Pig question

[bberry]

Doak-they are a Hampshire/Yorkshire cross, you can't really see it in the pic but the pink guy is actually a 'Blue Butt'. I never knew pigs were so entertaining, we have been 'playing with our food' all day

[wetland bee]

the white one in the picture is half yorkshire half Hampshire's cross breed.Hampshire boar gives good traits in respect to meat quality.Yorkshire sows tend to make better nursers

[doak]

We had a Tamworth Sow,"red" in color. All 13 of her first litter lived and were solid black and/or belted black. Not a red one in the bunch. We were selling whole or half carcass, the customer had the freezer locker man to cut and wrap. (Process).
Our main growing feed was mostly whey from the local cheese factory with garden culls mixed in.
With a couple acres of tomatoes, Potatoes, water melons and muskmelons they had plenty.  Finishing feed was corn, oats, etc. We always had a few acres of truck crops on top of the corn and ,"yes" cotton. and yes, hand picked. We also harvested loose hay with a pitch fork. After two barn lofts was filled we made out side hay stacks. You have seen those haven't you? We also milked 12 cows by hand and sold fresh raw milk in the jug. Life was good. :)doak

[bberry]

Doak- That sounds wonderful. We are building up our farm around here and it sure is work, but there is no better feeling at the end of the day than work well done (if you can ignore the aches and pains:) This is our first go round with pigs but my son is going to do a breeder project for 4H come spring-so many more piggies to come! Man do they love table scraps and chestnuts! Have you ever given yours acorns?

[Natalie]

They are very cute.
JP and Iddee, my info may or may not be correct either but maybe this will help settle the citrus thing.
When I had a pig the vet told me to never give her citrus because it is about the only food pigs have a tough time digesting and they get sick and throw up.
Iddee yours may have not eaten it because they sensed it, alot of animals won't eat something because they innately know that it will sicken or kill them so it may have been that.
JP the pigs that you have seen eating them may have just not sensed it and then later on that night they were puking all over the place.
Just my theory but it makes sense to me so I am sticking to it.

[JP]

Years ago I watched Dickey Betts of The Allman Brothers http://popup.lala.com/popup/432627047850146622hunt with his traditional bow on a Florida citrus farm where feral pigs were dining on oranges, perhaps just the ones that had fallen and fermented, but they were surely there in full force like clock work, every evening showing up to dine.

I have fed pigs acorns before, they love them! I raised two feral Hampshires I caught in the wild for roughly 8 weeks until they were moved to a 13 acre farm where they grew and grew and grew. The male was Cool Breeze, the female Little Girl. I fell in love with these pigs and didn't have the mindset to eat them when their new owners slaughtered them.

I would fill Cool Breeze's feeding trough up with acorns and he would eat them until he would pass out on his side and continued eating with his eyes closed! I'm not making this up, talk about comical! Pigs love acorns!


...JP

[asprince]

They love pecans also. We use pecans sometimes to bait our traps.

Steve

[kingbee]

PS I love chitterlings.

Tell me son, you you prefer yo 'chitlings' stump whooped, hand slung, or creek  washed? 

[doak]

We get the 10 pound store bought chitterlings and re clean them. Boil tender then fry semi crisp, with hot home made biscuits.

We had a neighbor once getting on in years. He had some sows and sold pigs. Only problem he had let them get to the point of inbreeding and the sows was mean as hell.
Another neighbor went one day to pick up some pigs and the old gentleman got over in the pen to catch the pigs. Well the sow attacked him  and our other neighbor had to knock her off with a wagon standard. Kept her at bay while his son's got the old gentleman and the pigs out.

Another important note. If you rent, borrow, or have your own boar, never try to take him away from the sow as long as she is still in heat. can't be done, safely. Been there done that.

Yes, the acorns are good. If you have access to a creamery, where they make cheese and can get the whey, you can almost rear them on it as long as you give them a little grain now and then.
Just slack off on the whey and increase the grain about a month before butchering time.
Give whey only after they have been weaned.

Peanuts make a rubbery/spongy textured meat. The best meat is grain fed meat.
You could grow root crops and let the pigs harvest at a ripe time, turnips, sweet taters, don't know about Irish taters. :)doak