Backyard Pig Cost & Payback Calculator
For pigs raised for meat. Feed, treatment, and butcher prices, all editable.
Defaults are sourced Australian figures as of mid-2026 - not guesses. Change anything below to match your own pigs and prices.
Your breeding herd
Offsetting feed cost
Feed & treatment costs
Butcher comparison prices
Initial setup
Your results
How This Works
Unlike the other animals on this site, pigs aren't kept indefinitely for an ongoing product like eggs, milk, or wool - they're raised for a single grow-out period and then processed, so this tool works in totals for the batch rather than a daily running cost. The feed cost per pig is calculated from a total feed requirement to reach market weight (based on a feed conversion ratio, not a guess) and feed pricing, then reduced by whatever share you set for kitchen scraps and food waste - capped higher than the bird tools on this site, since pigs are excellent at using scraps, but still capped, since they need grain-based feed to reach market weight efficiently.
How many pigs you're actually raising comes from breeding math, not a guess: your number of breeding sows, multiplied by litters per sow per year, multiplied by piglets born per litter, gives your total piglets born - then a survival rate accounts for preweaning and grow-out losses before arriving at pigs raised to processing. Breeding sows are fed year-round regardless of litter timing, so their maintenance feed is costed separately from the grower feed the market pigs themselves eat. Worming and preventive treatment is added per pig raised, not per year, since a market pig is processed well before twelve months old.
If you've entered a setup cost, the payback period divides that figure by your net result this year. If your numbers are running at a loss under the current settings, no payback period is shown - it wouldn't be an honest number to give you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do the default numbers come from?
Sourced Australian figures as of mid-2026: whole or half pig at butcher prices around $15/kg, a feed conversion ratio of roughly 2.5-3:1 giving a total feed requirement of around 275kg to market weight, a backyard-realistic 2 litters per sow per year with around 10 piglets born alive per litter, and routine worming and preventive treatment costing around $18 per pig raised. Every number is editable — these are honest starting points, not fixed facts about your pigs.
Why does this tool ask about sows and litters instead of just how many pigs I'm raising?
Because a flat number hides how it's actually produced. One breeding sow, kept year-round, can produce well over a dozen market pigs a year once litters, litter size, and survival rates are accounted for — showing that math honestly, rather than asking you to guess a total, makes the economics of keeping a breeding sow visible, including her own ongoing maintenance feed cost.
Why does this tool work in totals rather than a daily cost?
Because that's how pigs are kept, unlike the other animals on this site. A pig isn't producing an ongoing product like eggs, milk, or wool for years — it's raised for one grow-out period, usually 5-6 months, then processed. So the honest way to show the cost is a total for the year, not an artificial daily running figure.
Why is the scraps offset higher than the bird tools, but still capped?
Pigs are excellent at using kitchen scraps and food waste — it's a longstanding homesteading practice. But they still need grain-based feed to reach market weight efficiently, so the offset is capped at 30% rather than left unlimited, similar in spirit to the pasture caps on the goat, sheep, and cattle tools.
What does the payback period actually tell me?
It divides your entered setup cost (pen, fencing, feeders) by your net result this year once feed and treatment are accounted for, against the value of the meat produced. If your numbers are running at a loss under your current settings, there's no payback to show — the tool says so honestly rather than showing a misleading number.