Woodland Pig Breeds

[sbrandewie]

Hey guys. I have another one of those questions that is no doubt going to get me into trouble. (So many great opinions here!) My husband and I recently added two Nigerian Dwarfs into our woods to help clear some underbrush. They are doing an amazing job cleaning up the exposed greenery, but we are considering adding a couple of hogs to dig up the roots and vines on the floor. This is all in an attempt to slowly get the area cleared for future pasture.
My question is, what breed of hog would you suggest for this purpose? We live in the piedmont area of NC and currently have fenced in around an acre or so in the woods. We will be adding onto this. Ideally, we would like to have something that is effective in ground clearing that we could possibly also have to breed and sell the litters. Do we want something common or more rare for that purpose? It's so hard knowing what's best in these situations. ANY advice at all would be appreciated. Oh, and pictures are great too

 

[Latestarter]

Some pig breeds are better "rooters" than others. Some root deeper (as in aiming for China) while others don't do so much "damage". If you get a real rooter breed, you'll need better than average fencing, probably with internal near ground hot wire, or your pigs will be gone in the blink of an eye. They follow their nose and the grass is always greener over there... Sorry, but that's about all I can contribute. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

 

[Baymule]

We are taking 3 pigs to slaughter Friday. They have been in my garden area all winter. We moved here in February 2015 and I tried to have a garden, it was a total failure, mostly weather related. The pigs rooted and dug HUGE holes all winter. They are a Berkshire and Large Black cross. Both breeds are heritage breeds and do well in a forage situation. Large Blacks get enormous.

Pigs root a LOT. If left in an area long enough, they will root up and kill everything in their pen. So you want them to kill everything? Be warned that they can do enough damage to large trees that they will slowly die because their roots are dug up and/or damaged.

How many acres do you have? It might be a good idea to have a reserve pen to lock them up in if you see them doing more damage than you expected. If yo have any oak trees, they drop acorns in the fall, which are great pig forage, but not if the pigs killed the tree.

Why don't you start with a couple of feeder pigs? That's what I did. Instead of going all out and buying a "breed" I just got crossbreds. This would let you get your feet wet, see if you even like pigs, find out what it costs to feed and care for them. If you have nice trees you want to keep, maybe fence them off. Pigs are wonderful land cleaners. If rooting everything up is what you want, plant root crops like turnips, long root radishes, carrots and rutabagas. In a garden space plant winter squash and pumpkins, the pigs will love them.

Pigs are also omnivorous and could decide your goats would be a tasty treat. A lot of people multigraze, mixing species and pigs do well in these situations, but keep an eye on them. Mine are not pets and to go in their pen/my garden, I carry a pipe to keep them from getting behind me. I've had pigs before that just wanted to roll over and get a belly rub, but these want to bite.

Walter Jeffries of Sugar Mountain Farm fences double rows with fruit/nut bearing trees down the middle. The double fence protects the trees and the trees drop their fruit, nuts and acorns in the pig pens where they self feed. Brilliant!

What I have concluded after raising 3 feeder pigs is that I will do this again. I will raise another batch of feeder pigs and make up my mind to settle on a specific breed. I am leaning hard in the direction of Idaho Pasture Pigs, as they have short flat snouts and don't root terribly. Naturally there are no breeders close by. Do I hear road trip? LOL

Good luck to you, try 2-3 feeder pigs before you jump in. If you hate 'em, eat 'em. Heck, if you like 'em, eat 'em anyway and get some more!

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/home/
http://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/conservation-priority-list#Pigs

 

[Baymule]

They are cute when they are small, but they don't stay that way! In the next pic, I had let the sheep out to roam and one ran over the get a drink when I watered the pigs. Same water tub in both pics. At one time all three could fit in it.

 

[sbrandewie]

We are taking 3 pigs to slaughter Friday. They have been in my garden area all winter. We moved here in February 2015 and I tried to have a garden, it was a total failure, mostly weather related. The pigs rooted and dug HUGE holes all winter. They are a Berkshire and Large Black cross. Both breeds are heritage breeds and do well in a forage situation. Large Blacks get enormous.

Pigs root a LOT. If left in an area long enough, they will root up and kill everything in their pen. So you want them to kill everything? Be warned that they can do enough damage to large trees that they will slowly die because their roots are dug up and/or damaged.

How many acres do you have? It might be a good idea to have a reserve pen to lock them up in if you see them doing more damage than you expected. If yo have any oak trees, they drop acorns in the fall, which are great pig forage, but not if the pigs killed the tree.

Why don't you start with a couple of feeder pigs? That's what I did. Instead of going all out and buying a "breed" I just got crossbreds. This would let you get your feet wet, see if you even like pigs, find out what it costs to feed and care for them. If you have nice trees you want to keep, maybe fence them off. Pigs are wonderful land cleaners. If rooting everything up is what you want, plant root crops like turnips, long root radishes, carrots and rutabagas. In a garden space plant winter squash and pumpkins, the pigs will love them.

Pigs are also omnivorous and could decide your goats would be a tasty treat. A lot of people multigraze, mixing species and pigs do well in these situations, but keep an eye on them. Mine are not pets and to go in their pen/my garden, I carry a pipe to keep them from getting behind me. I've had pigs before that just wanted to roll over and get a belly rub, but these want to bite.

Walter Jeffries of Sugar Mountain Farm fences double rows with fruit/nut bearing trees down the middle. The double fence protects the trees and the trees drop their fruit, nuts and acorns in the pig pens where they self feed. Brilliant!

What I have concluded after raising 3 feeder pigs is that I will do this again. I will raise another batch of feeder pigs and make up my mind to settle on a specific breed. I am leaning hard in the direction of Idaho Pasture Pigs, as they have short flat snouts and don't root terribly. Naturally there are no breeders close by. Do I hear road trip? LOL

Good luck to you, try 2-3 feeder pigs before you jump in. If you hate 'em, eat 'em. Heck, if you like 'em, eat 'em anyway and get some more!

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/home/
http://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/conservation-priority-list#Pigs

This is perfect! This is exactly the information I was looking for.
Yes, we do want them to take out everything possible.
Good point about the goats. We did not consider that being a potential problem. We will start small like you suggested. Thank you so much for you input! Learning from someone else's experiences is so convenient

 

[Baymule]

Start a thread when you get your pigs!