Raising Our Pigs

Raising pigs is a good addition to achieving food self-sufficiency.   They produce about one pound of weight to every 3-1/2 to 4 pounds of food that they eat.  The cost of the meat we raise is about 50 to 60 percent of what a butcher would charge, and then even much less than what a grocery store would charge at the meat counter.  We feed our pigs a hog grower feed, garden refuse and excess, moldy spoiled alfalfa hay, potatoes gleaned from farmer’s fields after the harvest, and less than desirable apples .  So, aside from the hog grower feed, the rest of their food is free.  The pork that we grow is much leaner, better tasting, and healthier for us than the pork grown in large commercial farms.  And, pigs are fairly easy to take care of, only requiring food, water, an enclosure, and a three-sided roofed shelter.

The spring is a good time to buy wiener pigs, which are baby pigs.  Buying them in the spring gives them time to reach butchering weight so we won’t have to feed them through the winter.  If we raise them through the winter much of the energy they would get from the feed will be used to keep them warm, and not used to put on weight.  So, it is not as cost effective as raising them in the spring.  We want them to be as big as possible at butchering time.

Albert Ein'swine and Brian

Porky and Albert Ein'swine

Nick, Porky, and Albert at -21 degrees