Buying a 4-H pig?

[Dace]

I know that most of you have the room to raise your own animals, but sadly I do not.

I am exploring the option of buying a 4-H pig for the freezer.

My question is I am worried about how it has been raised. I went to visit a woman who had goats last year and the conditions were pretty poor. The animals were dirty and smelly and the pens were over crowded and filthy.....and she heads up the 4-H goat program in her area

So what questions should I ask to make sure the pig has been raised resaonably well?

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hum.... i dunno.. have you checked localharvest for someone who raises pigs naturally?

4H has pretty strict rules and they require bagged food only and many of them are not raised on pasture. while you'd get a pretty pig, not sure it would be in line with what you may be looking for.

on the other hand, some of the pigs are treated like royalty - being fanned with palm fronds, special baths, etc.

 

[Dace]

Well naturally I am looking for a royal pig

I guess my first priority is that it is not commercial meat....from there it gets a little blurry.

I know that cows should not be fed grain, only grass. But I really do not know about pigs....don't they eat everything?

So from you farmers types....what should a good pig be raised on?

Edited to add...I will check local harvest, but I sort of liked the idea of hel
Ing some kid who had raised up a pig.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have two choices for local pigs in my area. One is a heritage breed raised on pasture. The other is more traditionally raised but corn and soy are used as part the feed. The big difference is price. I can't afford the heritage pigs. I can afford the other pig. But I can visit BOTH farms and see how the pigs are raised.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

It really depends on what you're looking for exactly. Are you ok with a 4-H pig that may have eaten grain (and perhaps some pasture or other things) but still had a much better life than any commercially raised animal? Or are you looking for a pig on pasture, soy free, etc? I'd say call your local extension office and tell them what you're looking for and see if they can get you in touch with some 4-Hers who raise pigs. Many kids love to have buyers lined up before the auction.

Or, you can wait until fair time and go talk to the kids who raise them, but you may have a hard time finding the kids since they're busy showing, getting ready, etc.

 

[freemotion]

From reading 4H threads on byh, particularly about pigs, it appears that they raise them in miniature copies of the commercial model. They have to in order to have their pig be competitive in size and looks at the shows.

For me, the number one requirement would be pasture....sunshine, rooting, eating SOME stuff that is alive and growing. This is the biggest difference between the stuff in the grocery store....it removes most of the cruelty factor, too.

It is not realistic to raise a pig ONLY on pasture. It will be very expensive to get one completely organically raised. I can't even do that here because I can't grow enough of my own animal feed.

Second important thing for me is no soy, especially towards the end. That being said, I did use some soy early on with my pigs in the form of commercial feeds. If I had access to more food waste in the spring, that would change.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

From reading 4H threads on byh, particularly about pigs, it appears that they raise them in miniature copies of the commercial model. They have to in order to have their pig be competitive in size and looks at the shows.

For me, the number one requirement would be pasture....sunshine, rooting, eating SOME stuff that is alive and growing. This is the biggest difference between the stuff in the grocery store....it removes most of the cruelty factor, too.

It is not realistic to raise a pig ONLY on pasture. It will be very expensive to get one completely organically raised. I can't even do that here because I can't grow enough of my own animal feed.

Second important thing for me is no soy, especially towards the end. That being said, I did use some soy early on with my pigs in the form of commercial feeds. If I had access to more food waste in the spring, that would change.

Definitely they are raised in mini CAFO situations.
Up here, they 4-H members auction off their animals at the fair. For incredibly crazy high prices. We are talking about a goose for $1,000 kind of crazy, and beef for about $8 a pound on the hoof

 

[TanksHill]

Shhhh..... Come here Dace let me tell you a secret...

At the fair the big grocery chains have tens of thousands of dollars to spend/ donate to the purchase of 4H animals.

Most of them don't even want the meat.

At the fair after the auction many animals go to the Ag Board. From what I have been told this is where you want to get your animals from.

My sil says you stand in line with the numbers on the animal you want. When you get to the window if it's still available you can buy it.

They sell for almost nothing.

I don't know about the whole humane/ how were they raised thing. But I imagine any 4H'er will have much better conditions than the big CAFO's.

I think it just depends on what your willing to tolerate for a good price.

I am going this year. I want a pig and 1/2 beef. My fil is supposed to take the other half.

We will see.

g

 

[aggieterpkatie]

It's not fair to say 4-H animals are raised like they're in mini CAFO's. That's a big generalization. Not all 4-Hers raise their animals like that. I certainly didn't. When I raised market lambs for 4-H, they were fed free choice hay and supplemented with grain. Unfortunately we didn't have any pasture since our lambs were in a cleared wood lot, and we got animals before we got our pasture established. Many club lambs today are fed NO hay or pasture and only grained, but not ALL club lambs are raised like this.

It really depends on where you live. I know many 4-Hers now who raise their animals responsibly and don't have "mini CAFOs". And there are certainly areas/counties where 4-Hers get ungodly amounts of money for their animals, but there are MANY places where animals go for normal prices!

Please don't dismiss 4-Hers because of what you hear or read on forums, because it's not fair to paint everyone with the same brush.

 

[Dace]

Thanks everyone, I love the feedback.

Free, great input thank you

Gina.....sign me up! Can I come with? So you go to the fair and pick out a couple of animals that you are interested in and then go try to buy them after?
Maybe I can get the family to go in on a steer...although it would not be pastured