This little piggie went to the market....

[Kittymomma]

Reading thru some of these posts and now I'm confused. Do you guys have to haul your animals to a processor if you don't do it yourself? We do our deer, elk, and soon to be chickens, but have the butcher come out here to do pigs and beef. They bring the truck out and slaughter here, take all the offal with them along with the meat and call us when the cut and wrap is done so we can pick it up. It's nice because the animals never have to go thru the stress of being hauled off the property.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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Oh, dude, you don't need to plow for pigs to eat all the edibles in the ground! They each have a little plow built in to their nose! They'll dig up everything, and root around and clear out darn near all the weeds and roots and everything. They cleared nearly all the undergrowth in that whole wooded area, there's ground clear there we're never seen before. Plus they rooted out almost everything in the open areas, too, so we've got clean, freshly fertilized ground to seed for pasture. Once the pigs are gone, we'll be able to finish cleaning out that lot in no time, and get rid of rubbish left by previous owners, too, now that we can see it. Some people use pigs to clear and dig up the ground, then just drag a rock-rake through to get out the bigger stones and root pieces, before they plant whatever they want. That's our plan, put in a shade tolerant grass in the wooded area, and a good pasture mix in the open part, for a beef calf or 2 next year.

You can also use then to pack down the dirt to get a pond to hold water. We have a spot that once had a pond, way before we bought it, but it doesn't hold water anymore. We're gonna fence it for pigs later, maybe next year, maybe the year after, let them clean it out and pack it down, maybe we'll have a pond then. Can you say "Fish for dinner," boys and girls? Maybe "Duck for dinner", too.

I have a pond but it's really nasty. I would love nothing more to stock it full of perch or walleye if I could... but it may just be the typical pond fish when I get it cleaned out. I have to dredge it bad.

I knew they rooted but didn't know how deep... LOL... So I figured I would help them! They can eat all they want. I want a beef cow too but I have to ease into this big animal thing!

 

[Kim_NC]

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I would love to pasture them but the grass is covered with snow. I have them in my garden at the moment. I have the garden plowed so they can root through the dirt and eat all the roots from the weeds I didn't pull...

The plan is, to have a cleaner garden next year with good compost! Me and my projects... we will see how that one turns up in the spring.

This will work well for you. We give ours the garden space. They root it all up and stir in compost for us, etc.

In answer to your egg question, we feed them hard boiled because they're supposed to be easier to digest if cooked. 7 dozen! Wow, you're generous! Ours never get more than 2-3 eggs each at any given time.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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That is awesome... I wish I could find someone like that around here.

But ya as I know, the only way to process is to do it yourself or to take it to a usda custom butcher.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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I would love to pasture them but the grass is covered with snow. I have them in my garden at the moment. I have the garden plowed so they can root through the dirt and eat all the roots from the weeds I didn't pull...

The plan is, to have a cleaner garden next year with good compost! Me and my projects... we will see how that one turns up in the spring.

This will work well for you. We give ours the garden space. They root it all up and stir in compost for us, etc.

In answer to your egg question, we feed them hard boiled because they're supposed to be easier to digest if cooked. 7 dozen! Wow, you're generous! Ours never get more than 2-3 eggs each at any given time.

Well they get what's broken... If I only get a few broken eggs... they only get a few. But I knew I was getting them so I have been saving them... most of them were frozen so they were like taffy to them.

Hopefully I don't upset their stomachs.... but hey they are pigs...

Ok.. I have to stop typing and go take some pics!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

you will love having them! you might even (gasp) move from poultry to pigs!! its a heck of a lot easier to dress a couple pigs then 100 turkeys
;-)

quick answers:
* Calf Mana - get the regular hog feed but mix in a half a scoop of the calf manna... we really reduced our feed costs. we were totally unconvinced and even had a tense 'discussion' about it in the TSC feed aisle... but it totally worked. for us, for two pigs, we only needed ONE bag of the Calf Manna.. even tho it was $25 the math still worked out. our hog starter is super expensive - something like $15 a bag!!! so it totally saved us. your $7.50 seems about right for the regular - ours may have been a smidge cheaper. after the calf manna was gone we did another week or so with regular feed, then started mixing half and half with corn, then all corn. but the entire time we had goat milk to add some extra protein.

* the egg thing - raw eggs have a protein inhibitor - it wont make them sick but they cant absorb all the food you're giving them! so scramble or hard boil first! i'd just take up the eggs the night before, then set the eggs in the pot to boil for 15 mins (no need to be super picky!), pour off the water, and the next morning throw them at the pigs.. i mean... to the pigs.

* you'll be totally shocked at how strong they are. our hog run has some trees they could rub against. if not they may start scratching on their shelter. our hog hug miraculously stayed together.... and yes! send pix!

* in all seriousness, be very careful. does your gal live with you? someone else there to make sure you make it in at nite?? altho they can be entertaining and funny do not forget for a second they are not pets. and do not believe the people who say they are 'just like dogs.' i have dogs. pigs are not dogs. the easiest way to explain it is this: if i fell down in the yard the dogs would, at first, think i was kidding, but then would come and lay down with me until my hubby got home - then the dogs would show him to where i was crumpled in a heap. if i fell down in the pig run, they would eat me. no lie. they are incredibly strong. the 'dont feed by hand' is a great tip. my man has a stock cane (or an axe handle is good too) and i never went near them without the dog and my even bigger stock cane. last year one of the pigs came up over the hog panels at me - he got the business end of my hickory cane and the fightin' end of both dogs. he was all business and it wasnt funny at all. yikes!

* yep finish on corn. remember that a lot of the feed is soy based which can change the taste. we didnt do any additional additives. they did a lot of rooting around. we fed them apples and tons of pumpkins which is a natural wormer. we gave them everything out of the garden and have a buddy who gave us all the pulp from when he pressed cider. do you have a micro brewery nearby? you could see if they have the spent grains?? a bakery?? next year you can plant beets, turnips etc - especially the stock beets (mangle?? check shumway for seed) for the winter feeding. i seem to recall that potatoes need to be cooked but they were out of season for our pigs.

* as for dressing them! yes you can do it yourself!!! yes you! are you kidding? you did all those turkeys! and when you are ready... i've got a contact for you. i called him The Pig Man in my post but he goes by the handle of Bourbon Red - he did 16 hogs his fall alone. he may be available to teach/consult. i think you said your dad helped you with the turkeys?? you could totally do the pigs. here is the thing - aside from the shootin' i'm pretty sure i could do it. the only thing is that they are big. but, a couple of big guys - no problem. the only special equipment you need, really, is a meat saw and i think BR got his at TSC. otherwise we skinned them with knives from our respective kitchens, hung them in the garage with 'come alongs', and the neighbor kid came and helped up heave them onto the work table we built with 2x6's and saw horses.

and oh.. the liverwurst you'll make!

we just got the hams back and from 2 hogs we had:
78 pounds of hams
40 pounds of bacon
50+ pounds of ground pork and sausage
and then all the chops and loins and ribs
then i made a ton of stock from all the bones. and the lard! dont forget the lard!

are you kidding - you're going to do a GREAT job!

 

[dancingbear]

The first one, Del got the angle wrong or something, and had to shoot like 4 or 5 times to kill him, and he dropped in a really difficult to get spot down in the woods, we had to drag him out with the tractor, it was a mess. The second one, instead of trying to shoot where X marks the spot, like the diagrams all say, he shot behind the ear, toward the center the scull, and Mr. Pig dropped, instantly. That was it. Mr. Pig was right by the gate where it was a lot easier to get him out. Still had to drag him out by tractor, he must've weighed close to 300 lbs., but no climbing through the woods, fighting off the other pigs, etc., to get to him.

Pigs don't normally get upset when you kill off one of their buddies. In fact, they'll often run up and start licking up the blood. But with the 2nd one, one of the females did get upset. I swear, for days, every time one of us went out back, she'd stand by the fence and just stare at us. She seems to be back to normal now, but she's next on the list. If that did really bother her, I don't want to put her through that, again. The other one didn't seem to care at all. And none of them seemed the least alarmed over the first one.

If your pigs are not conditioned to getting in and out of a trailer, you might not be able to load them at all. We tried to sell the 2 females awhile back, but we couldn't get them in the trailer the guy brought. He left it here, and we tried for 3 days. We finally gave up. As you see, we still have the ladies. Until they go join their litter-mates in the freezer, anyway.

BTW, this pork is the best either of us has ever had!

 

[dancingbear]

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Yes, be very careful! Just before we butchered Pig # 2, my English sheepdog, Booferd, somehow got in with them. He was just standing there wagging his tail and grinning his big dopey grin, touched noses with the first pig that approached, then the pig attacked him! He fought back, the pig backed off, meanwhile, as I saw this from the kitchen window, I went running out with no coat, to get to the gate as soon as I could! Booferd was looking very scared, and the pigs were circling him, I got down there yelling, swinging a big stick we keep by the back door, they moved away from him a little, he came to the gate where I was calling him, and I got him out. Scared the bejesus outta me, I thought my poor ol' dog was a goner! Those pigs would've killed him and eaten him, if I hadn't been there to get him out.

When I was a kid, a neighbor woman fell in her pig pen, and before her husband could help her get out, the pigs took a big chunk out of one of her thighs. I've never forgotten that. I do not go into the pig pen with them, if I can avoid it, and since they've gotten big, never when I'm alone. The trough and the water are right by the fence, I tend them from OUTSIDE the fence. PIGS WILL EAT ANYTHING, including you. Knowing this, does, however, make it easier to butcher them. I know that they are not my friends, they are not my pets.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Sorry that took so long... I'm so not a computer person... plus I kept trying to get the camera out of black and white. I'm not gifted when it comes to electronics... that what my younger brother and sister are for. If I ever have a question I just ask them or my girlfriend. Well here they are all snuggled down for the night!

 

[cw]

heres ours

they are a ways from the freezer