Any advice for a future pig raiser?

[Allie Grace Sanders]

What breed? How much will two eat? They will be raised in the woods with a fence. They will have over 200x200 ft area. Do they need to have their noses have to be pierced? Please help?!

 

[Kiki]

You may want to join BYC's sister site:
www.backyardherds.com

 

[Athena2344]

What do you mean "noses pierced"?! I'm sorry but if you don't now the simple basics of raising large livestock like pigs, i don't think you should attempt to raise/breed them. More so, you will probably NOT make profit with a single breeding pair of pigs, unless you are doing mini-potbellies. Show quality pigs must be registered and must be on specific feeds to maintain their physique

 

[Kusanar]

What do you mean "noses pierced"?!

They are talking about putting in nose rings for the purpose of keeping them from rooting around and digging stuff up and making big holes everywhere.

 

[Athena2344]

It's been a while since i've heard of the rings sorry, but rooting keeps them occupied, and cool, and if you anchor your fencing then you should be fine. I know a couple of pig breeders, and they never use rings

 

[Mylied]

What breed? How much will two eat? They will be raised in the woods with a fence. They will have over 200x200 ft area. Do they need to have there noses have to be pierced? Please help?!

Depends on what you want them for. Meat? I keep american guinea hogs. They stay smallish, but they take just about forever to get to a good size. Like 18 months. The meat is really good though. And they are docile, easily managed pigs. You want faster meat, get a bigger pig like a yorkshire, hampshire, berkshire. You want to feed less grain and more grazing getting a pasture pig: guinea hog, kunekune, duroc. So let me know what you want the pigs for and I might be able to help you narrow it down.

As for nose rings, if they are in the woods, let them root. No reason to ring them. If you rotate their pasture area you don't need to ring them because they won't have time to dig things up. I personally think pigs are great tillers and fertilizers. Put them somewhere you want a garden, grow them out to butchering size, and bam, you have a ready made garden spot and some pork to go with it. Then next pigs you raise, put them in a different spot.

How much they eat depends on the pigs and how you are raising them, plus what scraps you can give them.

 

[Mylied]

Juilienne pigs are the only true mini pig that I know of and they make great pets if that's what you want pigs for.

 

[Athena2344]

My friend bred Micro potbellies for quite a long time, stayed under 50lbs and were pretty colorful, he had a group of 6 or 7 sows and 1 boar, made $200 easily a piglet.

 

[Mylied]

My friend bred Micro potbellies for quite a long time, stayed under 50lbs and were pretty colorful, he had a group of 6 or 7 sows and 1 boar, made $200 easily a piglet.

I've just not personally seen healthy, under 50 pound potbellies. Some people get them to stay that way by underfeeding them or will only show you parents that are under a year or a year and a half old. Pigs don't stop growing until around 3 years old. Potbellies are supposed to be in the 100-150 pound range. It's just a slippery slope. Your friend might have had small lines and been a good breeder, but it's hard to find a real honest person to get your stock from. All baby pigs are tiny teacup sized. Mine are about the size of a soda can when first born. And the males get closer to 200+ pounds when full grown. I'm just not a fan of breeding potbellies. Especially with all the misinformation and all of them in rescues.

 

[Allie Grace Sanders]

Hello, I need them for meat...