Whether you want well tasting pork , healthier pork barrel , less expensive crop pork or more food for thought security , growing your own piglets from weaning to thrashing is a neat way to have it all . Pigs were initially temporary resident on our farm , arriving in spring after weaning and then going to the processor in the fall before the eatage were barren . We started with two Tamworth barrow ( castrated males ) in 2004 and bring up them for about six months . After having one bit of our homegrown porc , wecouldn’t go back to storage - bought . We ’ve been call forth our own porc ever since .
Weraise our slovenly person outdoorsso they can soak up sunshine , feed grass and root around and act like bull . I ca n’t suppose not having our own homegrown pork barrel to exhaust . But I can infer that not everyone wants the class - round committal of becoming a hog breeder . What can you do if you want the delicious gustation of your own pork but do n’t require to become a hog breeder ? you’re able to grease one’s palms a pair of shote at weaning and raise them for six months to a year , depend upon the breed and how much pork you need , and then ride them to the meat locker for processing . Two or three week later , you pick up your ham actor , 1st Baron Verulam , sausage and other delicacies .
Before you get slob , however , insure for a custom nitty-gritty locker in your area that can action the pig for you . Unfortunately , custom nub processors have been vanish . If one does not exist in your area and you still require to raise slovenly person , you must be prepared to take on the caper of butchering .
Fencing & Housing
To nurture pigs , you require appropriate fencing and housing . The caparison is light enough , as they need only a property to get out of the wind and snow or pelting . Three - sided shelter work great , either stationary or mobile .
fencing material can be tricksy with pigs . They can tear through welded conducting wire , as we discover after only a brace of twelvemonth . They can scoop their nose under woven wire and lift it off the priming and squeeze themselves underneath it . This is why fixed pig panels are popular .
If you have only a couple of pigs , you could get four Sus scrofa panels , join them at the corners with carabiner clips and move them through the lea . bond a tarpaulin across the top for shade . you could also get impermanent electric hog net . pig respectelectric fencingonce they ’ve been shocked a sentence or two .
Choosing Your pigs
Now that you know you may turn the pigs into ham and bacon , and you may keep them fenced in , it ’s time to choose your pigs . First , decide what breed you want to raise . I ’m fond toheritage breedsbecause they do well on pasture . Modern breeds have been breed to have less juicy , so some of them might not do as well raised outside because they have less insulation .
Also know that pink pig get sunburned if they do n’t have plenty of shade . We love ourAmerican Guinea Hogsbecause they are smaller than most pigs , reaching about 300 pounds mature weight and only about 200 by the sentence they go to slaughter . KuneKuneis another small breed popular among homesteaders that does well on pasture .
Hanging exercising weight , which is the weight after the animal has been disemboweled after thrashing and perhaps skinned , is usually 50 to 60 percent of the live weight . Although other animals are always peel before being matter , some processor scald grunter rather than skin them , so in those cause , the hang weight unit is a little more .
Our Guinea Hogs unremarkably reach 75 to 125 pound at 12 to 18 month of age , which is when we commonly send them to the locker . However , if you want more porc from fewer animals — or if you want a curt meter loyalty — the large breeds finish in about six months . When we raised Tamworths , they normally accomplish about 200 hammer hanging exercising weight by 7 to 8 months of age .
If you are not restrain by the idea of a 400 - pound live animal at finish , then a Tamworth , Large Black , Red WattleorGloucestershire Old Spotmight be a undecomposed choice for you . Purebred breeding pigs are cross-file with breed associations , which have stock breeder ’s directories online as well as description of their pig . Some of the rare breeds are voiceless to regain in some areas , but younever know whether you ’ll get lucky and find someone near you raise the exact stock you want .
Like most animals , a pig is happier when it has a friend , so you should buy at least two . If you do n’t think your family can consume that much pork in a yr , perhaps you may find a friend or neighbor concerned in buy the pork from the other pig . However , you might be surprised how fast you will go through your pork when it ’s just sitting in your Deepfreeze waiting to be wipe out .
Bringing ’em Home
A twosome of pig at ablactation can well fit into a large dog crateful . However , you probably do n’t need them in the back of your minivan or SUV . We did n’t own a pickup motortruck when we corrupt our first two feeder pigs , and I ’ll never blank out that 90 - second drive nursing home .
We had transport butt , sheep and joker , among other animate being , in the back of our family minivan , so I assumed transporting pig bed would be no different . Although pigs on pastureland really do n’t stink , they do emit quite a barbed scent when restrain inside an automobile . Shortly after that , we bought a pickup arm truck , and all future piglets were enthral in a large dog crate on the back of the pickup .
Once you get your new squealer home , be trusted to have someone assist you sway the frankfurter crateful to the surface area where the pigs will know . This manner , you could only start the crate door and let them arrive out when they are ready .
shote do not like to be concur , and I will never leave the olfactory modality of hog urine on my son and me as we try out to take our first pigs out of the frump crate and contain them to their pasture . Most piglets wo n’t do that , but you plausibly do n’t require to risk it .
Feeding
While pigs ca n’t feed quite everything , they are omnivore and can eat most foods — and lots of it . Although you’re able to give themkitchen scraps , do n’t give them anything that you would n’t eat yourself , such as moldy nutrient or falsify intellectual nourishment that has been model out for several hours , which could make them nauseated . Even though they use up almost anything you put in front of them , that does n’t signify whatever you give them will make them grow big and salubrious .
It would be promiscuous to simply say you may bribe a gross agriculturist pig ration at your local farm - provision store and permit the pig eat as much as they desire . Maybe that will work for you , but it produced pigs that had way too much fat for our gustatory perception , probably because we have inheritance copper , which tend to be leisurely - custodian .
Pigs need only about 5 percent of their body exercising weight in nutrient daily . If you give them more than that , it shouldbe solid food that are n’t overly mellow in carbohydrates . Pigs on pasture can certainly eat as much grass as they want , as well as acorns and whatever else they can forage . Before you bulge weighing your pig ’ feed , however , keep in mind that if a pig set about to get plainly heavy , you may make out back on feed . If it take care too thin , you’re able to feed more .
If you have nut trees on your property , you’re able to have mast - complete pork . We usually design to have pigs process in November after they have eat up lots of acorns and hickory screwball in October . You need n’t shell the nuts for the pigs . They do a fine job themselves . In fact , our pigs clean up our drive for us . For yearsI worried that someone would take a nasty fall walking in our drive in October when it ’s covered with acorn . Now , we put the pigs out there with impermanent electric fencing material , and they clean up all the acorns for us . Mast - finished pork is an expensive diplomacy in many areas , and we get it for nothing extra .
Local brewery will often let you take away theirspent brew grain . This benefits the brewery , too , because otherwise they would have to pay someone to drag it aside . About 20 percent of your cop ’ diet can consist of thespent brew grain . Although some people pick up day - old bakery goodness , I do n’t urge it because it can lead toobese and unhealthy hogs , just as it can with humans .
If you have dairy farm cows or Capricorn the Goat , you may give spare milk andwheyto Sus scrofa . In fact , we originally bought pigs to deplete the whey go out over from our cheese devising . If you give it to them in a genus Pan , they will entomb their snout in it and not come up for breeze until the cooking pan is empty . you’re able to also commix it into their feed .
Pigs need never-ending access to piss . However , pigs wish to play in piddle , so putting a pan of weewee on the grounddoesn’t work for long because they lift it with their snoutand wind it over . A pail clipped on the fence might betoo high for them to reach . Basically , you need to have a water trough brusk enough for them to reach the water but big and heavy enough that they ca n’t tip it over .
Trailer Tips
Our first attempt at raising a couple of feeder pigs was fairly uneventful , but trying to lade them onto the drone almost turned us off from ever attempt to raise pigs again . Not only did the pig not easy stretch up on the trailer , they escaped and run all over our G for almost an hour before we capture them . We ’ve since contrive a scheme to make lading pigs promiscuous . A calendar week or two before we take pigs to the locker , we back up the poke to the gate of the pasturage or we park the trailer in the pasture . We spread out the poke so the pigs can walk inside and check it out whenever it feel safe enough . Then we start feeding them in there . When drubbing day arrives , we put their intellectual nourishment in the trailer and shut the door when they go inside .
Pigs were the first animals I brought to our farm specifically for their inwardness , and pork is now my preferent meat . We might not always breed hogs , but I ca n’t imagine not develop our own pork . Having a duo of hog as temporary resident physician on your farm is a heavy elbow room to provide your family with healthier and tastier pork .
Pork Parts
Here are the cuts of core , from snout to tail :
Fat Back , Leaf Fat and Other Fat : fork out for lardFeet : can be cook in a soup or pickledHam : roasts or steaks from the back leg , can be cooked fresh or smokedHead : can be used for headcheeseJowls : can be used fresh or cured or admit in your ground meatLiver : can be cook like calf liverLoin : can be turned into chop , roast or smoke for Canadian baconNeck Bones : can be used in stewsShoulder : Boston can and picnic roast ; can be cooked new or smoked ; should be easy - wangle until tenderSide porc : can be sliced and fry fresh or smoked for baconSkin : can be used for homemade pork barrel rind collation by broil or frying strip of skinSpare Ribs : often marinated and barbecued
This story primitively seem in the January / February 2019 result ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
