Alternative marketing for hogs.

As a homestead enterprise have you considered raising market hogs, but don't want to try to complete against the big boys cranking them out by the thousands? Well, here are some examples of people going different routes to market their hogs.

(Note: Most of this article was prepared in 1995 for another publication. The prices cited reflect those at the time of publication and are no doubt different today.)

Door-to-door variety packs

Cottage Grove, WI hog producers Bill and Barbara Larson got tired of selling $.39 hogs, which cost them $.45 to raise, and then seeing pork sell for an average of about $3 per pound at local supermarkets. They decided to avoid traditional marketing channels and sell their pork door-to-door in nearby Madison, WI. Both of their children have full-time, off-the-farm jobs, but still manage to take care of the crops and hog management, leaving the Larsons free to develop their market.

They now have their hogs processed into quarters, which are then flash-frozen into a 28-pound pack. Each pack contains ham slices, breakfast patties, bacon, sausage, roasts, chops and steaks. (This amount is basically what will fit into a refrigerator/freezer.) The packs sell for $55, or not quite $2 per pound. They found acceptance almost from the start. Their goal of averaging sales of 32 packs (8 hogs) a week was reached within a year.

They have found their customer base to be low- to middle-income consumers, who know their pork is a good bargain, and elderly who like the delivery service. They have arranged to be able to accept food stamps for purchases. They found a poor reception among single men and high-income families, who eat out a lot. Almost always it is the wife who purchases.

They have found the best time to make an initial sale is between when people return home from work and when they eat supper. Even when they do not make a sale they leave behind an information sheet which sometimes results in a sale later. They are steadily building up a base of repeat customers and are also benefiting greatly by word-of-mouth advertising.

They guarantee they use no antibiotics or hormones in the growing and finishing rations, which is a significant concern to their customers. Any hog which has to be treated with antibiotics is sold through traditional channels. (Update: Today a guarantee no animal byproducts were used in their production may also be a selling point.)

Processing costs about $75 per hog and sales/delivery run about another $5 per hog. Thus, for four packs grossing $220, deducting processing and sales/delivery leaves $140 per hog to cover feed and other costs. Using the $.45 per pound production cost, they are left a net profit of around $41 per hog. They expect to grow to average sales of 64 packs (16 hogs) per week, which should translate into a yearly net profit of $34,112, using the $41 net per hog. Assuming a sow produced an average of 16 pigs a year, net profit per sow per year would then be around $656.

They are a farrow-to-finish confinement operation, using pasture only when they run out of indoor room. However, assume someone copied their marketing method, but could reduce the per pound production cost to $.35 (not unrealistic - say by finishing feeder pigs on pasture, thereby avoiding the costs associated with the sows and confinement facilities). Average sales of 16 hogs per week would then produce a yearly net profit of $52,426.

Also note that unless they get a quantity discount, they will be paying someone else $62,400 per year to process their hogs in quarter-hog packs. An average of 16 hogs per week would not be a large, on-site processing facility, perhaps retaining some of that $62,400 as well. However, it would have to be state certified.

(Reference: "Taking it to the Street: Selling pork door-to-door boosts profits for this hog producer" by Denny Caneff, The New Farm, May/June 1993 and telephone interview.)

Organic pork

Ron and Jodi Synder of the Great Bend Organic Farm in Port Chester, PA market about 50 organically-raised hogs per month through health food stores (97 percent of sales) and direct sales. It took them 18 months and the intervention of their Congressman to get USDA to approve their product label in 1991. They have found that to be successful, organic marketing needs to be based on quality and taste, rather than on being antibiotic-free.

The hogs are delivered to a federally inspected slaughterhouse which has designated areas for slaughter, processing and storage of organic pork. At the slaughterhouse, most of the fat is trimmed off (which they also try to market) and the cuts packaged using Cryovac packaging. This will allow refrigerated storage of their products for up to a month without nitrates or other preservatives.

The products run from standard cuts, like sliced ham and pork chops, to specialty sausage and lean bacon. For chemically-sensitive clients, they can make sausage or breakfast patties using unprocessed sugar and herbs/ pepper to order and will even use an old family recipe. They also plan to add a new line of certified organic cold cuts, to include ring bologna, garlic bologna, pepperoni and cooked salami.

They sell more than a ton of pork a month, most of it in one or two shipments. For bulk orders they rent a refrigerated truck, filling orders to their distributors from the storage facility at the slaughterhouse. They fill small orders from five on-farm freezers and ship on ice in insulated cartons by express delivery with the customer paying shipping. On-farm pick up is also available by appointment. One restaurant in Washington, DC buys about 26 hogs a year from them.

They have found their three-way crosses of Yorkshire/Duroc/Berkshire and Yorkshire/Duroc/Hampshire to work well on their pasture-based farrowing system. Yorkshire genetics add length, while Duroc increases pasture hardiness, rate of gain and feed efficiency. The Yorkshire is considered to be a "bacon-type," while the Berkshire, Duroc and Hampshire are considered to be "meat or lard"-type.

Certification, quality-control, feed costs, raising, processing, marketing and transporting organic pork is expensive, which largely accounts for their retail price being 30-40% above standard retail. They only grow about ten percent of their feed, purchasing the rest. This results in an average cost of twelve cents per pound for an organic ration, which is primarily organically-raised corn and (roasted) soybeans. It costs about $97 to feed out a 225-pound hog, which is more than twice what many conventional farmers spend. If they over estimate demand, selling a finished hog through traditional markets results in a loss of about $80 per head.

While they farrow and raise litters to weaning on pasture, they use a confinement finishing house. To keep odors down, they spread rock phosphorus. This also has the benefit of the acid in the manure helping to make the rock phosphorus more readily available when it is spread on pasture.

They have found diatomaceous earth (DE) to be effective for controlling internal parasites and add it to their organic finishing ration. They start with 40 pounds of DE per ton for three weeks and then drop it down by 10 pounds per week to a maintenance level weight of 150 pounds. The DE is then left out of the ration.

In addition to the organic pork, they raise some 200 feeder pigs, 100 lambs, 1,500 ducks and 300 chickens on their 172 acres, which have been certified by the Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA, Box 226, Derby Line, VT 05830). OCIA has strict livestock standards for organic production, which include their environment, living conditions and disease-prevention practices.

(References: "Lean Pork, Low Overhead: Pasturing pigs lets this couple capitalize on quality' by Christopher Shirley, The New Farm, November/December 1993 and "Organic Hogs on Pasture," Stockman Grass Farmer, April 1993.)

Supermarket sales of "range pork"

Northfield, MN hog producer Mike Peterson has two things going for his hogs:

* The first is endorsement by an animal rights group (the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, DC). Their goal is to develop a livestock production system which is both humane and profitable by helping producers develop their products, helping with USDA paperwork for special labeling and then helping to promote the products in order to obtain a premium price.

* The second is a USDA-approved "Pastureland Farms" label. The label says the meat comes from pigs which are free to move about on pasture and in bedded pens, without sub-therapeutic antibiotics or sulfa drugs.

Peterson has a 40-sow farrow to finish operation and markets 12-14 finished hogs weekly using much the same marketing procedures as the Synders. It retails for ten to fifty cents more per pound than other pork, yet the supermarkets carrying it would like to increase their stock levels.

(I have a sneaking suspicion Mike Peterson nets more per hog with a lower markup over regular retail for his Pastureland Farms labeled pork products than the Synders do for their organically labeled ones, since his feed and other costs should be much lower.)

His production facilities are nothing special. The sows are farrowed in eight foot square pens on straw. Their outdoor access is to dirt lots. Pigs are weaned at 5-6 weeks. They are moved to an outdoor nursery in summer. In winter, part of the farrowing building serves as the nursery. Hogs are finished on outdoor lots in summer or in an old dairy barn in winter with at least 16 square feet per hog. If the Animal Welfare Institute endorses these procedures, imagine how they would love pasture farrowing and pasture finishing!

(Reference: "Pasture Pork Sparks Market Niche," The New Farm, May/ June 1990.)

Direct retail through barbecue

Clarence Durham of Pittsboro, NC uses seven to eight of his Tamworth hogs per week at his sideline barbecue business. The pork is slowly roasted in an enclosed cooker over a hickory fire, shredded and flavored with his own sauce. (Recipe: One gallon cider vinegar, one gallon water, one pound butter and one pound red pepper. If too spicy, add more water. If too bland, add more pepper. Bring to boil and add to shredded pork to taste.)

Mr. Durham has the hogs butchered at 200 pounds and obtains 60-65 pounds of barbecue meat from each carcass, which sells for the equivalent of $4 per pound. The pork which is not suitable for the barbecue and sows being retired are processed into sausage and sold on the farm. Thus, he grosses over $250 per hog, versus the $80 or so gross for taking the hogs to the local livestock sales barn. After processing costs, he estimates his net profit is far better than a traditional hog producer.

Mr. Durham considers the Tamworth breed ideal for barbecue due to their leanness. They were tried as confinement hogs in the 1960s but fell out of favor since they did not become fat. However, with the trend towards even leaner hogs, they should be reconsidered even for a confinement operation. Mr. Durham is also a seedstock producer of Tamworths and can be reached at Route 1, Box 736, Pittsboro, NC 27312.

In the spirit of the Argentina Steak House (or Parilladas), consider how it would enhance the dining experience to have a roasting pit, slowly roasting tomorrow's pork, in the center of the dining area.

(Reference: American Minor Breeds Conservancy's AMBC NEWS, January-February 1989, Successful Farming, January 1994 and telephone interview.)

Party animals

The Gilbert family of Fairborn, OH operates a party barn, which consists of an old barn which has been converted into a group party facility. They will custom roast a hog or side of beef and, for ethnic groups, have roasted goats and sheep. They also have a sideline business which will provide a propane-fired roasting wagon and butchered hog to a residence for the host to cook themselves. Although almost all of their customers use the roasting wagon, they can also provide a butchered hog for roasting over a backyard pit.

They currently receive $275 for providing the wagon service or $150 just for the hog. Assuming the hog was slaughtered at 220 pounds, and dressed out at 150 pounds, the latter is the equivalent of $1 per pound live-weight. At this time 220-260 pound hogs are selling at $.37 - $.40 per pound at area livestock sale barns.

Butcher hogs and feeder pigs

Hogs are a small, but profitable, sideline for Janell Herschel of Yacolt, WA. The regular hogs raised in her area tend to be lard-types, rather than the leaner bacon-type. By raising the latter under organic-type conditions, she has found a ready local demand for both butcher hogs and feeder pigs for people who want to raise one or two a year for their own use.

She currently receives $1 per pound hanging weight for butchered hogs and $45 for a feeder pig. The equivalent of $.70 live-weight for the butcher hogs is significantly better (sometimes double or more) of what selling them at her local livestock sales barn would return.

For the butchered hog, a custom butcher comes on site and charges $.25 per pound for pork cut and wrapped or $.35 for pork which is to be smoked. The customer pays this charge.

She makes very limited use of pasture now, but expects to do so more in the future as she expands the hog operation to meet the demand of her customers. Her primary roadblock is the lack of good (lean) breeding stock in her area of the country.

(Reference: COUNTRYSIDE AND SMALL STOCK JOURNAL, January/February 1994 and follow-up telephone interview.)

Whole hog sausage and breakfast patties

The Spracklen family of Clinton, OH transitioned into the whole hog sausage and breakfast patties business. They started by having some of their hogs processed at a local meat market for themselves, friends and neighbors. Soon the demand increased to where they opened a small market in Clinton, which lead to home delivery by the box, which lead to expanding to also offering in store and home delivery of other high-quality products, such as maple syrup.

They now sell over 500 pounds of just whole hog sausage per week, directly retailing all of their hog production. It would seem a retail operation of this nature would also lend itself to selling whole carcass hamburger, pastured-poultry, farm-fresh eggs, etc. (I have since learned this business is no longer in operation in Clinton, but was unable to determine why.)

(Reference: AgriBusiness, Ohio TV program, 3/5/94.)

Wild game

The information I have available on the Tamworth breed says they can be crossed with wild native boars to produce an "Iron Age" breed. The sows and gilts have a potential market through wild game restaurants. The boars have a potential market through hunting preserves for sports hunting.

See the article, "Raising wild boar," in the July/August 1997 issue of COUNTRYSIDE or the August/September 1997 issue of Small Farm Today. The producer who wrote both articles indicated there is a ready market for all of the wild boar he and other producers can raise.

Two national groups are the North American European Wild Boar Association, P.O. Box 133, Lake Spring, MO 65532 and the Wild Boar Federation of Canada, Box 11, Bracken, Saskatchewan, Canada 2N0 0G0. The College of Agriculture and Food, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada has published a manual on Wild Boar Production.

Production for friends or neighbors:

It is not unusual for COUNTRYSIDERS to raise a small batch of hogs and then sell those they don't need for their own freezer. In most cases, the sales cover all of the expenses, thus basically giving them free freezer pork.

(Be sure to comply with state or federal regulations for marketing a meat product. As Laura Freeman noted during the 1993 Stockman Grass Farmer Conference in Jackson, MS, anytime you wholesale or retail directly to the public it is important to have product liability insurance. Consider it a cost of doing business.)

As this article has shown, the livestock sales barn or sales to friends or neighbors need not be the only market outlet for hogs. While you may not be interested in operating a barbeque party barn or wagon service, supplying those who do with the specific type of butchered hogs they want may still be a profitable market opportunity. With the loss of many small-scale hog producers around the country, there may also be a direct outlet for hogs or feeder pigs in your area.