Andrew Freemantle weighs up the pros and cons of investment

As the summer show season starts to slow down, my thoughts are turning to investing in the finishing unit.

After knocking around the figures, they stack up as we will be able to sell heavier pigs and hopefully reduce our FCR (feed conversion rate).

At the moment it takes us around 2.85kg of feed to produce 1kg of pig growth, but if I can reduce that by 0.4kg, we will use 35kg less food a pig or a not inconsiderable 280 tonnes – worth £68,000 at current feed prices – if we put 8,000 pigs through a year.

However, this will require at least £250,000 or £150 for every pig place of investment. Well, as I walk the dogs around the fields of our unharvested wheat it’s 31 August today and I am wondering what to do.

My main concern is the sheer unfairness of the pricing system pig farmers are saddled with at the moment. Basically we book pigs in, then the processors decide how much to pay us. The result being farmers in Cambodia receive more than we do; the current price there is £2.50/kg, and in the UK £1.48/kg.

What we desperately need is another route to market; the sheep and beef farmers have a choice, and not enough from the abattoirs send them through the live markets, which means that prices received are near record levels.

What I am trying to work out is could our pig marketing groups work together and via an internet auction keep back, say 10% of the weekly kill to be auctioned off to the processor who pays the most, and then divide that back over the rest of the pigs sold that week. Well, one can dream.

Farmer Focus: Andrew Freemantle