Cost of Gain
Worked Examples
The same sack of feed, the same pig, and half a point of FCR between them. Worked against what PSA last published for backyard farmgate.
The price these are worked against
₱172.62/kg liveweight — Hog farmgate price, backyard farms (PSA), 2026-06, read 2026-08-20. That is PSA's national backyard survey, not what your buyer is offering you this week, and the two are rarely the same. It is here so the examples have a real anchor rather than a round number somebody made up. Every monthly figure since 2010 , with its source.
The feed price throughout is ₱1,850 a sack, which is ₱37 a kilo at 50 kg a sack. Substitute your own — the whole point of the tool is that the answer moves.
Example 1 of 3
A well-run backyard grow-out — FCR 3.0
The good end of what a backyard setup actually achieves. 85 kg of gain, a 15 kg weanling out to a 100 kg finisher, feed only.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Feed price | ₱1,850 per 50 kg sack (₱37/kg) |
| FCR | 3.0 |
| Farmgate price | ₱172.62/kg |
| Gain | 85 kg |
| Result | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Feed cost per kilo of gain | ₱111 | 3.0 × the feed price. |
| Break-even farmgate price | ₱111/kg | Below this you are feeding at a loss. |
| Margin per kilo of gain | ₱61.62 | 35.7% of the selling price. |
| Over the whole grow-out | ₱5,237.70 | 255 kg of feed = ₱9,435. |
Example 2 of 3
The same pig at FCR 3.5 — what half a point costs
Same feed, same price, same pig. The only change is that this one converts at 3.5 instead of 3.0 — the bottom of the band rather than the top. Wasted feed in a muddy trough, scouring after a ration change, a fortnight of heat stress in April.
| Result | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Feed cost per kilo of gain | ₱129.50 | Was ₱111. |
| Break-even farmgate price | ₱129.50/kg | ₱18.50/kg higher. |
| Margin per kilo of gain | ₱43.12 | 24.98% of the selling price. |
| Over the whole grow-out | ₱3,665.20 | ₱1,572.50 less than example 1. |
Half a point of FCR is ₱1,572.50 per pig. On ten pigs that is ₱15,725 a batch — for feeding the same animals the same feed. Nobody thinks of FCR as money, which is precisely why it is the cheapest thing on most farms to improve.
How to use this on your farm
If you do not know your FCR, do not guess it from this page. Work it out from one real batch — total feed in, total weight gained, divide. One batch of honest record-keeping is worth more than any benchmark, and it is the input that moves every number above.Bisaya / Cebuano
Ang FCR dili lang numero. Kung 3.0 ka imbes nga 3.5, ₱1,572.50 ang kalainan matag baboy — parehas ra nga pagkaon, parehas ra nga baboy.
Timbanga ang sako. Ayaw pagbanabana. Ang labing dako nga nawawala kasagaran anaa ra sa kanal nga natapon ug sa pagkaon nga gikaon sa manok.
Example 3 of 3
With the costs people forget — FCR 3.2 plus ₱8/kg of everything else
Feed is roughly 57% of operating cost, not all of it. Medicine, water, transport to the buyer, and the hours somebody spends carrying slop are real, and leaving them out is how a grow-out looks profitable on paper and does not feel it. ₱8 per kilo of gain is a working figure — substitute your own, and if you have never added it up, that is the exercise.
| Result | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Feed cost per kilo of gain | ₱118.40 | FCR 3.2. |
| Everything else | ₱8 | Per kilo of gain. |
| Break-even farmgate price | ₱126.40/kg | The number to compare against the buyer. |
| Margin per kilo of gain | ₱46.22 | 26.78% of the selling price. |
| Over the whole grow-out | ₱3,928.70 | 85 kg of gain. |
The break-even price is the row to write down. At ₱126.40/kg you are working for nothing, and every peso below that is money out of your own pocket to feed somebody else's pork. When a buyer opens with a number, that is the one to compare it against — not the national average, and not what you got last time.
The one input worth double-checking
A sack is 50 kg. ₱1,850 a sack is ₱37 a kilo, and entering ₱1,850 as a per-kilo price makes a kilo of gain cost ₱5,920 — which is absurd, and which a form will accept without comment. That is why the calculator asks which unit rather than guessing from the size of the number: the guess would be right almost always, and the almost is a factor of fifty.