Is Pig Farming Profitable in 2026? The Records You Need to Know
Profitability depends on more than the number of pigs you sell
Pig farming can still be profitable in 2026, but the answer is not the same for every farm.
Two farms can sell a similar number of pigs and achieve completely different financial results. One may control feed use, reduce mortality and sell pigs at the right weight. The other may lose money through feed waste, slow growth, missed breeding opportunities, preventable deaths or pigs falling outside the buyer’s preferred specification.
The real question is therefore not simply:
“Is pig farming profitable?”
It is:
“Do you know how much it costs your farm to produce each pig, and which animals, sows or batches are making or losing money?”
Without accurate records, it is difficult to answer that confidently.
What is happening in the UK pig sector in 2026?
The UK pig industry entered 2026 under renewed financial pressure.
AHDB estimated the full economic cost of pig production at 192p per kilogram deadweight in the first quarter of 2026. The Standard Pig Price averaged approximately 188p per kilogram, producing an estimated average loss of £3.85 per slaughter pig.
Pig prices had fallen by around 13p per kilogram from the previous quarter, while feed and finance costs increased. Feed represented approximately 60% of total production costs. Read the AHDB Q1 2026 cost-of-production report.
By June, AHDB reported that pig prices remained under pressure and producer margins were still negative. However, these figures represent an industry average. The actual position of an individual farm will depend on its production system, performance, costs and route to market. See the June 2026 UK pork update.
This means pig farming is not automatically unprofitable, but relying on market prices alone is risky. Farmers need to understand the performance of their own operation.
The seven records that reveal whether your pig farm is profitable
1. Feed consumption and feed costs
Feed is normally the largest cost on a pig farm. A small improvement or deterioration in feed efficiency can have a noticeable effect on the final margin.
Record:
How much feed is purchased
The type and price of feed
How much each group or batch receives
Feed wasted or spoiled
The period covered
Weight gained during that period
These records help calculate your feed conversion ratio, or FCR.
The basic calculation is:
FCR = Total feed consumed ÷ Total liveweight gained
For example, if a batch consumes 3,000kg of feed and gains 1,000kg in combined weight, its FCR is 3.0. This means it took 3kg of feed to produce 1kg of weight gain.
Compare batches over similar growth stages. If one batch consistently uses more feed for the same weight gain, investigate health, feed quality, feeder settings, environmental conditions and management practices.
AHDB estimates that feed accounts for approximately 60–70% of pig-production costs, making FCR one of the most important figures to monitor. See AHDB’s guidance on pig FCR.
2. Pig weights and growth rates
Recording feed without monitoring weight gain only tells half the story.
Weight records help you determine:
Whether pigs are growing as expected
Which pigs or batches are underperforming
Whether feed is producing sufficient growth
How long pigs take to reach sale weight
Which pigs are approaching the buyer’s target
Whether pigs risk becoming over- or underweight
Record the starting weight, weighing date, current weight and number of days between measurements.
You can then calculate average daily gain:
Average daily gain = Weight gained ÷ Number of days
When weights are recorded consistently, you can identify slow growth early instead of discovering the problem when the pig should already be ready for sale.
3. Health treatments and mortality
Illness affects profitability in several ways. It can increase treatment costs, reduce feed intake, slow growth, create additional labour and result in mortality.
Maintain a health history containing:
Animal or batch identification
Date the problem was observed
Symptoms or diagnosis
Medication or treatment
Dosage
Treatment cost
Withdrawal period
Outcome and follow-up date
Mortality and recorded cause, where known
Do not treat health records as paperwork needed only for compliance. Review them for patterns.
For example, repeated respiratory problems in one building, higher mortality in a particular batch or recurring illness after weaning may reveal a larger management issue.
Always work with your vet when diagnosing illness or making treatment decisions. Farm software can help organise records and highlight patterns, but it does not replace veterinary advice.
4. Breeding and sow performance
A sow can remain on the farm consuming feed and taking up space without producing a successful litter. These nonproductive periods have a direct financial cost.
For each breeding sow, record:
Heat dates
Service dates
Boar or semen details
Pregnancy-check dates and outcomes
Returns to heat
Failed pregnancies
Expected and actual farrowing dates
Total piglets born
Piglets born alive
Stillbirths
Pre-weaning deaths
Piglets weaned
Weaning date
Interval from weaning to the next service
These records help answer important questions:
Which sows produce and wean the strongest litters?
Which sows repeatedly return to heat?
What is the farm’s farrowing rate?
How many piglets are weaned per sow?
How many days are being lost between breeding cycles?
Which sows should be retained, reviewed or considered for culling?
A larger breeding herd is not necessarily a more profitable herd. Productive sows and efficient breeding cycles matter more than simply keeping additional animals.
5. Piglet survival and weaning performance
A large litter at birth does not guarantee a profitable litter. What matters is how many healthy piglets are successfully weaned and continue into the next production stage.
Track:
Total born
Born alive
Stillborn
Mummified piglets
Deaths before weaning
Cause of death, where known
Piglets fostered in or out
Total weaned
Age and weight at weaning
Review these figures by sow, parity, farrowing location and time period.
This can help identify whether losses are associated with particular sows, crushing, low birth weights, insufficient milk, disease or another recurring issue.
6. Sales, carcase weights and deductions
Revenue records should show more than the total amount received.
Record:
Pig or batch sold
Number of pigs
Sale date
Liveweight or deadweight
Price per kilogram or price per head
Buyer
Transport costs
Processing costs
Carcase classification
Deductions or penalties
Total revenue received
This allows you to compare the performance of different batches and buyers.
A heavier pig does not always generate a better margin. Extra days on the farm mean additional feed, labour and housing costs. Pigs outside the buyer’s specification may also attract deductions.
Your records should help identify the point at which additional weight stops adding sufficient value.
7. All other production costs
Feed may be the largest expense, but it is not the only one.
Include:
Weaner or breeding-stock purchases
Bedding
Veterinary services and medication
Labour
Water and electricity
Transport
Repairs and maintenance
Rent or finance
Insurance
Abattoir or processing charges
Software and administration
Equipment depreciation
Some costs can be assigned directly to an animal or batch. Shared costs can be allocated across the number of pigs produced during the same period.
The objective is to arrive at a realistic cost—not an artificially low figure that excludes important expenses.
How to calculate profit per pig
A useful starting calculation is:
Profit per pig = Total income per pig − Total cost per pig
Suppose a pig generates £190 in sales revenue and has the following costs:
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Weaner or allocated breeding cost | £50 |
| Feed | £78 |
| Health and medication | £5 |
| Bedding and utilities | £7 |
| Labour allocation | £14 |
| Transport and processing | £12 |
| Other overheads | £10 |
| Total cost | £176 |
| Estimated profit | £14 |
This is only an illustration. Your actual costs will vary according to your system, location, purchase price, performance and sales route.
You can also calculate:
Cost per kilogram = Total production costs ÷ Total kilograms produced
AHDB identifies total cost per deadweight kilogram and cost per weaned pig as important financial performance indicators. See AHDB’s financial pig KPIs.
Profitability should also be measured by batch
Farm-wide totals can hide important differences.
You may find that:
One batch grows faster than another
One pen experiences more health problems
One feed performs better
Pigs from one supplier have higher mortality
Certain sows consistently wean more piglets
One buyer delivers a better net return after transport and deductions
For each batch, compare:
Starting number of pigs
Purchase or production cost
Feed consumed
Starting and finishing weights
Treatments and health costs
Mortalities
Days to sale
Number sold
Sales income
Total cost
Margin per pig
This turns record-keeping into a management tool. Instead of knowing only whether the farm made money overall, you can see where the money was made or lost.
Common records that farmers overlook
Some losses are easy to miss because they do not appear as a separate invoice.
These include:
Feed wasted from damaged or poorly adjusted feeders
Missed or delayed services
Sows retained after repeated reproductive failure
Pigs growing more slowly than the rest of the batch
Unrecorded mortality
Repeated treatments without investigating the underlying cause
Pigs kept beyond the most profitable sale point
Buyer deductions that are not reviewed
Labour spent correcting avoidable record errors
Recording these exceptions helps convert hidden losses into visible, manageable problems.
Can a notebook or spreadsheet track profitability?
For a very small herd, a notebook or spreadsheet may be enough to begin recording:
Feed purchases
Pig weights
Treatments
Breeding dates
Mortality
Sales
Expenses
The challenge appears as the herd grows. Records can become divided between notebooks, receipts, phone messages and separate spreadsheets. It then becomes difficult to connect a health event with slower growth, or feed use with the final performance of a batch.
A pig-management system brings these records together so that farmers can follow animals from birth or purchase through breeding, health, growth, batching and sale.
If you are still deciding which approach is appropriate, read How to Track Pig Health and Records Without Expensive Software.
How LivestockIQ helps farmers understand performance
LivestockIQ allows farmers to organise operational records in one connected system, including:
Individual animal and batch records
Breeding and pregnancy activity
Farrowing, litter and weaning outcomes
Health events, treatments and vaccinations
Weight and growth history
Feed usage and FCR
Mortality and disposal records
Sales outcomes
Multi-farm records
Dashboards showing what needs attention
The purpose is not simply to collect more data. It is to help farmers see which pigs, sows and batches are performing—and where action may be needed.
Final answer: Is pig farming profitable in 2026?
Pig farming can be profitable, but 2026 is demonstrating how quickly margins can tighten when pig prices fall or production costs increase.
Profitability cannot be judged reliably by the amount in the bank after a sale. Farmers need to know:
The cost of producing each pig or kilogram
How efficiently feed becomes weight
How many piglets each sow successfully weans
Which animals or batches underperform
How much mortality and illness cost
Whether pigs are sold at the right time and specification
The true margin remaining after every production cost
The farms in the strongest position will be those that can see these figures early and respond before small inefficiencies become large losses.
Want a clearer view of your pig-farm performance? See LivestockIQ in action or start exploring the system with a free trial.
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