By Adam Hady, Richland County Agriculture Agent & UWEX Swine Team
Wisconsin has a rich tradition of agriculture and in the past swine production was a key element to a diversified livestock production system. As times have changed and focus has changed, we got away from diversification on our farms. Well, like all things, the pendulum has swung back. Young and small scale producers are looking at diversified livestock as a means to be part of the local foods movement and enrich the agricultural heritage that Wisconsin has enjoyed.
There are many opportunities for families and small farms to take advantage of local markets. With these opportunities, the University of Wisconsin – Cooperative Extension (UWEX) and the UWEX Swine Team has developed resources and tools to help producers reach their goals. The key location for these resources is UWEX Pig Connect Site http://fyi.uwex.edu/swineextension/industry-contacts/?ss_redir=1 . This is an online classified designed to link farmers and growers from around the state who have animals or swine equipment and can post an ad regarding what they have or what they are looking for. This site also has a tools tab. Under the tools tab is a Freezer Pig Pricing Worksheet.
The Freezer Pig Pricing Worksheet is a tool that can be used to help buyers and sellers determine the sale price for direct marketed grain fed pigs. The spreadsheet is broke down into three areas. The first area provides a rough cost of production for the producer. Items in this area are the initial cost of the pig, feed cost, marketing, etc. By having these costs, the second section of the spreadsheet then allows you to do some price comparisons between live price and hanging carcass price. This section also provides a gain/loss estimate as well.