organic outdoor pig breeding

rivermetimbers

hello all,for quite a while i have been thinking about breeding pigs on a small scale. all i want to achieve is to keep the freezer full for myself and a few friends. i live in cavan(no jokes please) and have a small farm where i intend to breed them. any useful information would be appriciated on this like is it worth it moneywise? much work involved in approx 5 pigs?any info really thanks everyone

djmc

If you can get a lot of scraps or leftover food I would buy some piglets or weaners from local piggery in cavan
I wouldnt go breeding them until you no more about them dont think it would pay also buying pig feed will cost a lot and you wont get the same flavour in the meat.
Wouldnt go organic totally should have vaccine shots and (if they get sick) they could die without a shot of something
Get a weaner over 30kg this way you could kill the pig in 3 to 4 months in time for christmas
You will need a pig herd number from department

krazyklown

i got two weaners earlier on this year for exactly the same purposes. One of them escaped within 20 mins and got out onto the road...a landcruiser made very short work of her . If ya go for this make sure you have them in a secure area, i have never seen an animal so determined to test their boundaries. They have ferocious appetites...ya want to be prepared! Have to say they are some novelty round here, i have her by the roadside and i cant get over the number of people who pull up to look at the pig...

CJhaughey

I don't breed pigs but raise/ed them organically for our own use.
Unless you intend to keep them indoors stay away from Landrace, they are not hardy enough for all year round outdoors.
Instead look for older breeds like Duroc, Saddleback, Gloucester Old spots or X breeds from these.
Organic feeds have come down recently 25 kg bags are around 17-20 now, expect to feed 1 pound of feed per day per month of age for weaned pigs.
If you are feeding sows that are carrying pigs then they will eat more, much more.
You will need a farrowing shed or some kind of shelter that can hold a sow and her piglets, some produce more than 10 per litter.
a Pig herd number is easily got by applying to your local Dept of Ag office, the Vet will come out and inspect your housing and area and issue the number.
The going rate for organic saddleback/GOS X is €40 ea in my area.
I would buy in 2 piglets and then try raising them and see if you like it, rather than going in at the deep end and getting 5 animals and finding it hard to feed them.
I never had a problem with mine getting sick, and have never had to vaccinate them, the older rare breed pigs are quite hardy.
If you get piglets that are accustomed to electric fences from young it makes the job a lot easier than trying to train them at an older age.
I use 3 strands of polywire at 3" 12" and 20" with a mains energizer and have had great success, again this is with trained piglets.
My last killed out at 150lbs with about 1" of back fat, I was very happy with that result, cost of bought feed about €120 or so, flavour incomparable to factory pork.
I have salami, sausages, roasts and chops, black puddings and terrines in the freezer all from the one pig.