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Hog Markets

PureCountry

Well-known member
Not sure if anyone gives a hoot on this forum, but there's been alot of talk lately, even on radio and TV, about our hog producers here being at the brink of bankruptcy. And from the sound of it, it's not just a few. Apparently the largest purchaser of Western Canadian hogs, Olymel(sp?), held a press conference to inform the directors of the Western Hog Exchange and any producers who wanted to attend, that they were slashing their base price they would pay to producers, by 12cents per kilogram, basically 5.45cents per pound. Can you imagine if buyers from Cargill, Tyson, Smithfield, or whoever, slashed the price on everything from our culls to our calves by 5.45cents/lb?????!!!! They had some hog guys on the radio yesterday, and they were saying they had already seen alot of guys sell their hogs and get out when the price was at it's original basis, and they added that alot more will be done by Christmas unless the government does something immediately. Is the hog market bad on the south side of the border?
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
I'll have to ask my neighbor as he is one of the few that aren't contract growers anymore.. Seem as much as anything these days everyone just grows for one of the big companies, be it Tyson, Smithfield or whatever.. I think a lot got pushed out back in.. Oh was it 99 when the prices were down in the 8 cent range or something like that.. Just remember producers giving pork away in front of grocery stores on the news because they were ticked that the price of chops hadn't gone down any even though they were getting 8 cents a pound..
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
Yeah, I remember it being bad for them here then, too. Guys were giving piglets away, knocking them on the head, turning them loose, anything to not have to feed them. I bought 6 weaners from a guy that year for $100, and fattened them on chop, kitchen scraps, and spoiled produce from the grocery store in town. Best pork I think I ever ate.

Anyways, the whole point of me posting this was that it amazes me how every facet of agriculture is controlled by the same companies or families, which keep us all tending the stock and land like midieval Lords or something. It just keeps pointing me more and more towards selling everything direct like PPRM is doing. Farmer's markets and local bulletin boards may be the foundation of our business plan. :wink:
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
Anytime you specialize and run big herds of anything, you put yourself at the mercy of those folks that buy in big quantities.

I had 15 head of hogs this year. They were all spoken for, I ranged them on about 3 acres of rocky, bad soil that wasn't good for much but Johnson grass and sumac. I fed them a decent feed with chops. My butcher comes to the house to knock them down, and the people that buy the hogs pay me $2.25 a pound for wrapped pork. The average hog was 175 pounds, cut and wrapped. That works out to about $390 per hog. I net about $200 per hog after butcher fees and feed. So $3,000 isn't a living wage for the year, but I also sell half a dozen head of beef a year and will smoke 20 turkeys or so, just before thanksgiving at $100 each.......and this is just side money from my regular job.....but a small production can, if marketed properly, generate really good incomes for the effort.
 

Denny

Well-known member
We sold 25 butcher hogs about a month ago averaged 237#s brought 48.50 per hundred wt.

Sold 28 on wendsday 230# average 42.00 per hundred if you don't get your feed for next to free it does'nt pay.

We have $32 per head in them purchase price and another $30 in feed and trucking. plus about $8 each in misc.Not a get rich quick deal but the manure has a value right????

The off the farm freezer hogs pay the best $125 a head cash$$$$$$come and get them.
 

Kato

Well-known member
Olymel is just taking advantage of the fact that Maple Leaf has shut down all it's plants except the one in Brandon. Olymel also backed out of a big new plant proposed for Winnipeg. Coincidence? I don't think so. :roll: :roll:

It's like the two companies divided up the Prairies between them Maple Leaf gets the east half and Olymel gets the west half. This should be a wakeup call to us beef producers about how the final stage of packer concentration works. :!: :!: :!: This is the goal that the big packers are aiming for.
 

jigs

Well-known member
Denny said:
We sold 25 butcher hogs about a month ago averaged 237#s brought 48.50 per hundred wt.

Sold 28 on wendsday 230# average 42.00 per hundred if you don't get your feed for next to free it does'nt pay.

We have $32 per head in them purchase price and another $30 in feed and trucking. plus about $8 each in misc.Not a get rich quick deal but the manure has a value right????

The off the farm freezer hogs pay the best $125 a head cash$$$$$$come and get them.
my two boys dabble in the pig business. last year my 4th grader sold his fats for $125 each. this year the boys went together and bought a bred sow. she just dropped 7 babies, and they are already trying to decide how many to buy next year!!
 
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