Do you keep livestock? Having any problems? Want to talk about it, whether it be sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, bees or llamas, here is your place to discuss.
We are deciding on what animal to have next on our smallholding and i am having a bit of a dilemma i would love a couple of pigs, but am unsure whether they would be alright to house in my garage or should i go for turkeys which i can house with my chickens in the new house i am building for them out of recycled materials (of course)
Hi Maggie,
I guess it depends on your needs and available resources. Are you looking at these forms of livestock for the freezer or would you like them to help contribute to the running of your holding?
What do you already have and what animals would compliment your existing operations?
A turkey would be easier to house if you already have a poultry range, but they can be noisy and rough with smaller birds. You may find you lose some eyes of smaller birds like ducks or chooks. They are good in orchards though, so if you have fruit trees they could be helpful.
Am sure someone else will fill you in on pigs. I'm not sure how much room you have, but a single pig on rotation can be a wonderful part of a self sufficient lifestyle.
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles Schultz
a point to be aware of when keeping chickens with turkeys is blackhead. It's a protozoan parasite of both. Chickens are fairly resistant to it, the turkeys are much more susceptible. If you worm your flock regularly you can keep a check on it though and it shouldn't cause you any problems.
A single pig or two would happily join your goat herd if you have good pens, and would also work well coming in on rotations behind them. They can be great at preparing the soil for planting and then if you briefly run your soft footed goats back over the pen, you have a very good sowing system. But you would need to be sure they are well seperated at birthing time. A pig anywhere near a newborn anything is devastating.
Pigs will also seek out eggs, and naturally hunt out ground nests - so your ducks would need to be secure too.
Pigs take a lot of commitment and time, much more than birds. They have needs and really do demand they are met. Things like regular baths, dietary complaints, company, fresh bedding, toys are very much communicated by pigs. I've heard some people compare them to dogs, and in a way they are like dogs, in that they tend to communicate their needs and are pretty responsive. They will also join a dog pack quite happily, and there are many pigs who live singly who almost insist they are dogs.
Pigs produce much better meat than a turkey (quantity-wise), but then you can prepare and dress a turkey at home, but would need access to butcher with a kill floor for your pig... Do you have that? Transport is another consideration. If you are planning on butchering you would not have the considerations that apply to full grown breeders and this simplifies things a lot.
I have never had a miniature pig, but think they may be a little more available in the UK maybe? They would seem an ideal option for an acreage, but I can't say that for sure... just figure they would be useful without ending up unmanageable.
I have no idea about the requirements in the UK, but I am guessing that a pig would require registration, and the turkey might not? Again, not sure. But might be worth looking into.
Not sure if your goats are milkers or meat goats... but any surplus milk will never be wasted with a pig around. All early Aussie dairies also ran pigs for that reason, as milk fed pigs are always considered the 'best'.
Good luck with it all. I look forward to hearing what you decide and how it works out.
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles Schultz
I'll have to be quick as I just came in to do the playgroup run.
You can keep a pair of pigs on an acre, but you need to be organised in the way you use the land and not have pigs on the land all year. So really, you'd be looking at a couple of weaners to fatten up, giving you four half sides to freeze. Depending on how many in your family, that should be enough for a year - until your next lot are ready.
Ideally, you'd not keep pigs over winter on an acre. You'd kill them going into winter, cure half a pig as bacon and have the other three halves as pork. This also allows the ground to rest over winter, grow stuff over spring and summer and then bring your next pair in to fatten up over the autumn.
Get the weaners in between 10 and 14 weeks, then take them up to between 22 and 26 weeks (depends on breed). Modern commercial breeds will grow faster than this, Tamworths slower. Boars grow faster than gilts, plus they can get boar taint if they get sexually mature so you should kill them closer to 22 weeks.
Make sure you get your fencing, troughs, housing done before the pigs move in. Sounds obvious, but a lot of people don't!
