pigpen

An abundance of goat milk and the importance of knowing the origin of
our food, led us to raising our own hogs. We have 5 vegetable gardens
that total approximately 2 acres in size. Each year we let one garden go
fallow and we move the pig fencing into that area. This rotation moves
them onto new pasture each year. They are happy pigs, doing what pigs
like to do best, rooting up the ground and fertilizing.

Our pigs receive goat milk, whole oats and whole wheat. We mix the
grains and milk and let that set at least 24 hours until the milk starts to
ferment. This is much better for their metabolism because the grains have
already started to break down, sometimes they are almost sprouting.
Otherwise, we find undigested whole grains in their manure. We also feed
excess fresh eggs. The pigs like to roll them around in their mouth before
crunching and slurping up the raw egg. The lucky pigs also receive our
garden bounty of zucchini bombs, over ripe sweet corn (ears, husks and
stalks), pumpkins, split-skinned tomatoes and anything else from the
garden that is a little past its’ prime for us to eat. A generous neighbor also
brings us spent grains from his beer making adventures.

Our goal is to get the hogs up to approximately 250# within 5-6 months,
usually raising them from April – October. Our butcher has commented
that our hogs have “beautiful back fat”. Since we feed very little dried
corn, we avoid the undesirable “soft fat” that can often happen. Evidence
of this is found mostly in the bacon. At room temperature, the fat on a
strip of bacon will become grayish in color, indicating a softer fat. Our
bacon fat remains white at room temperature, adding delicious flavor to
every bite.

A friend of ours smokes the bacon and hams for us in his handmade
cement block smoker. We provide him with apple wood which is very
flavorful. Another friend is given all the heads to make head cheese. We
make our own liverwurst, polish and breakfast sausage. The lard is
rendered and used in our soap making. We use everything but the squeal.

Pig fencing and housing has evolved each year depending mostly on
availability of materials and the weather. We only had 2 pigs the first year,
so their housing was a simple old truck cap secured to large logs on all 4
corners. They rearranged this set-up to their liking by pushing all their
bedding to the sides of the cap. So, we learned something. The pigs
needed to be blocked from the wind.

The next year, we had too many pigs to fit under the truck cap, so a hoop
house was developed using cattle panels, T-posts and a tarp. We then
modified this design by adding metal sheeting on the edges to prevent the
wind from blowing through. During the surprise October, 2006
snowstorm, the house collapsed in the center due to the weight of snow
and ice. The pigs were unharmed but we added more support to the house
to prevent this from happening again.

The fencing is made from 16’ cattle panels and T-posts. We run 1 electric
wire inside the fence and a piece of electric wire is angled inside the
doorway so we have a small ‘safe’ spot to stand before they charge at us
looking for lunch. This area allows us to latch the gate behind us, just in
case. We’ve never had an escapee. Knock on wood.

Each year we learn something new about pigs. Don’t allow them to start a
wallow where you’ll want to put the livestock trailer on loading day. Don’t
wear your eyeglasses into the pig pen when it’s really muddy and the poop
is flying. Give them a little midnight snack so they’ll have something to
munch on if they’re up before you the next morning.

We’ve raised anywhere from 2 to 12 pigs each year, depending on our
outlaying cost of feed and piglet availability. This year, we purchased
Hampshire x Berkshire piglets from a 4H family in a nearby county where
we got to pick from two litters. In the past we have raised Durocs and
Yorkshire crosses. At this time we don’t have the facility to winter-over
pigs. Perhaps in the future we’ll have a place to keep a couple sows and
we’ll farrow our own. In the meantime, we’ve got pork chops in the crock
pot for supper tonight.

We wish to sincerely thank the families that purchased pork from us in the
past.