# Getting pigs!! :)



## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

So, we're getting pigs Thursday. 

House is all set. 3 pallets for walls and a pallet on top. All bound together with bale bind and tarps strapped on as well. I guess you could call it temporary 

Anyways. 4 strand electric fence is (nearly) all set up. Tons of space, half woods and half pasture. How much of their food should come from foraging?

They are piglets, Duroc/Hampshire mix. We're going to fatten them up and get them processed this fall. 

How easily do pigs get parasites? Think they'll eat garlic to prevent parasites like the goats?

What about meds? I have a ton of stuff for the goats, how much overlap is there?

We were going to let them forage, give them goat milk and eggs, garden scraps, kitchen scraps, leftovers. Will they need grain as well? Hay? Do they eat grass and leaves, or just nuts and seeds and stuff from the woods?

I think that's all for now. I'll post photos when they arrive!


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## IHEARTGOATS (Jun 14, 2016)

We bought 3 Duroc/Hampshire crosses the week before Christmas.
2 of them were about 50 lbs, and the breeder only had one left that was the runt and gave him to us. He weighed about 30 lbs.
We haven't had to give ours any medicines.

We have pretty much had ours on a feed lot since nothing really to browse on. 
I've just checked and I"ve fed them about 1700lbs of feed.

They'll gain about 1lbs for every 3lbs of food up until they weigh about 120-130lbs or so. Then it starts to take more food for them to gain weight. Where ours are at now it takes about 5lbs to get a lb of weight gain.

Our "appointment" at the slaughter house is in a couple of weeks. The two larger ones are over 200lbs and the runt is probably 190 or so. 

Our target is to have them around 230-250 or so.

I'll get some pics of mine this afternoon if I can.


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## IHEARTGOATS (Jun 14, 2016)

So the first 2 pics are the day we got the pigs the week before Christmas.
And the rest are now.
We also have 2 Angus Steers


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Good luck on the pigs!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Good luck with them.


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Homegrown pork is the best!
This was our 3rd(I think) year raising pigs, our biggest was about 300 lbs.
We have a good amount of land to run them on, but we still had to feed them quite a bit. We fed a mix of soaked corn, oats and wheat. They LOVE milk, and whey, and acorns. We were able to replace a lot of their food with acorns the last month or so before butchering. Ours never liked their shelter, they'd rather be out in the weather!
We've given hay before, but I don't think they really ate it.

Never had any health problems, or had to worm them or anything.
Good luck! We always love ours, it’s kind of sad to have to kill them, but the meat is amazing!


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Also, they’re really easy to keep in electric fence, we use 2 strands, no higher than a foot off the ground. They’re extremely strong though, so we’ve had much better luck with electric fence than any kind of physical barrier.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

That's exactly what I have set up for them, 2 strand electric fence. 6" and 12" off the ground. I'm so excited, picking them up tonight :leap:


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## IHEARTGOATS (Jun 14, 2016)

Cool.
Pics please


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

They're here! After a quick escape through the fence, a wild goose chase through the woods, and a lot of stress later, we have two piggies locked up in their shelter :lol: 

Ended up getting one Duroc/Hampshire (red) and one Duroc/Yorkshire (black). 

Here is an awful photo, it was getting dark. I'll get better ones tomorrow


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

IHEARTGOATS said:


> Cool.
> Pics please


Of the fence or pigs? Not quite sure what you meant


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## Realtree2429 (Feb 4, 2017)

I'm so sorry, but I actually laughed out loud! I know exactly what you mean when you said you were chasing pigs! Not funny, but kinda because it wasn't me....this time anyways!

We have raised meat pigs for 3 years. Duroc, Hamp, York, etc. We will raise them again this year for the freezer, but my husband decided to try pasture pigs (American Guinea Hogs/Kune Kune crosses). We have 2 American Guinea Hog gilts and we just got a 4 month old Kune Kune boar. Hoping to breed our own and raise them on hay/pasture, with some maintenance feed. These suckers actually eat hay and pasture! The heritage pigs really do go through the feed more....but that makes sense because they are very fast growing when you compare the different breeds. 

Good luck! Pigs are so awesome


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## Realtree2429 (Feb 4, 2017)

Oh, and if you ever have any extra goat's milk....make a slop out of feed/milk. They love it! And it puts some good, healthy weight on them! Makes for very tastes bacon.....


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Yay for piggies! Are they boys or girls?
How fun to start it off with a nice chase:lol: Over the years we've refined our pig herding techniques a little, but sometimes we still end up chasing them all over the property for hours, when they somehow manage to escape:lol:


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## odieclark (Jan 21, 2016)

Great idea! Pigs are great, and compared to goats, well a pig is SIMPLE!

Seriously! If you can keep them contained, that is your biggest challenge-secure fencing! But, mind you, pigs can't jump! :ram: 

Pigs ROOT! (Sp). They will dig with their snouts and dig up everything! Any roots they find, well they eat those too! Rub on the pine tree, eat the tree branches, they love to eat! Anything you can say about pigs is true...sort of! Like if someone says that YOU act like a pig, eat like a pig, or your garage looks like a pig pen,...well, :smile:

They compete for food, so having two or more is important in encouraging eating, which usually isn't much of an issue!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

We had another pen break today. That was lovely :lol: Put up a small woven wire pen for them so they could come out of their house for a little while. 

Both are boys. 

I did give them some goat milk, they absolutely loved it!  The breeder said whenever she milked her goats they got all excited because they wanted the milk. Lol! 

I got some more photos, I'll try to get them to upload in a minute


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Ok, here are the promised photos. The goats were all lined up to stare :lol:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

They look happy!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

These horrid brats :GAAH: :hair: 

We've had like, 3-4 chases through woods and field today. They decided they like the buck pen. No amount of herding them towards their own pen, showing them food, or anything will get them out. But at least they aren't just getting out and going all over. They're staying the night in the buck pen. 

Good news - they've already gained a lot of weight. The little black one was a little skinny when he got here, but now he's fat ad sleek


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## odieclark (Jan 21, 2016)

Be sure to keep your other animals safe from them. We were told to do so and took it to heart. The bigger the pig the hungrier and stronger they become. We had pigs next to lambs and kept a very sturdy fence between the two with a hot wire on the pigs side. The pigs were curious as the lambs, but we were able to avoid any incidents with the security at least. The pigs did dig deep however and we blocked all with big stones.

They love garden produce, cantaloupe and all our tasty scraps

We kept a pig scrape bucket in our fridge all the time while raising pigs. So any food scraps, cuttings from vegetables, etc. all in the pig scrape buckets- ice cream pails- the pigs loved to see the pig buckets coming their way and would run with joy to meet me at the fence and where I would place their treats!

Also saved banana peels and egg shells! Loved both of them!!!


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## odieclark (Jan 21, 2016)

I hope you can keep them contained! Gosh, if I lived in NC I would borrow you some panels and t posts! Pigs keep getting stronger!

Our pigs broke the little wood structure, and rooted up tree roots! Very strong! Good at digging, and running!


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