What pigs do we eat?

Dusty87

What breed of pigs would we mostly eat? Also if you were to sell pigs to factory would you need to be registerd and have piig herd number? Thanks

reilig

Dusty87 wrote: »

What breed of pigs would we mostly eat? Also if you were to sell pigs to factory would you need to be registerd and have piig herd number? Thanks

Don't know about breeds, but if you want to sell pigs to mart or factory, you need a pig herd number. Very little money to be made by breeding them (often a loss) unless you can keep a couple of thousand of them.

CJhaughey

Landrace is the main breed in Ireland, the quinessential pink pig.
I keep saddleback myself, better flavour and temperament, but rare breeds aren't for commercial growers really.
Pig herd number needs to be got from the Dept, the vet comes out and inspects your operation and then assigns you a pig number.

Dusty87

What i was planning on doing was gettin maybe 2 and rearing getting them brought to the abattoir. Meat for myself. We have the land and have horses, chickens, donkeys, i also look after bullocks for an uncle. But iv no knowledge of pigs other than what my granny tells me. Would it be advisable to do this?

reilig

Dusty87 wrote: »

What i was planning on doing was gettin maybe 2 and rearing getting them brought to the abattoir. Meat for myself. We have the land and have horses, chickens, donkeys, i also look after bullocks for an uncle. But iv no knowledge of pigs other than what my granny tells me. Would it be advisable to do this?

Kept 2 ourselves many moons ago. We had the same plan to have meat for ourselves. We were so underprepared for them. We put them into a "secure" stone built shed. It went well until one of the sows had 18 piglets. We then had 20. Planned keeping the piglets to about 4 months and then selling them. After 3 months they got pretty big and mobile.

There was one incident that saw us getting rid of them. Came home from an agricultural show one sunday evening to meet the 20 pigs out walking on the road about 2 miles from our house. Managed to walk them back. But when we got to the house, we found that they had completely dug our front lawn and flower beds that my mother was after spending hundreds on a few months before. They blackened the whole lot, dug holes about 1 foot deep and ate every flower and plant. When we got to the shed, we found that they had dug a hole through the 2 foot stone wall (The Great Escape Springs to mind) and the whole lot of them had gotten out, they first went to a 2 acre field that was in meadow - it looked like we had mowed it with a power harrow.

Needless to say the pigs got the road. It was much cheaper to buy half an organic pig for £100 (at the time) and put it into the freezer.

So my advice is, plan well ane make sure you have the facilities for them before you buy them.

CJhaughey

Dusty87 wrote: »

What i was planning on doing was gettin maybe 2 and rearing getting them brought to the abattoir. Meat for myself. We have the land and have horses, chickens, donkeys, i also look after bullocks for an uncle. But iv no knowledge of pigs other than what my granny tells me. Would it be advisable to do this?

Thats what I have been doing for the last couple of years, I buy a pig or 2 at 8wks and raise them organically for the 3-4 mths.
I then take them to my local butcher/abbatoir and he kills them and turns them into whatever I want for €80
Make it easy on yourself, buy a good mains fencing energizer, one of those green plastic calf hutches as a sty and a piece of ground that you need cleared.
I use polywire with 3 strands for the fence and it works well, occasionally they will root close enough that the pole falls over but you have to just keep an eye on the rooting.
Best pork you will ever taste guaranteed.

djmc

landrace and large white crosses also duroc (black or brown) or petrain (piball) are most common
for meat a pig feed on scraps what you eat will taste better than one fed on wheat barly and soya all there lives
I heard beer and apples put nice flavor in meat
They will also need to be vacsonated for erysiplys
can ring dept of ag for heard number

scalerb

I am thinking of raising a couple of pigs also but I am finding it hard to get a butcher/abbatoir to do the killing .Can anyone point me in the right direction .I am located in Limerick.

Dusty87

scalerb wrote: »

I am thinking of raising a couple of pigs also but I am finding it hard to get a butcher/abbatoir to do the killing .Can anyone point me in the right direction .I am located in Limerick.

I presumed local butcher/abitoir would do it as nixer so to speak. Am i wrong?? I thought they wouldnt care as its up to yourself to have them vaccinated. I was told pot belly have nice meat. Well??? Anyone know do they? Was told by a seller

CJhaughey

Pot belly probably would be nice but run to fat.
Most rare breeds run outdoors will tend to be fatter than commercial factory pork, BUT fat is where the taste is in Pigs.
I have never had to give any additional Vaccinations to my pigs, perhaps that is given before 8weeks of age?
I feed ours no meat, but fish and fruit and household scraps.
Ask your local veg shop for waste carrots, fruit etc. They also love cream, sour milk etc.
Any varied diet will produce tasty pork.
Compared to a commercial pig kept in a stall and fed pignuts all its short life there is no comparison.

locky76

there's a crowd in dundrum, co. tipp, who have an abbatoir and will kill and butcher pigs for the once or twice a year man
they also rear their own free range pigs

scalerb wrote: »

I am thinking of raising a couple of pigs also but I am finding it hard to get a butcher/abbatoir to do the killing .Can anyone point me in the right direction .I am located in Limerick.