Pig questions please

[catsmithpuddin]

A man at my fathers church offered my 13 year old daughter a pig to raise and eat the other day. I am kinda torn on the issue. I could build a pen in a day and go get it but never have had a pig.

any advise on pigs would be appreciated.

BTW my sweet child has decided to name the critter BACON.

 

[jenlynn4]

Just keep in mind that they are smelly, and once you child has it as a pet, you will never be able to kill it!

 

[lasergrl]

Oh it gets easy to butcher them. Once they are big, they stink, they are NOT gentle, often bite, and are a pain to take care of. I usually cant wait.

 

[zatsdeb]

they need a sturdy pen, and lots of water to drink, and we fed our twice a day, in the winter time my DH mixed the pig feed with warm water and made a warm slop, they loved it, my grandson was eating porkchops the other day and I told him that was the pigs we raised, he said oh, yummy! by the time we took ours to the locker it weighed 324 lbs! we didn't think it weighed that much, but was fed lots of corn and slop!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Hotwire to keep pig in pen.

Two pigs will grow faster and better than one.

Pigs are very smart, if kept in a large enough area do not stink but do and will try to take a bite out of anything (chickens, dogs, people - any one who holds still long enough

)


Food names for those who will be invited to the table are great!

 

[math ace]

If your daughter wants a pet pig - - - go with a pot belly pig. I have 2. They eat less than a dog - - - My girls eat 1 cup of pot belly pig food a day. They are clean and DO NOT STINK - - - - if you give them enough room. Mine use a kiddie pool to get in and cool off with. There are no muddy stinky areas.

POT BELLY PIGS:

Cheap to feed

Good low maintenance pets

No nasty smells.

Say NO to the domestic pig, UNLESS you REALLY REALLY REALLY want to harvest and eat it !!!

 

[arabianequine]

My pigs use the bathroom in a certain corner every-time....they don't smell that bad. They are pretty clean animals really. Now my cow those are grosse dirty animals they stand and go where ever in there food in there bed etc. and they stink.



The only reason for two pigs to raise for meat is competition over food. I raised one last year and the year before and one each time they did great and were butchered by winter.

I did not use hot wire either.....I used hog panels....you could burry them down about 6 inches cause they like to root.

Also they love water and can't sweat so make sure you have a sprinkle going or make a pond in the middle of its area and fill it up daily in the hot weather. We would hose the pigs down daily but where we live gets really warm in the summer they loved it.

Use a wormer on a pig like you would most animals but don't use it a month or so before butchering it should say on the instructions of what you use. We use Wazine 17.

My pigs loved bread and milk, fruits, veggies. You need to feed it starter, then grower and then finisher the last month or so. I would also give cracked corn and grain on occasion for a treat in addition too the grower.

You can feed them about anything....find cheap feed screenings of peas, wheat, corn etc. from the farm harvesters or at the mills....maybe where they sell seed.

They really like to play.....I put old tire, balls, buckets, old shoes, freebie, feed bags, old piece of garden hose etc.

Oh and the bacon and sausage are to die for and you freezer will be nice and full....you might want two pigs though so you have enough pig for a year.

Good luck with your new pig!