Thursday, December 21, 2017

Expanding our Swine Horizons




Once upon a time we had a big farm and raised 100 or so feeder pigs a year. With our own breeding stock of Red Wattle hogs we had litters coming and going year round. Some of those hogs went to restaurants, some to grocery stores, many to individual customers.

And yet we rarely had enough for ourselves. It just seemed to make more sense to sell the bacon then to eat it. Fools we were.

Then we got smart and downsized. Sold all the breeding stock and instead each year we now buy just a few feeder pigs for ourselves and a family member or two. We generally buy them at two months of age and have them butchered at about 7 months. We took our summer stock to the locker in October.

Last week we bought our spring stock. Ironically, due to our limited finances we can no longer afford to buy the awesome Red Wattle hogs we worked so hard to promote in Illinois for over a decade. Even at young ages, 8 weeks or so, they sell for between $125-150 each.

But, another farmer friend of ours had some Bershire Cross feeders available. He thought they were already were sold but that other farmer never picked them up. Anxious to decrease his large herd before the harsh winter hits, he sold us four fairly large piglets for just $70 each. A win win situation. Already almost 4 months old, they've got a solid start on their chops, roasts and bacon.

Because they have not been raised by us, and have run with a large group of hogs, they are not the friendliest group of porkers, (Red Wattles are real people pleasers) but they are healthy and adapting well to their new digs. I'm not that particular about their manners, I've been snubbed by bigger pigs in my life, I just hope they measure up taste wise. I so love Red Wattle pork.

We've housed them in one of our old farrowing houses, which needed some repair due to damage done by the last porcine tenants, and filled the interior with deep bedding of corn husks. Three long hog panels act as a temporary pen.








We always put our piglets in this type of smaller confined pen with a single hot wire across the back in order to train them to electric fence.  Hogs have a tendency to go THROUGH a hot wire instead of backing up initially, so this pen idea works well to train them.



After a couple weeks, when they are respecting the electric wire, we'll turn them loose into a much bigger area to root and dig and sun bathe.

Even frozen ground can't keep a pigs snout still it seems.

With a steady died of organic hay, ground corn and good kitchen scraps these little piggies should be ready for the locker sometime in April, about the time we'll get a few more for our summer sausages!


10 comments:

  1. I have to say that we miss our pigs. But with so many trees wiping out fences it just seemed best to wait until we can repair and rearrange everything. Great idea for training them to electric fencing. Pigs can certainly be persistent about going where they want to go!

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    1. Once an entire litter of Red Wattles ended up on our neighbors porch when we lost power during a storm (On the old farm, no close neighbors here) He thought it was funny thank goodness.

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  2. Nice looking Pigs. I don't see why they shouldn't be as tasty as your red wattles.

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    1. True Cro. We always said that the breed only has a little bit to do with how they taste, while what they are fed and how they are raised has so much more impact. The proof will be in the bacon!

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  3. Oh we learnt to our disadvantage that pigs go through a electrified wire rather than back away from it ... we ended up chasing our first ever lot of pigs as they ran towards the busy M40 in Oxfordshire. Once you learn that you don't forget it ;-)

    Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year. xx

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    1. Yes, "herding pigs" is never a fun time. Like Leigh says they go where they want to go! Merry Christmas to you as well!

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  4. My Grampa ran around 400 hogs as a good part of his living; he swore by Berk/York crosses for dress-out, taste, & temperament. We had Berks one year and found them so trainable! This years' mutt pork just hit the freezer this week and I'm rendering lard right now (multi-tasking); I'm loving the taste of the roast I made yesterday. I've never had the chance to try RW, but I surely would if I did! I swear the mutts we raised this year were half cat - they must've slept 20 hours out of 24 - there were days when they almost slept through dinner!

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    1. Rendering lard is a regular activity here. We cook with lots of it and I make soap from it as well. Love me the lard.

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  5. Hi Donna :) The pigs look great! I know I've said this before, but I really love the way you write, your posts are fun to read. Here here for bacon and summer sausage! :)
    Merry MERRY Christmas to you and your hubby Donna. I'm so glad that I found your blog and can read about and share your life. :)

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