Bringing home the bacon?

Duckfarmerpa1

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So today the hubby wanted to surprise me with my Christmas present by taking me to a livestock auction, but we got 8” of snow, and we figured most people wouldn’t want to bring trailers out. I want two mini pigs. I already have two adorable pots. He wants a feeder pig. I run our farm...meaning. I do all the work. I told him he can get his pig as long as I get mine too. So that’s why we were going to the auction. Anyways, with the bad roads we hit the internet instead and found the guy who runs another auction house and has a farm. He’s selling feeder pigs! Guess where we went?! It was a fun drive on bad roads with lots of dogs and farm talk. My hubby and I love to go on these adventures. When we got there...Lloyd (the farmer) had a bunch of old milk trucks .....Chris..my husband..collects trucks..snd Milk trucks. His eyes lit up...but they turned out to be filled with junk and/or chickens...:lol: So, we moved on to the pigs. I think, they were Yorkshire? He had two types..the others were white with ears curled back. Our guy is black with some whit on his black...no pictures yet. Maybe when you see them you all can tell me if I got his breed right? It doesn’t matter... but I’m curious. I thought we should get two...because they do better in pairs, but a Chris said no. So, we’ll see. He’ll eventually be in the pig barn...so he’ll be near the othe pigs...separate but together. He’s about 50lbs now. Lloyd the farmer said he’d be about 300 in 5-6 mths. He’s a lot more spunky than my pots...mine don’t squeal even when they got hog tied...I mean a tad bit..but not bad. This guy was a typical pig. Poor guy. But I’m pretty excited...not as excited as Chris. Anoth great addition to C&DFarming! :)
 

Baymule

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Bring it on! Home raised pork! I'll tell you to book a slaughter date right NOW. If you wait until he is ready to go to slaughter, you may be looking at, and feeding him for a lot longer time. I once called for a slaughter date a couple of months ahead and the closest I could get was like 4 months out! We wound up having a neighborhood slaughter party so I could get them off the feed bill.

Feed is expensive, in a tub, pigs turn it over, birds fly in for the feast, the feed gets trampled into the dirt and the pig looks at you for more. Get a bin feeder, they are available at TSC. You can put a bag of feed in it, birds can't get to it, pig can't turn it over (tie it down). My Hereford hog thread has the particulars in it.

Black with white on his back? Could that be a Hampshire or Hampshire cross?
 

farmerjan

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Yorkshires are pure white, but there are alot of york crosses that will have black on them. They will be predominantly yorks, but could have hampshire in them, or berkshire in them. All are "english" breeds with upright ears. Also, there are spotted hogs and crossed with a york will make what can be sometimes called blue backs.... having a blackish/blueish spots..... Any cross with yorkshires will grow good and make good pork for the freezer. Getting it now will make a possible kill time in say may/june. That is a good time for a slaughter house as they usually are not as booked then in this area. I would call in Jan or early Feb and make a date for butcher in early june or so.
Re-reading your post, I think that you got a Hampshire. Black with a white belt that runs around the body in the vicinity of the front legs? Sometimes the belt doesn't go all the way around.
Berkshires are black with white "points".. White stripe on face, white feet , tip of tail?
There are also Spotted hogs that can be more black than "spotted". They have ears that are folded over... droopy ears. Also Poland chinas have forward droopy ears....
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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You guys are sooo right! He had the white one, and blacks....he told us both names and we couldn’t remember. So, Hampshire...like my one type of chicken..maybe ill remember. :lol: As for the feeding dishes...boy did we find that out fast! Our pot belly pigs are not like this at all..maybe because they are older..but they hardly ever spil their water. So my hubby made four different contraptions out of wood to keep the bowl in place in the corners on his pen....the last has a small pieces of wood over the top that I can swivel to get the bowls out of the holders he made. We’ll see how long before he tears up the wood. :lol. mu hubby is going to butcher it himself too. Luckily he knows how to butcher, and has the equipment, and his friend will help.
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farmerjan

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Yes, he is a Hampshire, maybe with a little something else in the background, but predominantly Hampshire. Yes, they will turn up a bucket, pan whatever. One thing, they will do it to get the ground wet and so they can "waller" in it. Even in the colder weather, they just have to turn it over. Try getting a half a metal water heater tank, cut longways, put a couple of legs on it. They won't turn it over until they get bigger. or a 15 gal black rubber water tub. They can lay in it and the water will come out that way, but the 15 gal size is hard to turn over. They may get it partially emptied, but it is hard to actually turn it over. The sides will "collapse" somewhat instead. They can't do near as much damage to it either. They will sometimes chew on them..... That is why we get the metal tanks cut in half lengthwise, and make feeders and waterers out of them.
 

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