starting out with feeder pigs

ohiofarmgirl

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Messages
689
Reaction score
2
Points
89
.....I sweated and bled to build them
yeah. they do that on purpose. pigz. grrrrr...

they will be just fine. in fact they will probably like the rain. we hose ours down on hot days and they are like kids thru a sprinkler.

if you are expecting bad weather just heap on the hay and they will snuggle in. or sit out there and complain about the bad service
;-)

you're doing a great job!
:)
 

Poupoulles

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
27
Location
Mount Airy, NC
So an update: today we moved them for the first time. The plan is to move them everytime they completely tear up a plot, we then move them to the next. By freezer camp time they will have torn up our whole garden. So far so good.

They went crazy in the new plot. All I heard was munch munch munch as they ate the new grass and clover and weeds. They have doubled in size since I got them. They still wont use their house except to poop in which makes me crazy...

The boy is not castrated yet, will be this wednesday. I am concerned about the usual anesthesia-less method on a hog this age 9 weeks, 10 weeks, something like that... Should I be?
 

Poupoulles

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
27
Location
Mount Airy, NC
Just wanted to update myself and say that this has all worked out a treat!! They love their house, we have a completely torn up garden, they only escaped during the move once and I just led them to the apple tree to eat fallen apples until we were ready to shoo them back... Through a series of coincidences they ended up where they needed to be.

Even if I wasnt going to get a bunh of deliious meat from this- just the turning of the garden, manure and the rooting up all the weeds would be worth it to me. It was worked even better than I imagined!!

I think that I would do things VERY differently if I was not taking them both to the processor next month. If I was raising hogs to breed and keep nothing I have would work. I saw the momma hog of these two and she was so big she looked like an optical illusion...
 

Kenneth Flippen

Chillin' with the herd
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
55
Reaction score
0
Points
29
Location
Dobson, N.C.
where did you get your pigs? if you don't mind me asking. I just bought 2 right off 18 about half way to sparta. they are tamworth/berkshire crosses they are 9wks old and about 50#. Iplan to breed them this spring and maybe once more in the summer before I make sausage



Kenneth Flippen

the reason I ask where you got them is I had a hard time finding these
 
Top