School me on Raising pigs

[bowfishin fool]

Momma and I think it would be cute/delicious to have a couple pink pigs running around the yard. They will eventually end up as bacon and pan sausage, and the fat will keep us from buying Boston butts next fall.

I have never owned or cared for a pig in my life. Can the braintrust give me a starting point?? Can I buy a piglet and let her run around the yard and dump some feed every couple days for her??


Seems too simple of a plan!


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[AntlerCollector]

They will root up your yard. They stink and are destructive when they get bigger. Better have a good fence too. You can feed them like a dog though. They will also follow you around like a dog when they are young.

[NDN98]

I woulds scrap the idea of having the run around the yard, because you will not have much of a yard left if that is your plan. I would build a pig pen with hog panels with some type of covering where they can get out of the elements. Make sure your t posts are secured deep because they can root those out too.

[Strummer]

I have pigs now . They are delicious. Right now they at a pain . They have rooted my cattle panel fence up . Pulled the t-post out of the ground . Can’t keep them in the pen .


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[tps7742]

Go to Kroger or HEB!! Problem solved. Pigs are to be raised in the back pasture due to the stink and destruction.

[froghunter]

Don’t rent them out.

[Pushbutton2]

Don’t rent them out.

uva uvam vivendo varia fit

[Kbar]

I have done lots of reading up on this over the past several months. There is a lot of information out there on it.
Basically, there are 3 types of pork raisers.
Commercial - this is the volume producers that have "hog farms". The animals are pretty much raised in a 10x10 area or less.
Show Raisers - These are raised under a little more square footage but are primarily raised for exhibition purposes. There are some that are outfall or "culls" to be had from that type of raiser, but from what I have seen the initial investment is along the price point of what heritage animals are.
Heritage Raisers - these are the types of hogs that were initially raised primarily on grazing, rooting, and foraging. They each have their own differences in meat, but in a nutshell, they produce what is considered better tasting table fare and not bland like the commercial or even freshly culled- feed raised pigs.

Rotational grazing was the common denominator in pasture raising any of the breeds. You are gonna have to have a series of pastures or areas to rotate them into and keep their numbers limited in order to avoid the issues of smell and excessive rooting. One article I read told about using your free choice feeder as an indicator of when to move them to the next pasture. It wasn't a lot of feed per animal either because they primarily find their own food and use bagged feed as a supplement only.


Good luck in hat you decide.

[Fishndude]

I pasture raise mine and then feed them pointy sticks.

[glpoe1]

I had three sows many years ago and bred them to the neighbors Duroc boar. I had a Duroc sow, three way sow and a poland China. The three way cross and duroc had the best litters, usually about 10/12 and I raised and sold all except the runts and I kept them a month longer and had them butchered for the family. Some of the best eating you will ever find. I controlled what they ate, only store bought feed, and they did very well. Wormed them often and kept the feed on them. I would start off with pig starter and then what they called grower back then and then a finisher feed. Seriously some of the best chops ever. To keep them from rooting everything up I put a pig staple in their nose and that worked very well. Keep the pen clean and they will be clean. Don't let water stand in the pen and they will not stink (so bad). I loved raising them but when the sows got big (600 - 650) they can be dangerous if your not careful. Do it, but not in your back yard, that would be a really BAD idea, IMHO.

[AntlerCollector]

Don’t rent them out.

Yep, it's best to just let that be known up front.

[AntlerCollector]

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[Hoss163]

Build you a little pen for them with a little shelter for them to get out from the sun and weather get you a automatic water a automatic pig feeder make sure you get two barrows to feed out taste twice as good !

[AntlerCollector]

I pasture raise mine and then feed them pointy sticks.

The white one with black poke-a-dots is almost cute.




Almost.

[Kingfisher789]

What ever you decide make sure the pen is down wind