First time in a long while

notjustair · Jul 4, 2016

I have NO breeding stock in any hog house. I decided a couple of years ago I wasn't going to replace aged sows and would be phasing out the hog side of my operation. I grew up hog farming and have always had farrow to finish since I have farmed. The markets just stink. I rode it out for a while but I decided I was getting out. The last boar left tonight. I still have all of this year's feeders but I will be hogless for winter.

I'm already regretting it but I'm not sure why. Lol.

I still have 1000 acres to farm and have picked up more hay ground and added quite a few more cattle to the mix. I just didn't see hogs being the financial benefit they were to us in the 80's. Maybe my mind will change when those pens are all empty but I can just as easy have calving heifers in those pens. Being diversified in the upcoming years will be an asset, but I don't see hogs helping out. Not when you are one of just a couple of operations in the county.

Maybe knowing I don't have to slog through the mud every time it rains will offset things.

Greg1959 · Jul 4, 2016

notjustair- I got out hogs in 1998. Just about you couldn't give them away!

I remember going to the slaughter house and guys were there with trailer loads of hogs just wanting to give them to you.

That was at $1.50 CWT.

JD Seller · Jul 5, 2016

I know the feeling. I got out in 1987 when hog prices dropped twenty cents over night. I had a bunch of fat hog ready to go and lost my butt on them. I sold all the hogs in the next six months.

We did just put up a confinement finishing barn. It is all contract feeding. Just so much per head and we take care of the hogs and get the manure. I am not a real fan of this type of production model but it is the only way hogs will make you any consistent money around here. There is not a true live hog market anymore.

I really miss hearing the sounds of the hogs on a clear cool night. The feeder lids banging and the grunts/squeals of the hogs. Loved seeing a big sow laying there quietly while her little ones nursed. That life style is gone for good now.

Bill VA · Jul 5, 2016

Just curious - what happened to the market? Why the price drop? Lack of demand, foreign competition, costly regulation - something else?

Bruce from Can. · Jul 5, 2016

I finished my last pig in 1987. I felt there was no money left in pigs then , and have seen little to change my mind since. There used to be lots of farms around with 30 - 50 sows , now there are none. I am not even sure where I could go to buy a pig now. Pigs used to take at least two hours to sell at the local auction barn each Saturday . Now a month can go by , and there will not be a pig at the sale. All have been replaced with sheep and goats. The turben top folks are a common sight at the sales barn .

WAYNE-N-TX · Jul 5, 2016

I didn't know hogs were that cheap. I'm over seventy and always wanted to cook a whole hog. Well, for the fourth, I did it. For two years I've been trying to catch a small one. Finally gave up on that and bought one. The butcher shop must have seen me coming if they're that cheap. $9.25 a pound :-(.

showcrop · Jul 5, 2016

(quoted from post at 02:27:20 07/05/16) Just curious - what happened to the market? Why the price drop? Lack of demand, foreign competition, costly regulation - something else?

250,000 hog corporate farms driving down costs and prices.

notjustair · Jul 5, 2016

It's kind of like chickens - the big houses have control of the market. With some things like chicken, smaller folks have gotten away with selling free range boutique chicken to those that want that market. A farmers market can get away with a hundred chickens at 4.00 a pound. That just doesn't happen with hogs. Folks aren't willing to pay what a hog takes to raise. For some reason they see the future with a half of beef, but they want their tenderloin from Hormel.

I raise my own grain so it isn't as big a cost as it would be for some. However, when six months time gets you $230 and then you taken those production costs off, there isn't much to keep a producer in the business. I have some pasture ground that I send hogs through in rotation, but they aren't like my cows where summer grazing or winter bales sustain them. Hogs take 5-7 pounds of grain a day and that's the source of their diet. Free grass is a supplement they love but nothing more than a feed extension.

If you want my honest opinion (and it's not worth much) the market never came back after swine flu.

farmerwithmutt · Jul 5, 2016

Sometimes if you can't fight the big guys join the little ones. Neighbor has red Wattles he's selling just weaned pigs for 125 a piece last I heard. Seen a few go into pasture raised pigs i raised a few that way an know I can still have a good market for them. Sometimes I buy some off Craigslist and finish them on all the scraps I got around doesn't make a whole lot of money but I can pay to put a pig in the freezer.

jacksun65 · Jul 5, 2016

I remember someone taking hogs to market and hitting a deer, $1000 deductable. Lost money said he would have made more just to shoot them.

First time in a long while

notjustair

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Greg1959

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JD Seller

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Bill VA

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Bruce from Can.

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WAYNE-N-TX

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showcrop

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notjustair

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farmerwithmutt

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jacksun65

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