We are looking at 5 acres on Saturday. I told Hubby that I would like to get to pigs to raise for the freezer. He said no way. A friend of his has pigs and does nothing but complain about them. Guess they always escape.

So are they that bad to raise? What are the major problems? How are they overcome?

Thanks for the help.

-- Kathleen (krob777@msn.com), April 26, 2001

Answers

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

As long as you put up good fence they are fun to raise.Do like i do just get them .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), April 26, 2001.

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

Kathleen, I agree with Patty - and my dad for that matter. He always said that if you let hogs start getting out (ie didn't put up a good fence, didn't feed, etc), you were GONNA have problems with them. Good luck, cause they are fun. Cynthia

-- Cynthia Speer (farmsteader@gvtel.com), April 26, 2001.

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

We haven't had any problems with pigs. In 20 yrs. of raising from one to four porkers a year, we've only had one "great escape". Leftover pizza brought them (2) back into their pen!! Food is excellent motivation for pigs! Definitely build a good pen. We use 2x6 planks spaced 4" apart and 4 feet high. The first one should be on the ground as pigs will root underneath it if possible. Other than that, make sure they know the sound of the dinner bell...because they sure love to eat!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), April 26, 2001.

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

Run a strand of electric inside and they won't get out. Also, if you don't feed them meat, they don't smell as bad.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), April 26, 2001.

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

I coerced my hubby into getting a couple this spring, after getting some advice from folks on this forum. So far, so good. We have them in chain link fencing, and THEY DO DIG, but I've put cement blocks around the outside,and so far they haven't gotten out. If you keep their droppings (like dog poops) picked up, they really don't smell. My 5 year old nephew, tho, after watching them eat, with their feet in the trough, and muddying up their feed, says the are "a-scusting!" I say, too, just go for it and show him they aren't so bad. Good luck! Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), April 26, 2001.

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

I built my pig pen 4'x 8'x2'off the ground I built a deck with treated 2X6's and put tin over it for a roof.I wash it out every day when I feed and water and it is really clean.I am on my 3rd. pig raised in this pen and it is great.Any questions e-mail me I would be glad to help.

-- Jimmy Holiday (jholiday@charter.net), April 27, 2001.

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

Don't keep your piggies in a little 'pen', give them a house in a small fieldthey can call their own, they need space for ploughing up, a mud wallow and all sorts of good things to play with.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), April 27, 2001.

Response to so whats the deal with pigs

Lots of good advice so far but I'll just add one thing; be VERY careful of pseudorabies. We get our pigs from a cousin's commercial operation that is certified negative. If you are unfamilier with this disease contact your extension agent, they should have the info on hand, or talk to a local vet.

-- Nancy Bakke-McGonigle Mn. Sunset (dmcgonig@smig.net), April 27, 2001.

Gotta be the easiest, quickest thing from piglet to table! :^)

Some folks were talking about smell ~ must be the way they feed. There's a pig ranch down the road and no odor. The pigs are only fed pig pellets, no table scraps. Same with mine. Fill the pigs up with junk and not only will there be an odor, but they sure don't taste as good! Give them plenty of room, free feed them, and you won't have any problems.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), April 27, 2001.

Pigs are easy! We are "gentleman farmers" and new at it. We bought a ranch with no idea what to do with it. My son decided to do 4 H pigs and we did a trial run in Oct. We had so much success the butcher bought one of ours. Anyway, the trick is to build the PEN strong as you can. We did ours in the barn. It was an old dairy barn, converted to veal stalls. We tore those out! they were depressing little pens, and then had cement curbs with cement walks in between. the curbs held dirt floors, which is great for animals. Cement is bad on their legs. We created frames out of 2 x 4 (and we are not good carpenters), using very long nails, then we used U nails and nailed pig wire INSIDE of the wood frames. Do this from the inside so the pigs can not push it out and escape. A pig is very strong. We had framed a door and did the same thing with the pig wire. The only thing we goofed with was a top latch, and another drop in bottom latch. The pigs got smart and used their teeth to lift the gate up and opened the bottom then popped up the top. They are very smart animals. We solved that with a chain around the door and a post. Since we had cement curbs they could not root out. However, the next pen we built bigger for the 4 H pigs, outdoor and indoor areas, and we used a more secure latching system. With their going outside, they could root out but we had cement curbs we broke up from an old foundation and we layed those inside along the pig wire. They can't lift them (yet anyway)...but we may have to resort to barbed wire at the bottom or a hot wire. I hesitate to use a hot wire because I do know someone whose pig had an heart attack and died on one. Anyway, the pigs are big enough to butcher in 3 mos. and you know exactly what was put into them. You might call your county extension office to see if they have booklets, I know 4 H does. Another easy animal to have is Barbadoes Sheep. Reason being they are very hardy and sturdy, get few diseases, never need shearing. They keep the long grasses eaten down if you have a bit of land. Good luck to you on the pigs...maybe you can convince your hubbie to have a 'trail run' of 3 pigs. What you see two for will pay for the butchering of your own. All you have to pay for is the piglet and the food.

-- Denise Wolfe (woolfpac@prodigy.net), April 28, 2001.

I just wanted to add that we feed our pig "pellets" only and their poop does smell! However, we pick it up daily. They do their job in one corner of the outside area, never in their sleeping pen, and we use a large hay shovel and a regular shovel sort of like broom and dustpan. Our pigs are light colored and we put on sun screen every morning and they love it, sort of like a massage to them. They do enjoy rooting around in dirt, rolling rocks around, throwing sticks! Someone told me that old bowling balls are great fun for pigs. I haven't found any yet, but I keep looking at garage sales. Also, they will climb into a trough to block the other pigs, however, you can weld narrow strips of metal across it every so often so their heads fit in but they can't get sideways and lay in it or stand with all fours. You can also get automatic feeders, mounted up on the wall, they can't get in them. I think this is about all I have to say about pigs! For a beginner I've said a pageful.

-- Denise Wolfe (woolfpac@prodigy.net), April 28, 2001.

Well, I gave hubby a summary of your responses and he said I can do it if I want to. :) So once we get a pen built (this is still assumeing that we get this land)we may give it a shot. It sounds like alot of fun. And, as everything, a learning experience. :)

Thanks so much for all your help!

-- Kathleen (krob777@msn.com), April 28, 2001.

I believw pigs can be kept on a tether but I have never seen it. The technique is to have a leather collar around the ankle of one foreleg. I have been told some Pacific Island locations do this.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), April 29, 2001.

We've raised pigs for six years. They will get out;Be ready.It will smell.Depending on how many you have. Any way it tastes good.

-- Tony Hobert (hobert7@ekyol.com), May 02, 2001.

Kathleen, Best of luck getting your land and with pigs.

I've raised pigs for several years and have gotten so attached to the wonderful flavor of homegrown pork that I won't buy pork at the grocery store any more. The flavor is so much better.

Raising pigs can be a little bit of a hassle at times but overall is no big deal. Most of the important points have already been touched on above. I think it's a really good idea to get at least 2 pigs. In my experience, pigs are very social animals. A lot of times when pigs escape I believe that they are either bored or lonely. Keep them happy and you shouldn't have any problems with them. As far as odor, the only time we really notice it much is when we've had a lot of wet weather. When its dry we hardly notice it. I also think that a lot of the odor when its wet isn't actually the pigs but rather the bits of food they spill while eating that get ground into the mud that smell.

One other small thing. If you've never had homegrown pork, the ham can take a little getting used to. Compared to ham from the store, it is quite dry because it isn't pumped full of water like the ham at your local grocery store. The flavor is wonderful though.

Best of luck.

-- Murray in ME (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), May 03, 2001.

Kathleen; I grew up with hogs. My dad kept them fenced in with hotwire about five inches off the ground. If you keep them well fed they are are pleasure to be around. Just make sure they have adequate water and some sort of place to get in out of the weather. I would go into more detail but i'm sure someone here has more knowledge than I do.

-- vicky (bullride99@msn.com), July 25, 2001.