feeder pigs

[muffin]

woops, posted the first one in the wrong subforum....

has anyone on here raised or in the process of raising feeder pigs? i have a few questions....

[ximmy]

feeder pigs?
http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/teen/images/cI/overweight-eating-md.jpg

[muffin]

alright, quit following me with retarded remarks :p

[monty]

woops, posted the first one in the wrong subforum....

has anyone on here raised or in the process of raising feeder pigs? i have a few questions....

When I was a teenager my father raised feeder pigs.

[sugar plum]

We raised pigs for 2-3 years. GET GOOD FENCES. Those so called "hog panels" are worthless!! Pigs stubbornly test fences until they break. Horseshoe3 ended up making his own by welding together box iron.

[osoab]

We raised pigs for 2-3 years. GET GOOD FENCES. Those so called "hog panels" are worthless!! Pigs stubbornly test fences until they break. Horseshoe3 ended up making his own by welding together box iron.

You can use hog panels. Like the 1/4" diameter rod ones that have the lower end spaced about 4" apart and the upper ones are spaced 8" apart.
(I am guessing those dims) The panels should be 4' tall and 8' or 10' long.


How many pigs you getting? How are you feeding them? Are you raising for market or for home cooking?

[muffin]

We raised pigs for 2-3 years. GET GOOD FENCES. Those so called "hog panels" are worthless!! Pigs stubbornly test fences until they break. Horseshoe3 ended up making his own by welding together box iron.

that's my main concern, actually. i read a few articles saying that you should bury a few inches because they dig...

bah.

[muffin]

getting 2. they'll be for the freezer. i think we installed 4" square hog panels...

[osoab]

getting 2. they'll be for the freezer. i think we installed 4" square hog panels...

If you are getting males make sure that they are cut.

What weight are you getting them? 25-30 lbs?

What are you going to feed mainly?

Make sure they have a wallering mud hole. They love that. It would also keep occupied some instead of looking for a way out.

How big of a pen? Two hogs will root up just about any size pen and turn it into a mud hole. Do you have shelter for them? Water tank (hog style) Unless you plan on watering 4-8 times a day in the heat of summer. Do they have any shade? Pigs get sunburned easily.

They are some smart s.o.b.'s. I like the pick ax handle for some persuasion. You may not need it if you get them used to you early enough. Treat them like you would a dog almost. You may not need it, but sometimes they can be unpredictable, especially if you missed feeding time.

Make sure your fence posts are set deep. The hogs will probably be scratching on them.

[sugar plum]

Horseshoe3 says hog panels will work for feeder pigs. It's the sows and boars that'll tear up your fences!

Osoab gave you excellent advice. The only thing I might add that could help is to see about getting old pins and balls from a bowling alley. Could help alleviate boredom if your pigs don't lose them in the mud holes the way ours did!!

[osoab]

You may want to drive around and find an old farmer with old panels and reinforce the fence. Dual layer.

[woodman]

You can use an electric fencer set low, about 10" off the ground. You must keep the weeds away because if it shorts out they can tell and will escape. I used to know when mine got out of the fence when I got home, it looked like someone took a rototiller across the yard.

[monty]

Our hog pens were redwood railroad ties for posts with 2 x 12 lumber for panels, the lower one set into the ground a few inches. If a pig can get his nose under a fence he will definitely escape. Water troughs were the old hot water heaters from a wood burning cookstove cut in half lenghtwise and staked to the ground with steel stakes and strong wire across the top between the stakes to hold them down. An 10 foot by 10 foot shed for shade. We fed them barley and at evening feeding a flake of alfalfa. They went to market at about 187 pounds. None of the pigs ever got under the fence. A low electric fence does work nicely with pigs.

[palani]

Protein is important to a pig. If they don't get enough in their diet they might discover they have a taste for their owner.

[monty]

I forgot,besides the barely and alfalfa, we fed them bone meal from the slaughter house for the protien, and all the jackrabbits we killed along with the guts from any animals we butchered.

[muffin]

If you are getting males make sure that they are cut. yep. most definitely planned on that.

What weight are you getting them? 25-30 lbs? the person we're getting them from says they are at about 20-30 lbs right now.

What are you going to feed mainly? i was going to find out what the breeder was feeding and start with that. i'm still reading up on what exactly to feed them. it seems that's the part that will be tricky for my small brain :D

Make sure they have a wallering mud hole. They love that. It would also keep occupied some instead of looking for a way out. yep. i read that they need toys (as per sugar plum's suggestion). mud hole, check!

How big of a pen? Two hogs will root up just about any size pen and turn it into a mud hole. Do you have shelter for them? Water tank (hog style) Unless you plan on watering 4-8 times a day in the heat of summer. Do they have any shade? Pigs get sunburned easily. shelter is 8' x 22' and open pen part is 16' x 22'. we plan on getting a waterer of somesort.

They are some smart s.o.b.'s. I like the pick ax handle for some persuasion. You may not need it if you get them used to you early enough. Treat them like you would a dog almost. You may not need it, but sometimes they can be unpredictable, especially if you missed feeding time. i'll handle them as much as i feel comfortable doing. i'm new to this and it still is making me freak out a bit. but i'll work through it because i really want it to work for us.

Make sure your fence posts are set deep. The hogs will probably be scratching on them. posts are set 3' feet deep on the corners. t-posts in between.

Our hog pens were redwood railroad ties for posts with 2 x 12 lumber for panels, the lower one set into the ground a few inches. i thought about this too. i might talk mouse into doing this....

Water troughs ...staked to the ground with steel stakes and strong wire across the top between the stakes to hold them down. good idea. didn't think about this. i remember seein this as a kid, come to think of it!

they might discover they have a taste for their owner. see, now, this is what i'm afraid of! you're not helping!! i just read a horror story about a lady that got compound fractures to both arms and a severed nerve in the left. eeek

[zap]

hey might discover they have a taste for their owner. see, now, this is what i'm afraid of! you're not helping!! i just read a horror story about a lady that got compound fractures to both arms and a severed nerve in the left. eeek

HAHa muffin, I think you'll be fine treat them as you would any other animal... you gotta spend some time with them and have a big stick, they'll know you are the " Boss "

[gunDriller]

I forgot,besides the barely and alfalfa, we fed them bone meal from the slaughter house for the protien, and all the jackrabbits we killed along with the guts from any animals we butchered.

how does it work out cost wise ?

right now i'm paying $3 a pound for bacon. you could almost say i'm addicted, got to have 1 or 2 slices a day.

i have about 1 acre of pasture & 1 acre of brush to keep a pig in. i wouldn't mind them rooting around the pasture but i wouldn't want them hogging :) the pasture, that's for my plants.

what i'm curious about is, how much land do they need dedicated to growing food for the pig ?

or, if you use feed from the farm supply stores - how much does it cost ?

i'm just curious if i can grow bacon for $3 a pound for the finished meat.


based on my experience with the chickens, who are now free-ranging but still eat some dry chicken feed, store-bought eggs would be cheaper. i pay $12 for a 50 pound bag of wild bird seed every 2 or 3 weeks - and that's only about 1/3 of what they eat.

[osoab]

how does it work out cost wise ?

right now i'm paying $3 a pound for bacon. you could almost say i'm addicted, got to have 1 or 2 slices a day.

i have about 1 acre of pasture & 1 acre of brush to keep a pig in. i wouldn't mind them rooting around the pasture but i wouldn't want them hogging :) the pasture, that's for my plants.

what i'm curious about is, how much land do they need dedicated to growing food for the pig ?

or, if you use feed from the farm supply stores - how much does it cost ?

i'm just curious if i can grow bacon for $3 a pound for the finished meat.




based on my experience with the chickens, who are now free-ranging but still eat some dry chicken feed, store-bought eggs would be cheaper. i pay $12 for a 50 pound bag of wild bird seed every 2 or 3 weeks - and that's only about 1/3 of what they eat.

I think you can grow squash to help feed them. Store some of that over the winter. It would be an addition to what their regular feed is.

[osoab]

I forgot the most important thing.


Make sure they are downwind of your house.

[Tumbleweed]

how does it work out cost wise ?


based on my experience with the chickens, who are now free-ranging but still eat some dry chicken feed, store-bought eggs would be cheaper. i pay $12 for a 50 pound bag of wild bird seed every 2 or 3 weeks - and that's only about 1/3 of what they eat.
Those hogs will eat free range chickens too gundriller.
I helped an old farmer and his wife one spring with their work. He had hogs and they were always getting out. One day his wife came looking for us and said a hog was in her garden rooting it up. When we got there that hog had a chicken in its mouth and was taking off with it.

[palani]

Always liked those metal 40 bushel feeders. Just fill them with ground corn, mineral, salt, protein mix and forget them for several weeks. Either grind/mix your own or let the local feed dealer deliver. Never liked the bulk truck on the place though because he was bound to bring disease with him ... he delivers everywhere.

On a summer nite it is music to hear the metal covers on the feed holes banging away. City folk probably would not appreciate the noise though.

[palani]

It takes 12 bushel of ground corn to raise a feeder to 240 lbs. If you substitute several bushel of extruded soybeans (no oil extracted) then it takes less than 9 bushel of corn. A study at the Univ of Illinois suggests that the meat becomes healthier as well when feeding extruded soy. Close to chicken.

[osoab]

Those hogs will eat free range chickens too gundriller.
I helped an old farmer and his wife one spring with their work. He had hogs and they were always getting out. One day his wife came looking for us and said a hog was in her garden rooting it up. When we got there that hog had a chicken in its mouth and was taking off with it.

When I was real young, we had hogs take down two bucket calves. Feeding time got missed and they "improvised".

[muffin]

yeah, i've heard that anything that gets in the pen is fair game with them. hopefully our other animals will know to stay away...

[gunDriller]

yeah, i've heard that anything that gets in the pen is fair game with them. hopefully our other animals will know to stay away...

http://www.greatestmoviedeaths.com/2009/06/hannibal-verger-gets-fed-to-pigs.html

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8xffi_hannibal-man-eating-pigs_shortfilms

reminds me of this scene from the movie 'Hannibal.'

[muffin]

well ain't that wonderful! i forgot about that gorey movie...





damn you, gundriler...

[Santa]

Awesome thread...

They say you can domesticate hogs similar to dogs. Just let em sleep in bed with you and Mouse. Lol...

[woodman]

Small pigs are a delight to watch play and are very cute. One thing to remember is that small children and hogs don't mix. Hogs have eaten kids.

[muffin]

Awesome thread...

They say you can domesticate hogs similar to dogs. Just let em sleep in bed with you and Mouse. Lol...

hah! no thanks ;)


Small pigs are a delight to watch play and are very cute. One thing to remember is that small children and hogs don't mix. Hogs have eaten kids.

yeah, we have no kids. no worries there

[horseshoe3]

You don't need to worry about feeder pigs attacking you if you keep them fed and are nice to them. The only trouble we ever had was with sows after they had a litter. They aren't the cute little gilts they were a few days previously. And they never go back. You can't trust a sow even if she doesn't have piglets at the time.

[osoab]

You don't need to worry about feeder pigs attacking you if you keep them fed and are nice to them. The only trouble we ever had was with sows after they had a litter. They aren't the cute little gilts they were a few days previously. And they never go back. You can't trust a sow even if she doesn't have piglets at the time.

You never got the boar pissed off at you?

[Tumbleweed]

The story of the Peg leg Pig

A man traveling through Eastern North Carolina got lost, and stopped by a farmhouse to ask directions. His eye was caught by a pig with a wooden leg. So he said to the farmer -- an old-fashioned family farmer, not the head of an agricultural conglomerate -- "I don't think I've ever seen a pig with a wooden leg. What happened to it?"
"Well," said the farmer, "this is a truly remarkable animal. A few years back, it was rooting around under the oak trees near the house and discovered truffles. This new crop has brought us a tidy income, I can assure you."
"Fascinating," said the visitor. "I never heard of truffles in North Carolina. But -- why does it have a wooden leg?"
"Well," said the farmer, "just last year, on the north forty, the pig discovered oil, and the proceeds from that oil well are going to make us set for life, including even being able to send all our kids to college."
"A truly incredible animal," said the guy. "I am sure that you are the envy of all your neighbors. But why does he have a wooden leg?"
"About six months ago, the farmhouse caught on fire," said the farmer, "and this pig saved our lives. He rushed upstairs, woke us all up, carried my baby daughter down the stairs by the hair, and made sure we were all safe outside."
"Wow," said the visitor. "You are very fortunate, indeed. But I'm still curious about the wooden leg."
"Oh," said the farmer, "if you have a pig that valuable, you don't eat it all at once."

[sugar plum]

You never got the boar pissed off at you?

No, I don't remember that we ever did...We would be extra careful around him though--I wouldn't go into his pen at certain times just to be safe--and I think we always carried a fence post around him so that if he tried to get a little too friendly, we'd tell him to keep his distance through a whack on the nose!

[sugar plum]

You don't need to worry about feeder pigs attacking you if you keep them fed and are nice to them. The only trouble we ever had was with sows after they had a litter. They aren't the cute little gilts they were a few days previously. And they never go back. You can't trust a sow even if she doesn't have piglets at the time.

What he said. The sows are protective of ALL piglets on the farm, not just from their own litter. Don't let the guys' teasing get to you! I don't think you'll have to worry at all. They're very fun animals. You just won't smell the same, lol!


I used to know when mine got out of the fence when I got home, it looked like someone took a rototiller across the yard.

I forgot I was going to mention that you could let them prepare garden area for you. I threw some canteloupe seeds and rinds into a pen once, and after we had no more pigs in that particular pen, I found out I was growing my own canteloupe! Best canteloupe I ever tasted.

[woodman]

I have been thinking about getting some more pigs myself. Back in the 90's I used to buy feed for them but now I guess it is all GMO. They still clean up a lot of table scraps though and I suppose I could put over a small plot of mandrels for them.

[osoab]

I have been thinking about getting some more pigs myself. Back in the 90's I used to buy feed for them but now I guess it is all GMO. They still clean up a lot of table scraps though and I suppose I could put over a small plot of mandrels for them.

See if you can find some white corn. Not all corn is gmo you know. My dad plants non-gmo corn (yellow) for the premium.

[muffin]

we FINALLY got our pigs. i was hoping to hold out for 2 males but the lady couldn't get her FIL or husband out there to cut them. i was getting tired of messing around with it. so we got 2 females.

they are so happy! they have lived in an old barn on cement floors for their short life. as soon as they hit the ground, they started rootin for acorns. i've managed to get them to sniff my hands but they are still skittish with me. (i'm still skittish of them too ;) ) i'll take some pics soon....

[muffin]

grunty and snorty
3016

[horseshoe3]

They grow fast don't they.

I kind of miss them sometimes.

[horseshoe3]

You never got the boar pissed off at you?

Our boar was a 700 pound baby. The only time I ever got hurt due to him was one time he tried to sneak past me and out of the open gate. I swung out my foot to kick him back into line and forgot about the tusks hidden under his lips. I caught the point of a tusk on the top of my foot wearing nothing but a thin rubber boot. That hurt me for several days. I don't think he even knew anything happened.

[osoab]

They grow fast don't they.

I kind of miss them sometimes.

Even the smell and mess? :o

[osoab]

grunty and snorty
3016


I think they would make you kill those hogs in Michigan at this point in time.

[horseshoe3]

Yah, over time you tend to forget the smell and the mess and only remember the fun and lively personalities. Kind of like after a break from GSUS.

[muffin]

hah, horseshoe! yes you do get used to the smell.

i'm still fixing gaps that they make under the fence. other than that, they're very easy to take care of.

every time we have guests over for dinner, they just love taking the leftovers out to them.

i can't help but watch and wonder which part of them is gonna taste the best ()\

[horseshoe3]

That's easy. BACON

[Dogman]

Everything is good on the pig including the oink. Bacon is the best daily item eaten for most.

Ever make homemade cracklings? Very good eating snack!