Anyone have feeder pig experience?

[Chicky2]

We are looking into starting up w/2 feeder pigs this year. I was doing some cost analysis, and figure it will cost roughly .89/lb this year, including feed and start up costs for the pen. Next year would be CHEAP.

Anyone have any advice to share on getting started?

[Alyantavid]

Oh I love raising pigs! We always did hog panel for fences, but they'll root so you'll need to bury it a little ways under the ground. MIL swears if you put rings in their noses, they won't root (obviously) but I just can't do that.

What are you doing for feed? Whenever I have pigs, I ask all my friends and family for scraps. Veggies, bread, fruit whatever. They love it. Mine always knew what the "pig bucket" meant.

Good luck, I hope you enjoy them!

[Chicky2]

Yeah, I'm looking at hog panels, and we can bury part of it, no problem, where we want the pen. Do we need a top on it? Our property back up to woods, but the pen will be at the front of the woods, where I can see it from my kitchen.

For feed, yeah, neighbors and friends will help feed them. We will stop giving so many scraps to the chickens, so the pigs can have more. Plus, they'll eat things we can grow in the garden. And we can supplement w/grain if need be.

I know that a long time ago, no homestead was complete w/out their family pigs!

I was reading that we'd need a 16'x32' pen for 2 pigs. What do you think?

Should we worry too much about the chickens (they free range), or should we run chicken wire over the outside of the pen?

[PenelopeJune]

Will you butcher them yourselves?

My grandpa and I were just talking about this. (He used to be a fairly big-time hog farmer...not commercial, though.) He said unless we butchered them ourselves, it wouldn't be cost effective.

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

Will you butcher them yourselves?

My grandpa and I were just talking about this. (He used to be a fairly big-time hog farmer...not commercial, though.) He said unless we butchered them ourselves, it wouldn't be cost effective.

Absolutely! We have LOTS of experience butchering/processing wild pigs (I can process one in NO time!). And we've done a 120 lb one that we bought from a hog farmer for a whole hog roast we were having. We even scalded and scraped that one! We'd actually love to learn how to render out the lard, etc...,but the first year we'll probably just skin them. I also want to try my hand at curing hams and bacon. We'd probably grind one whole pig, too. I'd want to make a bunch of breakfast sausage. The only thing we might not do ourselves is other types of sausage. We can take scraps from pig and goat butchering and take them to a butcher for sausage.

[Alyantavid]

As long as the panels are tall enough, you shouldn't need to cover the entire thing, but they'll need some shade/protection. 16x32 sounds pretty good for 2. And I don't think the chickens should worry you. I guess if the pigs don't want them in their pen, they'll let them know.

As far as butchering, it depends. The place we use cuts and wraps for .29/pound. So pretty cheap. We have a mobile butcher that comes out and does the actual kill and then delivers to the shop. That's $50. Obviously if you're pouring straight grain into them, it'll cost more. Pigs can eat ALOT.

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

As long as the panels are tall enough, you shouldn't need to cover the entire thing, but they'll need some shade/protection. 16x32 sounds pretty good for 2. And I don't think the chickens should worry you. I guess if the pigs don't want them in their pen, they'll let them know.

As far as butchering, it depends. The place we use cuts and wraps for .29/pound. So pretty cheap. We have a mobile butcher that comes out and does the actual kill and then delivers to the shop. That's $50. Obviously if you're pouring straight grain into them, it'll cost more. Pigs can eat ALOT.

We're very, very use to butchering. So much so that my 11 yo dd walked our neighbor thru butchering her injured hen.

My 21 yo is the one who butchers our rabbits, and last butchering day, she walked my 11 yo thru 2 of them.

For pigs, we'll get all the neighbor men who helped to feed them out and they'll do the hoisting, etc. and then us women will process and package...Everyone will get a share.

Where I'm thinking of putting them is between trees, so they'll have shade, plus we'll put billboard tarping over half the pen, I figure.

Is there anything we should NOT feed the pigs?

[Alyantavid]

I didn't feed mine meat of any kind. I know pigs are omnivores, but I just couldn't do it.

[Chicky2]

I wouldn't have a problem feeding meat, but not raw. We occasionally have left over meat that doesn't get eaten, but not often. I would, however, be willing to cook offal from other butchering to feed the pigs. Wonder if that would go well? have you ever heard of anyone doing that?

Thanks for all the input, btw!