Thinking about getting feeder pigs

[badbowtie]

I am thinking about getting two pigs for freezer meat. I have enough 8 foot high dog kennel fence sections to make a 30' x 50' spot for the pigs. First is that big enough? Also I have seen a couple things but not a whole bunch saying is chain link fence strong enough for two feeder pigs? I am thinking raise till about 250-270 pounds. I would like to hear how many pounds one pig can eat to get up to that weight for a food cost for both pigs to be ready to head to butcher. I am just really wanting to make sure I have all this figured out before I jump in. I also live in southern indiana and not sure can I get them this late in the year to butcher in spring or do I need to wait. I will build a three sided lean to for them to get in cover. Please give me some ideas what I am looking at here before I get in over my head.
Thanks in advance.

 

[marritimer]

I'm thinking the same thing. I've never had pigs before, but have friends who do, and I've been looking on the internet. First question: yup I think that's big enough for 2 pigs, depending on the conditions. They like to have a place sort of seperate to do their business if they're allowed. If you can do this it makes it easier to clean their pen. Chain link fence is heavy enough as long as they don't dig under it. Alot of people use electric. Food cost? Here in New Brunswick, 50 lbs costs on average $17. I think the rule of thumb is 1 lb of food per day per months old. Up to a maximum of 6 lbs per day. Plus treats I say. Plan on buying your pigs in the spring and keeping them 4-6 months. I've seen that they are generally easy to keep as long as they have enough room, are well fed and occupied, and don't escape. Several times my neighbors have had a "lost pig" sign at the end of their driveway. Try chasing and catching a running 150 lb pig! Makes it easier to slaughter.

 

[badbowtie]

So you are saying don't buy know wait till early spring to buy.

 

[marritimer]

I don't know about the winters there, but the extra cost of keeping them over winter here make it too expensive. Depending on how you get them butchered, it generally costs us $2- 2.50/ lb overall when its in the freezer. Awesome taste. I prefer a good homegrown pork steak on the bbq over beef anyday.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

we had our first 2 feeder pigs over this summer...oh MY! What an experience! Can't wait to do it again.

WINTER PIGS:

Our 4H starts pigs again this month and grows them out for a huge state fair in January. We are going to get more experience before we try that. We were told to keep them warm as they will burn a lot of food energy keeping themselves warm through those months.

Good luck!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Easiest livestock I keep. Just make sure you have a bullet proof pen and feed them.. a LOT. I give them a lot of hay, misc weeds that are safe, and eggs I don't freeze use or sell. Plenty of fresh water, they will dump it/root it if you don't spray a mud waller for them in the summer. Hogs love scraps, and lots of back scratches and jowl rubs. They are very smart, so use electric fence or a strong pen. Good quality hog feed of course.
My Roxy, a hereford gilt would scale a 4 ft fence to greet me early in the morning! when she was little, I realized I better make her pen more secure or someone may like her more than I. She was my favorite, and plan to add the breed to our farm again soon. We sold our hogs recently when my Dad had open heart surgery. Had to reduce our livestock to care for him and Mom.

 

[H Diamond]

I've only raised them twice so far, so by no means an expert... We used cattle panel for the fencing, with t-posts set every 8 feet. They stayed in that, but they most definitely dug around the edges. If you use chain link, I would imagine you will need to lay down ties, or set your posts closer together to account for the give of the fence.
We fed our pigs goat and cow milk, so I can't really tell you what they cost me. They also got a show pig feed and milo 50/50, that being said, my BIL just used the milk and straight corn/milo and his did just fine.
We got ours around 40lbs and ending up not butchering the first one until (ugh!) 370lbs, which is WAY TOO BIG. It took us approx 6 months to feed it out that far, so we could have easily butchered at 4.5 months out... I would plan on butchering closer to the 225lb mark... after that the feed to meat conversion ratio does not move in your favor, lol.