[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Thoughts on Pigs and Pig Raising (Page 2 of 4)
| I have found that raising hogs is a messy endeavor and as many feral hogs as we have running around here, I just shoot the wild ones. It seems that I am feeding them anyway with the deer corn from my feeders. Not as tasty as the home grown due to the feed they receive, but they will eat fine if cooked properly. |
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I haven't had any GOS pork but I hear it's excellent. Quoted:
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~sigh~ this site always ends up costing me money. 
Talking to a breeder about picking up some Gloucestershire Old Spots this spring.  I haven't had any GOS pork but I hear it's excellent. Yup, that's the main reason I zeroed in on GOS' instead of some of the other heritage breeds (plus there's a breeder within reasonable driving distance). Now for some fencing. Looks like you're using standard hog panels, with maybe a hot wire run around down towards the bottom (?).... pretty much what I was planning on. Do you have any problems with rooting under the fence with that setup? Anything you'd do differently with the benefit of hindsight? |
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Now for some fencing. Looks like you're using standard hog panels, with maybe a hot wire run around down towards the bottom (?).... pretty much what I was planning on. Do you have any problems with rooting under the fence with that setup? Anything you'd do differently with the benefit of hindsight? I haven't run a hot wire for several years. That setup works nicely but we get by with just the hog panels. I do use a hot wire at times to section off portions of their grazing area. Will the pigs dig on the fenceline without the hotwire? Yep. I deal with that by filling holes pro-actively befoire they get too deep. I think I only had to fill one hole so far in 2014. In your situation, I'd suggest skipping the hot wire at least until you see how much your GOS like to dig. Talk to the breeder......I don't think GOS are big diggers but I could be wrong on that. A majority of pastured pig people fence only with 2 strands of hot wire. This approach seems to work fine for them. The decision to go this route is largely driven by economics-- 50 hog panels (800 linear feet of fence) will cost about $1200 in panels alone. It's MUCH cheaper to fence with polywire. With that said, it's good to at least have a basic "home pen" enclosed a physical fence--pigs MUST be trained to a hot wire and it's easy to run a strand or two inside the physically fenced area to train them to the wire. Once you settle on a fence strategy you'll need to make dencisions on housing, feeding and watering.
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I haven't run a hot wire for several years. That setup works nicely but we get by with just the hog panels. I do use a hot wire at times to section off portions of their grazing area. Will the pigs dig on the fenceline without the hotwire? Yep. I deal with that by filling holes pro-actively befoire they get too deep. I think I only had to fill one hole so far in 2014. In your situation, I'd suggest skipping the hot wire at least until you see how much your GOS like to dig. Talk to the breeder......I don't think GOS are big diggers but I could be wrong on that. A majority of pastured pig people fence only with 2 strands of hot wire. This approach seems to work fine for them. The decision to go this route is largely driven by economics-- 50 hog panels (800 linear feet of fence) will cost about $1200 in panels alone. It's MUCH cheaper to fence with polywire. With that said, it's good to at least have a basic "home pen" enclosed a physical fence--pigs MUST be trained to a hot wire and it's easy to run a strand or two inside the physically fenced area to train them to the wire. Once you settle on a fence strategy you'll need to make dencisions on housing, feeding and watering.
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Now for some fencing. Looks like you're using standard hog panels, with maybe a hot wire run around down towards the bottom (?).... pretty much what I was planning on. Do you have any problems with rooting under the fence with that setup? Anything you'd do differently with the benefit of hindsight? I haven't run a hot wire for several years. That setup works nicely but we get by with just the hog panels. I do use a hot wire at times to section off portions of their grazing area. Will the pigs dig on the fenceline without the hotwire? Yep. I deal with that by filling holes pro-actively befoire they get too deep. I think I only had to fill one hole so far in 2014. In your situation, I'd suggest skipping the hot wire at least until you see how much your GOS like to dig. Talk to the breeder......I don't think GOS are big diggers but I could be wrong on that. A majority of pastured pig people fence only with 2 strands of hot wire. This approach seems to work fine for them. The decision to go this route is largely driven by economics-- 50 hog panels (800 linear feet of fence) will cost about $1200 in panels alone. It's MUCH cheaper to fence with polywire. With that said, it's good to at least have a basic "home pen" enclosed a physical fence--pigs MUST be trained to a hot wire and it's easy to run a strand or two inside the physically fenced area to train them to the wire. Once you settle on a fence strategy you'll need to make dencisions on housing, feeding and watering.
Yessir, already working on that too. I've raised enough other livestock to learn one of the Golden Rules: everything - everything - needs to be in place and functional before a critter foot or hoof ever hits the ground. Also have to decide exactly where on the property they're gonna go... don't want them upwind in the prevailing wind direction, not too close to the house but not too far away, not in the creek... have 10 acres to work with, but the right combination of conditions can make that pretty small pretty quick. Have you had any problems with predators and piglets? Lotsa coyotes around here. |
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Have you had any problems with predators and piglets? Lotsa coyotes around here. We've been lucky. Our neighbor had one of her dogs torn up by a coyote a couple years ago. Fortunately, we seem to be on the very fringe of their territory as I've never seen a 'yote on our property nor any sign. I was more worried about raptors this summer. We're overrun with them as are most people. I was worried that we'd lose piglets to them but it didn't happen. I think the fact that we have a very active farm dog may have helped, but it could've just been dumb luck. |
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we currently have 6 pigs with 5 going to butcher on Dec.1,
we pay .39 cut and wrap they also pick up the animals for butchering which cost 40.00. We are holding one sow over to AI to see how that goes, pigs were outrageously priced this year when you could find them so we are going to try to raise some on our own instead of buying. |
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We are holding one sow over to AI to see how that goes, pigs were outrageously priced this year when you could find them so we are going to try to raise some on our own instead of buying. Go for it! 
Just remember that it's a nine month process.....so if you want market hogs in Nov/Dec 2015, you need your pigs sucessfully AI'd by end of February or so. Earlier wouldn't hurt. 
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Feral, it seemed like you had mixed results with AI this year. Will you do it again? Did you sell any piglets? Can you say what you got for em if you sold any? We actually had good results with our AI experiment. Both of our gilts got pregnant off of a single round of AI. One litter of 12 (2 died as piglets) and one of 4 piglets (disappointing, but all lived) for a total of 14 small pigs. Sold 2 small pigs to friends for $85 a piece and 2 to strangers for $125 a piece leaving us with ten to grow out. One will be a sow replacement, nine will go for meat. Seven are already sold (repeat buyers mostly) and I'm sure we sell more if we want to (we'll probably want to). So, all in all, things are good....as long as we can survive the cold weather and freezing waters long enough to get them to the butcher. 
If you want to buy a sow, LMK. The one that had 12 piglets is for sale. 
ETA: Will we AI again? Yep, definitely. |
It's 8 PM. Just had a nice dinner of homemade pizza.
Now it's time to feed the market hogs. Either that or wait to the morning and then feed them before work. They're eating 100 pounds of feed a day now and I'm pretty sure their feeder is dry. These hogs are about 150 yards from the house. Which brings me to my point.... I'm getting too old to be toting feed bags that distance every day. If I didn't have machines to help me, I'd hang this project up. It's even ridiculously warm now....don't have to fight the frozen water issue for a few more days. That's my thought for the day on hogs. Now I'm gonna go feed 'em. 
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Luckily I can store my feed in the same building as the hogs. What all is involved in the AI deal. Did you have a vet or tech come out? How did you choose semen & if you don't mind whats the cost for the little swimmys & the AI? I might look at getting an extra female when I get my pigs next spring.
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What all is involved in the AI deal. Did you have a vet or tech come out? How did you choose semen & if you don't mind whats the cost for the little swimmys & the AI? I might look at getting an extra female when I get my pigs next spring. AI isn't too difficult.....just lots of details. We had vet advice regarding vaccinations and the whole procedure in general. I was the AI tech. It's easy to tell when gilts are in estrus but more difficult with sows. In a nutshell, determine when your pigs are in estrus. When that occurs, confine them in some sort of squeeze chute and do the AI procedure. Repeat in 12-24 hours. Wait three weeks to see if they cycle again. If not, you hopefully have impregnated your pig.
There are quite of few purveyors of boar semen. We used Swine Genetics International and they were great. You'll want fresh semen, not frozen, as frozen adds an additional layer of complexity. We asked for "breed designate" semen which meant we'd get the semen from whichever boar they were collecting from that day. (Another way to ask for the same thing that indicates the breed you want is as "terminal Duroc" if you want Duroc, as an example.) If you ask for "breed designate" or "terminal" you will NOT get the semen from the high dollar boars. My suggestion is to read up on the whole procedure. There is plenty of good info on the net. Also keep in mind that getting into breeding commits yopu to year round management of pigs that are considerably larger than market hogs. Larger pigs means higher costs, larger housing, more fencing demands, etc. etc. ETA: Costs? I think we paid about $25 dollars a dose, plus shipping, for doses of terminal Duroc. You need two doses per AI of each pig. |
| I had the hams split & cured, sausage loose in 1lb packs, scrapple in 1lb packs, 4 chops to a pack, loin end roasts, split the shoulder roasts to 5-7 pounds, whole rib racks, 4 quart containers of lard, about 7-8 lbs of backfat & mine & one of my buddies maws cleaned. I also took the bellies fresh as I'll cure my own bacon & maybe a roll of pancetta. My hog was 250lbs HCW & cost $235 for kill, cure, CWF. |
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Can't see much benefit to buying taller panels. Quoted:
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Any reason to buy the taller panels, or will the 34" hog panels work fine? Can't see much benefit to buying taller panels. Thanks. The 34" are $27 per 16' panel. The 48" are quite a bit more. If the shorter panels will work, I'd rather spend less money. |
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These hogs are NOT where they're supposed to be. They are NOT supposed to be visiting the turkeys.
Fortunately, I was away on a hunting trip with #1 son when this occurred. Mrs. Feral and the girl child corraled the hogs and put them back where they're supposed to be.
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These hogs are NOT where they're supposed to be. They are NOT supposed to be visiting the turkeys. Fortunately, I was away on a hunting trip with #1 son when this occurred. Mrs. Feral and the girl child corraled the hogs and put them back where they're supposed to be.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/imagejpg1_zpsca503d6e.jpg Drooling for some pig ear sammiches. |
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How do you like to water your pigs? First choice: Hog nipples on a dedicated water line. Second choice: Large barrel fed drinker (commercial or home built) Third choice: Big plastic tub secured in such a way the hogs can't eff it up I would never, EVER deviate from my first choice if it weren't for sub-zero temperatures. 
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First choice: Hog nipples on a dedicated water line. Second choice: Large barrel fed drinker (commercial or home built) Third choice: Big plastic tub secured in such a way the hogs can't eff it up I would never, EVER deviate from my first choice if it weren't for sub-zero temperatures. Quoted:
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How do you like to water your pigs? First choice: Hog nipples on a dedicated water line. Second choice: Large barrel fed drinker (commercial or home built) Third choice: Big plastic tub secured in such a way the hogs can't eff it up I would never, EVER deviate from my first choice if it weren't for sub-zero temperatures. Thanks. I'm leaning to a nipple waterer. We get very little freezing and is usually not enough to solid pipes. It's just an over night freeze, then back up in temp for the day. I just got my Hog Slat catalog and am looking thought it for a good nipple setup that will work for feeder pigs. |
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We took the first four hogs over to the butcher on Monday night. It was a real rodeo getting this bunch loaded and unloaded.
Hanging weights look nice: 205, 191, 179 and 172. These are the smaller of this year's hogs so it'll be interesting to see what next week's batch weighs in at. Note to self: Never EVER keep pigs into January. |
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The hanging weights on the four hogs we took over this week were 239, 202, 183 and 180.
It would be interesting to check if last weeks weights were statistically different from this week's weights. I think that's basically a chi-square test but I need a brush up on basic statistics before I embark on that.
In any case, our load-in and load-out went much better this week. Hogs walked on the trailer, hogs walked off the trailer. No prod and no rassling. It took literally about two minutes to unload them into the chutes. I can't tell you how pleased by that I am. There's a reason for it too.
The butcher was very complimentary on this batch: "These are very nice hogs. They have a nice fat cap which we rarely see. What breed are they?" Am very pleased and thankfull to have these Winter hogs gone. |
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I'm hopefully moving onto some wooded property in the next year. There are trees up there that put out huge acorns, chicken egg sized. Is this simply a matter of putting up fencing underneath some of these trees and letting a pig or two eat up? Well....probably not. How much acreage can you fence? |
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First choice: Hog nipples on a dedicated water line. Second choice: Large barrel fed drinker (commercial or home built) Third choice: Big plastic tub secured in such a way the hogs can't eff it up I would never, EVER deviate from my first choice if it weren't for sub-zero temperatures. Quoted:
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How do you like to water your pigs? First choice: Hog nipples on a dedicated water line. Second choice: Large barrel fed drinker (commercial or home built) Third choice: Big plastic tub secured in such a way the hogs can't eff it up I would never, EVER deviate from my first choice if it weren't for sub-zero temperatures. How much water do they consume? I have been discussing getting some feeders with a friend and putting them in an old barn foundation in his pasture. The only problem is that we will have to haul water to them in 275 totes. Grove |
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Well....probably not. How much acreage can you fence? Quoted:
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I'm hopefully moving onto some wooded property in the next year. There are trees up there that put out huge acorns, chicken egg sized. Is this simply a matter of putting up fencing underneath some of these trees and letting a pig or two eat up? Well....probably not. How much acreage can you fence? How much should I need for 2 or so piggies? I'll be on ~13 acres but the smaller the better. I can always try to gather the acorns and feed them in buckets? I dont mind adding additional feed like scraps from the store. |
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It's all the rage to finish hogs on acorns in the woods but in reality its not good for the woods. Pigs are hell on a forest & it doesn't just grow back next year like a pasture. Feeding acorns & brush is cool to provide diversity in their diet but shouldn't be a major component of it. I know its done in Europe Serrano hams from Spain for example but I don't think they are pushing them to finish in 4-5 mos. |
This weeks pigs hanging in the kill chute. Can't say I shed a tear on the demise of this bunch.
We got 75 pounds of backfat from these guys. In other words, the butcher had 75 pounds extra fat that he didn't need to use to make the sausages. This is good in the sense that a good fat cap should translate into nicely marbled meat. It's bad in the sense that it tells me I should have taken the pigs to the processor sooner. It's also bad since I sell pigs based on hanging weight and a lot of surplus fat means my buyer's pay a higher price for their meat. Live and learn. And time to render some lard. 
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How much water do they consume? I have been discussing getting some feeders with a friend and putting them in an old barn foundation in his pasture. The only problem is that we will have to haul water to them in 275 totes. Grove In cold weather, I figure a market weight hog needs to consume 2 gallons a day minimum. In hot weather that could push up to 4-6 gallons. But you have to keep in mind that those numbers are what you want your hog to actually drink. So you need to account for how much water the hogs will waste. How much they waste will be dependent on how you deliver them their water. Any kind of vessel that the hogs can overturn is a non-starter. I've had decent success with 55 gallon (?) hard plastic Rubbermade tubs. I don't like softer tubs of equivalent size as the hogs will eat them. Metal barrels with cup drinkers work well but can be fussy with bigger hogs. Hog nipples with a dedicated water supply are the bomb.....but not useful if you are hauling water as they're wasteful. Brower plastic field drinkers are great but they're spendy at about $375 each. They're really nice to pair with a polytote delivery system as they hold 85 gallons and are designed to handle hog abuse. If freezing temps are an issue, that opens a whole new can o' worms. |
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How much should I need for 2 or so piggies? I'll be on ~13 acres but the smaller the better. I can always try to gather the acorns and feed them in buckets? I dont mind adding additional feed like scraps from the store. You don't need huge acreage to raise hogs. I'mn living proof of that as we're raising our hogs on a measly 6 acres.
But....if your goal is turning out some hogs that are "self sufficient" you'll need to increase your acreage by a factor of about.....maybe 20? It's all kinda speculative, but I'll hazard a guess that if you put two piglets on ten acres of heavily tree-cropped land that never saw pigs you could take them to maybe 120 pounds on what's available on the land. beyond that, you're feeding them. I'm not trying to be overly negative here.....just keep in mind that when the native foodstuff runs out your hogs will be hungry....and hungry hogs are destructive hogs. |
| Feral, when do you expect to start your next batch & when would you if you could choose the timing? I may have an opportunity to start some in March which is about 2-3 mos earlier than I've done before. I'm thinking the worst of the cold will be past & I should still be able to get weight on them. |
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We took the first four hogs over to the butcher on Monday night. It was a real rodeo getting this bunch loaded and unloaded. Hanging weights look nice: 205, 191, 179 and 172. These are the smaller of this year's hogs so it'll be interesting to see what next week's batch weighs in at. Note to self: Never EVER keep pigs into January. Pretty sure I pointed that out earlier in the thread? ;) I haven't done hogs since last winter although I might get a couple this spring and do it again. I think if I do it again I will get one of those couple ton self feeders and just let the feed truck bring out mix. |
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This weeks pigs hanging in the kill chute. Can't say I shed a tear on the demise of this bunch. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/imagejpg1_zps7ae4784a.jpg We got 75 pounds of backfat from these guys. In other words, the butcher had 75 pounds extra fat that he didn't need to use to make the sausages. This is good in the sense that a good fat cap should translate into nicely marbled meat. It's bad in the sense that it tells me I should have taken the pigs to the processor sooner. It's also bad since I sell pigs based on hanging weight and a lot of surplus fat means my buyer's pay a higher price for their meat. Live and learn. And time to render some lard. Ukrainians make a salted backfat called "salo". Last time I butchered I used the backfat and made a bunch of it. If you could find a Russian or Ukrainian grocery store in a city near you Im sure they would know someone who would love to buy it off of you. Or have them chip in on feed or something in return for it? |
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A question for you pig folks: Pigs are omnivorous, so how much meat can you feed them? In areas with unrestricted feral hog hunting, could you just dump the carcasses in the pig pen? That would seem to be a good way to offset your feed costs. Feral hogs are a reservoir for LOTS of nasty diseases. I do feed excess muskrat and beaver carcasses to hogs when I can't sell them; used to do it raw but cook them these days. |
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Ukrainians make a salted backfat called "salo". Last time I butchered I used the backfat and made a bunch of it. If you could find a Russian or Ukrainian grocery store in a city near you Im sure they would know someone who would love to buy it off of you. Or have them chip in on feed or something in return for it? Quoted:
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This weeks pigs hanging in the kill chute. Can't say I shed a tear on the demise of this bunch. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/imagejpg1_zps7ae4784a.jpg We got 75 pounds of backfat from these guys. In other words, the butcher had 75 pounds extra fat that he didn't need to use to make the sausages. This is good in the sense that a good fat cap should translate into nicely marbled meat. It's bad in the sense that it tells me I should have taken the pigs to the processor sooner. It's also bad since I sell pigs based on hanging weight and a lot of surplus fat means my buyer's pay a higher price for their meat. Live and learn. And time to render some lard. Ukrainians make a salted backfat called "salo". Last time I butchered I used the backfat and made a bunch of it. If you could find a Russian or Ukrainian grocery store in a city near you Im sure they would know someone who would love to buy it off of you. Or have them chip in on feed or something in return for it? I've got a dozen pounds of fat under cure for lardo which is the Italian version of salo. Technically, I can't sell it as it wasn't processed under USDA inspection. |
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Feral hogs are a reservoir for LOTS of nasty diseases. I do feed excess muskrat and beaver carcasses to hogs when I can't sell them; used to do it raw but cook them these days. Quoted:
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A question for you pig folks: Pigs are omnivorous, so how much meat can you feed them? In areas with unrestricted feral hog hunting, could you just dump the carcasses in the pig pen? That would seem to be a good way to offset your feed costs. Feral hogs are a reservoir for LOTS of nasty diseases. I do feed excess muskrat and beaver carcasses to hogs when I can't sell them; used to do it raw but cook them these days. Yeh, I don't feed meat to my hogs. Besides the illegality of feeding meat scraps to pigs that are for sale, it just doesn't sit right with me. Having done a little experimenting over the years, I don't find that hogs are all that interested in carcasses unless they are particularly hungry. I try not to keep my hogs hungry as hungry hogs are the ones who bust fences.....in addition to being hogs who don't gain weight particularly well. I also have ZERO interest in teaching my sows to eat and like meat. The thought of those bitches becoming hunters just gives me the willies. If they get a taste for meat, they're going to freezer camp lickety split. YMMV. |