You’ll come across plenty of information out there regarding which pig breed you should get. Maybe too much information, since the more you look, the more confusing it gets! Every breed organization touts the growth and quality of their genetics and most folks with a few litters of pigs for sale will say those pigs…
You don’t hear much about salt, when you are looking into what to feed your pigs. Do pigs even need salt, and, if so, how do you know the amount of salt to give them? Pigs need salt in their diet. Growing pigs need their daily salt intake to be .25% of their ration, while…
When you are thinking about getting into breeding your own pigs, you’ll have have tons of questions and notice a lot of options. Here are the basics of what you need to know. Pig breeding question Quick answer How often can pigs breed/give birth? every 5-6 months When can pigs breed? year round When will…
Thinking about buying a pig? Your options and costs may surprise you! Chances are you’ll have a few choices based on how much time you want to spend raising the pigs and how much you want to spend on your pig. The cost to buy a pig can be from $50-2,000+ with feeder pigs being…
Once you have your pigs, now you need to feed them. How often should your pigs be fed to keep them at their healthiest and growing at their best? Feeder pigs should have unrestricted access to all they can eat, specially formulated, ground pig feed while you are feeding them for market or your freezer….
When you are thinking about raising your own pork, you’ll see that one pig produces a lot of meat for the freezer. If you only need one pig’s worth of pork, can you raise just one pig? Pigs need to be raised in groups of two, preferably three, pigs. Pigs are naturally a herd animal,…
Characteristic Purebred pigs Crossbred pigs Priced for meat production No Yes Have hybrid vigor No Yes Good choice for potential breeding stock Yes Maybe Fast and efficient growth are main selection criteria No Yes Available for purchase/ease of finding piglets Harder Easier Potential price per piglet Higher Lower Note this table assumes high quality pigs,…
Before you get started with pigs, ask yourself “are pigs a good fit for me and my farm?” Here are some of the things you need to consider before jumping into pigs. Do you enjoy spending time raising pigs? We’ll start with what I consider to be the obvious question: do you like pigs? Do…
Where do you even start when you are looking for information on raising a few feeder pigs? Sure, there’s a lot of information out there, but some of it’s confusing and, frequently, it’s contradictory! Here are the important things you need to know that folks tend to gloss over, or just plain leave out, that…
So, you’ve got a small pig operation and you’re wondering when is the best time to sell your pigs. Actually, this is not as simple as it sounds, since what you should do depends on the purpose you are raising the pigs for. The great news is that once you’ve settled on your main purpose…