Pigs!

[Decacraft]

Any owners of pigs here?

Looking at some options now I'm getting land cleared of brambles for expanding livestock.

What kind of things would help me along the way? I watch a few channels of small holdings, but wanted to see if there's anyone on here who could advise for/against it or what else instead?
Cheers

 

[Woody girl]

Someone I know has 4 kune kune, has built 3 pens around a huge oak, and moves them and the pig hut from pen to pen every so often. One pen becomes the summer veg garden, and then the next year, it's the next pen along. Don't know the ins and outs, as they are not a close friend, but it seems to work quite well.

 

[Decacraft]

That's what I was thinking, same as the chickens am I going to have to move them around, but I suppose I could always use it like you said then as a veg garden.

The kunekune seems to be a recommended breed, and taste good? No offence intended to anyone here.

 

[Erbswurst]

Are you brave enough to eat your dog or cat?
If not, forget the idea to grow three pigs and eat them in the end!

 

[Erbswurst]

It's the same with muscovy ducks and geese, by the way. These really behave like dogs.

 

[Decacraft]

Are you brave enough to eat your dog or cat?
If not, forget the idea to grow three pigs and eat them in the end!

I'm not sure what you mean sorry, but the primary purpose of my livestock is for the table. I dont have an issue with dispatch and dressing if thats what you mean?

 

[Toddy]

Pigs are work. They're not stupid and they can work out how to get out, and they dig, well snout around, and tear up ground.

Rabbits, the fast growing for the table kind, are a lot easier to deal with.

I don't keep either but I have friends who do, and the stories are funny, but, yeah, pigs can be hard work, and butchering them is a lot of work.

 

[richy3333]

Pigs are great for the table and dont have to be hard work. A good electric fence will keep them in and they clear the ground completely. For a simple house use a domestic oil tank and cut a hole in it, else look at recycled plastic units for the likes of Solway. Have the local abattoir dispatch them and a butcher cut them up into what you like. Ours does sausages and bacon too. If you do use an abattoir check if there is a weight limit - ours is around 100kg. Slowly introduce a trailer into the pen days before slaughter. Slowly smaller the electric fence and change its shape so they become accustomed into going into the trailer. It makes slaughter day a whole lot easier.

Good luck!

 

[Decacraft]

Thanks for all of the input.

Have come back from a locals patch of land where they have some pigs, and the biggest takeaway has been an electric fence is the best for keeping them safe.

Now to investigate that before anything else, if its all too costly I don't think it's a route I'll be going down

 

[swyn]

I can't remember where it was but certainly the UK and quite possible in EA, but there is a rent-a-pig group.
S

 

[bearbait]

I had a couple of pigs a few years ago, and enjoyed having them. It was quite fun having them come and help me spread all the new straw around when I changed their bedding in their hut.

I used electric fencing to keep them where I wanted. However they would constantly challenge it, unlike most animals. With all their digging and rooting around they'd not infrequently earth the lower wire on the electric fence in a mound of soil from their diggings. I suggest a daily check on the fence and clear away any piles of soil that are likely to earth the fence.

 

[Woody girl]

Definatly electric fence. No leccy fence = no pigs in the pen.! , and mayhem getting them back home.
Don't forget your pig board and stick too.
Twice daily check for earthing out. They will soon learn to earth it out and escape.... how do I know?

 

[rarms]

Have had pigs a few times, as Woody Girl says, electric is the way forward. I have a pig pen of stock fence approx 12m by 12m. Nice mature trees in there for shade, and a live wire about 200mm off the floor inside the stock fence.

Have seen in the states they run them with just a live wire, but I like the redundancy of the stock fence if the electric fails, or just if they wanted to go through the fence.

They can move a lot faster than they look, and when they get to 80kg or so and you are loading them in the trailer for their final journey they can be buggers so try and get them tame to the bucket

 

[Broch]

My days as a farm labourer, the only animals I was afraid of were the pigs - nasty beasts, huge, aggressive, and with a tendency to bite anything they could reach with their teeth. Admittedly, that may have been the particular breed we had, can't remember what they were but they were nearer 300kg, not 80!

 

[Ystranc]

I had two Kune kune cross pigs from piglets. Electric fencing is a waste of time (they just earth it) as is nose ringing. An adequate lamb fence with a strand of barbed wire stapled and clipped onto the wire fencing at the bottom and the 4th horizontal wire will serve. Any gate in to the pig paddock will need to have one of the hinge pins inverted to stop the pigs lifting the gate off it’s hinges. For the water we used builders buckets dropped into tyres to stop them tipping, for feeders we used some old Belfast kitchen sinks.
They will destroy pretty much anything given time and leave your land looking like a First World War battlefield full of huge craters. It’s ok if you have something like a PTO rotovator or power tiller to level it out again. For housing we just built a pig arc out of ply, 2x4 and arched profile steel. (About £90 back then but more expensive now)
My pigs were quite friendly but if they feel grumpy they are pretty dangerous. I know of a local farmer who nearly lost his lower leg after a pig bit into his calf muscle. It is wise to use a board to steer the pigs and protect your legs, even if your pigs are friendly.

 

[sidpost]

Any owners of pigs here?

Why pigs? Goats would attack your brambles and to me are a whole lot easier to handle. I get pork is likely a more traditional food source but, they have a lot of issues a new "livestock producer" will have a great trouble with.

Lambs seem like a classic choice in the UK but, goats are super tasty and pretty traditional for Muslim populations and most Hispanic/Latino groups.

Goats are pretty lean so, you do need to cook them a bit differently but, especially if harvesting for your own consumption, carcass/meat weights are reasonable so you don't end up needing large freezers.

Meat rabbits and chickens are other options to consider as a new producer.

 

[Decacraft]

There were already goats and lambs on the farm, so I was looking at diversity and pigs, but things have since changed. The farm has been sold and is now a vehicle dismantlers so until I can either find another spot of land or buy my own its all on hold for now sadly.

 

[Ystranc]

Goats are more trouble to keep than most people realise..their gut bacteria is quite delicate for a creature that is reputed to eat anything. If livestock has been kept on the land in the previous two years you will need a rigorous worming regime. They’re browsers for preference so will not clear low growth. While they will strip leaves from brambles they won’t quite get rid of them…escaping is their favourite pastime and you can only use electric fencing for polled or de-horned goats. We had three beautiful English Sarnen nannies who were foisted on us through a rescue centre that we’re involved with. They were with us for about 18 months until they found their forever home with a huge Boer Billy called Bruce..they’re now very happy.

 

[sidpost]

Yes, goats can get into things if you don't put them up or fence them off. The goats I have been around weren't that bad but, I never really was around a male so can't speak to the trouble they are. The nannie goats with kidds were always lots of fun and the ones I was around where a bit like pet dogs that would come when you called or like my Polled Hereford cows, would come to the sound of feed in a plastic bucket "Pied Piper" style. Left to their own in substandard fencing, they would 'escape' but, being feed trained made them easy to round up when the fence was fixed.

Regarding browsing shrubs and brambles, sure they won't graze the woody parts to the ground but with no leaves they aren't going to do well in most soil types.

While I wouldn't mix livestock types with them, they were generally on common pasture with my cattle and I never noticed any undue health issues from that.

Perhaps the goats I was around are different and heartier than those commonly found in the UK? For me, I wouldn't call them delicate at all but, like cattle, it is likely breed/genetic differences that we are comparing. A Longhorn, Brahma, Hereford, or ... are all pretty drastically different in where they thrive, how they grow, and what their temperament is. This doesn't even touch dairy breeds.

Sheep are the most problematic for me but, I don't live in sheep country so, my experience isn't really valid and is very limited unless we are talking about one on my plate purchased from the store.

 

[Ystranc]

Whereas sheep are zero problem for us. I think the escaping was due to them being able to see and smell a whole load of willow on the other side of the fence. Goats are clever, observant and sneaky.