Owning Pigs for Butchering

[cw]

i am lookin for a feeder pig as well for are own consumption

 

[Livinzoo]

I raised 2 and they are now in the freezer. I work at a dairy and take home out of date milk for my pigs. I am also raising registered old spots. I will get my male and 2 more females in 2 weeks.

I like to pasture my hogs. They eat lots of things that people don't realize. Leaves, roots, small trees, clover, grass, and hay. All of this vegetation helps make their waste not smell as bad. Plus they spread it for you. Right now mine is on one of the garden spots eating the remains of the crops and fertilizing it for next year.

I use the Premier poultry electric net with a solar powered charger to move my hogs and goats all around the farm. I cliped the bottom 2 leads to prevent grounding out as the pigs do root some. The york/hamps rooted a lot more than my old spot. You will want a wallow for them to cool off and some place that is shielded from the wind and occasional snow down here.

There is a processor in Statham. Good prices but doesn't smoke any meat.

If you need any further help let me know.

 

[cw]

its getting harder and harder to even find piglets in our area

 

[cw]

is there breed that would be easier to find or make a better dressed carcus?
dont they bite once they get older?

 

[SarahFair]

I brought the idea up to my SO and he said he didnt know if he could raise one then send it to butcher. Hes the same way with our chickens

Im still thinking of getting one.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

We have before. Right now we don't have any for butchering. We have a friend who raises lots of pigs and we occasionally get some from him to butcher. We just recently got 2 suckling pigs from him to spit roast. They were 10$ each. We brought them home and butchered them. They were the best I think I have ever eaten too!!

Hogs are easy and pretty cheap to raise for meat IMO not to mention the satisfaction of knowing you have very heatlhy home grown meat to eat. I have never actually kept track of what the price would be to compare to and we do our own processing on all our animals but I know it is well worth it, well worth it.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

we had 'em last year, have them this year and they are fantastic - to eat that is.

i hate them pigs. bad. real bad.

but the meat, bacon, ham, and lard are heavenly and make all the pig badness worth it. check craigslist for feeder pigs. you may be too late for this fall season but i THINK, and depending where you live, there should be another round of litters in the next month or two.

before you dive - and i definitely would! - call around to butcher places for what it costs to dress them.... unless you can do it yourselves (if you can dress a deer you probably have everything you need but its much easier with two big guys). that way you can tell if its worth the $$ for you.

and then check out the feed prices. the pig starter is $17 a bag where i live!! we said no way this year and are using a different recipe and its really working. also we made a lot of friends - with folks who have farm stands and the local orchard owners - and we take all their ugly produce and pulp from cider pressing. and this year we had dairy goats and this has really been a money saver.

in the winter they need shelter but the spring feeders need just the minimal to keep them out of the rain. we raise ours on pasture but the neighbors raise them in a small cement floor shed. so what you need depends on your farming methods.

i say go for it!

 

[Amyable]

Quote:
That depends on the pig. If you handle them a lot and don't allow them to nibble on you when they're young, they can be very friendly. Hungry pigs tend to bite more

In my experience, its the boars (intact males) that are mean. My dad had a breeding sow once, and we used to ride on her as kids.

 

[cw]

Quote:
That depends on the pig. If you handle them a lot and don't allow them to nibble on you when they're young, they can be very friendly. Hungry pigs tend to bite more

In my experience, its the boars (intact males) that are mean. My dad had a breeding sow once, and we used to ride on her as kids.

yea i heard a story from grandpa who used to raise them and he had a scar on his arm where he said one sliced like a tater, or tusked him or somethin.

 

[SarahFair]

Ok so how do I know if its legal to keep pigs on my property. I live on 1.2 acres outside of city limits. People around me have chickens (as do I) and down the road they have horses and cows. I would assume pigs are ok?

Heres an overview of my property
does this look like 1.2 acres? I took the flat and measured what it says according to the measurments on this map.

The red is property lines
Yellow is what we have fenced
Blue is where I want to put pigs

Heres a view from the ground

Each fence post is 8ft apart. I wanted to give them 2 fence posts wide (16ft) and 5 fence posts wide (40ft) in the corner.
This is enough room for two hogs?

If you look at the over view compaired to the ground view Im pretty sure we own that little wooded area. Id REALLY like to fence around that because I read they like woods (but convincing my SO to do this is another story..). Plus alot of it is over grown with briar bushes (will they eat those?)


Will welded wire and fence posts hold them or what should I get?