Three little pigs

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We're getting the three little pigs this weekend. We've got a big pen, with electric wire about 6 inch of the ground, a new little house, straw for bedding ,waterer , feeder and pig starter. I will be gradually giving them goat milk . I am so excited I've never raised pigs and wanted to start out with little weaners so they would be easier to handle. How big is an eight week old yorkshire pig? I talked to the pig man last night and I ask him how much they weighed and he never answered me except that winter pigs were smaller than warm weather pigs. I wasn't expecting an exact wieght, I just wanted to know about how much. We would like to raise our little gilts as chemical free as possible but my first priority is healthy pigs. Do they need wormed? You know I might get more information out of this guy if I'd stop calling him the pig man HE HE. Please pass along any information that would be helpful, thanks

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), January 11, 2002

Answers

Hi Sherry, Well I'm no expert, but we raised 6 baby pigs this year for butcher (I just got my last 2 back) and they did fantastic. What we did was fence off about 1/3 of an acre, maybe a bit bigger with stock panel. We didn't give them any shots or wormer. Didn't last time either, and they were excellent. If I remember right, our 8 week old pigs were just big enough to fit through the stock panels, so we had to put them in the barn for about 2 weeks.

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), January 11, 2002.

Sherry, the other thing I would caution you on is the eletric fence. =) Ask me, I know!! Our first pig EARNED the name Houdini. We were told 1 electric wire would do it. We decided to go ahead and put 3. One about 6 inches from the ground and then 2 a bit higher. Well, we put our pig in and he got shocked, once, twice, three times and then he backed up and ran and went right through the fence getting shocked a fourth time. We learned from that. The last pigs we got were smaller. Around 40 lbs. Yours will probably be smaller than that. They also EARNED the name Houdini as they were small enough to fit through the 4" holes on the hog fencing. =) We had to double fence overlapping the holes to keep them in. As far as the natural stuff.... We don't worm ours or anything either. We give them good food, lots of milk left from our cow and goats and lots of fresh water. Watch out though...most hog starter feed and even many of the grower feeds are medicated. We used the hog finisher (which is only 12%) and added some soybean meal (which I don't like doing) to bring the protein up until they were larger. Hope this helps. You can see our pigs on our webpage. www.amazinggrazefarm.com

-- M & M (amazinggraze@valkyrie.net), January 11, 2002.

goodluck sherry!!! I would suggest perhaps a pen within the pen for a starter. We use tall T-posts and pallets to make pens that will keep the little critters in. It sure doesn't always look the best but we found catching weaners was difficult and not much fun (unless you want to count the laughs YEARS later!!!)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 11, 2002.

I raise pigs for home meat. We have a pen made of four cattle panels lined with poultry wire ( cause our first batch walked right through the holes) and metal post. Not one has escaped yet! We have a simple three sided with roof house with a little straw in it. We slop there hog pellets because they eat better that way. I have a neighbor that dry feeds his and they are smaller than ours. Do NOT feed them cucumbers..hehe..mine got hooked on them last summer and wanted only cukes for eats...oops. Pigs can be killed right in the pen without the others getting too upset, but we try to remove them anyway. Your pigs will be aboout 20-25 pounds. You should pay about $1 a pound for them. Good luck and wear old clothes when you feed them, oh yeah, make a trough for the slop. And, they chew plastic buckets. Wrtie if you need advise, your pigs will get the first worming from the pig guy, you can worm them in about 3 months. It goes into their water. Julie the one who loves fresh pork:)

-- julie britt (jbritt@ceva.net), January 11, 2002.

Hello, Electric fence does not historically work well for little pigs. It is great for sows and older market pigs. You might want to build a pen with hog panels for your feeder project. As far as the weight, they will be around 20 to 30 pounds at 8 weeks. Feeder prices are as high as $50 to $70 each in some areas. Look for quality pigs that will grow lean enough and have sufficient muscling. The back should be flatter rather than rounded looking. (Hint: buy off season weanlings from a showpig breeder thay does AI.) You don't have to worm if you understand that they won't grow as efficiently. The milk should be a great snack for them. Just remember that it only has about 3 or 4% protein. Your feeder ration should be at least 16% protein. They do fine on dry feed as long as they have water available. Good luck.

-- sherman (romney@quik.com), January 11, 2002.


Sherry. The key to hog farming is to remember that they are VERY intellgent so they can outwit you if you're not on your toes. Yes they will start squealing and just barrel through an electric fence. To make your lives less hectic, put up something more sturdy. Also, taming them a bit is good but a really tame (as pet) hog is a prime nuisance. He will be sitting on your back step (see Houdini story above) regardless of what you do to keep him in and a 200 lb hog rubbing on you for attention is not fun. Don't name them. It's hard to butcher "Fred". Hogs are fun and tasty. Enjoy.

-- Rosalie (Dee) in IN (deatline@globalsite.net), January 11, 2002.

Great advice, I didn't make myself clear about the fence. The electric fence in on the inside of field fenceing thats 47 inchs high and has the smaller openings at the bottom. The electric fence extends out from the bottom of the fence post. I bet we do need to put them in a smaller pen at first. When I see them I'll be able to access the situation a little better. This is going to be fun "I hope"

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), January 11, 2002.

I don't have problems eating named animals raised for meat. I have always thought Hamlet, Pork Chop, Kevin Bacon, etc., all to be acceptable names for pigs. Sorry, Kevin.

-- farmerette (noneed@youknow.net), January 13, 2002.

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