Every family should have a pig. Well, any family that eats meat (pork) should have a pig.
We have 3 pigs and they are now about 75 or 80 lbs, up from 15 lbs on March 21 - Incredible! But the cool thing with raising a pig is that table scraps and food refuse from a family of 4 will provide more than half the feed for 1 pig. If you think recycling glass is efficient, it does not come close to a pig. The amount of household garbage that is food refuse is much more by volume than you might imagine, and your pig will happily consume it all, and give you some very fertile soil in the process. One 240 pound pig will give you about 160 pounds of meat when dressed out, certainly enough pork for a family of 4 for 1 year.
Pigs do smell pretty bad - actually really bad. Our pigs are 300 yards from our house and we can smell them if the wind is right. They really could not be rasied in anything other than rural country side. But they do have their advantages for the small holder, self sufficient farm. Besides eating all our food waste, our pigs are digging up and fertilizing a significant portion of next year's garden better than any garden tractor. We move them by rearranging metal hog panels and fence posts that we bought from the local farmer's co-op. After a couple weeks on a 16 x 32 foot area we move them, and they leave behind well loosened, fertile garden soil.
I will let you know how things go as they grow, as I have heard that some are diffiuclt to handle after a certain size.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Birth Announcement
2 of our goats have kidded; one had twins, a male and female, and the other had 1 female. The single kid is obviously half La Mancha, with its distinct ears. The mama goats were already bred when we got them, so we don't know much about the fathers. We now have a total of 23 goats, although we plan to sell or eat the 4 wethers (castrated males). This is our breeding base.
The pigs continue to grow, weighing about 50 pounds now, still cute, but not as cute as they were when we got them. I am told they will be 250 lbs in the fall. That is alot of pig. So far the pigs gain about 1 pound for every 3 pounds of feed.
We are constantly composting and adding organic matter to the garden and have begun a little experiment. We planted corn in 2 differnt patches. In one, we composted heavily, and the other not at all, just turned the soil and planted the corn. Neither plot will receive commercial fertilizer.
I will let you know.
The pigs continue to grow, weighing about 50 pounds now, still cute, but not as cute as they were when we got them. I am told they will be 250 lbs in the fall. That is alot of pig. So far the pigs gain about 1 pound for every 3 pounds of feed.
We are constantly composting and adding organic matter to the garden and have begun a little experiment. We planted corn in 2 differnt patches. In one, we composted heavily, and the other not at all, just turned the soil and planted the corn. Neither plot will receive commercial fertilizer.
I will let you know.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Progress
We are making progress. corn and the beans are starting to come up, and the vegitables are doing well.
We planted 5 plum, 6 apple, 4 peach, and 3 pear trees, along with 10 grape vines. So far, they are all alive. The trees are in their second season, and we expect some to yield next year. 2 of the plum trees are yielding right now!
We purchased a herd of dairy goats, 15 does, mostly nubian and alpine. We also bought 2 nubians bucks, so next years kids will be 1/2, 3/4, or full blood nubian. The goats are very low maintenance, living for the most part off of the land. We are not drinking their milk yet, as I am de-worming them. The milk is going to the pigs at the moment, but the goats produce far more milk than we require.
The chickens continue to lay about 6 eggs per day, and the chicks have feathered out. We also bought 3 roosters: 2 Rhode Island Reds, and 1 Jersey Giant. The Jersey Giant is truly a giant bird. We have one Jersey Giant Hen and she lays HUGE eggs, though not as often as the Reds. Although it sounds like we are self suffcient on eggs, we are not. To be truly self sufficient we need to grow our own feed, which we are in the process of doing - corn for this sumer and winter wheat for next spring. Each laying hen will eat about 100lbs of food per year, so we have to put up a lot of feed.
The chicks will not begin to lay until late August, right about the time that the hens will start to lay less due to lower light levels. We hope that they will make up the difference.
We planted 5 plum, 6 apple, 4 peach, and 3 pear trees, along with 10 grape vines. So far, they are all alive. The trees are in their second season, and we expect some to yield next year. 2 of the plum trees are yielding right now!
We purchased a herd of dairy goats, 15 does, mostly nubian and alpine. We also bought 2 nubians bucks, so next years kids will be 1/2, 3/4, or full blood nubian. The goats are very low maintenance, living for the most part off of the land. We are not drinking their milk yet, as I am de-worming them. The milk is going to the pigs at the moment, but the goats produce far more milk than we require.
The chickens continue to lay about 6 eggs per day, and the chicks have feathered out. We also bought 3 roosters: 2 Rhode Island Reds, and 1 Jersey Giant. The Jersey Giant is truly a giant bird. We have one Jersey Giant Hen and she lays HUGE eggs, though not as often as the Reds. Although it sounds like we are self suffcient on eggs, we are not. To be truly self sufficient we need to grow our own feed, which we are in the process of doing - corn for this sumer and winter wheat for next spring. Each laying hen will eat about 100lbs of food per year, so we have to put up a lot of feed.
The chicks will not begin to lay until late August, right about the time that the hens will start to lay less due to lower light levels. We hope that they will make up the difference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)