This year we are going to raise six pigs to market size!!
Please meet Bacon, Hamlet, Sausage, Pork Chop, Barbecue, & Princess.
On our last adventure with pigs, we raised three pigs who weighed up to 300lbs each. I did have a cost analysis after we took the pigs to slaughter, but I moved and had a baby since then so I'm fairly clueless as to where it is...
FOUND IT!! Whoop! Whoop! Happy dance! I typed it in an excel spread sheet, luckily, but it doesn't look like I finished it. Bummer!
FOUND IT!! Whoop! Whoop! Happy dance! I typed it in an excel spread sheet, luckily, but it doesn't look like I finished it. Bummer!
Last time we started, we got two Duroc crosses piglets, and added a boar about half way through the process. We fed our pigs corn, the pig feed that the local store carried, scraps, pumpkins, and loads of free day old bread. It was a trial and error kind of project, and we also decided to cut a boar at about 150lbs... I say we, but really it was my husband and his friend.
Did you know that pigs can be some of the loudest farm animals when they want to be?? We got a little smarter this time and had them cut when we bought them. We went with a White Chester mixed with Yorkshire this time, and they are all between 6 and 8 weeks old weighing in at an average of 20lbs. As for their diet, we checked around at our local feed stores and the only thing they have in stock for pigs is a medicated corn or soy based feed, which we did not want to use. I did finally find a mill that provides a non-medicated, corn and soy free feed which I could buy in bulk and save money! It includes sunflowers, barley, wheat, and oats. We plan to pasture raise these pigs, and supplement them with a non-GMO feed.
Did you know that pigs can be some of the loudest farm animals when they want to be?? We got a little smarter this time and had them cut when we bought them. We went with a White Chester mixed with Yorkshire this time, and they are all between 6 and 8 weeks old weighing in at an average of 20lbs. As for their diet, we checked around at our local feed stores and the only thing they have in stock for pigs is a medicated corn or soy based feed, which we did not want to use. I did finally find a mill that provides a non-medicated, corn and soy free feed which I could buy in bulk and save money! It includes sunflowers, barley, wheat, and oats. We plan to pasture raise these pigs, and supplement them with a non-GMO feed.
We've started the pigs off in our summer garden spot, since it's overgrown and dried up... totally different story. I'm hoping that the pigs will root it up and fertilize it really well for next year. They've been in there a week and I can already see where they are tilling the soil! I plan on planting some winter crops like turnips in our other garden spot to feed the pigs as well as our family.
If this post seems choppy, it's because I had to rewrite it! I wrote the original, and I thought I had saved it, but I guess I didn't. I barely remember my name on a daily basis much less what I blogged two nights ago!
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