000lbs totes but it's 200 miles away so i have to consider that time and fuel cost to pick it up
Thanks for sharing this, I just moved onto 12 acres in Indiana. Only 4 are pasture, the rest are woods so your pig project was very similar to how mine would be set up. I do have a question, how do you sell meat you processed? I understand the laws might be different in Indiana than WV. If you have all this in a video, just let me know the title I'll search. I didn't know you could sell your own processed meat, I thought you had to sell them and include a butcher or get the meat inspected. Very interested to hear! Keep doing what your doing, blazing the trail for the rest of us.
Interesting numbers, particularly the top line # - total profit for both pigs and chickens combined is ~$4100. Even the total income, which is a cap on total profit even if you reduced your costs to zero is $8400. I think that shows why what happened to small farms happened. Not sure how to fix that. But being a butcher seems like it might pay XD. Had a great-uncle who was, grandpa showed me his picture and said that was the strongest man he ever knew. Built like a bald beer barrel.
Great video Troy. For my grren house I'm building I will tracking cost as well. However the veggies are for family consumption. BTW I concur with ur wife on tarps. It is good toa tacticsl minded spouse. Are u an engineer by chance?
Yeah there's a lot of variables with your profit when it comes to animals. Everything from AI on the pigs vs buying piglets to which part of the chickens you save back for personal food. Eating less chicken breast and more legs and thighs would mean more breasts to sell. But at the same time as the grower of the food you kinda get that option to have what parts you want because you did put all that hard work into getting to that point. The way I see it is the profit is there and you're getting to eat what you like, so to me that is most definitely a win win.
I would love it if you broke it down even more as far as labor goes. Since you need so much help to process the chickens, how much would it cost if you had to hire people to come to your house to help? How many total hours are involved in 200 chickens compared to a brood of pigs if you include processing time and transportation of the pigs?
Can you process the oldest in the freezer meats into Pemmican? Just thinking about another source of future meat that has a longer shelf life and less storage cost per volume.
We are soon to move to a property we bought last year. My wife wants to raise hogs, but she is doing it for tin foil hat, doug and stacy type reasons. I should be able to talk her out of it. I have been lucky in life with good business decisions, and have always gravitated towards passive income sources. I am not shy to admit when I am wrong, and coming from someone who has spent over 5k on 2 green houses, soil, compost, fertilizer, seeds, seed starting trays, pots, tubs, all things associated with hydroponics, nutrients etc etc. I can say that maybe lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes are worth the time. When potatoes are 40 cents a lb, you should go deliver pizza for a few days, and have enough money for all your potatoes that year, and go back to the golf course. I do however think that growing fruit trees, along with having honey bees for pollination and honey is worth it, and we have had chickens for eggs for 4 years now and that I believe is worth it for the quality, not so much money savings. I also own a sawmill, and enjoy running it, and this new property has 18 acres of hardwoods so I will have some inventory for a while. I think that we will also attempt to root tree cuttings, and sell them at scale once potted. Congrats on 100k
Thanks for sharing your real numbers. Is there any reason that you couldn't get a rooster, and hatch your own chicks? The same for your piglets too I guess? Also what the heck is that thing on your hat.
Breeding cornish cross chickens takes generations of breed selection to get that grow out rate. Tough for a single farm to do. Other "meat" birds don't finish as fast or as big. The Microphone is what is on my hat.
As always and awesome and informative video hope to get started this spring with a few chickens and pigs. And have a red tool house executive visit me. Thanks for sharing bless you and family b
after the last hog you processed yourself (napoleon if I’m not mistaken) was it decided that it was to labor intensive? If not that could help improve the profit margin of the pigs significantly
Great video! You aren't making millions so why homestead? Other than fresh chicken and pork I imagine you have great sunrises and sunsets. Anything else? Is there anything that would drive you off the property? Trespassers? Miners? squatters?
Do to mostly feed cost and transportation, ( if you ship your product) raising pigs is not as profitable as it once was. That being said back in the mid 90s same thing happened and a lot of producers stopped with the pigs. Fewer producers more profit per producer. I am guessing the same trend will take place.
What about labor costs? Is the assumption that family or internal labor has no value in the cost equation? I could see wanting to know if for example it required more labor to produce the chicken versus the pork. I can also see a homesteader not really caring to count that aspect.
All I can think of as you do use your pigs to help clear land, shouldn't that be factored in? Or would you have let that land alone forever if not for pigs? I see value there which, honestly is the only reason I would consider having pigs at all. I think they are ugly, and way too much input for something I could live without. But I admit, I think those red wattles are the handsomest pigs I have ever seen! Do chickens improve your farm as much as the pigs do? All sales prices aside.
You are correct. My numbers can out about the same. Will i raise pigs for outer people? No only for my self. Chickens ? Only to sell enought to fill my freezers for family. Thats reality do the math. And i work alone. You cant pay me enough.
