best breed of pig

any duroc cross are very good cause hey are very hardy( would get sunburned) and they also have lovely meat. in my opinion keep away from saddleback- to much fat on them wouldnt taste that nice.

you'll find the duroc on donedeal

landrace cross saddlebacks, very tasty and you dont end up with 2 inches of fat on them !!

From what I can tell, all pigs will root. To limit this, you would need to go for a breed that has a short snout and floppy ears (from what I have read..). Avoid tamworths, as they like rooting a lot.
I currently have a couple of GOS/Duroc crosses - They don't root half as much as tamworths (which I had over last winter) and are a lot more placid.

Askim wrote: »

yes but you don't have to ring them,

if someone is worried about them rooting they should just keep them in, me i like it when they plough & eat as much natural food as possible.

You cant keep most pig breeds inside sheds it is cruel.

Getting into a few breeding pigs. I have a dry square and loads of shed space. Whats's the best breed of sow for an indoor/outdoor setup. Was thinking of Durocxlandrace sows but what boar? Thanks

Didnt want to start another thread.

Will pigs dig up/eat the roots of young trees? I have a few young orchards, trees are 3-4 years old, planted 1-2 years in the ground.

GS11 wrote: »

Gonna Piggyback on this thread.

Reared 2 tamworth females last year, the meat was lovely but they were very slow to grow.

I'm in partnership with 2 others and we are going to rear 3 this time.

2 questions,

Should I be going for males or females (Heard you won't be allowed to castrate the males after next year) and what would be a good option to get as the third, looking for one that would grow faster than the Tamworths and kill it 1st.

Thanks for any help.

Pigs are generally killed out in the late Autumn / early winter. Imo no need to castrate the males as never had free range pigs with any hint of boar taint at that age.


Go for a Saddleback/ Tamworth cross - good to finish in my experience

gozunda wrote: »

Pigs are generally killed out in the late Autum / early winter. Imo no need to castrate the males as never had free range pigs with any hint of boar taint at that age.


Go for a Saddleback/ Tamworth cross - good to finish in my experience

We killed three boars one year, not castrated, no problem at all, we have stuck to gilts as much as possible.

JJayoo wrote: »

Would really like to get 2/3 pigs once my orchards are up and running, but wouldn't be keen on them destroying ground.

Will sheep fencing keep pigs contained or would they try to dig under it? I have a row of pine trees, planted initially as a wind break, that are going to get cut down. Area would be approx 5m x 40m.

I had initially thought of planting this area as an orchard and perhaps getting 2/3 pigs from June- September. My thought being have the pigs when I have an excess of apples/plums/pears and then sell them on, or eat if they had enough meat, before they plough the ground over winter

Electric fence is needed, they dig under anything else.

Trees would need to be quite mature before I’d turn rooting pigs under the.

If a pig can get their snout under something be it a gate or fence it will be lifted, they are very strong.
You can keep them in with only a few strands of electric wire if they are trained to the fence from a young age.
I only fed ours with organic pignuts and fruit/veg, never fed barley.
Some breeds will run to fat after a certain length of time. I think 3 mths is optimal if you get them at 2 mths.
Its not cheap meat but its a long way from supermarket meat.

CJhaughey wrote: »

I would be inclined to get lop eared pigs as opposed to prick eared ones they tend to be easier going.
Duroc are long legged and fast, can be hard to deal with.
Personally I prefer Saddlebacks as a docile slower moving animal that are hardier than landrace which can suffer in the winter.

What would a saddleback sow crossed with a landrace be like?

Agree with the above your orchard needs to be very mature and even then pigs sometimes ring bark trees just for fun, not to mention the bum scratching that goes on!:D
If you go for turkeys then you need good fencing and I’d do them in summer personally as they are pretty hopeless especially the double breasted breeds and don’t like the wet. I’ve raised them most years if not hatching my own, by buying them in August as 8week old off heat birds and if you get a wet autumn they spend more time indoors as they hate rain, next time if I bother again I’ll be getting them in early summer so they are out grazing and eating bugs, then they’ll go in the freezer in the autumn. Also they are stupid so the fox will have a field day so they need penned into a shed at night.
Geese are great for keeping grass neat, i kept mine with a few sheep in our orchard but with the trees sucurely fenced, they also need kept in at night.

As for windfall apples you’re better off collecting a load and feeding to pigs in a pen rather than leaving them run eating as much as they want - they often get seriously drunk on rotten fruit not to mention an upset stomach, pigs with hangovers are rather hilarious though!! Beehives need to be fenced as sheep will scratch themselves on hives!