If I had a dollar for every time that someone made some kind of comment online about our pork being too expensive, at this point, I don’t know that we would even need to keep our fulltime jobs. We could just raise our amazing piggos and survive on that and the sheer amount of haters on the internet. We try very hard not to take the comments to heart as I do think that it comes more from ignorance to what they’re actually putting into their bodies, than the true ability to make a legitimate judgement on the value of our product. However, it’s very hard not to take it personal when we are so passionate about what we do, and we know exactly how much profit we’re actually (not) making on our meat. Therefore, to be accused of price gouging can feel pretty personal. In order to have actual facts to point people to, I decided to enlighten those who aren’t fully aware of the vast difference in price for commercial pork vs. what we are selling here at OFD Farm (purebred, registered Berkshire pork).
Before I give you way, way, way more information regarding pork than most would ever need to know (in the next upcoming blog), let’s just break down our cost for a quick second. I am well aware that we owe precisely no one this level of transparency into our finances, but honestly, we have nothing to hide, so have at it. See for yourself that you’re getting more than what you’re paying for when you choose to invest in OFD pork. So here’s a rough breakdown for you Johnny “Seems Expensive” Random Internet Hater.
Cost to purchase one “feeder” pig from a Berkshire breeder: $125
Cost of 900 lbs of organic, non-GMO feed to raise one pig to 250 lbs: $234
Slaughter of one pig: $35
Butcher of one pig: $150
Curing/smoking of hams and bacon: $72
TOTAL COST TO US: $616
There is strictly what it costs us to make your meat. That is a whopping $84 dollars in profit that doesn’t count our six months of work daily to take care of your pig. Let’s say on the low end we spend one hour a day caring for your pig (most evenings we spend 5pm-9pm after work doing pig chores, so that’s a very low end estimate). At the end of six months we would have made $2.14 a hour. But wait, there’s more! This is like a fun game where the only person winning is YOU! We have to pay electricity, water, supplies (feeders, watering systems, stall mats, hay, etc.), medications (antibiotics for infections, iron supplements, dewormer, etc.), gas to pick up the pigs/feed, the purchase of trailers to haul pigs/pallets of feed, etc., mortgage on our farm, the payment on a bigger truck necessary to haul your pig, etc., etc., etc. You don’t have to be a mathematician to see that $2.14 an hour isn’t going to make those ends meet.
So, is our meat expensive? Sure, it may seem that way when you cut the check. However, we can promise you that it’s not our own pocketbook we’re lining. I would attempt to argue that what you are getting is 1000 times better than anything you can buy in the grocery store (which it is), and worth the higher price. However, a quick check on the internet shows that if you were to purchase all the meat that you get with one hog, at the grocery store individually packaged, you would actually end up spending significantly more than $5.83/lb for that volume of meat! So, what you’re getting is actually cheaper than buying from the grocery store.
Given the above information, we will be raising our prices in 2021. Next year will probably see at least a price of $800 per whole hog, $400 for half. We will however then be able to offer a few small discounts for returning customers, a law enforcement discount, etc. We are also actively working on ways in which we can cut down on costs such as breeding our own pigs, looking at some different butcher options and smoking/curing our own meat, but that all takes a lot of time to get into place . We are hoping that 2021 will be the year that all meat sold at OFD Farm was also born on OFD Farm.
Although this may seem like we’re being negative about what we are doing, this could not be further from the truth. Actually that is why we’re ok with the prices that we are charging at the moment, we love what we do. We believe with our whole heart, that you will see that this investment is worth it, and decide to make OFD pork your primary source of protein for your family, year after year. However, don’t take our word for it, let the taste of our bacon melt in your mouth and we’ll never need to convince you again.
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