Free's 2011 pig project....free food from now on!!!!

[freemotion]

We got the pigs yesterday in the pouring rain! I have a bad cold and no voice left, so the phone calls involved were a bit challenging. We decided to try more modern breeds of pigs (I forgot to ask what they are, but they are standard modern pigs raised on grain and veg waste from a large veg farm that has a busy farmstand and sells to a local grocery store so they can have big signs saying "local produce") rather than the heritage mix pigs we got last year. It will be part of the experiment to see how big and fat they get, being raised on pasture and mostly with scrounged foods.

My dad and mom wanted to get one for themselves and we wanted more pork and bacon and some sausage so we got two for ourselves. We made a deal with the guys who slaughtered for us last time....we got a fourth piglet that we will raise in exchange for killing the other three. So I feel secure knowing that that expense is already covered well in advance. I also promised to stay in the kitchen, barefoot, and cook a fantastic meal from farm products on that day. These guys are really into do-it-yourself and I get an occasional email asking what I am doing lately, foodwise.

Here they are in their house this morning, terrified of me and holding very still, hoping I don't see them:

Notice the free bedding, consisting of wasted hay from under the goat's feeders and oak leaves raked up from the pasture! JJul

 

[glenolam]

What a great deal - raising a pig for them in exchange for slaughtering! Are they doing that part, too? Slaughtering and butchering or just killing? I forgot or didn't pay attention.

I want pigs...I want pigs...I want pigs...

Maybe when I come to a cheese class I'll take one home...

PS - you forgot

I also promised to stay in the kitchen, barefoot,

Slaving over a hot stove

 

[freemotion]

What a great deal - raising a pig for them in exchange for slaughtering! Are they doing that part, too? Slaughtering and butchering or just killing? I forgot or didn't pay attention.

I want pigs...I want pigs...I want pigs...

Maybe when I come to a cheese class I'll take one home...

PS - you forgot

I also promised to stay in the kitchen, barefoot,

Slaving over a hot stove

Notice I left out "pregnant!"

 

[freemotion]

We will do the butchering again. Dad and I did it last year. I was tired and overwhelmed by then and didn't get it onto my journal, but dh got some great pics for it! Maybe I'll get to that one rainy day. Right.

We did send the bacon out but we just might try to smoke it ourselves if we can come up with a smoker this year. I'm thinking a box slapped together from pallet wood might work, with the fire a couple feet away in a pit with the smoke directed into the box with a pipe or channel of some sort.

 

[glenolam]

We need your sense of motivation over at our house. I swear, I'm just going to have to do all this butchering and gutting myself. Big G's pulled on the "I don't want to do anything about anything" hat and I'm gonna slap him. I reminded him we only have about 3-5 weeks until it's chicken slaughter day. I know I'M excited. I keep reminding him we have 7 money suckers (AKA BEEF COWS) mowing the fields and doing nothing but eating our green cash. I WANT BEEF AND I WANT IT NOW.

Anyone know how to kill and butcher a full grown cow? Just joking - there's a meat house about 3 houses down, but since they are Big G's animals he has to give the Okey Dokey...

Sign...I think I can handle a pig, though...

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Y'all are giving me porcine envy over here! They look good! Yorkshires probably?

Can't wait to follow the thread, and I hope there will be lots of pictures!!

 

[freemotion]

I finally learned to upload them myself so there will be more and they will be put up quickly, too! You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I finally learned to upload them myself so there will be more and they will be put up quickly, too! You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

 

[Wannabefree]

I hope to have a pig or two soon as well. I am prepping for them now. Just gotta get DH on board and building a place to keep said piggies. I have been freezing large quantities of scraps for them

 

[freemotion]

Well, it has been a crazy week or so with Mya having her twins just four days after the pigs arrived. I begrudgingly bought a second bag of pig starter pellets and have been adding a quart of Mya's colostrum to them, along with hot water, morning and evening. I also add a small scoop of dog food given to me last year after the last pigs went to freezer camp. I tossed the bag into one of the galvanized grain barrels in anticipation of this year's pigs. I also added a cup or so of alfalfa pellets to this mash until the pasture is finally opened to them.

My dad came over yesterday and worked on the electric fence, and although the entire pasture is not rewired as is my goal for this spring, the pig pasture is done and the wire should be hotter. He removed the wire tape that is good for horses but not for goats and pigs, and replaced it with regular, bare electric fence wire.

This morning my husband accidentally touched it when feeding the pigs for me. He assured me it had quite a snap to it. So this afternoon, I set up the 500' of hose to the pig pasture and the 20 gallon water tub and filled it. Then I took a rubber horse feed tub, the type with the three metal loops for hanging it in the corner of a stall, and chained it to the bottom of one of the cattle panels. I hope to never have to use a long stick to try to get it closer to the fence when the pigs are big enough to eat me and I need to get them fed.....hopefully, I can just real it in with the chain.

I threw some boiled eggs in the small round pen to distract them while I opened their gate and made my exit from their pasture. Then I went to shut off the hose as the tub was full, and I broke the valve, so I went back to the house to shut it off. Later I could see the four pigs galloping joyfully around the pasture, and they were already shoveling in the old acorn pile, eating sprouting acorns. Anything to reduce that feed bill! I hope to locate a source or two of restaurant prep scraps this week, the goal will be 2 or more five gallon pails a day. I'd love to find a source of dairy products, but I should have lots of whey this summer from all the cheesemaking I have planned.