the pig has a date

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I too learned that it is actually cheaper to buy meat at the store than to raise it yourself. A whole lot easier too. That being said, the experience and knowledge gained is priceless. Most people don’t know where their food comes from and would be lost if told they had to kill, dress and cook their own dinner. I strongly recommend anyone that preps should raise their own meats for the practice. Hopefully we will never need to rely on it, but knowing you could is worth it.
 
I too learned that it is actually cheaper to buy meat at the store than to raise it yourself. A whole lot easier too. That being said, the experience and knowledge gained is priceless. Most people don’t know where their food comes from and would be lost if told they had to kill, dress and cook their own dinner. I strongly recommend anyone that preps should raise their own meats for the practice. Hopefully we will never need to rely on it, but knowing you could is worth it.
I disagree. I can raise a calf to butcher weight for about $300. And that includes buying hay for it. I calve around February to April. On day 1, or whenever I find the calf, I give it 2 shots and an ear tag; cost around $3. Then around May I castrate the bull calves and brand; $0 cost. They spend all summer and Fall on pasture; $0 cost. In Winter 1 calf will eat a little less than $300 in hay. For the steer that we are going to butcher for ourselves I feed grain for about 90 days before butcher day. But that really isn't necessary.
I haven't calculated the cost of raising our meat chickens yet, but I know that they are less than store bought. Next summer we'll butcher ourselves and that will lower the cost substantially.
Pigs are boarder line depending on the cost of feed in your area. If you can buy bulk feed from a mill or pasture raise them then you can come out ahead.
 
pork chops and roast can be had for under $2.00 a lb,,,,,so I did not gain anything with this pig
Hey GG, don't forget what you get when you raise your own...it is not the savings you are after, it is the quality of the food you get from the whole process. At $2.00/lb. it can never be as good for you as your own raised.
We will butcher in Jan. and clean it here 50/50 with a neighbor. Most will be smoked sausage in my smokehouse, about 3-4 days non-stop. Lots of work but nothing but the best and it will hang and be edible for a year...
 
I disagree. I can raise a calf to butcher weight for about $300. And that includes buying hay for it. I calve around February to April. On day 1, or whenever I find the calf, I give it 2 shots and an ear tag; cost around $3. Then around May I castrate the bull calves and brand; $0 cost. They spend all summer and Fall on pasture; $0 cost. In Winter 1 calf will eat a little less than $300 in hay. For the steer that we are going to butcher for ourselves I feed grain for about 90 days before butcher day. But that really isn't necessary.
I haven't calculated the cost of raising our meat chickens yet, but I know that they are less than store bought. Next summer we'll butcher ourselves and that will lower the cost substantially.
Pigs are boarder line depending on the cost of feed in your area. If you can buy bulk feed from a mill or pasture raise them then you can come out ahead.
I actually thought of you after I posted my reply. For someone that has lots of acreage with pasture then it is a different story. For the average person with a couple acres or less it is a lot less efficient to feed animals. Not impossible but a lot of forethought has to go into making it more cost effective. There is a guy just down the street from me that is raising a cow in a tiny enclosure. I’m talking 20’ x 20’ at best. He is having to buy 100% of the feed for the cow, not to mention the poor animal dosent have any sort of life at all. Beef is my favorite weakness in life and I would love to raise a cow here but i don’t think it’s either cost effective or humane to do it on a small property. I have 2.5 acres here but most of it is allready cultivated with stuff the cow would love to eat. I’ve worked too hard on all the plants here to let them become grazing material....
 
Hey GG, don't forget what you get when you raise your own...it is not the savings you are after, it is the quality of the food you get from the whole process. At $2.00/lb. it can never be as good for you as your own raised.
We will butcher in Jan. and clean it here 50/50 with a neighbor. Most will be smoked sausage in my smokehouse, about 3-4 days non-stop. Lots of work but nothing but the best and it will hang and be edible for a year...
I am going by the one I just did the cost of the feed and pig plus butcher cost,it was high about $425 total for 190lb of pork and it was poor quality ,,,,yeah I know what went into the pig but it was not worth the trouble
 
I actually thought of you after I posted my reply. For someone that has lots of acreage with pasture then it is a different story. For the average person with a couple acres or less it is a lot less efficient to feed animals. Not impossible but a lot of forethought has to go into making it more cost effective. There is a guy just down the street from me that is raising a cow in a tiny enclosure. I’m talking 20’ x 20’ at best. He is having to buy 100% of the feed for the cow, not to mention the poor animal dosent have any sort of life at all. Beef is my favorite weakness in life and I would love to raise a cow here but i don’t think it’s either cost effective or humane to do it on a small property. I have 2.5 acres here but most of it is allready cultivated with stuff the cow would love to eat. I’ve worked too hard on all the plants here to let them become grazing material....
Your right about the acreage limitation. I've seen people around here with thousands of acres over-graze their land. In my area it takes about 20 acres to feed 1 cow. And some areas a lot more. I have mostly mountain meadows and timbered grassland that produces pretty good feed.
If a person has to buy all of their feed then it isn't cost effective to raise your own meat. But at least you would know what goes in to your food.
 

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