Baymule's Pigs 2017-2018

[ninnymary]

Because I don't have permission to go on other people's land to do so and I really don't want to.

Mary feeder pigs (just weaned) start at $50 up to $100.

Awww...now I understand why you got a steal.

Mary

 

[majorcatfish]

oh yum just think apple wood smoked bacon seeds coming your way......

 

[baymule]

We don't have apple wood here, but we have pecan and hickory.

 

[baymule]

I am soaking the corn now with no pellets. They've been corn fed all their lives and didn't take kindly to pellets. So I have 7 buckets working, they get 2 a day. I use a cup to take some water from a already soaking bucket to start the new bucket. I also put a little lime in the bucket, corn is soaked in lime water for tortillas, it is supposed to release more of the corn nutrients. I put a gallon of whey in the first batch of buckets and a beer. They also get scraps from the house.

I measured the sow today, using the formula from @NH homesteader on BYH. I can't get that close and personal with the boar. Her heart girth is 54", her length is either 54" or 50", depending if her head is up of down eating.

Girth 54x54=2916x Length 54=157,464/400=393.66 pounds

Girth 54x54=2916x Length 50=145,800/400=364.5 pounds

The boar is a lot bigger than the sow, so we estimate his weight to be 400 to 425 pounds.

I made an appointment for the boar November 6 for slaughter.

We bought them October 1, the sow was in heat. I don't know if they bred or not. I'll know if she comes back in heat the week of the 22nd. That will be his last chance before he goes to freezer camp. We'll see....

 

[Nyboy]

How many times a year sow go into heat ?

 

[majorcatfish]

I am soaking the corn now with no pellets. They've been corn fed all their lives and didn't take kindly to pellets. So I have 7 buckets working, they get 2 a day. I use a cup to take some water from a already soaking bucket to start the new bucket. I also put a little lime in the bucket, corn is soaked in lime water for tortillas, it is supposed to release more of the corn nutrients. I put a gallon of whey in the first batch of buckets and a beer. They also get scraps from the house.

I measured the sow today, using the formula from @NH homesteader on BYH. I can't get that close and personal with the boar. Her heart girth is 54", her length is either 54" or 50", depending if her head is up of down eating.

Girth 54x54=2916x Length 54=157,464/400=393.66 pounds

Girth 54x54=2916x Length 50=145,800/400=364.5 pounds

The boar is a lot bigger than the sow, so we estimate his weight to be 400 to 425 pounds.

I made an appointment for the boar November 6 for slaughter.

We bought them October 1, the sow was in heat. I don't know if they bred or not. I'll know if she comes back in heat the week of the 22nd. That will be his last chance before he goes to freezer camp. We'll see....

wow that's a lot of pork, november 6th well at least you have plenty of time to get all our invitations in the mail for your big texas pork bbq....

 

[LocoYokel]

Wish you were closer, one of those future piglets would be spoken for.
I have been thinking about getting 2 feeder pigs: one for us, one to sell to cover costs. Of course the only place I have to raise them is at my farmer friends, got a big fat NO there! I knew he didn't eat pork but he won't even have them on his place. I guess I could raise a pot-belly here, I have eaten them before and that is SOME GOOD PIG! So many people get the cute lil' suckers and then they grow up... CL has them cheap if not free. That happens to a lot of farm type animals raised for pets by clueless people who just think of "O, how cute!" at the moment.
(I got a bad rep with my friends from that: "Don't give TJ your pig, she eats her pets!" If they only knew...)

 

[seedcorn]

How many times a year sow go into heat ?

Every 21 days.

 

[majorcatfish]

Wish you were closer, one of those future piglets would be spoken for.
I have been thinking about getting 2 feeder pigs: one for us, one to sell to cover costs. Of course the only place I have to raise them is at my farmer friends, got a big fat NO there! I knew he didn't eat pork but he won't even have them on his place. I guess I could raise a pot-belly here, I have eaten them before and that is SOME GOOD PIG! So many people get the cute lil' suckers and then they grow up... CL has them cheap if not free. That happens to a lot of farm type animals raised for pets by clueless people who just think of "O, how cute!" at the moment.
(I got a bad rep with my friends from that: "Don't give TJ your pig, she eats her pets!" If they only knew...)

and thats the exact reason i will not allow the dw to have farm type animals here on the property, once you give it a name you can't eat it according to her ...

 

[valley ranch]

First off, let me clarify-- we ain't got a lick of sense. I repeat, we ain't got a lick of sense.

Last night I was looking at Craigslist and at 10:37 I found an ad for 2 pigs. A 1 year old boar and 2 year old sow, take both for $75. I had to read it a few times to make sure it really said both for $75. I read it to my husband. Then we tried to talk ourselves out of buying the pigs. We wrangled with it and finally came to the conclusion that we'd have to be purdy darn stupid to pass up a deal like that. No picture, really buying a pig in a poke.

Being late, I texted and we went to bed. I got a response at a quarter to midnight but I slept through it. I responded this morning and the upshot was, we were going to go get them between 1 and 2 PM.

Still had chickens in the trailer from the poultry trades day a week ago. Moved the half grown ducks in with the big ducks, put the chickens in the little ducks pen.

The Hawg Hut was in the backyard and needed to go through 2 gates, down the driveway and through another gate to the front pasture. We called Robert over to help. With DH on the Kawasaki Mule, we jockeyed the Hut around. The skids have holes drilled through and I have pins I put through and we wrap a chain around them. We had to take up part of a fence. When we got it lined up, DH took off and didn't stop until he was at the pasture gate. He swung wide and dragged the Hawg Hut to it's new home.

There was a mangled mess of a car body in the trees and Robert chained onto it and dragged it out. It was the entire rear end of an old 1951 Studebaker. A neighbor, Jerry, came over to get it for scrap metal. He was glad to get it but we were even more glad to get rid of it.

We took a cold water break, DH was sweat soaked,dirty and splattered from washing out the trailer. He headed for the shower. I finished up outside.

We went to get the pigs, about 45 minutes away. That lady had rabbits, goats, ducks, chickens, quail and a ram. All were healthy, we'll fed, and very friendly. Her pens were a hodgepodge of pallets, wire and scrap lumber. The pens were clean. There was no smell. She had a LOT of animals but it was obvious she took very good care of them. The pigs were friendly and looked happy and healthy. I couldn't help but think of BYH and how many people are living their dreams with their small farms.

She, her son and his wife walked the pigs to our trailer using hog panels held together at the ends. I coaxed them in the trailer using dog food and the door slid shut.

The lady had on a tank top that showed red marks on a very flat chest that bespoke radiation burns and a double mastectomy. I didn't have to ask. She said she was tired of pigs and I paid her. We figured this lady had seen the dark side of hell and her animals were her sanity and gave her something to get up for every morning.

We got them home and turned them out.

She said the Sow has had 2 litters. We plan on letting them breed, then slaughtering the boar. After she weans the pigs, we'll sell them and slaughter her. Neighbors have already come over to admire them. They weigh between 300 and 400 pounds. Seventy five dollars. The chickens bought them. We used egg money.

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This read like a clip from the 3rd chapter~of a farm novel~trying to think of a name for the book it might come out~or caption for this clip``` I was on the edge of my seat~if I smoked~I'd need a cig~a small brandy in half cup of coffee will do~it's worries me that I might have missed this```

With love from the bright side of the moon```

Richard