# Raising Pigs, some questions....



## smaj100

Hey folks,

I have a couple questions about raising pigs. We have 2 gilts we are raising for slaughter right now. They seem happy content and are very clean which we are happy about. We were told they are duroc/mulefoot crosses, but they are both white/pink with black splotches on their bodies. One of the sows has the traditional mulefoot hoof the other is normal. Neither have any red pigmentation in them like durocs. I'm wondering how much duroc/mulefoot they really have in them.

This is our 1st attempt at raising pigs for self sufficiency and a little extra income.

1st Are pigs social creatures or do they do fine alone? I found a local seller who has pure breed durocs and is selling a breeding pair and the last litter of piglets. We are considering buying 1 female for breeding next year or the breeding pair.

2nd Will pigs breed non stop and do I have to separate the boar from the sow? Will the sow breed while she is still nursing her current litter? Will the boar become aggressive towards anyone or the litter once the piglets are born?

We have a huge pen for them now and a small pig house built out of pallets but they rarely use it. I've read a little on doing AI is this really feasible? Or would it be better to get a sow and find a stud boar and take her to him much like cattle and horses?

Thanks


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## Wellrounded

Pigs do like company, much like dogs they don't like to be alone. 

Pigs will breed 4-6 days after weaning. We keep our sows away from the boar until they are at a nice breeding weight, all our sows drop weight when lactating reguardless of feeding. It is possible to get more than 2 pregnancies a year. We only take our sows out of the family group when fattening them back up after lactation. I've never had a problem with an aggressive boar, they would become sausages without delay. It's the sows that get touchy. Fine if they are protective for the first two or three days after farrowing then they should mellow and only get a bit huffy if we make a piglet squeal. If they get too aggressive...... sausages and we won't keep any of her offspring for breeding.

We keep Wessex Saddlebacks from a quiet, docile bloodline. They are exceptional milk producers and always have bad draw down during lactation but their piglets grow mighty fast. Other breeds and bloodlines will vary.

I've always kept two sows and a boar. The prepper in me wants a breeding family here . AI would be possible but I don't think taking our sows to a boar would be possible here, most farms are pretty strict quarantine wise.


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## jeff47041

My experience: A pig doesn't grow as fast or as healthy alone as with a buddy. I never raise a pig alone.

A boar is like a lion. They will kill the babies, even just young pigs to bring the mother back into heat. I never let the boar in with babies. The mom will eat the baby pigs if she is low on iron. you can give her an iron shot before she gives birth.

The problem with having your own boar and one sow, is that your spending twice as much on feed per litter. 1 boar to 6 sows isn't so bad. When I had 6 sows, I had a boar. A guy a few miles from me had 6 sows. He would barrow my boar and feed him. He would also keep him fed until it was time for me to use him again. Worked out well for both of us.

My sows used to be VERY protective of the babies. I had farrowing crates for them though. 
My boar was a little over 7' long. He was just huge. Very gentle and was my buddy. I still never really trusted him and my kids were never allowed in with him.

I never tried AI for pigs. A lot of people around here do. I've used AI for my cows and it always worked great.


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## Beaniemaster2

We've been considering getting some pigs to raise for meat but don't even know how to start... Can you recommend an easy breed for this purpose???? We don't want to breed, seems like too much involved and don't really want a big male... Thanks


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## smaj100

Beanie,

In my very limited experience in raising pigs. I talked to a few friends about different breeds for feeder pigs. We wanted to raise our own meat, we raise chickens for meat and eggs and wanted to get something more substantial and be more self sufficient. The two heritage (old time) breeds that were recommended to us were the Duroc and or Mule foot. The pigs we purchased locally were a cross of those two. We bought them at 7 weeks of age and brought em home. We kept them in the barn for the first 2 weeks, until I could complete their pig pen outside.

we've never raised pigs before mind you. I built a shelter out of old pallets and reinforced the floor so their little hooves wouldn't get stuck or fall through the slats and covered it with a tarp. We then enclosed a 30'x30' ish area using hog panels from the local farm store. I anchored them down using T posts and trees as the pen area is in the edge of a wood line.

We started buying non medicated grain feed from our local coop, I bought a 30 gallon water tank from the coop and made a small manifold with pig nipple waterer's attached. It took the piglets about 30 mins to figure out how to drink from the nipples and is so much better than filling and constantly washing out a water trough or tub!! The pigs commenced to eating everything in the woods from pig height down. They have torn the ground up to a depth of about 10" rooting and foraging for everything. We feed them a mix of grain, oats and cracked corn, 1 50lb bag of ea mixed in the big can.

I'll try to post up some pics later today of the pen before and after, the shelter and fencing. 

The only reason we are considering getting a breeding pair is cost. If a sow has a litter of 6-12 x2 per year, that will allow us to raise 1-2 pigs per year and sell the others to recoup some $ for feed each year. 

I'll be brutally honest, we went into raising the pigs with a lot of hesitations. Had always heard they were dirty nasty gross. What we have found is that, that's pretty far from the truth. Our pigs are very clean, they only poop in one area, they groom each other constantly. The only time they get muddy dirty, is when it's hot and they are wallowing in the mud pit we create to cool off. The first couple of months you couldn't get within a few feet of them without squealing and running around. Now they run up to us and want to be scratched around the ears, head and back.


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## Toffee

So, we are looking into getting a feeder pig (part grown, about 70-80#). Should we be buying a second pig? Our only choice would be a weaner.


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## Beaniemaster2

Thanks smaj100... We are really leary about taking on such a big endeavor... We already have an A frame shelter for them and the thought of the piglets to sell was a great idea, we just didn't want all the bother... seems to me if I can just stud the pigs out instead of having a boar would be the smartest... Thank you for all your ideas and others... Any idea what we should pay for a piglet??? We have a auction house near us we can buy or look online... Thanks again for the info...


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## smaj100

Beanie,

Not sure what part of Ky your in. Im NW of nashville and we paid $60 per piglet. A recent search on craigslist showed $70-100 per piglet. I had the same thoughts about using a stud, just don't have any pig farmers I am aware of nearby. If a fellow prepper or farmer wanted to share the cost of said stud service i'd be very interested in that.


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## cowboyhermit

jeff47041 said:


> A boar is like a lion. They will kill the babies, even just young pigs to bring the mother back into heat. I never let the boar in with babies. The mom will eat the baby pigs if she is low on iron. you can give her an iron shot before she gives birth.
> 
> My sows used to be VERY protective of the babies. I had farrowing crates for them though.
> My boar was a little over 7' long. He was just huge. Very gentle and was my buddy. I still never really trusted him and my kids were never allowed in with him.


jeff47041, were you raising standard commercial breeds/lines? When we did (and used standard practices like farrowing crates etc) I have to admit I didn't really love pigs. So many problems and issues, and what is worse than cannibalism? (yes we saw it happen). However, when we transitioned to pastured pigs we found they were an entirely different animal, kinda like an actual pig I guess Likewise, we found some of the mainstream breeds and lines to be almost bred for stupidity compared to others, although most of it was likely just a deprived learning environment. There are certainly drawbacks to pasture raising heritage pigs but they are different imo from typical commercial problems.

It is similar to the difference in commercial raised cornish giants and free range heritage chickens imo, kinda a whole different enterprise.


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## Beaniemaster2

smaj100 said:


> Beanie,
> 
> Not sure what part of Ky your in. Im NW of nashville and we paid $60 per piglet. A recent search on craigslist showed $70-100 per piglet. I had the same thoughts about using a stud, just don't have any pig farmers I am aware of nearby. If a fellow prepper or farmer wanted to share the cost of said stud service i'd be very interested in that.


Wow, didn't realize piglets were that high... My neighbor was given some, got her pen ready then didn't take them  She thought they would be too much work... How much work is involved??? Food and water is a gimmie but what else is involved??? Any advice for a small farm wanting just a few pigs for slaughter.. Thanks


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## AdmiralD7S

Beaniemaster2 said:


> Wow, didn't realize piglets were that high...


The pig virus thing has killed off significant portions of the last several generations of new borns with something like a 90% mortality rate for those infected. This has caused prices to go (in my area) from $30-$40 for a weaner to $60-$75. I haven't heard if the virus has slowed down, if we have a viable treatment, etc.


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## smaj100

Beanie,

I sent a pm from work but apparently it didn't go out. In a nutshell, I had said I think they are very easy keepers. We essentially fill their water tank every 10 days or so and feed them daily. We feed diatomcious earth in their feed and give them a dusting every once in awhile to keep the bugs off of them inside and out. 

We interact with them when we go in to feed or just wanna give em a scratch. We do feed them some scraps from the house and anything extra from the garden that is bad we split between them and the chickens. We could cut down doing the daily feeding ourselves if I installed or built some of the self feeding feeders to instal in their pen.

The 4th picture down is what their pen area looks like now and what it looked like before is pic #5.


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## redhorse

There is currently a disease going around. I forget what it is called, but it has killed off a lot of hogs this year. Someone here probably know what it is Last year you could grab farrows for $10-$20 a piece.

Hog feed is rather expensive... We ended up getting 'feed bags' from the local bakery. $5 for a 55 gallon trash bag full of mostly bread, but also little pies, doughnuts, bagles, and english muffins. I also picked up garbage bags full of rotting or close to rotting produce and dairy products from our local grocery store. Add to that any table scraps from the house. I always kept free choice hog feed for the minerals and vitamins they might have needed, but they didn't eat a whole lot of it. If you get creative and do a little legwork they can be pretty cheap to raise.

By contrast, raising them on just hog feed... Its currently around 22 per hundred around here. They can, and will go through 50 pounds a day. 

I tried raising them on pasture, it never worked out great for me, but I wasn't tryin heritage breeds either. I have raised New Hampshires and Yorkshires. I'd love to try pasture raising a heritage breed!

Regarding keeping more than one... Yes, they do better with company. They are fairly smart critters, and love company. They also get pretty competitive about food, and eat way better if they have competition.


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## redhorse

Smaj100, I love your water tank set up! I['m going to have to duplicate this. 

Have you had to heat it in the winter ever?


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## smaj100

Red,

Thanks for the compliment. I'm not sure if we will have to heat it as this is our first winter with it. I'm guessing it will require some heat this winter. My plan if needed is install a horse trough water heater to help keep it thawed. my biggest concern will be those metal nipples freezing. So i'll need to keep an eye on that.

From everything i've read about the heritage breeds they are excellent foragers and pasture queens, especially the mule foots. Others talk about their mule foots staying outside in the snow and foraging while other breeds are in the shelters hiding.


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## redhorse

smaj100 said:


> Red,
> 
> Thanks for the compliment. I'm not sure if we will have to heat it as this is our first winter with it. I'm guessing it will require some heat this winter. My plan if needed is install a horse trough water heater to help keep it thawed. my biggest concern will be those metal nipples freezing. So i'll need to keep an eye on that.
> 
> From everything i've read about the heritage breeds they are excellent foragers and pasture queens, especially the mule foots. Others talk about their mule foots staying outside in the snow and foraging while other breeds are in the shelters hiding.


Yes, those nipples freeze. And quick.

My set up is a 25 gallon plastic barrel with the nipple installed. Last winter was really tough, I resorted to watering them three times a day by hand carrying a 5 gallon bucket. The water trough didn't work so well, they just made a huge mess in and around it. Normally I wouldn't care, just clean it, but when its -10 it sucks.


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## jeff47041

cowboyhermit said:


> jeff47041, were you raising standard commercial breeds/lines? When we did (and used standard practices like farrowing crates etc) I have to admit I didn't really love pigs. So many problems and issues, and what is worse than cannibalism? (yes we saw it happen). However, when we transitioned to pastured pigs we found they were an entirely different animal, kinda like an actual pig I guess Likewise, we found some of the mainstream breeds and lines to be almost bred for stupidity compared to others, although most of it was likely just a deprived learning environment. There are certainly drawbacks to pasture raising heritage pigs but they are different imo from typical commercial problems.
> 
> It is similar to the difference in commercial raised cornish giants and free range heritage chickens imo, kinda a whole different enterprise.


Cowboy Hermit, At that time we were raising hampshires. The sows didn't eat the young as long as I gave them a shot of iron before birthing started.

A couple of years ago, I put 8 fattening pigs (durocs) out on a pasture. (100'x200')They could run and play and I planned to make that section a big garden the following year, so I thought I'd let the pigs work the ground a bit and have a good time while doing it. Well, that was the toughest pork we have ever had. But it was also the only time I've ever had durocs. So I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

We were always taught that confinement means tender. The two pigs that we keep for home butchering are raised in a 12' x 12' pen. They have an 8x8 indoor house, and an 8x8 shaded wallow shed (it has a roof, vented sides so breezes can come through, and I dump water in it daily so they can be happy in the mud if they want to) 
I keep seeing people talk about grass fed beef not being tough. ( I think you're one of them?) I keep wanting to find someone around here that does that, to taste for myself. I'd try it. I'd rather have happy pigs and steers, but I want very tender meat.


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## Beaniemaster2

When I want tender pork, I just use my crock pot  hahahahahahahahaha


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## cowboyhermit

Thanks for the info jeff47041, sounded pretty similar to the way we were doing things back in the day with similar issues to be careful of and was curious. 

As for the tenderness, there is a lot that can go into that. I was saying in another thread that very tender and even marbled grass finished beef is possible (and it still will have more flavour than grainfed) and that is also certainly true of pork. Tenderness has never been a particularly high priority for me personally but I have some steaks that would certainly prove that it is very possible if one wants. Unfortunately they don't mail well and anyways with the prices at auction last week I am not sure how much beef we will even be eating ourselves, let alone try to sell it for what it's worth.

Sorry for the O.T guys.


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## *Andi

Durocs are the hog of our pick ... I've never had a bad one. (but that is just me) 

A lot of different things will come into play with any pig (hog) ... feed, water and pasture (lot). How you kill a pig, how that meat was handled and the list goes on ...

(sorry)


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## mosquitomountainman

We used the bakery feed bags for ours too. It takes a lot of grain to fatten up a pair of hogs. If you can free range them it helps or if you can grow/harvest/grind your own grain (as was done on the farms my relatives owned). 

I prefer electric fencing for hogs (and most livestock). The piglets can be awful hard to contain. We had a bunch of little ones that got out once and got into my aunt's garden and flower patch. To say she was not happy is a bit of an understatement!

Hogs will often root under or otherwise destroy a fence. They usually caused us enough headaches that I was more than happy to put them out of our misery come butchering time.

As has already been mentioned, watch the sows after they have their little ones. 

Loading a big boar into a trailer can be interesting too. We used the feed trick and every other method my uncle could think of on one who just didn't want to go up the loading chute. He'd been trailered before without problems but this time just didn't want to go. My uncle told me to hold a gate panel to block his exit. Ha! That big old boar knocked it over and ran over the top of me and the gate on his escape. Thought my uncle was going to fall over laughing! I didn't think it was all that funny since I was the one on my back in the barn yard "soil."


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## ClemKadiddlehopper

I have Large Blacks; one boar and two sows. Large Blacks are very docile/managable and do well on pasture. They are grazers and don't root so are pretty useless as ploughs. Electric keeps them in, but they don't go far if they do get out and they are trained to come when called. Its important to train them to follow the feed bucket and not crowd while they are small because they could break your legs just brushing up against you when they are full grown. 

Once grown, I drop the feed pans over the fence before going in with them for just that reason if there is more than one pig together. A pig at feeding time is totally tuned out to anything but eating. After feeding time they are just pig puppy dogs. At least mine are. I wouldn't mess with an unknown pig.

My sows just farrowed a week ago, and yesterday I went out to the barn to make sure the dogs were leaving the ducks/chickens alone. I guess I didn't lock one of the stall doors properly and Tiny (600lb sow) opened the stall door and enlarged the turkey door to get out of the barn. Her and the younguns were out with Bones (700 lb boar) sleeping in the sun together with the chickens piled on. I just left them and they are all happy as pigs in muck this morning. I will let the other sow and younguns out with them in a few more days.

Large Blacks don't need much feed as they run to fat pretty easy but they can really chow down on alfalfa and clover hay. They are also fond of straw. The draw back is that they take a long time to reach buchering weight. Nine months or half of them is fat from over feeding. I made the mistake of feeding my first weaners lots of jersey milk and couldn't find the meat for the lard. Now I wean them with the milk but water it down after 2 weeks.

I keep them in a 12x12 box stall for farrowing and outside on pasture with a shelter the rest of the time. I drop a round bale over the fence in the winter and they do all the work of moving the hay inside the shelter. A boar can move a 5x5 round bale in two days one mouthful at a time. They burrow in for warmth and I drop a new bale when they have eaten the old bale down too much to keep warm. 

In the spring I feed less hay until they have cleaned up whats in the shelter. I take the straw and plastic off the roof and leave it to air out for the summer and reroof it for the next winter. The low side walls and cattle panel arch can be moved to new ground if needed. Keeps things low maintenance.

I don't hold with the idea that pigs, boars or sows, will eat their young if kept together on pasture. If that were the case wild pigs wouldn't exist. A hungry pig will eat anything in sight but a properly fed pig will wait for dinner time and not chow down on anything that moves. Mine live with the chickens and have a blanket of them roosting on them when ever they are sleeping. The chickens pick all the wooglies out of the pigs ears and noses. Kind of gross actually.

In winter, I mix their feed pretty wet with hot water 2x a day and that takes care of their water needs pretty well.


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## Wellrounded

ClemKadiddlehopper said:


> I have Large Blacks; one boar and two sows. Large Blacks are very docile/managable and do well on pasture. They are grazers and don't root so are pretty useless as ploughs. Electric keeps them in, but they don't go far if they do get out and they are trained to come when called. Its important to train them to follow the feed bucket and not crowd while they are small because they could break your legs just brushing up against you when they are full grown.
> 
> Once grown, I drop the feed pans over the fence before going in with them for just that reason if there is more than one pig together. A pig at feeding time is totally tuned out to anything but eating. After feeding time they are just pig puppy dogs. At least mine are. I wouldn't mess with an unknown pig.
> 
> My sows just farrowed a week ago, and yesterday I went out to the barn to make sure the dogs were leaving the ducks/chickens alone. I guess I didn't lock one of the stall doors properly and Tiny (600lb sow) opened the stall door and enlarged the turkey door to get out of the barn. Her and the younguns were out with Bones (700 lb boar) sleeping in the sun together with the chickens piled on. I just left them and they are all happy as pigs in muck this morning. I will let the other sow and younguns out with them in a few more days.
> 
> Large Blacks don't need much feed as they run to fat pretty easy but they can really chow down on alfalfa and clover hay. They are also fond of straw. The draw back is that they take a long time to reach buchering weight. Nine months or half of them is fat from over feeding. I made the mistake of feeding my first weaners lots of jersey milk and couldn't find the meat for the lard. Now I wean them with the milk but water it down after 2 weeks.
> 
> I keep them in a 12x12 box stall for farrowing and outside on pasture with a shelter the rest of the time. I drop a round bale over the fence in the winter and they do all the work of moving the hay inside the shelter. A boar can move a 5x5 round bale in two days one mouthful at a time. They burrow in for warmth and I drop a new bale when they have eaten the old bale down too much to keep warm.
> 
> In the spring I feed less hay until they have cleaned up whats in the shelter. I take the straw and plastic off the roof and leave it to air out for the summer and reroof it for the next winter. The low side walls and cattle panel arch can be moved to new ground if needed. Keeps things low maintenance.
> 
> I don't hold with the idea that pigs, boars or sows, will eat their young if kept together on pasture. If that were the case wild pigs wouldn't exist. A hungry pig will eat anything in sight but a properly fed pig will wait for dinner time and not chow down on anything that moves. Mine live with the chickens and have a blanket of them roosting on them when ever they are sleeping. The chickens pick all the wooglies out of the pigs ears and noses. Kind of gross actually.
> 
> In winter, I mix their feed pretty wet with hot water 2x a day and that takes care of their water needs pretty well.


Yes, yes and yes. Sounds like our Wessex. They take at least 9 months, we do feed some with corn (our corn is NOT GMO here  ) to fatten if I want the fat or for fattening sows. They get pasture, hay and some grains.

We use electric fences and have no problem with piglets getting out unless the ground is really dry and only for the first 4 weeks. After that they get are heavy enough to make good contact with the ground and get zapped. Shelter wise they have old iron tanks and straw, never gets much below freezing here and they do fine. They ALWAYS have a wallow and shade, gets hot here.

I've run our pigs as family groups on pasture for just on 25 years, never had one pig kill another (Berkshire back in the day and now Wessex). They did kill 2 ducks a few years ago as the ducks kept crowding the feed troughs and the pigs snapped at them and bit their heads clean off . They never worried about the chickens around the troughs though.

Labour wise they are probably our easiest livestock. Never had a disease problem. Might have had 6 pigs with problems that caused us to put them down. Leg injuries mostly.


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## jeff47041

If you were going to plant a pasture for pigs to free range on, what would you plant. 
The one time that I did it, I planted alfalfa, pumpkins, turnips, & cantaloupe. They loved it. They dug turnips up all winter. I just disked the whole thing, broadcast all of the seed and set my disk about a half inch deep and re-disked to bury the seed.


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## Toffee

From how he's eating, broccoli and bananas! Plus milk products


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## Beaniemaster2

Well, we decided to wait until spring and get a few piglets to raise and butcher in the fall... We are older folks so can't handle taking care of them in the winter... Still not sure what would be a good breed for this... We don't want them to get so huge we can't handle them. Any suggestions on some good breeds for this kind of raising??? Thanks


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## smaj100

bm2,

i think i mentioned before ours are mule foot/duroc crosses. were hoping ours will be around 200-250 lbs this nov. we got them in april as 6 week old piglets. ours will follow the food bucket anywhere, so we should be able to lead them right into a trailer to take to processing.


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## smaj100

An update and question. We've raised 2 pigs now each year since my original post in 14. Last year we lost a boar, turned sick one night and was dead the next morning. A few weeks later the sow started limping and ended up being on steriods until we slaughtered her per the vet. We've got 2 sows now from a different farm and another one of them has started limping. Is this common in pigs? Is something wrong? The pigs are in the same fenced area as all the others, the chickens come and go in the pen as do the barn cats. Any help is appreciated. We were going to keep the one who has started limping as a breeder for AI this winter but I am now rethinking that.


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## Starcreek

Can't help you with that. We've raised pigs before, but never had one limp. Did the vet say what was the problem with the first one?


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## cqp33

If you raise pigs it is best to alternate the area the are in (or so I have heard). By this have 2 pens, let one rest, replant it, condition the soil for a year before turning the next set of pigs in there. This also prevents disease, parasitic worms, etc from developing then later transferring to your new pigs. We raised our first 2 in 2015, raising 3 now for the freezer. We have 2 pens for this purpose, I'm not an expert but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn one night long, long ago.

What breed are mine? Whatever I can get my hands on from my Amish neighbors at the time i need them! Last 3 I bought all 3 for $100 total.


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## timmie

hubby and i planned to get a couple of pigs to raise as a start on our small farm ,but i just ran across a deal i just can't turn down. the lady has 9 pigs she wants to get rid of and she said she would take 100 dollars for them. so we are going to get them today. we got a temporary pen built yesterday until we can do better.


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## timmie

timmie said:


> hubby and i planned to get a couple of pigs to raise as a start on our small farm ,but i just ran across a deal i just can't turn down. the lady has 9 pigs she wants to get rid of and she said she would take 100 dollars for them. so we are going to get them today. we got a temporary pen built yesterday until we can do better.


as soon as it gets cold enough 2 of the pigs is going to be butchered;they are mean. one bit the lady while we were loading them. it's just too hot to butcher right now.


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## redhorse

Check their hooves for thrush or other rot. They can get cracks, splits and bruises just like horses too.


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## timmie

okay i have 5 little piglets and 4 2 year olds. question i have ;isn't that a little to early for them to be breeding?


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## Cotton

smaj100 said:


> An update and question. We've raised 2 pigs now each year since my original post in 14. Last year we lost a boar, turned sick one night and was dead the next morning. A few weeks later the sow started limping and ended up being on steriods until we slaughtered her per the vet. We've got 2 sows now from a different farm and another one of them has started limping. Is this common in pigs? Is something wrong? The pigs are in the same fenced area as all the others, the chickens come and go in the pen as do the barn cats. Any help is appreciated. We were going to keep the one who has started limping as a breeder for AI this winter but I am now rethinking that.


smaj100... Look up this disease in swine, "Erysipelas".

Also, found a neat pig site&#8230; http://www.thepigsite.com/diseaseinfo/problemsolver.php

Enter everything you noticed in the mysterious illness and the site will give you a list of possibilities&#8230;


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## terri9630

timmie said:


> okay i have 5 little piglets and 4 2 year olds. question i have ;isn't that a little to early for them to be breeding?


At 2yrs? No. Sows reach serial maturity at around 6 months. And can/will start breeding if a male is available. I'd wait a bit longer personally but I don't raise them.


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## smaj100

Cotton said:


> smj100... Look up this disease in swine, "Erysipelas".
> 
> Also, found a neat pig site&#8230; http://www.thepigsite.com/diseaseinfo/problemsolver.php
> 
> Enter everything you noticed in the mysterious illness and the site will give you a list of possibilities&#8230;


Thanks cotton, sounds like what might have done in pork chop last year.

Any idea whats causing 2 sows, 2 years in a row to come up lame? Last year it was a rear leg lost the whole ham. This year's sow is limping on a front leg.


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## Cotton

smaj100 said:


> Thanks cotton, sounds like what might have done in pork chop last year.
> 
> Any idea whats causing 2 sows, 2 years in a row to come up lame? Last year it was a rear leg lost the whole ham. This year's sow is limping on a front leg.


I don't know hogs. I know a little about cows. Around here we have a disease called "Black Leg", it'll kill a cow quick. It's in the soil and can lie dormant for decades. All it takes is a scrape or cut near a hoof. Thankfully there is a vaccine for "Black Leg".

Again, I don't know hogs but I'd suspect something similar. Something in the soil or quarters, some common thread. The quickness of this illness is what I find frightening, either something virulent or some symptom unnoticed by you for some time.

Talk it over again and again with your wife&#8230; is there any symptom not discussed&#8230; some small thing&#8230; Just a suggestion... because that's all I have.


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## ClemKadiddlehopper

If a pig seems off, especially when it comes to eating, treat them right away and don't hold back to see if they are going to get worse. A 1.5"-2" long needle in the neck and and an overly healthy dose of long acting penicillin. It is easy to give a sick pig a shot. It is impossible to give an unrestrained pig that is feeling better one. That is how you know things are good again.

People with only a few pigs don't have the facilities to do things the sensible way and have to accept that the outcomes of any given operation are not going to be 100% at times because of it. Thats life.

Pigs will get better or they will not get better. There is nothing else you can do. Wait and see before treatment is usually a death sentence.

I had a sow lose the use of her back legs and get better with the shot but it was an ongoing problem every year. I took her out of the line up. Pigs can get a strep bug that causes them to lose use of the hind quarters and stop eating. It will kill them quick if not treated soon enough. If a pig is having chronic lameness issues check the feet when they are sleeping in the sun and treat them with iodine if they don't have long toes or a nail in the foot. Do it any ways just because you can.

My pigs were all handled regularly so I could do things with them when needed.
Bacon is the only suitable use for an aggressive pig. Never use one for breeding.


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## smaj100

ClemKadiddlehopper said:


> If a pig seems off, especially when it comes to eating, treat them right away and don't hold back to see if they are going to get worse. A 1.5"-2" long needle in the neck and and an overly healthy dose of long acting penicillin. It is easy to give a sick pig a shot. It is impossible to give an unrestrained pig that is feeling better one. That is how you know things are good again.
> 
> My pigs were all handled regularly so I could do things with them when needed.
> Bacon is the only suitable use for an aggressive pig. Never use one for breeding.


Clem thanks for the info. We have Pen G on hand all the time for goats, and horses. Yes we really dont have the facilities other than the pen they live in which is 40-50 in the woodline with a small pig house for shelter and a 10-12 stall in the barn.

The sow in question is up and down moving eating and still running around good. She's just favoring the front right leg. With this being the 2nd pig out of 6 that we have raised has had a lameness issue I was worried it's bacterial or viral. Neither of the sows are aggressive, we touch, pet and scratch on them daily usually at feeding time. A little tap from the "haminator" stick and they back up and respect our space when are putting out slop or extra milk for them.

How do you give them a shot? Never done it, and I worry she wont want to stand still for that AT ALL.


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## ClemKadiddlehopper

Catch 22.

If the pig isn't sick enough to lay there and take it, you have to get it into a confined box it cannot break out of. With my pig, lack of eating and lethargy or paralysis of the hind end were the only things that merited a shot and than it wasn't hard to give. She just didn't give a darn. When the medication worked, a second shot wasn't an option. Pigs don't have veins that you can get a needle into, told to me by a vet, so its just a jab in the side of the neck using your best guess as to where the area of the shoulder ends and the base of the ear begins. 

If she is running around eating, just try to soak the feet in a concoction you make up along the lines of the kitchen sink type thinking. The easiest way to do this is an all four foot bath to stand in while she is eating. The only other thing is figuring out a way to make sure she doesn't have an object in the foot. Sometimes they just get big and heavy and sprain something. Given the choice 
they will self govern their activity and stay off the foot. 

Try not to bring the feed at a time when the sow is lying down as that is when she will be stupid fast getting up and possibly aggravating an injury.

I am not a pig expert and you are only getting what I learned from my few pigs and their problems. The large animal vet didn't know much about pigs either other than they either got better or they didn't. Pen G is ok, but Pen LA is better since it is good for 4 days and solves the issue of getting more Pen into the pig over time. 

I only gave a shot if the pig was sick enough not to care. Their skin is tough and a thin needle is easier to penetrate the skin but bends and could break off if the pig moves. A healthy pig is a big baby and cannot tolerate a needle and you cannot win that one. They are as strong as a bull.


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## redhorse

Be CAREFUL with penicillin.... If you use the IM (intra muscular) injection and hit a vein, artery, or larger capillary, you will have a dead oinker very fast. Typical livestock IM penicillin cannot enter the blood stream directly! 

Penicillin is great stuff, but make sure you pull that plunger back several times to make sure you aren't getting any blood. I watched a vet accidently kill a show horse worth well into the five figures when he jumped a bit from the needle. Pick large muscled areas for the injection site. That goes for all large livestock. 

It is also thick and needs cold storage. Hold it in you hands for a while to warm it up a bit, it won't be as thick that way and will be easier to administer.

As a side note, I have known a few old boys that have administered livestock grade penicillin to themselves, and the results were probably better than if they had waited to get an appointment with the VA.


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## smaj100

exactly why i keep my vet supply cabinet stocked, along with needles and all other manner of gadgets from the vet. now if i could just convince the vet to give me some lidocaine to go with the suture kits....  I've seen the smaller needles break off in animals so we try to stick with the lumberjack size 16ga. and Clem I agree with the pig i'm a big baby to and hate needles...


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## BillM

*Glad to Answer your questions*



smaj100 said:


> Hey folks,
> 
> I have a couple questions about raising pigs. We have 2 gilts we are raising for slaughter right now. They seem happy content and are very clean which we are happy about. We were told they are duroc/mulefoot crosses, but they are both white/pink with black splotches on their bodies. One of the sows has the traditional mulefoot hoof the other is normal. Neither have any red pigmentation in them like durocs. I'm wondering how much duroc/mulefoot they really have in them.
> 
> This is our 1st attempt at raising pigs for self sufficiency and a little extra income.
> 
> 1st Are pigs social creatures or do they do fine alone? I found a local seller who has pure breed durocs and is selling a breeding pair and the last litter of piglets. We are considering buying 1 female for breeding next year or the breeding pair.
> 
> 2nd Will pigs breed non stop and do I have to separate the boar from the sow? Will the sow breed while she is still nursing her current litter? Will the boar become aggressive towards anyone or the litter once the piglets are born?
> 
> We have a huge pen for them now and a small pig house built out of pallets but they rarely use it. I've read a little on doing AI is this really feasible? Or would it be better to get a sow and find a stud boar and take her to him much like cattle and horses?
> 
> Thanks


Glad to answer these questions for you.

Yes, yes, yes no, yes ,no, yes, Hell no !


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## Sybil6

This is a bit old, but I haven't been around in a tick. My aunt just gave us our second piggy. After Hudini's great escape, we've lotted him up in our dog pen. There's an awkward romance between him and my basset hound, but I reckon it works to my advantage. Thing is, I don't know anything about pigs! I don't even know what breed he is. All I know is he cries if I let Hiccup out and Big Max -my German- hates him. Sweet critter, and healthy looking. We're still deciding, to breed or to slaughter.


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## smaj100

Hey Cotton, you still around?


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## jnrdesertrats

He was on last week.


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