Hi everyone.
Have finally decided that i can have a couple of piggies on the smallholding, these will be three months old when i buy them. I am going to see them on sunday (as they are just down the road). we are going to have them here for meat.
has anyone got any advice for me, also can anyone tell me what age they have to be when slaughtered.
thanks maggie
i am getting a couple of piggies
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PurpleDragon
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Boots
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Hi Maggie, I raise one pig at a time for meat, but am not familiar with those breeds at all. I think Stoney raises those breeds though, so will PM him this link and am sure he will be able to answer pretty much anything you ask.
I look forward to hearing how you go with them. Pigs are brilliant little characters with loads of personality! Am sure you will get a kick out of having them around.
I look forward to hearing how you go with them. Pigs are brilliant little characters with loads of personality! Am sure you will get a kick out of having them around.
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles Schultz
hi
thanks i will await stoneys wise words
maggie
setting up a blog it is in its early stages but there is a picture of the piglets from which i am getting two off on there for anyone that is interested
my blog address is maggie14413.spaces.live.com
maggie
setting up a blog it is in its early stages but there is a picture of the piglets from which i am getting two off on there for anyone that is interested
my blog address is maggie14413.spaces.live.com
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camillitech
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hi maggie,
thats just how we started and have never looked back
we get hours of pleasure from our piggies and love eating them 
we're on our third lot now and all i can say is don't keep them too long as i'm told they put fat on. keep them dry and give them a good wind proof sturdy shelter let them root, keep regular hours feeding them at least initially or else they will start looking for you and it takes a good fence to keep a determined pig in and most importantly don't get too attached to them! 
good luck paul javascript:emoticon('
')
Crying or Very sad
thats just how we started and have never looked back
we get hours of pleasure from our piggies and love eating them we're on our third lot now and all i can say is don't keep them too long as i'm told they put fat on. keep them dry and give them a good wind proof sturdy shelter let them root, keep regular hours feeding them at least initially or else they will start looking for you and it takes a good fence to keep a determined pig in and most importantly don't get too attached to them! good luck paul javascript:emoticon('
')Crying or Very sad
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red
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anyone had any problems raising weeners? I'm worried about them being a bit.. violent? is this unfounded?
Red
I like like minded people... a bit like minded anyway.. well people with bits of their minds that are like the bits of my mind that I like...
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I like like minded people... a bit like minded anyway.. well people with bits of their minds that are like the bits of my mind that I like...
my website: colour it green
etsy shop
blog
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Boots
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HI Red,
I have read some stuff, but I think it is usually full grown sows that can turn nasty. They suffer PMS, I think...
I have raised Landrace and Great Whites and have never had any signs of violence. The females can get very playful, bounding about and doin high kicks and the like... but the biggest trouble I have ever had is when they get out and decide a seat in front of the TV is a perfectly reasonable idea, or decide they are really dogs and should be able to hang out at the house with the other dogs and run with the pack.
A hungry pig does get a bit forceful, but I still don't think I could refer to them as violent. Oh, hang 5... they can't be let near any birthing animals... as they will devour eggs and have a 'thing' for placentas... They will kill newborn livestock as quick as they arrive... So that's pretty violent...
I have read some stuff, but I think it is usually full grown sows that can turn nasty. They suffer PMS, I think...
I have raised Landrace and Great Whites and have never had any signs of violence. The females can get very playful, bounding about and doin high kicks and the like... but the biggest trouble I have ever had is when they get out and decide a seat in front of the TV is a perfectly reasonable idea, or decide they are really dogs and should be able to hang out at the house with the other dogs and run with the pack.
A hungry pig does get a bit forceful, but I still don't think I could refer to them as violent. Oh, hang 5... they can't be let near any birthing animals... as they will devour eggs and have a 'thing' for placentas... They will kill newborn livestock as quick as they arrive... So that's pretty violent...
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles Schultz
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Boots
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I did PM Stoney, maggie... not sure where he is. Just checked his blog and can't find anything to link to that might be helpful re: piggies. He is still blogging so prolly won't be far away.
Will just see if I can pull up some old posts from here... Hang 5.
Oh heck, there's heaps of info. Just whack PIGS in the search engine up top!
Will just see if I can pull up some old posts from here... Hang 5.
Oh heck, there's heaps of info. Just whack PIGS in the search engine up top!
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles Schultz
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PurpleDragon
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Boots
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Hi PD - You after Red's blog? I got in ok, but there are a couple of unlinked/yet to be filled pages. Were you trying them?
...Just saw Red's notes on Pigs digging as opposed to grazing... Maybe I can add to this afterall...
Again - I can't speak for the breeds that Maggie referred to, but I can comment on raising pigs as ploughs. Pigs will clear their patch if there is not an opportunity for rotation across the ground, but their behaviour can also be really useful. I only raise one at a time.
I try to use all our livestocks natural behaviours as part of our farming practices - in order to avoid the use of fuel driven machinary, really. Right now my donks are 'reseeding' a pen for me as we speak. Raising a pig to plough is really quite easy, but does take a little bit of time and attention. Young pigs will naturally display rooting behaviours, but if they are constantly fed above ground they soon stop.
Here, our pigs will only root to form baths when they get hot, so I teach them to forage from the word go, and can then rotate them behind the goats to plough pens before seeding. The donks then follow to bed down the seed with their hard hooves and the pen can then regrow and be revisited by the soft hooved goats when it is full of feed again.
To teach the pigs, I begin in the small piglet pens by scattering seed/grains through their pen after muck out. This encourages them to eat dirt, and pigs like doing this. Truth is, I don't really think I am teaching them anything - just encouraging natural behaviours that have long since been discouraged. I will also 'hide' corn cobs, spuds, fruit slices, whatever... The pig pen is one of the most productive composts I have actually. This leads to very active pigs, as they spend much of their time hunting, as opposed to waiting for a feed bucket.
By the time they come out of the piglet pen, and are ready for the bigger runs, they are great little ploughs and will begin at the gate of the new run and slowly make their way round and then across the whole pen. We have some pretty harsh soil here, so I water down areas that are particularly bad, which tends to get them going there. I usually continue to seed while they are in there too, and there are always lots of roots left because the goats will eat the feed down and leave them. There are always 3 areas that remain unworked - their bed, bath and toilet, but those areas change each time, so that doesn't worry me. It makes for a real good rotation because I can work them in with the other animals, and that takes a lot of the manual work out for me.
I have also harness trained one young boar and he pulled a small plough, but that really isn't necessary. That was just me experimenting, and they do a better job when left to their own devices, I think.
Personally, I think boars make better ploughs, but that's not based on a lot of experience... just a small sample.
So - Red mentioned looking at putting in an orchard or preparing certain areas... you may find a pig a really useful contributor to your farm when it comes to this - you just have to make sure your fencing is good, because if its not, they will give you a hard time.
But before acting on any of this, I suggest you check in with Stoney re: the breeds. I honestly do not know if those breeds WILL plough... and he would be the best to tell you, I think. I think all pigs like to root, and I imagine it is a natural behaviour of all breeds, but that could be wrong.
Maybe that is helpful... maybe not.
...Just saw Red's notes on Pigs digging as opposed to grazing... Maybe I can add to this afterall...
Again - I can't speak for the breeds that Maggie referred to, but I can comment on raising pigs as ploughs. Pigs will clear their patch if there is not an opportunity for rotation across the ground, but their behaviour can also be really useful. I only raise one at a time.
I try to use all our livestocks natural behaviours as part of our farming practices - in order to avoid the use of fuel driven machinary, really. Right now my donks are 'reseeding' a pen for me as we speak. Raising a pig to plough is really quite easy, but does take a little bit of time and attention. Young pigs will naturally display rooting behaviours, but if they are constantly fed above ground they soon stop.
Here, our pigs will only root to form baths when they get hot, so I teach them to forage from the word go, and can then rotate them behind the goats to plough pens before seeding. The donks then follow to bed down the seed with their hard hooves and the pen can then regrow and be revisited by the soft hooved goats when it is full of feed again.
To teach the pigs, I begin in the small piglet pens by scattering seed/grains through their pen after muck out. This encourages them to eat dirt, and pigs like doing this. Truth is, I don't really think I am teaching them anything - just encouraging natural behaviours that have long since been discouraged. I will also 'hide' corn cobs, spuds, fruit slices, whatever... The pig pen is one of the most productive composts I have actually. This leads to very active pigs, as they spend much of their time hunting, as opposed to waiting for a feed bucket.
By the time they come out of the piglet pen, and are ready for the bigger runs, they are great little ploughs and will begin at the gate of the new run and slowly make their way round and then across the whole pen. We have some pretty harsh soil here, so I water down areas that are particularly bad, which tends to get them going there. I usually continue to seed while they are in there too, and there are always lots of roots left because the goats will eat the feed down and leave them. There are always 3 areas that remain unworked - their bed, bath and toilet, but those areas change each time, so that doesn't worry me. It makes for a real good rotation because I can work them in with the other animals, and that takes a lot of the manual work out for me.
I have also harness trained one young boar and he pulled a small plough, but that really isn't necessary. That was just me experimenting, and they do a better job when left to their own devices, I think.
Personally, I think boars make better ploughs, but that's not based on a lot of experience... just a small sample.
So - Red mentioned looking at putting in an orchard or preparing certain areas... you may find a pig a really useful contributor to your farm when it comes to this - you just have to make sure your fencing is good, because if its not, they will give you a hard time.
But before acting on any of this, I suggest you check in with Stoney re: the breeds. I honestly do not know if those breeds WILL plough... and he would be the best to tell you, I think. I think all pigs like to root, and I imagine it is a natural behaviour of all breeds, but that could be wrong.
Maybe that is helpful... maybe not.
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles Schultz
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PurpleDragon
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farmerdrea
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I don't know if you've already got your pigs or not, but when we raise weaners to eat (always 2 or 3, as the lone pig is lonely indeed, in general), we fence them in an area than we want dug over, preferably one with lots of weeds, tree stumps, etc, as the pigs love getting stuck in and cleaning it up for us!
We use hog netting for fence (square holes instead of the rectangular holes of sheep fence netting), and put adjustable eletric outriggers about 6 inches from the ground. When they're still small, 6 inches is good to keep them away from the fence and teach them about hot fence wires. As they get older, the hotwire goes up, so it's always at about front-og-shoulder height. My husband just makes our outriggers out of black plastic irrigation pipe, which we found by the heaps at this old farm when we moved here. He punches a pair of holes in one end, and bolts with the metal post (t-post with holes in). In the other end he cuts a slit to take the plastic electric electric wire. Really very quick, easy and inexpensive (considering the shop-bought outrigger aren't adjustable don't stick out from the fence far enough to deter pigs and cost a bundle!).
We get ours at 8 weeks old, which seems to be the standard weaning age around here. We keep them for 4 months.
In the middle of winter, I would definitely be sure they have limited range, a very cozy, shed with heaps of straw to burrow into (they like to bury themselves when it's cold, and you will have to feed them extra, or they will not grow very fast, as most of what they eat will be going to keep them warm. They will really appreciate hot food when it's cold; the first lot of pigs we got going into winter one year (which I will not do again, as it cost us twice as much to feed them!), we kept a pot of rolled barley and feed peas simmering on the woodstove, and added it to their twice daily rations.
The last lot we had to put off the homekill butcher by a month because the area where they would have been killed was a mud pit over a foot deep from all the rain we'd had. The butcher couldn't get close enough with his mobile rig, so we had to wait for it to dry out. They were a bit bigger than the butcher liked to process, but we were all pleased that they hadn't put on too much fat (one of the sows was ENORMOUS.... hams for days!). But the meat has been gorgeous.
Now, we're raising our own Kunekune pigs for eating, and we have a pair of breeding animals (who are also pets, as we raised the sow from a week old, and she lived in the house for 2 months, as we got her in mid-winter, and it was too cold for her to go outside... in case you're wondering about a pig in the house, the kunekune is a very small breed, less than half the size of the commercial breeds, some of which are about the size of a miniature horse!!), and she is now a very friendly girl.
Kunekunes are the only true grazing pig; they don't dig up pasture, they just graze. We killed our first 2 boar piglets, 9 months old, did it all ourselves! The meat is sweeter than the other weaners we've done, the meat itself is very lean, even though it's surrounded by mounds of fat (all now rendered down and stored in the freezer till a slower season when I can make some goats' milk soap with it!).
Sorry about blathering on. Have had a little too much coffee this AM, coupled by pouring rain and the desire to cocoon rather than go out and face it and milk the goats, cow and feed the kids.. sigh... this is SUMMER?????
Happy Hew Year
Andrea
NZ
We use hog netting for fence (square holes instead of the rectangular holes of sheep fence netting), and put adjustable eletric outriggers about 6 inches from the ground. When they're still small, 6 inches is good to keep them away from the fence and teach them about hot fence wires. As they get older, the hotwire goes up, so it's always at about front-og-shoulder height. My husband just makes our outriggers out of black plastic irrigation pipe, which we found by the heaps at this old farm when we moved here. He punches a pair of holes in one end, and bolts with the metal post (t-post with holes in). In the other end he cuts a slit to take the plastic electric electric wire. Really very quick, easy and inexpensive (considering the shop-bought outrigger aren't adjustable don't stick out from the fence far enough to deter pigs and cost a bundle!).
We get ours at 8 weeks old, which seems to be the standard weaning age around here. We keep them for 4 months.
In the middle of winter, I would definitely be sure they have limited range, a very cozy, shed with heaps of straw to burrow into (they like to bury themselves when it's cold, and you will have to feed them extra, or they will not grow very fast, as most of what they eat will be going to keep them warm. They will really appreciate hot food when it's cold; the first lot of pigs we got going into winter one year (which I will not do again, as it cost us twice as much to feed them!), we kept a pot of rolled barley and feed peas simmering on the woodstove, and added it to their twice daily rations.
The last lot we had to put off the homekill butcher by a month because the area where they would have been killed was a mud pit over a foot deep from all the rain we'd had. The butcher couldn't get close enough with his mobile rig, so we had to wait for it to dry out. They were a bit bigger than the butcher liked to process, but we were all pleased that they hadn't put on too much fat (one of the sows was ENORMOUS.... hams for days!). But the meat has been gorgeous.
Now, we're raising our own Kunekune pigs for eating, and we have a pair of breeding animals (who are also pets, as we raised the sow from a week old, and she lived in the house for 2 months, as we got her in mid-winter, and it was too cold for her to go outside... in case you're wondering about a pig in the house, the kunekune is a very small breed, less than half the size of the commercial breeds, some of which are about the size of a miniature horse!!), and she is now a very friendly girl.
Kunekunes are the only true grazing pig; they don't dig up pasture, they just graze. We killed our first 2 boar piglets, 9 months old, did it all ourselves! The meat is sweeter than the other weaners we've done, the meat itself is very lean, even though it's surrounded by mounds of fat (all now rendered down and stored in the freezer till a slower season when I can make some goats' milk soap with it!).
Sorry about blathering on. Have had a little too much coffee this AM, coupled by pouring rain and the desire to cocoon rather than go out and face it and milk the goats, cow and feed the kids.. sigh... this is SUMMER?????
Happy Hew Year
Andrea
NZ
Hi all
Can anyone help in answering a couple of questions please?
1) How much bacon (approx!) can one expect from a 100kg pig??
2) How can you weigh a pig????? Maybe a stupid question but I have a weighing thingy that you hang up but it only goes up to 60kg can I actually use two of these and attach a harness to my girls and to both of the scales to get a weight????
Thanks in advance.
Can anyone help in answering a couple of questions please?
1) How much bacon (approx!) can one expect from a 100kg pig??
2) How can you weigh a pig????? Maybe a stupid question but I have a weighing thingy that you hang up but it only goes up to 60kg can I actually use two of these and attach a harness to my girls and to both of the scales to get a weight????
Thanks in advance.