Pigs again. Hampshire vs Blue Butt

[MissPrissy]

Anything you can feed them is good. I am hoping my goats will be milking in time to feed them the extra milk. Plus I get leftovers from our food bank with things that won't keep from week to week.

 

[StoneBridge Farm]

Hey Ya'll:

I just got 4 lil' piggies today. They are yorkshire X Duroc. We plan to butcher in the fall. This is our first time with pigs too.

SBF

 

[FarmGirl01]

Yeah. They play around like puppies. Anything on the ground is fair play. I fed dry pig feed. I also gave them anything from the house that was veggie or fruit. They can tear a pumpkin into pieces. Fun to watch. They also like hay, which keeps them busy for hours. They are great to have around. The end product if wonderful. Gena

 

[ksacres]

Blue butts are a cross. I emailed them too, I'm looking for a couple to feed out, I'm waiting to hear back what the other breed is they are using. The blue butts should grow faster with more meat because of hybrid vigor.

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Can't find a 55 gal drum for a feed and water, any other ideas?

almost anything will work for a water.
Different things we have used.....
~plastic kid pools
~little tikes turtle sand box (top is for the Pot bellys, feeder pigs get the bottom)
~Plastic barrels (I have picked up at auto repair shops-used to hold different things, just make sure to wash/ get very clean because of any chemicals that might of been in it)
~plastic landscape ponds (weren't useable for a yard pond because of a crack at top, but works wonderful for the pigs)
~old bathtub (Have for the pigs, sheep and birds-dug into ground of course so they can walk in)
~old sinks work to hold water for the pigs too.

Just some ideas of things I guess....We have/do use everything listed above for water for the pigs(both for drinking and wallowing in-plus mud holes).

Hope some of those ideas help..
Shawna​

 

[sara]

I love the way blue butts look. I must get to the market next week and start looking for 2 or 3 bigs and a steer calf so we can have something to butcher. Every calf we had born last year was a heifer. I finally talked DH into the pigs, he wanted to just buy one ready to butcher, but I like having them from little.

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Quote:
We have a metal feeder for the pigs..(not sure what it was originally- looks like they might of mixed cement in it long ago--but it's a sheet of metal with 2x4's for the side ledges)
anyway....our pigs last year used it, as with the ones for this year.
When smaller they didn't seem to move it to much, but as they got older yeah it would get moved around. Not a big deal for us...Just another excuse for me to go in the pig pen and pet them.

We didn't attach to anything. Just had it sitting on the ground for them.

As for the feed, we had both dry and mash. Mixed together. They also got lots of garden/food scraps.

We never did this, but I have seen/know people who actually have it set up with local resturants to pick up there food waste/extras and they feed to there pigs. Like I said...WE DON'T DO THIS.

Our pigs are also pastured so they have grass and all the room they could possibly need. They are able to go inside the barn (cement floor) which is where I do put there feed. There bedding is also in there. Plus a kiddy swimming pool with water. And they also have another water holder inside for drinking. Because they do go to the bathroom in the pool...ICK!!!!

Then outside they have a huge area with grass, mud wallows, and another pool.

Sometimes I think my animals are a little spoiled!!!!
And yes, all our animals that are set for the freezer do become pets with names, but we know what they are here for. Even our girls (ages 12 and 6) are ok with it. They name the animals, play with them, baby them. But still know the animal is for our freezer.
Shawna

 

[OHbluecoop]

Blue butts are cross bred My son has had both for 4-H- blue butts are definitely calmer. How lean thye are depends on what you feed them. Gilts are generally leaner and finish faster, too.
Be careful about feeding them- we had one get sick when we switched feed.

 

[LoneCowboy]

I was told today not to feed them grass or hay, because it plugs them up. Is that true?

DH forked out the money and got a nice water and feeder. Figures we can sell them on craigslist if we don't like keeping pigs.

He's telling everybody that the pigs are for me, but they're his. He's the bacon addict, not me.

I think blue butts are a hampshire/yorkshire cross.

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Quote:
I don't know about others, but our pigs had plenty of grass and also hay to eat. They were fine. Never had any problems.
But our pigs also had plenty of other food to eat.
If they were to get plugged I know pumpkins work to unplug them

. Ours used to get pumpkins from the garden, plus canned pumpkin and pumpkin filling. They loved it.

When we had our last pigs....Jason was NOT going to attach himself to them. He did NOT want them. Well over the course of time.....He treaded them like they were part of the family. He would pet them, give them belly rubs, talk to them....everything.
And this big tuff guy was not the one who had to load them onto the trailer to go to the butcher either. I had to do it, because he didn't think he could. He thought it would be to hard. And didn't want to see them go. So there I was loading the pigs(who followed me right into the trailer

and waited for there belly rub

). I probably was one of the hardest/saddest things I had to do in reguards to my animals ~next to putting our dog down....

Now we have more pigs...Just waiting for Jason to warm up to them again so this can start all over. Except this time we will beable to keep some as a breeding pair...
Shawna