I’m going in with a friend to raise some piglets, so today we went to pick up the sow and piglets
Sally is here… after some fun loading and unloading.
We will keep Sally and piglets together until weaning time. After that some of the piglets will head to a new home down the road. We will keep Sally and one or two of the piglets.
She will be in need of a new “boyfriend” eventually. 😉
Enjoy the short video.
– Stan
Some new critters took a ride home with me yesterday: Pigs!
New Pigs Take a Ride
These pigs were about 40 pounds, a bit heavier than my previous set when I brought them home. Much bigger, and I would not be able to transport them in the dog cage in the back of my VW. I really need a truck!!!!!
Pigs in the barn
I put these pigs in the barn. My outdoor pig pen is still occupied for another month or so. It’s a bit cold here anyway (24 degrees last night), so the barn is a good spot for now. I filled the stall with an entire bale of hay, plus food and water. They have been eating more hay than feed.
These two barrows are both Hampshire crosses. My other pigs were Duroc crosses. I think they will do well. They are the leftovers from a group of show pigs that sold for $250.00 each. I didn’t pay that for these, thankfully.
The picture below is them all setup with food and water in their new digs. They are chowing down on the hay rather than the feed.
Pigs in New Digs
This stall is also used for calves when I have them. You can see the two bottle holders at the top of the wall. I start them out in this stall then move them to the stall at the front of the barn later since it is set up for bucket feeding.
Still no names for the pigs yet. Suggestions?
– Stan.
How time flies. I made the appointment today to have the first of my pigs processed. Here they are shortly after their arrival in the fall of last year.
Boy have they grown. According to my calculations the male now weighs 185 lbs. He should weigh at about 250 by processing time. Here is a photo of the male. What a difference.
The female weighs slightly less than the male. She is about an inch shorter length wise and around the middle. We are going to see how it goes with the male and then schedule processing for the female. We may end up selling most of the meat from the female. Let me know if you are interested.
This has gone VERY well. Once we get through the first one, to see the process all the way through, we will probably purchase two more pigs. I’ll keep you posted.
– Stan
The drought this year hit us initially, but we had a break from it earlier than others. Even though the drought was not “terrible” for us, our pastures really needed a good jolt of rain. That came this week and it was beautiful!
Rain. Yippie!
The pigs are doing great. They used to run when I came out, now they run to the corner of the pen waiting for me to come in. If I don’t hold the bucket, they knock it over and start fighting over who gets the first boiled egg. (I give them two boiled eggs per day to help with protein, etc.)
Growing Pigs
Lucy and Limpy hanging out to together while the cows eat. (I try to give Lucy a little treat in the goat shed where the cows can’t get to her)
Lucy and Limpy
All of the cows crowd in and chow down.
The cows crowd in for feed
I’ve changed the way I feed the chickens. I bought a HUGE back of poultry pre-mix, enough to male a ton of feed. I’ve been mixing that into my feed base 50 lbs. at a time and trying to keep the laying hens supplied with that in addition to what they get from free ranging. I think the egg quantity is starting to pick up a bit. They quality was never really bad, I just need this to “perform” a bit better in order to earn their keep. 😉
More Eggs
I let out the free rangers every morning. Lately they have started snacking on the cats food before the cats can eat it. … Therefore, I moved the cat food to a higher location in the bar, feed the cats first, and also put out some mixed feed in the middle of the barn to keep them occupied until the cats finish. It kinda works…
Free Rangers chowing down in the barn
Typical Minnie Mae
Typical Minnie Mae
These girls don’t get much photo time on the blog, partly because they are a bit boring, and partly because they look rough due to an overaggressive rooster. However, these are my main laying hens right now, even though the “free rangers” are giving them a challenge in the quantity department.
Laying Hens
These are the “Jr birds”. They are not laying yet, nor have they been merged into the laying hen flock yet. Eventually… (sorry about the photo quality)
Jr birds
Well, that is the week wrap up.
– Stan
I worked away from the house this morning, then came home for the rest of the day. Janet and I took a break around lunch to clean out the fridge and take treats to the pigs. Here is the result. Pigs are soooo funny…
Before I bought pigs I did a lot of research on how to feed them, free ranging, etc. One of the things I discovered was that pigs love acorns. There was an old tradition of “finishing” pigs on large quantities of acorns.
Well, we just happen to have two large oak trees on our farm. They have been dropping hundreds of acorns, so today I gathered some for the pigs and fed them along with the pig feed.
One of the pigs enjoying acorns
Here is one of the pigs enjoying acorns…
Minnie Mae (the princess dog) wanted to go out for a potty break a little while ago. I was ready for a break from C# programming, so I took her for a walk. I decided to stop by the pig pen to check on them, since it was on the way.
Where are the pigs?
Can you find the pigs in this photo? You may have to click on the photo and then zoom it a bit. Leave me a comment if you see them.
– Stan
We try to move the critters to make the most of our pasture resources and to spread the fertilizer around. We usually move the poultry around weekly. Now the pigs are part of the weekly rotation. Here are the pigs in their new location (digs).
The pigs in their new location.
The plan is to move the pen one square at a time and let them dig up the garden and fertilize it at the same time. In this section I had planted mangrel beets and turnips. They did not turn out very well due to the heat, but there are still a few in there to keep the pigs busy.
You can see on the outside of the pen the old location. They have already trampled it down (and dug it up) quite a bit.
As soon as we got them settled in the new location they began rooting around and snacking on the vegetation. This is exactly what I had hoped they would do. Eventually when they finish the garden I hope to put them out to pasture. Pigs will actually free range like chickens and eat grass. See this site for more info: Sugar Mountain Farm
The pigs enjoying all the yummy stuff in their new spot
Well, that’s all for now. See ya.
* Fixed the link to Sugar Mountain Farm 🙂
This is a normal sight in the morning. They kittens and mommy cat greet me at the door and walk me to the barn to get their breakfast.
Kittens waiting for breakfast
Nothing much was stirring in the pig pen. They usually bury themselves under the dry hay and sleep until I bring in the goodies… slop (leftovers), pig feed (mixed locally), milk (old milk from a local dairy) and boiled eggs (1 for each of them). They are in “hog heaven”
This is my morning view over the pig pen
Pigging out
Breakfast for the pigs
Lucy hoping that I will give her some breakfast as well.
Lucy hoping for food
