[Tiggs]

Last year, as a young farmer i showed two Gloucester old spot young boars. One of them was put in with a GOS sow. Finally after many months of waiting, she has farrowed with 10 lovely piglets. I am thinking of purchasing one of the gilts to breed from as we do not actually own the GOS sow. However i need to know if this is financially viable, therefore would anyone know how much it costs roughly to feed a sow per year??

[joyfull]

can the people who you would be buying her from not tell you the approximate cost? Also did you receive payment for using your boar and his services - if not could you not ask for a sow for free (dog breeders often get a choice of the pups born).

[Tiggs]

The young farmers club is in an awkward situation as we are privelaged to use the site as our base, which is owned by the company who run a public attraction farm. It got very confusing last year as no one was sure who was paying for the boar's feed, and who the sow belongs to. However we understand that the company was paying for both pigs' feed. The club may be able to have two or three of the piglets, but i am looking to buy a gilt indivdually and pay its feed costs etc out of my own money. The company spend a lot of money a year on feed costs, which i persinally think is too much, and so i was looknig for a more knowleagable opinion from someone independent of the situation. Hope you can help!

[Gandan57]

http://www.bocmpauls.co.uk/bocmpauls/farmgate/page.jhtml?page_id=farmgate_pig        

How much compound pig feed your pig requires depends on a lot of factors, age , weight, whether it will be confined or will it be allowed to forage?

Also how cheaply you can access the compound feed. I`m a bit out of touch with feed prices as they are increasing alarmingly. If you are buying by the 25 kilo bag you could expect to pay 30 to 40 pence per kilo, so based on the guidelines above you should allow £1+ per day. Hope this helps.