I'm in the wrong profession ...

[Lan-Lord]

Not sure if you west coasters have seen the ABC evening news yet tonight with Charles Gibson. But he is doing a state by state news report and tonight he talked about Texas. In the report, he said how wild feral pigs across the state is a growing problem, yada yada.. then at the end of his report, he said that wild Texas feral hogs were sold overseas (not sure where) for $10/pound. I would have never guessed.

lets see, 4 million pigs, averaging 80 pounds of meat per pig, by $10 = 3.2 billion dollars of bacon.

 

[beastslayer]

I would think this is exported to Asia where wild meat is considered a delicacy. Anyone want to partner?

But $10 a pound. That's pricey unless you are selling it in Japan.

 

[Lan-Lord]

I should have tivo'd it. He may have indicated where they were sold. I only listened to it in the background.

 

[beastslayer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lan-Lord @ Nov 13 2006, 04:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I should have tivo'd it. He may have indicated where they were sold. I only listened to it in the background.[/b]

Dang Lan-Lord, you are from Texas! We have a real potential opportunity here.

 

[upper]

Check out Hog sales at Texas boars.com .Hope it is ok to do that they reference this site over there. Upper

 

[BigDog]

I heard a similar report on the radio today. Said that the farmers were begging hunters to come on to their property and thin out the pigs.

 

[Lan-Lord]

This is part of the news report from TV. The written article doesnt have the info regarding overseas the market.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Hog Wild! Feral Pigs Invade Texas
Millions of Pigs Eat Their Way Through Farms, Frustrating Owners

DEL RIO, Texas, Nov. 13, 2006
A million dangerous pigs are roaming Texas soil, challenging farmers and devouring their crops.

These animals have ravenous appetites and no natural predator in Texas. With the feral pig population exploding, game wardens are begging hunters to go after the wild animals.

"I often tell people to think of a feral hog as a four-legged fire ant," said Billy Higginbotham of the Texas Extension Cooperative, which offers Texas A&M research to state residents. "We are not going to eradicate them; what our hope is that we can reduce their population to reduce damage."

That damage is costing farmers $50 million a year, and one farmer said his attempts to keep them out failed. "In my sweet potato patch last year, I bought an electric fence [and] it has no effect on them," said farmer Lemar Bass.

"There are only two types of landowners in the state of Texas — those that have feral hogs and those that are about to have feral hogs," Higginbotham said.

"If it has a calorie, they will eat it," added hunter Bob Richardson.

Hunting Season

The Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto brought the hogs to America in 1539 and now they are eating crops, chicken and sheep.

With game wardens asking hunters to target the feral pigs, hundreds of thousands of sportsmen are flocking to Texas, thrilled at the chance to bag the big one.

"There is some mystique about them; you know, he is called 'the poor man's grisly bear' and there is a certain amount of danger hunting them," said hunting lodge owner Maurice Chambers.

But not all are convinced this approach will work. "You are not going to control the feral hog population by hunting — they are smart," Higginbotham said.

"The wild hog just has the better intelligence of any wild animal living — they are just very brilliant animals," Chambers said.

That is, brilliant and unfettered as they chomp their way across the Lone Star State.[/b]

 

[bighog]

My son and I hunt a South Texas ranch. Last year, around this time, he had a bunch of wild hogs in a pen he had trapped during the week. I asked him what he does with them after he traps em. He said he sells them for 75 cents a pound and they eventually get shipped over seas. Just my

on the issue.

 

[jindydiver]

Here Inj Australia there is a big industry based on feral pig sales to Europe. The pigs sell for around $1 per kilo (2.2 pound per kilo), that can change a lot up and down but $10 a pound is 10 times more than anybody could expect.

 

[larrysogla]

By the time all of these are added up, it is $10/lb. in restaurant menus in Europe(Texas trapper's fee, Texas butcher's fee, shipping(jet cargo) and handling, import tax in Europe, Chef's salary and restaurant overhead, the wild boar menu price will come up to $10/lb. in Europe). I read a newspaper article online yesterday when I clicked "Houston hog hunt" in Google and the article that came up on the computer screen mentioned that European restaurants are the target destination for butchered wild boar meat. It mentioned that wild boar meat is a popular item in European restaurant menus. Now can anybody refer me to a Houston area ranch with reasonable pay to hunt fees($100/hunter/per weekend???). God Bless.

 

[beastslayer]

Agree with larrysogla. Only Europe or Japan can afford this kind of prices.

Jindydiver - And I read somewhere that in Autralia, some corned beef are mixed with water buffalo meat? No wonder, the meat of Autralian corned beef bigger texture.

My family love them.

 

[Nic Barca]

I think that was Europe where wild game is shipped to. But you don't sell your pig for $10/lb; as was said, that's the price it comes out to on the menu. You could kill half the population anually and you would still have the same amount of pigs, allbeit not so many old ones. Wild pigs breed like rabbits. Does anybody know if these animals need to be alive when they reach slaughter in Europe? I know that killing a pig in the forest does not comply with standards for cleanliness set forth in the US. That's one reason why we aren't allowed to sell game animals commercially in my state.

 

[jindydiver]

In Australia’s eastern states you do a “game handling” course at a technical college and get accreditation for collecting pigs and roos for human consumption. Then you go out and buy a Toyota truck and get a stainless steel tray put on with all the bits you need, like hooks to hang the pigs off the side while you gut them and racks to stack the pigs in the back for transport to a chiller (a freezer truck). All the pigs for human consumption are taken in the cooler months at night time and have to be at the chiller by a certain time each morning. It is a hard industry to make good money in and there are always trays for sale in the rural classifieds.

The pigs are processed here and cryovaced for shipment to Europe.

 

[RIFLEMAN]

"You could kill half the population anually and you would still have the same amount of pigs, allbeit not so many old ones.

Technically, the figure is 80%. A study conducted by Texas A&M found that in order to achieve zero fluctuation to the feral hog population, humans must remove 80% of the population on a constant basis; this is in addition to natural mortality.

 

[Speckmisser]

Let's see... $10/lb?

My last pig gave me approximately 45lbs of boneless meat.

I spent $400 for the hunt.

I drove about 500 miles round trip, at an average of 16 mpg, which comes out to about 31 gallons of fuel. Fuel was running around $3.29/gal for a fuel cost on the trip of $101.99.

If I stop right there, I'm at $500 for 45lbs of meat... which means I just payed a bit over $11/lb.

That doesn't take into account the trips that I came home empty-handed, the cost of equipment, wear and tear on the vehicle, or time off from work.

Point being... $10/lb is sort of a bargain!

 

[Rancho Loco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Speckmisser @ Nov 17 2006, 07:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Let's see... $10/lb?



That doesn't take into account the trips that I came home empty-handed...[/b]

Yeah - it's probably pretty hard for you to have to count that high.

 

[Speckmisser]

Ow. Damn, Rancho... I thought you were my friend.

 

[Rancho Loco]

I'm laughing with you, not at you..

 

[Speckmisser]

Your day will come, funny boy.

 

[jindydiver]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RIFLEMAN @ Nov 16 2006, 11:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

"You could kill half the population anually and you would still have the same amount of pigs, allbeit not so many old ones.

Technically, the figure is 80%. A study conducted by Texas A&M found that in order to achieve zero fluctuation to the feral hog population, humans must remove 80% of the population on a constant basis; this is in addition to natural mortality.[/b]

Over here the country is nowhere near as fertile and the pigs have a lower recruitment, so it is figured that a kill rate of 70% will see your pigs eradicated within 14 years, and 50% is considered the break even point.

70% is a hard rate to keep up even with all the methods used where possible (poison, trapping, shooting) and so it is thought that we will never see our efforts kill off the feral pig population. This year we are so dry that the pigs are copping a hiding but they will bounce back like they always do.