[jimmy]

That is seriously expensive butchering! 
My basic is £25, £4.00 for a side of bacon and 50p/lb for sausages.
Although we don't have it bagged and labelled as it's extra.

Wow yeah £1/lb for sausages here, but everything's pricier in the south east I guess... Still much cheaper than in the supermarkets though which is nice

[AndynJ]

What's 2s 6d? Or am I totally out of touch  (or just a lot younger!  )

you have heard of 2 & 6 old money pre 1967 you know 10 bob anyway I was just trying to say it seemed really cheap that's humour for you 

[Sbom]

Well it's certainly cheap and cheerful here !! 

[90driver]

The break down of Slaughter / butchering costs were : Basic kill £25 . Jointing £24 both per pig. Boning and rolling £1.15/kg. Sausage making £2.65/kg.

Given that rare breed pork is selling for £8/kg I have well under sold. But I never started the project to make money ... just for it not to cost me too much

Next time more of a price structure definitely.

[Pasture Farm]

rather idealistically you've enjoyed it  and  got a premium product at the end of it.......

[Cactus Jack]

I live in Spain I will be slaughtering my own pigs cost 60cents (different rules here  ) and I am hoping to butcher everything myself, quick learner
As I grow most of what I feed the pigs I'm working it out at approximately €45 per pig in bought feed.
Slow growing stock, looking at 15-18 months slaughter age, but tastier meat and all organic

[90driver]

rather idealistically you've enjoyed it  and  got a premium product at the end of it.......

spot on ! Trying to make a living from smallholding is almost impossible... but treat it as a hobby that pays for itself and it is much more enjoyable. ;-)

[MAK]

Congratulations and I guess the 2 key points are that you enjoyed keeping the pigs and that their is potential to reduce costs if you do the butchering,bacon and sausages yourself.
I'm in Cactus Jack's camp and we will home kill our next 3 in December then butcher and make sausages,bacon and hams. My neighbour will have one pig and do the black puddings but I just hope that he stops filling our freezer with wild boar and deer he has shot !
We already had the sausage maker but we added to our costs ( investment in pigs) when we got a great set of butchering knives and saw in a nice case for 100€ ( on offer from a hunting shop).

[Cjnewton82]

i had my butchery basic cut £22.50 then 85p per lb of plain sausages £1 per lb burgers (pork apple) then 1.25 per lb more more complex sausage mixes like chill and caramelised onion

[hughesy]

How is it that Spain and France, being in the EU like we are, have different rules regarding the slaughter of animals? Or do they just not bother with the rules?

[Bodger]

We have the same rules as the EU but we are the only stupid beggars who strictly adhere to them.

[MAK]

EU Rules. Well the tagging and movement papers are the same here in France but if you are just keeping pigs for your own consumption then you may home kill etc and essentially you are left alone.
A few years ago we did register that we keep pigs for home use but we simply gave our address and now we receive a magazine a couple of times a year. We bought our last GOS weaners from an English breeder down the road. She completes and keeps all her "breeders" papers but has never sent them to the local office or received a visit.
Odd really as when you home kill and clean up afterwards the plastic ear tags are really enviromentally unfriendley.
Imagine the cost difference if you do not have to take the pigs to slaughter or pay for basic cutting or for sausages/bacon or ham making.

[hughesy]

MAK how do you dispose of the bits you can't use like guts etc? In the UK they'd come down on us like a ton of bricks if we didn't do it the proper way. I suppose there's a big difference between killing a pig for your own use and killing a pig for commercial reasons though.

[MAK]

All the houses in our village are attached to a long barn and built within the barn (at the other end to our house) is the pigs home. Thus keeping a couple of pigs was pretty standard here so they are still very relaxed about things and we try and keep the old ways going. So to answer your question about disposal of bits I list the usual procedure.
Once the pig is stunned and the blood collected for black pudding we set a light to a lot of straw and drop a dead pig on top whilst scrapping the burnt hair. I will have dug a hole and we lift the pig over it using a tractor's bucket raise it up by its hind legs then empty the pig. I fill my hole with soil but others leave the biodegradable guts for  their hunting dogs or whatever passes by.
We then pressure wash the pigs and cut them in half and drive them hanging from a tractor back to my barn. We hang these halves inside the barn ( wrapped in shower curtains) overnight then start cutting the next day. This is best done when it's cold but last year it all took place in a blizzard. Black pudding is made overnight by my neighbour and we start the next day with a hearty breakfast of kidneys, black pudding and eggs - habitual for us now.

[Liam_86]

Some expensive butchering costs there!

i Pay £60 per pig, that includes sausages, all cut up, labelled and boxed as half pigs ready to sell for £150 per half

Slaughter is £15