Keeping Pigs for Meat.. Gotta a few questions.

[Wolf-Kim]

I'm playing with the idea of raising some for the freezer.

How much do young ones go for?

How old before they are sized right for butchering, in the 300lb range I guess? A couple months, a few months, almost a year?

I remember reading a thread stating they cost about $10 each a week to feed, is this typical?

What is the typical range to get them butchered? How much is the kill fee and how much is the making of cuts?

Would cattle/field fence be stury enough to contain one or two?

The closest I've come to dealing with pigs was a friend of mine growing up had a potbelly that got ALL the table scraps and just a little bit of pelleted feed in a trough. LOL. That pretty much concludes my pork education.

LOL. What? This place is so addicting, before long I'll be running my own homestead/farm. Which I wouldn't mind, but the rest of my family may. They don't complain too much as long as they have good food to eat. LOL

-Kim

 

[greyfields]

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They are called weaners. Pricing is HIGHLY regional. I feel lucky if I can find one for $75. Sometimes I see them at auction for $55.

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I shoot for 275-300. The optimal point is closer to 225, but I think they're just getting warmed up by that weight.

They'll be around 6 months of age when ready for market. You generally get them at the 6 week mark as weaners.

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Figure 1000 lbs of feed to get them to market weight. I pay around $16 per 50# bag where I live. In the first few months it seems like they eat hardly anything. They make up for it later.

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I'm not sure what you mean by range.

I pay $0.82/lb to get mine processed under USDA inspection. They hang usually around 200 lbs. Curing for bacon and hams is a nominal charge above that.

If you are not selling it, you can probably find customer cutting & wrapping for under $0.50 per lb.

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Nothing contains a hungry or bored pig. I zap mine early on with hot wires, so I can generally keep them contained using polylrope like for horses. I just have ot make sure they have something to root on and something to eat.

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That's the whoel point of having pigs. Didn't sell that last dozen eggs? Pig food. Forgot to weed the peas and now you can't make heads or tails of them? Pig food. Didn't eat the leftover pie? Pig food. It makes laziness seem like you were just planning a treat for your pigs.

You can't beat pasture raised pork, which had the sun on its back and it's snout in the ground. It's nothign at all like the crap you get at the grocery store.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Greyfields, I am curious about this too. We had planned on getting a couple of pigs this year, but too much other stuff we needed to do first--namely fencing. So pigs are on the list for next spring.

The 1000# you stated they will eat--does this take into consideration all the "slop" you give them.

Also, should you slop them meat? If you were to give alot of leftovers, garden scraps, etc., what would your ratio of slop to feed be.

Thanks, and sorry wolf-kim for highjacking your thread

 

[greyfields]

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My fencing is pathetic. So I turn them out with the cows and sheep so they have all kinds of room to create mayhem, rather than trying to escape all the time.

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No. But, pig feed is very high quality and a complete ration. So 1 lb of garden matter is not the same as 1 lb of pig feed. How much it can save you, it's impossible for me to calculate this early on in my pig raising. I am custom raising two pigs for the largest vegetable garden farmers on the island in exchange for their vegetable culls. I got hundreds of pounds from them last year and my pigs hogged down the island's pumpkin patch (something on the order of 2,000 lbs of pumpkins).


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I do not feed my pigs meat. We separate it all out from the kitchen waste and it goes to the cats instead. As far as ratio, I just watch to see how busy they are. Somedays they only get the compost bucket, goats milk and eggs. Other days when I don't have any of that, they get grain.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

don't know much at all but, friend of mine are raising few hogs for market!

they feed them grain with molases (might be horse grain) the sugar makes them eat more

bought each for $40 & they free range ( I thouht this cutr to see now - they are 4 months & will go to market in August!

that is all I know

 

[Homegroanacres]

Quote:
They are called weaners. Pricing is HIGHLY regional. I feel lucky if I can find one for $75. Sometimes I see them at auction for $55.

Quote:
I shoot for 275-300. The optimal point is closer to 225, but I think they're just getting warmed up by that weight.

They'll be around 6 months of age when ready for market. You generally get them at the 6 week mark as weaners.

Quote:
Figure 1000 lbs of feed to get them to market weight. I pay around $16 per 50# bag where I live. In the first few months it seems like they eat hardly anything. They make up for it later.

Quote:
I'm not sure what you mean by range.

I pay $0.82/lb to get mine processed under USDA inspection. They hang usually around 200 lbs. Curing for bacon and hams is a nominal charge above that.

If you are not selling it, you can probably find customer cutting & wrapping for under $0.50 per lb.

Quote:
Nothing contains a hungry or bored pig. I zap mine early on with hot wires, so I can generally keep them contained using polylrope like for horses. I just have ot make sure they have something to root on and something to eat.

Quote:
That's the whoel point of having pigs. Didn't sell that last dozen eggs? Pig food. Forgot to weed the peas and now you can't make heads or tails of them? Pig food. Didn't eat the leftover pie? Pig food. It makes laziness seem like you were just planning a treat for your pigs.

You can't beat pasture raised pork, which had the sun on its back and it's snout in the ground. It's nothign at all like the crap you get at the grocery store.

GOOD POST!

Weaner pigs are going for $65 around here...I can get by on the feed
cost due to being able to get a large chest freezer full of day old bread,
buns and sweets for $20. When I can I make arrangments with one
of the local pizza places to take their throw away pizza. Which the pigs
love!

Six months old and 200lbs make the best pork IMHO

John

 

[boilerjoe_96]

I am lucky.. I can get them for free... the little 10lb piggies...

I have a 16X40 area for them, field fence/woven wire/cattle fence(all the same). It is 48" with posts 8ft apart.

They are on constant grain(9.50 for 50#'s here) plus I had a couple clover patches pop up behind the barn. I selectively harvest it and throw them a big handful...THEY LOVE IT!!!
I also grow alfalfa and I break off a handful of that and throw it to them every night.

the 640 sq feet is torn up so there is not a lot of pasture for them to munch on anymore(the are 85 - 90 lbs) thus the reason I throw them lots of greens...

They have a ball playing the the water trough and making mud to lay in... Greyfields says 1000 lbs, I have heard 900... so we are in the same ball park..... He(she?) grows his/her a little bigger that is most likely the difference...

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Alright, thanks everyone! I think we may go through with it.

Just a couple more questions. If we were to buy that 100 lb pig offered to us the other day by the farmer for $100, could we just keep it on a more "maintainance" diet? The pig is almost 200 lbs already and we would like to keep it for a few more months. Although according to calculations, it would be about 400 lbs by then (LOL) but we are fine with the larger weight.

Is there a downsize to going to 400 lbs other than a huge critter? Are they less tender or less tastey by then? I know it is the same with chickens, the older they get, the tougher they get..

I'm just playing with my options. If weaners are 65$+ and are only a couple months, it seems like I would have saved some $$$ in the long run by buying a 200lb hog at $100 and save on the feed cost. What do you think? Is this do-able?

I want your input and advice.

-Kim

 

[ksacres]

Or you could just buy the 200 pound pig, feed it another two weeks and take it to be processed.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Yeah, we could do that too. We were hoping to have a pig for our annual pig pickin' in fall. We usually buy a ready to cook pig from the local meat market but we decided to try and go a different route this year and either buy straight from the farm or raise it ourselves. We usually cook about 150 lbs of pork at the BBQ with very little left over. Since he was estimated to grow to 400 lbs by then, we just figured we would cook only part of him and then freeze what we didn't need.

We just thought he would be more fresh slaughtered a few days before the BBQ instead of sitting in the freezer for a few months, you know? I could be very wrong and just not know what I'm talking about. LOL

Do they taste any different slaughtered at that size?

-Kim