Teach me about pigs

[tomstractorsandtoys]

We have a slot at a butcher shop in March for a steer and a pig. I would like to grow my own pig this year.I have never been around hogs and not sure where to start. I want to buy one or two feeder pigs and feed them out. We have ear corn,shelled corn and oats here on the farm and our own grinder mixer. Plan on raising them in a box stall under the old dairy barn. Plan on buying a couple of crossbred bottle calves as well to add to my feeder calves next spring. When should I buy one to have it big enough to butcher the beginning of March? Will most likely get two as no animal likes to be raised alone.Last year the butcher shop supplied the pig and the flavor was nothing great(a guess it was from a confinement barn?). Thanks Tom

 

[caterpillar guy]

About thanksgiving to Christmas or there abouts. Should go from a feeder to slaughter in about 2 1/2-3 months. From my understanding.

 

[flying belgian]

It takes about 4 months to get a pig from 50 lbs. to 250 lbs. If you feed them just your oats and corn (either ear or shelled) it will take longer. If you feed a balanced protein supplement it will take less time. You will notice a definite difference in the taste of meat coming from a barn without a pit below.

 

[flying belgian]

I should add, I always do the same as you plan. I buy a couple in Nov. when I am done with field work. Feed them through winter and butcher them in April. But I like to get mine around 300 lbs. or more. I like the pork chops to cover the whole dinner plate.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Always remember, you have to be smarter than the pig. First thing I was told back when I was a sprout. My Grandpa wasn't kiddin'.

Mike

 

[4520BW]

The bottle calves will take alot longer and more feed than a beef cow..

 

[Gtidwell]

We raise market barrow show pigs. My daughter got 2nd in her class at Houston her senior year. A good age for butcher pig is 6 months old. I have fed some up in the past in 4 months. That is pushing a pig with high protein feed. I would feed the feed you have available but add in some grower protein pellets. Since you want to grow to eat, do not feed the pig any feed with payless supplement in it. Some of the show rations have it in it. This will have to be cleaned out of pigs system. To feed out to butcher, I would purchase a cross breed. Blue butts will grow and put on weight real good. If you want to know more just email me sir. I will be glad to help you. We raise two to four every year.

 

[JDIH]

6 months from farrow to finish has been my experience. Make sure you have a GOOD pen set up. Pigs are smart and strong so if they realize the can get out, good luck keeping them in. Their feed needs to be ground much finer than for cattle. I agree with the other posters about getting a supplement to mix in the feed. Your local feed mill should be able to fix you up with that. I say try it once, it's only a few month commitment

 

[Charlie M]

You want to make sure where you house them they can't get their nose under stuff - they will tear it up eventually. You really don't want them access to a stone foundation either if you have one.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Give em some pasture

 

[Straw Boss]

All I know about raising hogs is they can make a preacher cuss like a sailor.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

Rule #1. Don't have just one pig. Have at least two. They will compete with each other for food and fatten faster.
Rule #2. You can't fatten a pig on wheat, or oats, it takes corn, period.
Rule #3. My Grandfather paid the mortgage on our farms off with pigs. As soon as the farms were paid for, in 1914, he said: "No more pigs."

 

[showcrop]

Don't put them under the barn if it is a stone foundation. When you need to get them to go somewhere like up a trailer ramp you put a bucket over its head and it will back up and you steer it with the bucket. Soy pellets will fatten them up.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Why not put them in a barn with a stone
foundation? I raised hundreds and hundreds of pigs
in a old dairy barn with stone walls.

 

[WAYNE-N-TEXAS]

Around here sit on the porch and kill any size you want and pick ant color you want. Don't have to make a pen or feed them. Most people will let you sit on their porch if you talk just right.

 

[MJMJ]

Calves wont be ready to go until 14-20 months old, plus or minus a couple months. Genetics and feed can vary a lot. But I would aim for having them ready at around 16 months. If you dont already have one on feed now, forget the bottle calf idea for you March appointment and buy a feeder soon.

 

[Hooked180]

No taste difference between confinement hogs and pasture fed hogs if you feed them a balanced diet. 40 pound feeder pig should be ready to butcher in 4months. ,Depending on what carcass WEIGHT you want or how big you want the cuts.Use lean cuts for your ground pork,(delish).barrows won't be as lean as gilts .your choice. Barrows will grow faster.Have fun!

 

[Traditional Farmer]

That is the way to raise them for the best tasting meat.

 

[Tony in SD]

They are pigs. They will eat a lot. They will drink a lot. Most important, don't chase them when they get out. Rattle the feed pail instead.

 

[David G]

That works with cattle too, make sure and rattle the feed can every time they get fed, they will follow the guy with the bucket.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 18:12:42 07/15/20) Why not put them in a barn with a stone
foundation? I raised hundreds and hundreds of pigs
in a old dairy barn with stone walls.

Bruce, your barn's stone foundation is apparently a lot better built than mine. Maybe it is the shape of the stones. I had twenty feet rebuilt when we bought the place, Ten feet had been redone in a rough manner before. There are many stones that a pig could move and then the next winter's frost could move one above. and then the next and so on.

 

[farmallboy15]

It takes about 5 months from 50lb feeder pig to 250lb at market. Where do you live? Butchering in March would have you raising hogs through the dead of winter. We got ours April 1st and still had some cold days (20-30's). They did not do real great in it. If you are doing it for higher quality meat go for it. But if you are trying to save money by raising your own, that is a losing proposition vs buying a fat hog at the livestock markets / auction prices.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Plus if the pigs are raised during the Summer/Fall any excess garden produce,sweet corn cobs,etc, etc can be fed to the hogs makes for good meat and lowers feeding costs.Hogs are a good 'food bank'.

 

[miangus]

They taste good, but you knew that. Dad kept about 20 hamps when I was growing up. Sometimes we fattened them out, sometimes we sold feeders, and the corn. That was the ear corn era, but we had an Ottawa sheller, all the feed was ground at the local elevator, I was pretty handy with a shovel. Sometimes if I was lucky I might get a nickel for a coke. Buy the best electric fencer you can afford, the 50 mile low impedance.

 

[ss55]

Unless you are looking for a hobby project and don't care about your costs, I would check your local hog prices and the futures price for next March before making much of an investment.

With the reduced capacity at packing plants, local finished hog prices here in SE MN are now down around $30/cwt, $0.30/Lb, sometimes less. If you have to buy corn, soybean meal, feed supplements and install new fencing it might cost more to feed several hogs than to buy one already finished next March. Figure 3 pounds of feed minimum for each pound of gain. If you raise several together, can you find a market for the extra animals? Hopefully the situation will be better in nine months, but I suspect the company owned animals will still have priority at the packing plants then too.

On the positive side, the price of feeder pigs are pretty low right now.

 

[Turkeyfoot]

We always butchered our own and they were raised on pasture. Duroc and Hampshire, mostly. I think the breed can have more to do with flavor than where they were raised. I don't buy commercial pork, but I've been told they don't have as much fat as the traditional breeds. Also, I'd try to make sure that the butcher is going to scald and scrape the hog and not skin it. I'd never heard of skinning a hog until a friend of mine bought a hog for a pig roast and he went and picked it up and it was skinned. Terrible waste. Made me wonder what the processor did with the skin.

 

[MT_Miller]

Thanks for the info!

Regarding Rule #3: Why no more pigs after the mortgage was paid off?