Posted: 9/8/2009 9:01:56 AM EDT
| CAn it be done? I would like 2 hogs but don't want to take on an added burden of growing more food for them. I have 32 chickens and 7 turkeys that free range on their own just fine. |
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The issue will be keeping them fenced in. From my experience pigs quickly eat themselves out of house and home, so a large enough enclosure will be necessary, but the problem with that is that pigs require a stout, escape-proof fence.
We used to enclose them in an area about 100'x150', and 3 pigs would have that area all rooted to hell in short order. |
| From what I understand, Large Black(breed name) pigs are NOT rooters and can sustain themselves on grass alone much like cattle. If you're looking to free range pigs, I'd consider looking into this breed first. I've had hampshires, blue butts and durocs and they will all root your place to hell if you don't keep them well fed. |
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From what I understand, Large Black(breed name) pigs are NOT rooters and can sustain themselves on grass alone much like cattle. If you're looking to free range pigs, I'd consider looking into this breed first. I've had hampshires, blue butts and durocs and they will all root your place to hell if you don't keep them well fed. I'm considering getting into Large Blacks on fenced pasture.......going to a conference on that in October. We'll see how it goes. As far as free ranging goes......I'd worry about two things: loss and liability. "Loss" is not just the possibility of losing a hog, but also the possibility that the hogs will cause you losses. Hogs and a vegetable garden are an ugly combination. Hogs and your neighbor's vegetable garden are an even uglier combination. "Liability" is another issue. Your free ranging hog gets on a roadway and gets involved in an injury MVA and you'll get to find out how good your homeowner's insurance is. (And standard homeowner's policies don't cover losses caused by livestock.) What's wrong with just pen raising them? ETA: I reread your post and see where you're coming from with respect to the feed issue. Despite that, I'd still be leary of free ranging for the reasons I mentioned. |
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hogs don't live on grass.
I mean, they can, but they don't do well. Hogs need protein and a lot of it they like vegatables, and protein. They are omnivores, they will eat anything (including free range chickens), but you want them to grow quickly and be gone. Get with your local restaurants and bakeries, take their "throw aways". They all have them, but pigs will do wonders on that stuff and cut your feed bill significantly. You should still think of anything as supplements to their main food. The cost of food isn't everything, the quality is. There's a comparison in last year's pigs thread about Feral buying the cheap mash and me buying the expensive Purina Chow. The overall cost was very similar because Feral used a lot more food. |
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when I said free ranging, I meant inside a large fenced orchard. large enough so that they probably won't realize they are captive. I think my biggest concern in that scenario would be pesticides. How do you keep your hogs from being "toxin accumulators"? Even if you have a catch pen where you keep them while you spray, they'll still be eating all your low-hanging and dropped fruit. Otherwise, it sounds feasible. They'll probably kill some trees, but probably not many (though I wouldn't trust them around very young trees.) Fencing will be another issue......won't be cheap. Interesting idea though. I'd definitely run it by the swine experts at your local extension. They may nave valuable input. |
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Hogs also like to rub on trees and chew the bark so if you let them range in your orchard you can expect your fruit trees to be dead in a couple years. It would depend on how large your space is but I assume you have somewhat limited space.
Back to the story of Hogs being omnivores, my Grandfather and Uncle used to run a feeder pig farm and during deer season a guy shot a doe and the doe managed to run into the hog lot with the sows and boar. The hunter didn't find the doe at night and came back the next morning. The hogs had pretty much eaten that deer and from what I heard it was kind of a scarry sight to see those hogs eating that meat and blood everywhere. I gave them grief for not getting pics but they said they were more concerned with getting the deer out of there. I love pork but if you don't have a place to raise one properly I would see if you can find a hog farm and ask what it would cost to buy a hog or two as they might be able to give you a decent price direct. I know my Grandfather used to sell individual hogs that people would then take to the butcher or cook whole on a spit. |
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when I said free ranging, I meant inside a large fenced orchard. large enough so that they probably won't realize they are captive. I think my biggest concern in that scenario would be pesticides. How do you keep your hogs from being "toxin accumulators"? Even if you have a catch pen where you keep them while you spray, they'll still be eating all your low-hanging and dropped fruit. Otherwise, it sounds feasible. They'll probably kill some trees, but probably not many (though I wouldn't trust them around very young trees.) Fencing will be another issue......won't be cheap. Interesting idea though. I'd definitely run it by the swine experts at your local extension. They may nave valuable input. feral, thanks....I saw a write up on integrated pest management using hogs in apple orchards instead of spraying. the fallen apples containing coddling moth and other nasties are eaten by the hogs, which stops their life cycles, so hogs replace pesticides for this, and provide a service by removing fallen apples from the orchard floor, also preventing yellow jackets and keeping deer without a reason to jump the fence. I don't spray and I don't put chemicals in my beehives either, so we try to keep chemicals out of our operation. |
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feral, thanks....I saw a write up on integrated pest management using hogs in apple orchards instead of spraying. the fallen apples containing coddling moth and other nasties are eaten by the hogs, which stops their life cycles, so hogs replace pesticides for this, and provide a service by removing fallen apples from the orchard floor, also preventing yellow jackets and keeping deer without a reason to jump the fence. I don't spray and I don't put chemicals in my beehives either, so we try to keep chemicals out of our operation. I think it will be REALLY cool if you can work hogs in as part of your IPM plan. I spent some time last week talking with a guy who manages a commercial orchard. Their spraying schedule is daunting and the paperwork they have to keep on it is even worse. 
If you can bring it off, more power to ya. 
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If you can fence a large enough area, with suitable food sources inside, you MAY do well.
There's a guy down in SW Va, former Prof at VA Tech, who has a couple hundred acres fenced into a number of heavily wooded sections. Finishes them on acorns. Some sort of fancy process and name for the hams he produces, but bottom line is he has created a system to provide a very high end product for a niche market and it works for him. Also a guy in NE that pastures his hogs for a good portion of their needs. |
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Quoted:
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From what I understand, Large Black(breed name) pigs are NOT rooters and can sustain themselves on grass alone much like cattle. If you're looking to free range pigs, I'd consider looking into this breed first. I've had hampshires, blue butts and durocs and they will all root your place to hell if you don't keep them well fed. I'm considering getting into Large Blacks on fenced pasture.......going to a conference on that in October. We'll see how it goes. As far as free ranging goes......I'd worry about two things: loss and liability. "Loss" is not just the possibility of losing a hog, but also the possibility that the hogs will cause you losses. Hogs and a vegetable garden are an ugly combination. Hogs and your neighbor's vegetable garden are an even uglier combination. "Liability" is another issue. Your free ranging hog gets on a roadway and gets involved in an injury MVA and you'll get to find out how good your homeowner's insurance is. (And standard homeowner's policies don't cover losses caused by livestock.) What's wrong with just pen raising them? ETA: I reread your post and see where you're coming from with respect to the feed issue. Despite that, I'd still be leary of free ranging for the reasons I mentioned. There is a very old Texas expression called getting "griced" –– a "grice" is an old English or Irish word for pig, and when your pig decides to root up your garden to the point of looking like you suffered an artillery barrage and does so in absolute silence at 0300, leaving you to discover in the morning, that's called "getting griced". It's a verb that is probably 500 years old. This is not a new issue. Fences can keep hogs in or out. But if they are out, everyone else better have good fences too. Also, you won't have too many turkeys or chickens left once the pigs figure out how to snack on them. |