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| For a few years after college and before moving back to the farm I bought all my meat, both beef and pork, and boy was it bad. I don't know if it was because I only bought what was on sale or if good meat just isn't available from a grocery store. I now keep 5-6 sows and finish their pigs for my own meat and for direct sales. I also finish 30 head of steers for the same purpose. The pigs are farrowed in bedded pack pens and raised in dirt lots. My hogs are half Berkshire which means litters are smaller than average and they grow a little slower but to me and my customers they taste better. Cattle are on self feeder all the time whether they are on grass during the grazing season or are in the feedlot on hay in the winter. All that being said, my efficiency is no where near that of professional hog or cattle farmers, and I can't afford to sell at market prices. I also use a small custom butcher and it will cost upto $200 to process a hog and $400 for a steer which adds to the costs. I'm not knocking what anybody else is doing, just pointing out that there are alternatives but you have to be willing to pay the price. Most people want cheap food and that is what the market provides. | |
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pork producers
