Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks so much, hope to have results of cat scan in the morning.

 

[Icu4dzs]

the merit of owning pigs right now. My days are pretty long already and pigs would add to my workload. But, automatic waterer and a self-feeder would make them pretty low maintenance.

I'm on my second year with pigs. Started with 2 last year, got them a little late and sent them to the butcher in December. Had some frosty days to contend with but otherwise, they were fairly easy to keep.

The trick was making the pen "pig-proof" You know what they say; "Fence should be horse high, pig tight and bull strong" and that is so true. Cattle panels work well. Once they are big enough to not squeeze through them it is fine.
I find pigs to be easy to care for. They are very intelligent animals and while I don't "train them" I do find them to be pleasant and easy.

This year, I got another two and while they are somewhat different in personality, they are still quite easy.
If you have any concerns about caring for them, I'd say you can put those aside. None of the usual "folk-tales" about pigs have been found to be true for me. They will not soil where they eat. They pick a spot in the pen and that is where they go.

I feed them any scraps from the kitchen but not any meat. I also give them corn/soybean ground up with water and soaked corn twice a day. I have a nice littlle "pig fountain" that hooks up to a hose and they can drink as they want. There are also a wealth of edible weeds that I give them from the garden. They will eat those weeds and appear to really like them. I do keep them confined in a pen that is about 60 x 80 so they have enough room to move around and they have shelter if they want.

In all, I'd say you'll enjoy pigs. They really are NOT all that much work as long as you are home twice a day to feed them.

Trim sends
//BT//

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I spent all day today at the hospital with my dad. He's holding his own and so far, he's avoidng surgery. Things are looking os much better than they did last night.

Thanks for the info, ICU.

I've had pigs, but it's been a couple decades ago. I thnk I could keep them in the garden area pretty easily. It's stock panels all the way around and it's secure enough to keep goats out, so it oughta do. The first set of pigs we had were 4-H pigs, and they were handled daily, fed oreos, and were puppy-dog tame. The next set was another story. They were a couple of feral pigs that never really tamed down and tried to hurt me severely. They tasted mighty fine though!

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I'm glad your Dad is looking better today and holding his own.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks so much!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Dad is still in the hosital, but is in good spirits and is set to be released tomorrow. Prayer works!

Soooooooo, I spent today in email negotiations with a pig breeder. I think that I will become the proud new owner of a couple pigs on Sunday if things continue to go well. I decided to forgo breeders right now and will get a couple of Hamp barrows.

I'm wondering what kind of prices some other folks pay for feeders. I should be getting these two @ 10 weeks old for $120. They started out at $65 apiece but I'm getting a discount for buying two. However, I remember a few years ago seeing pigs advertised for $30 - $40 for weaners. Today the range of prices on Craigslist was pretty wide. Some were trying to get $150 for duroc/hamp crosses. Not from me they wont! I expect that when I go for a pair of Red Wattle breeders, that I might pay that much though.

I've gotta spend some time on Saturday fixing a broken fence post in the pen where I plan to put the little buggers. We broke it off when we unloaded one of the round bales a few weeks ago. We rolled that bale out of the back of the truck so it had some pretty good momentum behind it. It hit a fence post and snapped it right off at ground level.

DH and I are 'being good' today. We both had a big ol' salad for dinner. But, I've gotta have a sweet treat before bed time so I'm thinking maybe a small mango/kefir smoothie - YUM!

Somebody kick me and make me get the paperwork done on some goats I sold a few weeks ago. I hate paperwork! Grrr...had to believe I'm a paper-pusher at work.

Guess I better get up and go strain tonight's milk.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I think pigs must be up right now. We've always paid between $25 and $35 a head for weaners around here, but this year they were going for from $45 up to $60 at the local sale barn. We finally found some on Craigslist, paid $100 for two duroc cross weiners and two mature potbelly sows. So $25 a head.

If we get the land we are going for I want to try and get some breeders and raise some from scratch. Just haven't decided on a breed yet. I wanted Red Wattle... but Em said they were the ugliest things she ever saw...

Glad to hear your Dad is going to get to come home!

 

[SSDreamin]

Glad to hear your Dad is better!

We paid $1 a pound for our two (Yorkshires). Seemed very reasonable to us, after watching CL for several months and freaking out at the prices others were asking! We *may* have gotten a deal though - we went in with two other people, and all bought our pigs at the same time. Around here, prices shot up because of the pig law, but have slowly begun to come down again. :/

 

[frustratedearthmother]

SS, thanks for the kind words about my dad. A dollar a pound sounds like a good deal for pigs. Wish I could have gotten that kind of price on these. What is this "pig law" of which you speak? Did I miss something?

I think I got an 'ok' deal. I was really surprised at the prices though. Some people wanted $150 for just piglets - not purebred, nothing fancy, not castrated - just a little 6-8 week old piglet. I did see another ad where I could have gotten some bluebutt weaners for $30 apiece. BUT, I would have had to buy all 5 of the babies, and they were all intact males. I have actually castrated a pig or two in my past, but if I can get them already done - bonus! (Plus castration of any kind makes DH kind of squeamish, lol.) I guess the most SS thing would have been to have gotten them, castrated them, and tried to sell them for a profit. Why did I say that? Now, I want to get them too.... I will not...I will not...I will not...

I really don't want to get too many because I'm planning on feeding these on the cheap. I've got lots of milk and eggs, so that will play a part in their diet. However, I don't want to feed them tooooo much of my milk because I can sell it for $8 a gallon. I usually sell about 2 gallons a week. It's not much, but $16 dollars would buy a bag of hog food. I don't get enough milk to actually raise the pigs on it - so it would be more of a supplement. And, I do make cheese about once a week and plan to use the whey as well. Might even ferment some feed with the whey and see how that works. They will be housed in the garden area, which is already divided into several pens, so I'll rotate them through there. Also, as soon as they've done a good job in the garden (and tame down) I'll be turning them out to forage and play in the pond during the day. I'm getting excited!

Not too many exciting things going on at the farm these days. I have a couple hens that have gone broody, so I guess I need to try and break them of it. I'd rather have more eggs to feed me (and pigs) right now than more chickens that I would have to feed!

Happy Friday everybody!

 

[Denim Deb]

Here's an article I found on the net about the pig law and what it means to small farmers. http://www.alternet.org/story/15475..._ag-inspired_law_targets_small_farms?page=0,0 Personally, I think it's nuts.