A Pair of Pigs

Sleeping siblings

To purchase our pigs this year we drove about 45 miles to a farm that breeds pigs and raises steers. The piglets, or feeders, were just weened. They were kept in a stall with a concrete floor and fed the traditional Farm Co-op extruded feed. Back home we placed them in a temporary 8′ x16′ pen set up in one of our pastures. The two gilts (young female pigs) immediately began rooting about and munching on vegetation. They seemed to like their new quarters. I ran to get my camera, but when I got back, the piggies were taking a nap in the sun.

After several weeks confining to this pen, we will extend the range gradually until they have the full 20×200′ area we are reclaiming from the forest. Last year we raised our piggies for about 22 weeks. Those three pigs reached about 160 pounds. This year we will let them go for about 30 weeks, and shoot for 250 pounds each. While the quality of the meat is superior letting the hogs range over a large area, they don’t put on weight as rapidly as pen fed hogs.

The pigs will be raised here

May 17th, 2009