Pig Raising

Pig Raising

Hickory-smoked bacon and ham, fresh,tasty pork, lard and sausages for the wholefamily—that's what keeping a couple of pigs onyour homestead can mean. A home-raisedporker, 200 to 225 pounds when killed atoptimum slaughter weight, will dress out atabout 30 percent waste, which means that youwill lose only 60 pounds as offal, hide and bone.Pigs are among the easiest animals to keep andfeed.

It's best to buy weaned, eight-week-oldpigs, choosing the largest and strongest-lookinganimals in the litter. Buy pigs only from a reli-able breeder who has wormed them and clippedtheir teeth. Select barrows—castrated males—weighing between 25 and 40 pounds, with shortlegs, compact shoulders and plump hams.Watch the ads in your local farm newspaper infall and spring for feeder pigs.

Housing: There are two methods of rais-ing pigs—the pasture system and confinement.For one or two feeder pigs, the latter is prob-ably better because it takes less of a capitaloutlay initially. A sanitary pigpen is easy to build, and most experiment stations have plansfor these. Pigs are clean animals, and given aclean yard they will leave their droppings inone corner.

One good type of housing is a raised penwith a slatted floor for droppings and urine to fall through. The pen should be aboufeet by eight feet, with a floor constr-2x6's separated by Vs-inch spaces. Scrucial—wider spaces will cause the pt;his feet caught and smaller spaces muup with droppings.

Sarround this floor with strong fencing to stakes driven deep into the groundthe sides. The slatted floor can be rinseda hose daily, and the area under the pen:urned into a compost heap. If you canmt a slight incline, so much the better—it'he cleaning easier. Be sure to provideisprt of shade inside the pen for the hog.d cold weather well, but they sunburnand must have a refuge from direct sun.a trough for food and a constant sup-fresh water.

Pasture: Hogs can also be raised on pas-hit they require a heavy, hogproof fence,art electric or barbed wire added to theof the fence about three inches off theto keep the animals from rooting under-Pastures should be rotated yearly be-of the parasites which overwinter andswine the following summer.

Good pasture can supply from 20 to 30-ent of the hog's total feed requirements.-ea, clover and rape or a mixture of rapeoats are good hog pasture. Sudangrass,_hum and soybeans make good summer pas-,. with rye, ryegrass or winter barley laterthe season. An acre of good forage alonga supplementary grain ration will handleto 20 pigs weighing 100 pounds apiece.A movable, easily constructed shade isin the pasture if no natural shade is avail-. Self-feeders and -waterers can be home-t to plans provided by experiment stationetins.

Feeding: Young pigs weighing 22 poundsless need a diet of 22 percent protein. Pigshing up to 77 pounds need 16 percent pro-. A 40-pound animal eats about 23/4 pounds:ereal grains and drinks about one gallon of-er daily.

If a hog is confined, you can supply a largepart of the feed for it from garden wastes—peavines, cabbage leaves and the like—plus tablescraps and leftover meat scraps. They will alsoeat leftover eggs, extra milk or whey fromcheesemaking, alfalfa, comfrey, and Jerusalemartichokes. If pastured, hogs can even dig theartichokes by themselves.

Hogs can also be fed grains. Corn is gen-erally preferred, and hogs eat it directly off thecob. Wheat is a good substitute, but should notbe ground too finely because it forms doughballs in the mouth of the animal. In fact, cornand wheat can be fed with protein supplementsas a complete diet. Grains such as sunflowerseeds or millet should only make up 50 percentof the diet. Oats and potatoes are acceptablefeeds, but should make up no more than one-third of the diet. Soybeans should not be fedto a hog, as they produce "soft" pork. So dopeanuts, a popular feed in the South. Hogs onpasture can be allowed to forage, or you cancut forage and bring it to a confined animal.

A mineral supplement of two pounds ofoystershell or ground lime to two of bone mealand one of salt, fed one pound to every fivepounds of feed, will take care of mineral needs.The supplement can be mixed with coarselyground feed.

Care: Pigs kept over winter need goodshelter and adequate straw bedding. If youdon't have a small pen for the hogs, you caneasily remodel a corner of an existing structureto do the job. During the winter, pigs musthave green feed or vitamin and proteinconcentrates.

In addition, clean, fresh earth should al-ways be available to pigs in confinement. Pigswill root in a trough of earth and get traceminerals unavailable to them when confined.

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