Let me make a very long story very short for you. About this time one year ago I was in super duper planning mode to get Crooked Gap Farm pork into a local colleges dining services. They had an awesome director that loved our pork and supporting local foods and we were gearing up to provide at least one whole hog (use they were taking the whole thing) per week throughout the school year. Then things changed …
I had purchased extra feeder pigs to prepare for the additional demand. I had started to make the processing schedule. And, I was really excited about the possibilities. Things didn’t go as planned though, not even close to as planned! The director moved on from that position and the new director still loved our pork, but was more concerned with the bottom line than the percentage of local food they were using.
That was a blow! I had spent some money on extra feeder pigs. I had been raising them and feeding them. But, now I did not have a market for them. Because of this I have been scrambling to sell pigs for the last few months, and even processing some pigs at a higher weight than I am used to. This has taken some creativity, focus, and lots of e-mailing/communication!
The bad news: I still haven’t sold through the extra pigs that I had purchased (not that I still have those exact pigs, but rather I have just had more pigs than I’m used to selling through my typical channels so some have hung around a little longer). We have also had to be a little more creative with the cut selections we make on the larger hogs.
The good news: The extra pigs has really made me focus more on selling whole/half hogs. Because we believe that is the most sustainable (emotionally, spiritually, physically, economically, etc.) way to sell pork for our farm this unfortunate experience may end up with a few good positives to take away.
If you’re out there listening (or reading I should say), I would love to hear your thoughts on marketing whole/half hogs. What have you done to expand that part of your market? How do you encourage people to go that direction? Do you even like that method of selling more than selling individual cuts?
Hello, my name is Michael Jordan. I’m a homesteader beekeeper and professional Mead maker. I was wondering if you’re looking for a subject or someone to talk on the aspect of beekeeping. I would like to tell you in my adventure of learning how to grow the perfect flower how to raise the perfect bees to make the perfect honey to turn into the best mead in the world.
I’ve spent 15 years in my life traveling the world teaching beekeeping and learning as many aspects as I can in the field to become the best beat maker I can. My family has made mead.from 998 ad and I am the last. I raise quail, bees, turkies, rabbits and farm a third of an acre 12 blocks from the Wyoming state capitol Breaking All the Rules to be the perfect Homesteader and prepper.
I would hope to be on your show sincerely Michael Jordan a bee friendly company.com