Our New 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 (we get down to negative 25 degrees Fahrenheit), 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.  We give details in our e-book 'Food Self-Sufficiency: How We Do It In A Severe Climate.'

We had trouble finding pigs this spring, so we just got a couple three days ago.  It looks like we will be raising these through winter.  We put the larger one in an enclosed area where we are going to build another greenhouse.  The idea is that the pig will root around and eat all the grass and grass roots before we build it.  We hope it works, so the ground in the greenhouse will be weed and grass free.  Nick our 11 year old named them Pork-Etta and Chop-Chop.

 

htttp://selfsufficiencyhowwedoit.com