Pigs!

[oldtimer]

Back in the 1960s, when we all wanted a simple life on the land, a friend on the Isle of Wight who inherited enough only just enough money to buy a smalholding decided to keep pigs as part of hie self-sufficiency plan. Acting on advice, he invested in a boar and six sows and provided a sty for each sow and a separate sty for the boar. However, he didn't really understand the advice he was given and let the boar and sows run freely in their field. The highly efficient boar got all six sows pregnant and he was over-run by piglets and had to sell them off at a loss. In future years, he took care to regulate the boar's access to his harem.

I vaguely remember from school economics learning something about the pig cycle. it's all gone now but I don't think it had anything to do with two-wheeled porcine transport.

 

[sidpost]

Back in the 1960s, when we all wanted a simple life on the land, a friend on the Isle of Wight who inherited enough only just enough money to buy a smalholding decided to keep pigs as part of hie self-sufficiency plan. Acting on advice, he invested in a boar and six sows and provided a sty for each sow and a separate sty for the boar. However, he didn't really understand the advice he was given and let the boar and sows run freely in their field. The highly efficient boar got all six sows pregnant and he was over-run by piglets and had to sell them off at a loss. In future years, he took care to regulate the boar's access to his harem.

I vaguely remember from school economics learning something about the pig cycle. it's all gone now but I don't think it had anything to do with two-wheeled porcine transport.

Where I grew up, city folks often came out to show us "hicks" how to grow crops and livestock. They assumed we were too dumb to make money growing food and raising livestock to be successful because we did not have the latest car or whatever.

Today, we are still there and they are long gone after going bankrupt. Mom drove a Porsche Macan as well when she retired which was the third one in the state at the time and it cost more than my tractor!

Now however, Chinese nationals are buying farmland and hiring people to grow Marijuana. This is bringing all sorts of bad into my part of rural America where we live. Fentanyl isn't killing off the dopers so, things are also starting to skew towards larger legal numbers of recreational drug use. It seems like the nontypical drug consumers are the ones that win the Fentanyl lottery and is typically some high school or college student who bought some random pill at a bar or club to 'try".

The genetically modified Marijuana we see in the recreational trade has very little, if any, relationship to the Marijuana of the past. While I don't agree with it being at the same level as Angel Dust, LSD, etc. It is a whole lot worse than a "beer" today. I also see the permanent effects on the brains of younger people who lose the ability to function productively in society due to diminished brain capacity. A year later, they still have trouble communicating coherently and still haven't regained basic math skills to do things like make change at a cash register.

Medically with PTSD and some other things like Seizures, I think it has real merit but, that is lost in all the $$$ being made.

I'm afraid all we are going to be able to grow in a few generations is Marijuana as we lose the ability to feed ourselves ...

Animal husbandry and livestock management is a skill that isn't gained by spending lots of money! Money might cover up mistakes but, it generally won't fix them!

 

[pete79]

Late reply here, but I’ll chip in for what it’s worth. Pigs are tremendous. They’re such a good tool for clearing land. I’ve been raising them for years. They’ll clear just about anything and are really good for rooting out almost indestructible rooting plants. If you have a mobile setup and can move them to spots and keep them restricted to an area, they’ll turn soil down to a depth of 2 -3 ft. You have to move them regularly cause they can be bad for soil compaction if they’re left in a spot too long (have them in a spot, let them root it up, then move them….repeat process). Electric fencing is best, because they’ll root around conventional posts and cause them to collapse. In terms of processing, they’re easy - it’s best if you can get a gambrel system to raise the carcass off the ground, but a very easy animal to dress and process. I burn the hair off with a propane torch and then scrape them with a machete before washing them. There’s very little waste on a pig and if you’re into curing meat you can make some delicious treats with pork.

 

[sidpost]

I have butchered a lot of "Feral Hogs" and the effort generally isn't worth it, or at least for any detailed butchering. These wild hogs have very little loin and bacon so, all you really get are the hams and butts.

My worst night/following day was 17! Front end loader on the tractor to lift 3 at a time off the ground to slit their throats and drain the blood. Then a battery powered DeWalt Sawz-all to decapitate them, take the spine at the butts and hams, and to split the pelvis.

Doing hogs like this is ~30 minutes per 3 head and yields most of the edible meat.

If I had a domesticated hog, I would spend the time to butcher them properly because the bacon and loin are worth the effort. Offal is a mixed bag but, I generally eat it all when prepared reasonably. Also, with domestic hogs, the issue of parasites is significantly reduced assuming reasonable housing/pens though the risk from Feral Hogs varies depending on where you are shooting them with open range land and clean water being an important consideration.

 

[SaraR]

Late reply here, but I’ll chip in for what it’s worth. Pigs are tremendous. They’re such a good tool for clearing land. I’ve been raising them for years. They’ll clear just about anything and are really good for rooting out almost indestructible rooting plants. If you have a mobile setup and can move them to spots and keep them restricted to an area, they’ll turn soil down to a depth of 2 -3 ft. You have to move them regularly cause they can be bad for soil compaction if they’re left in a spot too long (have them in a spot, let them root it up, then move them….repeat process). Electric fencing is best, because they’ll root around conventional posts and cause them to collapse. In terms of processing, they’re easy - it’s best if you can get a gambrel system to raise the carcass off the ground, but a very easy animal to dress and process. I burn the hair off with a propane torch and then scrape them with a machete before washing them. There’s very little waste on a pig and if you’re into curing meat you can make some delicious treats with pork.

For how long do you leave the ground to recover before you rotate them back onto a piece of land?

 

[Woody girl]

I have butchered a lot of "Feral Hogs" and the effort generally isn't worth it, or at least for any detailed butchering. These wild hogs have very little loin and bacon so, all you really get are the hams and butts.

My worst night/following day was 17! Front end loader on the tractor to lift 3 at a time off the ground to slit their throats and drain the blood. Then a battery powered DeWalt Sawz-all to decapitate them, take the spine at the butts and hams, and to split the pelvis.

Doing hogs like this is ~30 minutes per 3 head and yields most of the edible meat.

If I had a domesticated hog, I would spend the time to butcher them properly because the bacon and loin are worth the effort. Offal is a mixed bag but, I generally eat it all when prepared reasonably. Also, with domestic hogs, the issue of parasites is significantly reduced assuming reasonable housing/pens though the risk from Feral Hogs varies depending on where you are shooting them with open range land and clean water being an important consideration.

I think we are talking about domestic pig husbandry, not ferral hogs.

Funny story about a friend who purchased 3 kune kune pigs for her tiny smallholding, all girls(she thought)
A few months later, she woke up to 8 little piglets in the pen , where had they come from? They were not pregnant at purchase, so it was a mystery. A few days later, there were another 7 in the pen.
Vet was called to see that all was OK, and try to fathom the mystery.
Turns out Daisy,.... was a Dave.
The little ones were sold, and Dave got an operation.
They have never been turned into the bacon they were supposed to become, and are still running about on the smallholding eating her out of house and home for feed.

 

[Tengu]

Reminds me of a city person who moved near here for the `Good Life`

Foxes got the chooks.
Badgers broke into the hives.
And the Nanny gave birth to twin....Billies.

They sold up and went back to the city.

 

[pete79]

For how long do you leave the ground to recover before you rotate them back onto a piece of land?

You don’t need to move them away for long. If they’re ganged up on an area, they’ll have it churned up and like the surface of the moon in a week. Move them then. Let them hit another area till it’s bare, then move them back to the original spot so they can root up any remnants of creeping couch grass, etc, that are popping up. Play it by ear. You don’t want to leave them on one spot the whole time if you plan to cultivate it in the future; I left some of mine on a spot for an entire summer and after I slaughtered them the hound there was so compacted that you couldn’t push a spade into it.