# Feeder Pigs



## Baymule

The title says it all. If you are offended by raising pigs for slaughter and consumption, stop reading here. This thread is going to be about raising pigs to slaughter weight and will end with pictures of supper. 

Thought we were going to get blue-butts, but when we got there, there was a pen of black pigs with white markings which I knew to be Berkshires $$$$ and some solid black pigs which I hoped  to be maybe half Berkshire. This guy raises Berkshires for show pigs for the FFA and 4-H kids in his area and he gets some good prices for them. He sells the ones that don't make the cut for show pigs as feeder pigs for $200.00  I wanted cheap pigs......

Sure enough, they were 1/2 Berkshire!  And the other half was Large Black, another desirable heritage pig!  We got 2 girls and 1 boy (used to be boy)  He had probably 15 pigs in a very small enclosure. In case ya'll haven't been keeping up with the weather in Texas, we've had LOTS of rain, like floods and all kinds of weather. We haven't flooded, but last weekend we got 3" and the weekend before that we got 13"! So add a LOT of rain, a bunch of pigs, and you get MUD. Add in pig poo and you get SLICK SMELLY MUD. SLOP!

The man, Mike, went in the pen, one look at my husband told me I was elected to go in the pig pen to help catch pigs.  My husband had pulled the trailer up beside the pen with the escape door to the pen. Perfect for putting pigs in the trailer!  Mike tried to catch pigs, pigs ran around the pen, I tried to guide them to him and got splattered with pig poo for my efforts.    Mike went and got a hog panel and wired up one end to the pen wire, leaving the other end open. I walked the pigs in the gap and Mike closed it and wired it shut.

I went out of the pen, stood next to my husband and Mike captured a black pig. My husband and I reached over the pen, Mike lifted the pig, we each grabbed a hind leg and we all swung the pig in the open side door. One down. We repeated it twice more, then my husband drove his the truck, skidding in the mud, through the gate and onto solid ground. Whew! Pig Wranglers! Oh Yeah! 

When we hooked up the trailer this morning, we had a flat.  Our neighbor, Robert, brought his compressor over and aired it up. When we got to the first little town, I checked the tire, one glance told it all, flat.  Pulled in a tire store and it had a hole in the sidewall. Bought a new tire. 

When we got home with our piggy trio, DH backed the trailer up to the garden gate, we placed plywood as a ramp, also to keep the little suckers from escaping under the trailer and we let them out. They took off for the far corner, DH pulled the trailer away from the gate and Robert shut it. I got them feed and hooked up 3 water hoses for fresh water. They wanted nothing to do with me, feed, water, Robert, my husband, nothing. Just huddled in the corner.

I just looked out there and they all three have their little heads shoved off in the feed.  Eat and grow big little piggies!

Their names are Bacon, Sausage and Pork Chop. I think Robert is partial to Pork Chop (the boy) so Bacon and Sausage will belong to us and @Devonviolet . We are raising the pigs. We were going to raise one for ourselves to split with our DD and family, Robert doesn't have a place for a pig and pigs like company, sooo...... Devonviolet thought it was a great idea and wanted a pig too........ so there we are. We'll split the cost of the feed and everybody gets a pig!

They are in out garden area, it is deep in pine shavings and horse manure from a horse event center not far from us. They can plow it up all winter and in spring, go to slaughter and we'll have a enriched garden spot. The garden is around 70'x100' so plenty of room for them.

They haven't even glanced at the Hawg Hut we are so proud of!

http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/hawg-hut-or-goat-or-sheep-or-dhs-new-
digs.32088/

So this is the start of a fun project raising our own meat, knowing how the animals were raised and treated and what they ate. My husband waited all his life to become a pig farmer!


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## Pamela

They look awesome and will be tasty for sure! Love the pooey goo story
 We have had raining for several days which always turns our pens into soup.


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## Ferguson K

Lovely little pigs! Congrats!


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## frustratedearthmother

Good lookin' pigs!


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## Goat Whisperer

Congrats on the pigs. Hope you get lots of BACON


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## Latestarter

Grats! That's great! Loved the part where you talked about the gooey/pooy mess;  Picturing trying to catch them in that! 



Baymule said:


> So add a LOT of rain, a bunch of pigs, and you get MUD. Add in pig poo and you get SLICK SMELLY MUD. SLOP!



But what was a real crack up was when you said:



Baymule said:


> The man, Mike, went in the pen, one look at my husband told me I was elected to go in the pig pen to help catch pigs.



Followed by:



Baymule said:


> My husband waited all his life to become a pig farmer!



WOW, the life-long wannabe pig farmer delegated you to do the "heavy" work! 

Great looking future meals there! Again, Grats!


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## norseofcourse

I don't know anything about pigs, but those look like nice ones!


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## Baymule

My husband waited all his life to be a.......(fill in the blank) It is a joke between us as he was single, living in the fast lane, a party animal....... a city boy.....then BAM! He laid eyes on me, lost his heart and his life has never been the same. Bless his lil' ol' pea pickin' heart......

I turned his life upside down, inside out, and have had him doing things he never dreamed of in his worst nightmares. He's been in the thick of things since he married me. Cows, chickens, pigs, more chickens, horses, a pet pot belly pig, dogs, more dogs, gardening, making him turn around for bags of leaves out by the curb (to put in the chicken coop/run-makes lovely compost several months later) moved him out of our 2500 sq ft nice brick home downtown in our former small town to a 1500 sq ft doublewide so far out in the sticks that it took 7 months to find an internet provider.

He dug the hole and prayed over our daughter's dead pet chicken, went and bought me a longhorn bull because I remarked 3 weeks earlier that I had always wanted a longhorn, cried with me when a newborn baby mule died in my arms, celebrated with me when the next mule born was perfect and healthy, hauled cows, fed horses, bought hay, worked his tail off hauling loads of horse poop for the garden and has had my back in every wacky crazy idea I have had. At least his life is not boring.


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## frustratedearthmother

OH wow - you could be describing MY husband and his new life, lol.  We've been together 15 years now and his story is exactly as you described!   The first time I asked him to help pull a baby goat you shoulda seen his face!  But, his remark: "I'm a nurse - I'll try"  and he did!  Bless his lil' ol' pea pickin' heart!


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## Devonviolet

Goat Whisperer said:


> Congrats on the pigs. Hope you get lots of BACON


I'm with you, @Goat Whisperer!

I told Baymule I want the one named Bacon.   I LOVE bacon, but usually can't eat it because of the nitrates, which give me migraines. Now that we are going to have our own pig, we can make the bacon without chemicals.  I am SO looking forward to eating our pig!


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## Devonviolet

Baymule said:


> My husband waited all his life to be a.......(fill in the blank) It is a joke between us as he was single, living in the fast lane, a party animal....... a city boy.....then BAM! He laid eyes on me, lost his heart and his life has never been the same. Bless his lil' ol' pea pickin' heart......
> 
> I turned his life upside down, inside out, and have had him doing things he never dreamed of in his worst nightmares. He's been in the thick of things since he married me. Cows, chickens, pigs, more chickens, horses, a pet pot belly pig, dogs, more dogs, gardening, making him turn around for bags of leaves out by the curb (to put in the chicken coop/run-makes lovely compost several months later) moved him out of our 2500 sq ft nice brick home downtown in our former small town to a 1500 sq ft doublewide so far out in the sticks that it took 7 months to find an internet provider.
> 
> He dug the hole and prayed over our daughter's dead pet chicken, went and bought me a longhorn bull because I remarked 3 weeks earlier that I had always wanted a longhorn, cried with me when a newborn baby mule died in my arms, celebrated with me when the next mule born was perfect and healthy, hauled cows, fed horses, bought hay, worked his tail off hauling loads of horse poop for the garden and has had my back in every wacky crazy idea I have had. At least his life is not boring.


    this is so funny!  And so true! I've talked to Baymule's DH. He's everything she said - and more! 

(Quote from frustratedearthmother) OH wow - you could be describing MY husband and his newlife, lol. We've been together 15 years now and his story is exactly as you described! The first time I asked him to help pull a baby goat you shoulda seen his face! But, his remark: "I'm a nurse - I'll try" and he did! Bless his lil' ol' pea pickin' heart! end quote
*************
What a stitch! My story is similar to both of yours. 

DH and I are going on 17 years married. I'm a retired nurse. When we got married, neither of us had even dreamed of living on acreage, or having goats and chickens.  After realizing the toxic world we live in, and how sick it had made me, I started dreaming about having land where we could raise our our own food.  It took a while for DH to come on board, but he is making a valiant effort to make my dream come true.    Actually, the dream has become his dream too!


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## Baymule

19 years for us, 20 on Valentine's Day. Isn't it hilarious how these great guys don't run away from us as fast as they can, screaming bloody murder and begging to be admitted to the looney farm? is it because they already live on the looney farm?


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## Ferguson K

My poor husband has just begun. We're on year two and I've already done most of those things to him...

The pig in the middle, good looking hog! I'm liking that straight back. Being as their show bred somewhere in there beware of the stress gene.


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## frustratedearthmother

The biggest thing mine has taken over for me is when something needs 'offed' he has learned to do that.  And, I'm picky about it - he knows if it takes more than one shot I'll be upset.   I used to do it myself but he knows it hurts my heart - so he's taken that on.  Love him for that!

And while he's willing to help build things, mow things, move things, haul things, lift things and plan things there are a few things he hasn't hopped on board with.   Like - the garden.... I till it, I row it, I plant it, I weed it, I pick it, I cook it ... but he does help EAT it!     He's a good guy, lol!

I need to think about a couple more piggies - I love that fresh home grown pork.


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## Latestarter

Sorry, but I had to chuckle... working a garden is tedious at best (for me anyway)   Some say they find it relaxing... sorry, I don't. I DO however love fresh food from said garden. Any of those other things mentioned, no problem! I HAVE come to the conclusion that doing all these self sufficiency things is MUCH easier when you have a companion to help and give you a reason to continue...  I find it easier to tackle all these jobs when I'm doing it for the benefit of another rather than myself. I just don't have "another" to be doing it for, so sometimes have to fight to get motivated.

I also have a problem with procrastinating...  I'll do a separate post on that later


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## Ridgetop

The pigs look great!  You can sure see the heritage Large Black in the shape of their faces.  If you have goats, you can slop them with rolled corn soaked in goat milk every day about a month before slaughter.  
The problem with hogs is that they don't marble like other meat, the fat goes on in layers.  Pigs raised for 4-H and FFA shows are genetically bred for excessive lean muscle with no fat.  I think the USDA has changed the amount of measurable back fat now -for a while the pigs we bought from the 4-H and FFA auctions were so lean that they were dry and tough.  We stopped buying from the auction but finally bought a Berkshire pig for our freezer raised on goat milk an forage.  Berkshires are supposed to marble a bit though so that might help.  Also, since you are raising them yourselves you can put a little fat on them for flavor!
You must be near Austin or Dallas - our friend in Austin said that they got 13" in 5 hours south of Austin!  We had just left Austin 3 days before the storm hit - we drove through part of it in New Mexico on our way home.  Luckily pigs don't mind rain as much as other livestock but if it floods, they will crowd into their Hawg Hut is it is off the ground to stay dry.


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## Latestarter

Ferguson K said:


> The pig in the middle, good looking hog! I'm liking that straight back. Being as their show bred somewhere in there beware of the stress gene.



Stress gene? Could you explain please? Never heard about that...


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## Devonviolet

frustratedearthmother said:


> The biggest thing mine has taken over for me is when something needs 'offed' he has learned to do that.  And, I'm picky about it - he knows if it takes more than one shot I'll be upset.   I used to do it myself but he knows it hurts my heart - so he's taken that on.  Love him for that!
> 
> And while he's willing to help build things, mow things, move things, haul things, lift things and plan things there are a few things he hasn't hopped on board with.   Like - the garden.... I till it, I row it, I plant it, I weed it, I pick it, I cook it ... but he does help EAT it!     He's a good guy, lol!
> 
> I need to think about a couple more piggies - I love that fresh home grown pork.


I love that your DH has been so willing to jump in and help you with one of the hardest parts of raising livestock. As nurses, we were trainers to preserve life. So, I would think "offing" a living being would be hard for any nurse. I know the first time I had to do it was very hard for me! However, I realize that this is part of God's plan, for us to have animal protein to nourish our bodies.  We always make sure it is done as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Back when we were still living in PA, I wanted to make sure we could manage the work involved with raising a garden. We lived in a townhouse, with HOA restrictions against food gardening.   so, we rented 2 spaces at a farm based community garden. We had one of the best maintained gardens (out of 65) and managed the work load (in spite age related aches & pains. ). DH carried his share of the workload, and we proved, to ourselves, that we could raise more than we could eat.   This year we have been too busy with building and animals. But, have also been working on laying the foundation for a garden, by making multiple piles of compost, that we let the chickens help us with. 



 
It took a while (after we started free ranging) for the chooks to find the compost piles. But once I called them, while I was tossing chicken scratch on the piles, they figured out how much fun it is. Now, every time I let them out to free range, they are all over the piles, which are a BUG HAVEN!


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## Goat Whisperer

Latestarter said:


> Sorry, but I had to chuckle... working a garden is tedious at best (for me anyway)   Some say they find it relaxing... sorry, I don't. I DO however love fresh food from said garden. Any of those other things mentioned, no problem! I HAVE come to the conclusion that doing all these self sufficiency things is MUCH easier when you have a companion to help and give you a reason to continue...  I find it easier to tackle all these jobs when I'm doing it for the benefit of another rather than myself. I just don't have "another" to be doing it for, so sometimes have to fight to get motivated.
> 
> I also have a problem with procrastinating...  I'll do a separate post on that later



Oh I hear ya on the garden thing! I cant stand it 

Give me livestock any day! You know, the kind that break down fencing, mobs you at feeding time, chew my hair off, kicks like heck when it come to hoof trimming.....IOW- difficult.......Wait, maybe gardening _is _a good idea


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## Devonviolet

Goat Whisperer said:


> Oh I hear ya on the garden thing! I cant stand it
> 
> Give me livestock any day! You know, the kind that break down fencing, mobs you at feeding time, chew my hair off, kicks like heck when it come to hoof trimming.....IOW- difficult.......Wait, maybe gardening _is _a good idea


  
I'm with a ya there, Goat Whisperer!  Our goaties are due for hoof trimming!


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## mikiz

How adorable new piggies! Hope they taste as good as they look. 
Going to love following this thread, so many laughs!


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## Baymule

*PIG SOUP!! 
do you think they know?? 




 


*


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## madcow

Sounds like one heck of an adventure in the Lone Star State for sure!  I know what you mean about the mud goo poo in the pig pen, because we too live in Texas and have experienced all the rain, of which more is coming beginning tomorrow through the weekend.  Just great.  We haven't dried out from the last round of bucketfuls pouring out of the sky for days on end, twice!  We raise pot belly pigs for food and our pig pen with our sweet, lone, little pregnant Betty has rooted it up to no end fishing for bugs and roots.  Amazing how much mud a single little pig can move around.  She has her own little oasis of a sleeping area on an island of waste hay from the goat pen and that's about the only area she hasn't turned over looking for bugs.  I suspect she's waiting for it to dry up a bit more before turning it all over so she doesn't lose her only dry spot outside to sleep.  

Your pigs are great looking and I bet they are going to taste delicious!  Our little Betty is due to have her little bacon bits the day after Christmas.  So hopefully before summer we should have a new batch of fresh pork for the pit and the freezer.  

I never thought I would be raising pigs and my husband always said he never would (I had to make a liar out of him!), but he's seen how easy they are to raise and he has actually grown attached to Miss Betty, as he calls her.  He's the softy here, and I'm going to have to keep reminding him not to get attached to the cute, little, wiggly shoats when they are born.  We have a friend close by that went into pot belly pig farming the same time we did and we've just recently butchered her boar.  He was a real pain in the rear at constantly trying to dig out of the pen and just seemed a little tetched in the head.  He was kind of aggressive, so he made the cut once we acquired a new boar.  He too was a pot belly pig (Asian Heritage Hog) and was about a year old.  He dressed out at about 50 to 55 pounds.  Our first time butchering, but we took to it like killing snakes!  Not too terribly difficult with a pig that only weighed about 85 pounds to start with, but he was plenty of meat.  I've got hams curing and I've made sausage from a good portion of it and froze the rest.  We should be in pork for a good while.  Pig farming isn't too difficult once you get set up for it.  Congrats on your new acquisitions!


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## Baymule

madcow said:


> Our little Betty is due to have her little bacon bits the day after Christmas.  So hopefully before summer we should have a new batch of fresh pork for the pit and the freezer.



*bacon bits!!! *


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## mikiz

This is already inspiring me to add piggies to my list of animals to have! 
I was contemplating it but wasn't sure how difficult they were to look after and then butcher. Doesn't sound so bad now, and I love me a bit of bacon!


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## Ferguson K

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2013/130429.htm

Stress gene is mainly in show hogs. I remember from when I was showing there was a batch of pigs where over 50 died due to it. Only about 2/3 of us made it to the show ring with our pigs.

All this talk about bacon bits has me drooling. Those little pigs look like they need some spinach. And butter... rip some rib meat off and drop it in, yum!


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## Mini Horses

Your pigs are looking good!   I have 4 AGHs who are all black & remind me of those -- except they won't get the size of yours when full grown.    At only 4 months old they are true garbage disposals!!   Eat all the time.   Luckily I have a source for close dated produce that sure helps with them and the chickens.  Picked up a truckload a few days ago and almost gone....but, lettuce and tomatoes go fast.  LOL.

I plan to separate the gilts & boars next week when fencing is done.    Butchering one boar,  breeding the gilts early summer & trading that boar for another.   Sounds ok now, we will see.

Latestarter says:
_I find it easier to tackle all these jobs when I'm doing it for the benefit of another rather than myself. I just don't have "another" to be doing it for, so sometimes have to fight to get motivated.

I also have a problem with procrastinating
_
I wholeheartedly agree with that!!!!!   It isn't as much fun now as when I had a hubby --- who always came to watch me work in the garden-----that was an area he left alone, although he would do ANYTHING else on the farm.   

I love produce from the garden but, small spot is all I can make myself work now.   If I go to another's place I'm willing to work my  butt off.....back to having another person to "share" the experience.   It is a motivation issue.    I love to milk my goats and probably because she and I can share the experience.    I also love to collect eggs but, not a big egg eater.   Lots of chickens and they are fun to watch!


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## Latestarter

Oh yeah... I used to love bacon and eggs but as I got older, just couldn't handle it. I might eat eggs once a month now if that. I don't bake or cook with them as it's only me. I have all these chickens (who are presently on strike; molt, cold, shorter days, etc) and was selling 100 eggs+ a week at one point. At this moment I get 1-3 eggs a day, sometimes none. and I have all these folks wanting eggs, and I can't deliver  May be spring before I'm back up to 15-20 a day. Don't have the goats yet, and now that I plan on moving next summer, will probably put them off for another year  Not going to start a garden next spring either... that will also have to wait till I settle down again. <sigh> Hopefully this will be my last move aside from the eventual nursing home or hospice...


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## Mini Horses

I hope you are moving to a "warmer" climate.  Been out there in CO, WY, etc.   It is just beautiful BUT just cannot do that snow!
Or the cold, either.    Here in VA it's far more stable from extremes.    Sure hoping that a nursing home is WAAAAY in the future for me.  Just put my mom in one a few months ago, no choice.    Told my kids "SSS" if I get that extreme.

Right now my animals make me do more than I might otherwise.  In fact, my list is waiting for me to get to the feed store!  There's that money gone again .   I could stop but, what to do then?


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## Baymule

@Mini Horses my Mom had a stroke at 88 and we moved her in with us. I quit my job to care for her. Her once brilliant mind was just not there any more. Sad. We finally had to put her in assisted living because we were moving and I did a lot of running back and forth, remodeling the house and getting it ready for us to move. She passed away on Fathers Day with my DH and I at her side. You just had to make a HARD decision.  It doesn't get any easier.

I've told my kids when I get like that, take me on a family camping trip in bear country. Grease me up with bacon grease and pitch my tent away from them. When I wander off, don't come looking for me. 

Now back to our regularly scheduled PIG program. On our first cold rainy day, the pigs have been nestled down in their Hawg Hut in a pile of hay.

Last week, I sowed whole oats in the pig/garden. They are now coming up and are a couple of inches high. The pigs aren't rooting them up, but they selectively pull them up and eat the sprouts. So I sowed a lot more in there. If the oats sprout and grow and the pigs eat them, I might do this all winter.


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## Devonviolet

Cool!  I'm going to have to get me some of them whole oats!


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## goatgurl

@Baymule you'll be glad you passed on the blue butts.  yes they grow great but the pig that ate every chicken or duck he could catch was a blue butt.  and the sweet ones were birkshire crosses.  they were great.   and being from Arkansas we named them woo, pig and sooie.


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## Baymule

Devonviolet said:


> Cool!  I'm going to have to get me some of them whole oats!



We've put out 200 pounds of whole oats and 200 pounds of rye grass seed. It's starting to green up around here!


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## Ferguson K

I might have to try oats in our potbelly pen. That's a good idea! Little boogers grow quick.


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## Baymule

Today I raked up some acorns and gave to the pigs. They LOVED them! My husband and I sat under some trees and watched the pigs enjoy themselves.






The pigs enjoyed the acorns so much that I raked up a 5 gallon bucket of acorns for them. I thought I'd give them a daily acorn treat.





I gave Trip, our 1 year old GP/Maremma some pig lessons. He wanted to chase them. I put a choke collar on him and a leash and in the pen we went. They ran and he tried to drag me, but the choke collar said "Momma ain't gonna let you chase the pigs".  I told him NO that's MY pigs. Trip was suddenly deaf.  We spent about 30 minutes with the pigs. All day whenever we were by the pig pen, Trip was intensely interested in them. I called him off over and over. If they ran, he tried to run too. I rolled him on his back a few times, sternly fussing at him. Then when he sat like a good boy, I praised him. At the end of the day, when it was time to put him up, he laid in front of the gate to the pig pen and wouldn't come. I think he was already on guard. Good dog.


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## Latestarter

There are for sure gonna be a lot of ticked off deer and squirrels when they find out you stole all their acorns! I'm sure those pigs were in "hog heaven"  Judging by the last pic, either those hogs gave already grown a bunch, or Trip is smaller than I think he really is. He's got a handsome snout (Trip... not the hogs... well, OK the pig snout is handsome as well).


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## Baymule

Ya'll can pity my poor husband....  Yesterday we stopped at the city park to check on the pecan trees. Most of them were native pecans. One tree had dropped so many that the ground was covered. They were so small that nobody had picked them up. They were some very good tasting pecans, but so small that shelling them is a PITA. We gathered up a couple of double handfuls.

When we got home, we gave the pecans to the pigs. Oh boy! We sat in lawn chairs to watch them. CRACK!  CRUNCH!  SMACK!  GRUNT! Piggies had a yummy snack. Piggies really LIKED the pecans, they ate them shell, too!

So today, after my husband finished physical therapy, we went back to the park. I came prepared with rakes and a couple of empty feed sacks. My husband grumbled about everybody in town driving by, like he was going to get arrested or something, for raking up pecans.  I could just imagine his embarrassment as I stuffed the pecans in the feed sacks. Ya'll probably wouldn't believe this, but I can be embarrassing in public.  We got one sack completely full, the other about 3/4's full. Hey, (shrug) it's FREE PIG TREATS!


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## Baymule

@Latestarter the acorns I picked up were here by the house. Last year, deer came right up to the house to eat these acorns. But now it is fenced and the deer are staying in the woods. There are plenty of acorns to go around!


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## OneFineAcre

Those are nice looking pigs


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## Mini Horses

I'm checking the woods tomorrow to see if our deer have left any.  If so I sure won't feel badly with sharing them as there were 4 in one of my pastures as walked to the lower fields to feed this evening.   THEY want to share!!!!

Generally they may hop a fence and run from one patch of woods to another but, rarely stop.  Tonight, they sure did. A lot of farm land around with mostly crops they find tasty -- corn, soybean, milo, winter wheat, peanuts -- we have well fed deer!   I've seen two pinto deer this year.  Pretty.


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## Ferguson K

We have wild persimmon and some giant fruit I haven't figured out yet. The pigs go crazy over them! I've canned until I can can no more.


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## frustratedearthmother

Please post a picture of this giant fruit!


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## goatgurl

@Ferguson K does your giant fruit look like this?


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## mikiz

What on earth is that @goatgurl ?? Looks like a giant green brain


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## Latestarter

Wow, never seen anything like that... what is it?


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## goatgurl

lol @mikiz.   there are several different names for them down here, osage orange, hedge apple and horse apple just to name a few.  it is the fruit of a bodark tree aka bois d'arc tree.  they are used for fence posts as well as other things where a dense wood is needed.  the osage Indians used them to make long bows.  they have killer thorns on them so they were used to make fence rows before barbed wire came along.  the thorns can actually pierce a tractor tire.  some people make jelly out of them and some folks use them for insect repellant.  the bugs don't like them but the mice sure do.  that 'apple' was from a tree along my creek.  they are about the size of a grapefruit.


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## Latestarter

Heard those names/terms used before but never knew what the item was/is. Thanks! Learned something new


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## Baymule

Ferguson K said:


> We have wild persimmon and some giant fruit I haven't figured out yet. The pigs go crazy over them! I've canned until I can can no more.



I wonder if the giant fruit is a paw paw. A nursery nearby has paw paw seedlings, I want to plant some this winter.


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## Ferguson K

Nope its not a horse apple. I know those. 

I'll get a picture eventually. I work all the time so its not easy.


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## goatgurl

lordy, i love paw paws


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## Baymule

@goatgurl, do you have any seed?


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## Baymule

Yesterday I picked up 12 pounds of acorns for the pigs. Nice big fat ones from Blackjack oaks around here. It only took about 45 minutes.






Today I picked up another 6 pounds. I give the pigs a small coffee can of acorns every day. They love them! There is now acorns and pecans scattered around for their rooting pleasure. They are a hoot to watch. They run and play, shovel their snouts in the dirt like bull dozers and just enjoy being pigs. Just like they are supposed to. I think about industrial farmed pigs and appreciate our pigs ability to act like pigs.

We found a greenhouse (hoop style) on Craigs list for $50 and went to get it. After we got it loaded, we were already by the tiny town with our favorite feed store in it,  we needed to get dog food and some more pig feed, so to the feed store we went. Don't blink your eyes as you drive through town or you will miss it! Anyhow, we were figuring up how many bags of pig feed we needed when Christy, the lady who runs the feed store told us she had 10 bags of crimped corn with weevils in them. AND that we could have them if we wanted them! FREE! You are dadburned right we jumped on that deal like chickens on a June bug! Weevily corn! Just what I wanted! I paid for the dog food as some random guy loaded the corn. Christy works there by herself, it's sorta a customer load your own kind of place. Sometimes Christy helps or loads it, but she ain't no spring chicken, and she asked this guy to help load the weevily corn. She knew my DH had heart surgery and didn't need to be lifting that much weight. DH got $5 and tried to give it to the guy, he wouldn't take it, so my DH stuffed it in his pocket, thanked him and everybody laughed.

I was so excited by the FREE corn and extra weevil protein, that I called @Devonviolet on the way home to tell her about it. One of these pigs is hers and I had to share the good news! She couldn't believe our good fortune. God was showering us with blessings!

We got home with the corn, bugs crawling all over the bags. The bags had holes chewed in them from the weevils. DH got all creeped out about the weevils, not wanting to get those bugs started in our own storage room, and horse feed and pig feed and neither did I.  I remembered that our neighbor Robert was in town at Lowes and called him. I asked him to get a bag of diatomaceous earth and he did. I explained to DH that commercial grain silos use diatomaceous earth to kill insects, so we poured corn in garbage cans, layered with DE and problem solved. We put the cans out by the pig pen, away from any other feed. The pigs dug in like that corn was candy. 500 POUNDS---FREE!!!!!  If you look closely at the picture, you can see the holes in the bags from the weevils. DH's fingers are pointing at the bugs.


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## frustratedearthmother

SCORE!!!!   That's awesome!  Talk about being in the right place at the right place at the right time.


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## Baymule

No kidding!! We were already beside ourselves with the greenhouse purchase, then to be blessed with 500 pounds of free feed put us over the moon!


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## Mini Horses

AWESOME SCORE   

  the pigs won't care about the extra protein, they eat a lot worse than a few bugs!   UR right to keep it from other feeds, too.

These are the days that make us feel gooooood!   Congrats.


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## Devonviolet

Hey @goatgirl!  I recognized the big green fruit too! You beat me to the punch, and said every thing I was going to say about bois d'arc.  

I want to grow PawPaw trees also.  And just recently looked up how to germinate the seeds. Here is a link that might help y'all.

http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/ppg.htm

PawPaw seeds require. Loong germination period (70-100 days) and cold temps (32-40°F)

I'm not sure I can paste an internet photo here. But, if it works, here is what PawPaw looks like:










Hey Baymule. Maybe we could work toogether to germinate and grow some PawPaw trees!


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## Baymule

I'm in! Just need to find some seeds!


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## Latestarter

WOW!     500 pounds of free pig feed! That's awesome! That should last you quite a while. Sounds like you had a VERY good day! Congrats!


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## goatgurl

@Baymule, dang girl God blessed you guys today.  happy, happy piggies.  green house and corn, what more can you want.  when i buy boss i put de in it to keep the bugs out and it works really well.  goats, bunnies and birds could care less if its there but the bugs know, lol. 
i don't have any pawpaw trees around here so no seeds.   if you and devonviolet find any work hard at sprouting them.


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## Devonviolet

Here ya go:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/321879410121


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## goatgurl

thanks @Devonviolet .  who knew you could get seeds off ebay.  cool


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## norseofcourse

Great score on the corn, congrats!


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## sadieml

I just started reading this thread today.  I've been busy trying to get over a flu-like bug so I could work at a city election today.  It's a 14-hour day, but one of the few chances I get to supplement our piddly disability income.  YAY!  Just in time for Christmas.  Maybe we can actually give gifts this year.  (Instead of just baking and making peanut brittle and fudge.)  Believe it or not, some people get tired of yummy gifts.  NOT ME!!!  lol

This piggy thread may just be what it takes to get me started raising my own bacon!  I really have to get myself under control.  I want to do everything at once.  Problem is DH can't help, kids only want to help minimally, and that leaves you-know-who to do all the heavy work. Okay, most, not all.  Strong and capable sons do help when they can, but I'm just is such a gol-darned hurry to get it all done YESTERDAY.  And, of course, there's always the TOTAL lack of funds.  We are definitely relying on God's provision.

My poll-working pals love our tales of trying to get a farm started on the family homestead after years of no farming.  It is sort of funny trying to carve a farm out of the woods with no money, whiney laborers, few tools, non-stop rain (I feel your pain, Texans), and a serious problem with procrastination.  And now we're loosing the sunshine to winter.  I don't mind the cold, but it gets dark so early.  Guess I need to get a miner's helmet with a light on the front so I can keep on going after nightfall. haha

BTW, awesome score on the weevilly feed and the greenhouse.  God is good, ALL THE TIME!  Looking forward to following this thread to its oh so yummy conclusion.


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## Latestarter

Oh man "...miner's helmet with light..." I've been seriously contemplating an online search to buy one of those lately. Maybe not the helmet, but one of those head band type you pull on and off. Worst part of winter is short days. I feel for ya starting over on the old homestead... Lots of work for sure! Wish I had one of those to start with. Hope things ease up for you here in the near term.


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## sadieml

@Latestarter , the "head band type" reminds me...I'm almost certain there's one of those in the garage with all my Mama's tools and stuff.  If I can find it I'll see if it's enough to help against the onset of winter's darkness.


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## babsbag

There are baseball caps with LED lights under the bill. They are amazingly bright. DH got one for his birthday, got it at Lowe's. These short days make me crazy, especially since I am a night person and hate getting up at dawn. But now I have to if I want to get anything done.

@Baymule  Free food is the best. My little piggies got about 20-40 lbs a day of free lunchroom scraps from the school where I worked. It is shameful what children throw away; their mothers would be horrified and the homeless and hungry would be thrilled. My pigs ate apples, carrots, granola bars, PBJ sandwiches, beef stew, tacos, pizza, milk, juice, string cheese, etc. I put a bucket by the garbage cans and the kids filled them up everyday.

When the kids buy a hot lunch they are allowed to either take milk or juice or none at all. Some of the kids were taking the drink just so they could give it to the pig bucket...we had to stop that. 

At Christmas break I brought home 15 gallons of ice cream left over from class parties. Happy happy pigs.


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## goatgurl

i have both a baseball cap with the led and a strap on the hat light and i love them both.   and I'm another one of those 'i hate this early dark'.  just wish the powers that be would just leave things along.


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## Baymule

@sadieml I have seen some real good pig pens build out of pallets, which are FREE! On BYH, in the pig forum, a guy raising American Guinea Hogs posted pictures of his pigs and his pens were made from pallets. And when one rots or gets broken, it's easy to get another one and replace it.

If you plan ahead, you can plant lots of stuff in the garden just for the pigs. Since this is a new place, new garden (that failed) I had plans, but oh well. If you are interested in pigs, read this site http://sugarmtnfarm.com/  I love reading his blog! One of the things he does is double fence and plant fruit and nut trees between the fences. He lets the fruit/nuts/acorns fall in the pig pastures and they harvest their own food.


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## Latestarter

Had to bookmark that site. When I saw how much was there, no way can I get started on that right now! Thanks!


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## Latestarter

So we're coming up on a month since you brought home the little wieners... How are Bacon, Sausage and Pork chop doing? Gosh, they should have almost doubled in size by now, especially with all that protein enhanced corn you got for them   Can you share a pic or two? Have you found any other free alternative food sources for them (acorns and pecans prob gone by now)? School is in session, maybe you could do what Babsbag did and place a bucket or 2 in the lunch room? Or visit any nearby grocery stores for old/outdated produce/eggs/milk/cereals/etc.?


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## Devonviolet

We were in the area and stopped to visit Baymule & her sweet DH. We were treated to a yummy bowl of beef stew and some of the best corn bread I've ever had. YUM! 

I finally got to meet Bacon!     She has 2 notches in each ear. We had been collecting acorns, for the pigs & delivered a half bushel basket of them. They were given a bucketful and got busy chowing down. M-m-m I can hardly wait!


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## Baymule

We sure enjoyed your visit! It has been so cold, rainy and drizzly, that a big pot of stew just sounded good. Plus I have been sick since before Thanksgiving and that was another reason for a pot of stew. Plus I haunt what I call the Dead Meat Counter at the grocery store, where they place the date expired meat, marked down handsomely, I might add. The beef stew was a package of short ribs marked down to $2.48. Duh! I jumped on that, plus got 3 packages of rib eyes of 2 steaks apiece, marked to half price. I simmered the short ribs all day, put the pot in the frige, skimmed the congealed fat off the next day and started simmering again. I tossed in potatoes, carrots, onion, mushrooms, chopped fresh garlic and spices.

When @Devonviolet and her hubby called that they were leaving Tyler, I put cornbread in the oven and as they drove up, it was done. We ate, drank iced tea and visited. My husband waited on DV and her husband, getting them seconds and keeping their tea glasses filled. Hmmm...... maybe we should open a backwoods country road potty-stop/restaurant! 

Ya'll raved about the cornbread, so here is the recipe you asked for. I used store bought cornmeal, but maybe next time I can use my own home grown corn, milled right here in my kitchen. And I'll mill some wheat too for whole wheat flour.

1 cup stone ground whole kernel corn
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (or more if too thick)

That is my basic recipe, what ya'll got had home made cream corn in it, about a half cup. And I turned the honey bottle upside down and drizzled raw honey in it too. Dunno how much. 

And my cornbread supper

Make basic cornbread mix.
Brown a pound of sausage
Grate a cup of cheese
Chop half an onion
Maybe some chopped jalapenos

Pour 1/3 cornbread mixture in smoking hot cast iron deep skillet with 1/4 cup oil in it. Layer sausage, cheese, onion and jalapenos, pour rest of cornbread mixture on top and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned on top.

You could fry bacon instead of sausage, use leftover pot roast, turkey or whatever is hiding in the refrigerator. You could mix cream corn in the batter or right before you take it out of the oven, put more grated cheese on top and put it back in the oven.

For me and my DH, one piece is supper. I make this when we are doing a lot outside and I come in tired and not interested in cooking. So easy to just heat it up!


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## frustratedearthmother




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## Devonviolet

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you!  I will definitely be making both recipes soon!  What was the name of that Texan cornmeal, that y'all got at Brookshire's? I'm going there later today, and I want to "get me some o' dat!"


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## Baymule

Devonviolet said:


> THANK YOU, thank you, thank you!  I will definitely be making both recipes soon!  What was the name of that Texan cornmeal, that y'all got at Brookshire's? I'm going there later today, and I want to "get me some o' dat!"


Appropriately, the name of the cornmeal is Lamb's. Now if my sheep would just start having their lambs......


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## Devonviolet

Well, Sheepalicious' utter sure is developing nicely!  It could get bigger though.     Any indication, from the previous owners, about expected due dates???


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## Baymule

They told us anytime from NOW to March.


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## Devonviolet

WOW!  _That's_ really nailing it down!


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## Baymule

No kidding. Or would that be no lambing? 

Back to pigs. DH and I got their favorite hog pellets yesterday. We have to go to Alba for them, we had run out and I grabbed some at a feed store closer to us. They did not like them and dumped them out. Tough love piggies. We had 3 bags and they had to eat it.  Down to the last of the unliked bag of pellets, then the prima donna piggies can have their favorite pellets again. They sure have grown. I feed them twice a day. We still have corn from the free corn, they still get a coffee can of acorns or pecans and kitchen trimmings when I have them.


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## Devonviolet

What's that???  Is that BACON I smell frying???  

Btw, we went to Brookshire's & got some of that Lamb's Cornmeal. I'm looking forward to making some of your sausage cornbread!


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## goatgurl

i just personally want to thank both of you @Baymule and @Devonviolet.  i had to get up off my backside and start some beef stew.  you two made it sound so good and yes I'm going to have to make some cornbread too.  great and when i was feeling particularly lazy today.


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## frustratedearthmother

And, just because ya'll keep talking about it(1)- I'll probably be making a pan of cornbread tonight too.... dang it!  (trying to stay away from the carbs...)    You can tell how well that's working.


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## frustratedearthmother

And just because this is the 'feeder pig' thread I'll throw in another corn bread idea.

CRACKLIN CORNBREAD!

*Ingredients*
1/4 cup butter or margarine   
2 cups self-rising cornmeal   
1/2 cup all-purpose flour   
2 1/2 cups buttermilk   
2 large eggs, lightly beaten   
1 cup cracklings* (everybody knows what cracklins are, right?)

Place butter in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet, and heat in a 425° oven 4 minutes. (I'd get that skillet hot first if it was me)
Combine cornmeal and flour in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.
Stir together buttermilk, eggs, and cracklings; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Pour over melted butter in hot skillet.
Bake at 425° for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown


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## Latestarter

Well gosh... lazy and stew go together like carrots and peas! You throw everything in a crock pot and walk away for 4-6 hours! From all that I've read, cornbread isn't all that difficult either, right? I'm a carb-a-holic too... even better if sugar is involved in the mix... think donuts, pastries, sweet rolls, etc...


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## Goat Whisperer

Y'all really ought to post these under recipes  That way folks can find it much easier 

This thread is making me hungry btw!


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## Baymule

This is a food thread.....sorta kinda halfway.......it's just food on the hoof!


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## Latestarter

Yup Yup! You said so right at the very beginning, I remember!



Baymule said:


> The title says it all. If you are offended by raising pigs for slaughter and consumption, stop reading here. This thread is going to be about raising pigs to slaughter weight and will end with pictures of supper.



Can't wait to see pictures of supper!


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## Baymule

While we are waiting for supper to finish growing, we will entertain ourselves with recipes to go with "supper"'


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## Devonviolet

M-m-m . . . just finished putting the Cornbread Supper in the oven. I didn't have Baking Powder, so used Baking Soda and a teaspoon of lemon juice (to make the baking soda bubble). I didn't have sausage, so mixed spices, & garlic powder into ground turkey before I fried it. I also fried the onion until tender and mixed it into the fried "sausage". DH is sitting here drooling, as we wait for it to cook in the oven. Mmmm, it smells yummy!


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## Devonviolet

frustratedearthmother said:


> 1 cup cracklings* (everybody knows what cracklins are, right?)


Ooohhhhh yeah!!!  I can hardly wait to render some of my girl Bacon's fat, so I can git me some cracklings!!!


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## Devonviolet

Devonviolet said:


> M-m-m . . . just finished putting the Cornbread Supper in the oven. I didn't have Baking Powder, so used Baking Soda and a teaspoon of lemon juice (to make the baking soda bubble). I didn't have sausage, so mixed spices, & garlic powder into ground turkey before I fried it. I also fried the onion until tender and mixed it into the fried "sausage". DH is sitting here drooling, as we wait for it to cook in the oven. Mmmm, it smells yummy!


Yummmeee! Hey @Baymule! I just finished my wedge. DH is working on his 2nd wedge. This stuff is really good!


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## Baymule

That does look yummy! And so easy and so good! I have a package of sausage in the frige waiting on me to make this! Tonight was potato/cream corn chowder with grated cheddar and crumbled bacon over the top of it. Cornbread supper tomorrow night.


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## Latestarter

Man... when I get moved down there I'm gonna take turns visiting y'all about dinner time!  Least once a week each!


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## frustratedearthmother

Me tooooooo!


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## Baymule

Latestarter said:


> Man... when I get moved down there I'm gonna take turns visiting y'all about dinner time!  Least once a week each!





frustratedearthmother said:


> Me tooooooo!



Well ya'll just load up and come on!


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## Bossroo

Bay...  will do come spring !


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## frustratedearthmother

Par-TAY at Bays place!!!


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## Latestarter

Careful y'all... it might be a ploy to get fence install help!


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## Ferguson K

If that's what she's up to then I've got three cobblers in the oven.  Y'all come by and get a plate!


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## frustratedearthmother

Cobbler?  Dang, ya'll!  I'm a pretty darn good fence builder, lol!


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## Ferguson K

Raspberyy, blackberry, and blueberry. LOL. Goes great with corn/pecan/acorn fed pork chops.


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## frustratedearthmother

OMG!  Is there a special occasion?


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## Bossroo

Latestarter said:


> Careful y'all... it might be a ploy to get fence install help!



Since Bay is so deceiving ... I will take a rain check untill all of the fence and all of the  construction work is done.


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## Latestarter

Unwilling to work for food? LOL


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## Devonviolet

frustratedearthmother said:


> Cobbler?  Dang, ya'll!  I'm a pretty darn good fence builder, lol!


AWESOME!   Y'all come on up my way and I'll make all the Cornbread Supper, Beef Stew and Cobler y'all can eat . . . while you build our fence!!!


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## goatgurl

now boys and girls I'm not much of a fence builder anymore but I'm a great supervisor.  and i really like blackberry or peach cobbler...


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## frustratedearthmother

Hey GG - I was planning on supervising too, lol!   But, ya know - I can still pound a staple or twelve.. and enjoy doing it!

Hmmm... I'm thinking I need a new fence across the back of my pasture.... need to come up with a new menu.  I make a darn good cheesecake and can barbecue anything that used to cluck, moo, bleat, baa or oink!


----------



## Devonviolet

_"I make a darn good cheesecake and can barbecue anything that used to cluck, moo, bleat, baa or oink!"_



  This thread has gotten _*outta control!  *_And I'm lovin'it!!! 

Btw, I'm thinkin' all of us Texas BYH-ers should plan a Texas get together this coming Summer!

MAN! What a feast we could all put together!


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## goatgurl

me too @Devonviolet!  I'm sitting here eating the left over beef stew (which started all this mess) and some whole grain bread and drinking a glass of wine wondering what I'm going to have to cook to get a little help around here.  I'm a pretty good cook and have some of all the animal noises you made, huummm


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## OneFineAcre

So when do we get to see some pigs on this here pig thread
You are way off topic


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## goatgurl

not really @OneFineAcre pigs are usually the honored guest at barbecues.  that's on topic!


----------



## Devonviolet

goatgurl said:


> not really @OneFineAcre pigs are usually the honored guest at barbecues.  that's on topic!


Yeah! Our pigs will eventually be food. But that won't be 'til next Spring. So, we are biding our time talking about food, until we can talk about smoking & grilling pork.


----------



## Ferguson K

No special occasion. I had pulled then for thanksgiving cobblers and forgot to put then back in the freezer before they thawed. OOOPS. I have given one to the neighbor and one to my brother. 

@Baymule is quiet. She must be out there licking the hogs and rattling cans at the sheep. 

Don't know how good uncooked pork is, though.


----------



## Baymule

OneFineAcre said:


> So when do we get to see some pigs on this here pig thread
> You are way off topic



As a matter of fact, I have an updated picture of pig soup. When we first got them, all 3 would get in the tub.......but they have been eating like pigs........


----------



## Baymule

We had lunch today on our new porch. We are also getting a barn put up, they got 6 poles set today. The 4 corner poles were the hardest and took the longest to make sure they were square and all the measurements were right. All of which has nothing to do with this pig thread......but I fixed lunch for all of us and it was.......yup.....CORNBREAD SUPPER. And THAT has _something_ to do with this thread because we veered off topic, just a little bit. 

And ya'll come on and we'll put up fence and the barn too! And we can all sit out on the new porch. It's not finished yet, but the roof is on. @Bossroo I just can't believe you would want to _miss all the fun!!_Maybe Bossroo is waiting for the pigs to go to slaughter so he can contribute to the pig raising by giving his expert advice on how to raise a tasty pig! Or maybe he has a super secret BBQ sauce that he will bring to the feast.  @Ferguson K bring your cobblers, everybody else bring your tools and sleeping bags.


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## Baymule

And I haven't been quiet, I have been busy! This is what I've been doing. So when ya'll come to the BBQ, I said to bring your sleeping bags, you could bring your hammocks too and hang them on our new porch!

http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/barn-and-new-porch.32273/

And we are on the home stretch on the fence. A few weeks ago, Russell and Tim cleared the property line so we can get the fence up. It was a briar infested thicket, couldn't even see very far. The good part about that is that it will stay clear all winter, so we _could _wait until spring to put that fence up, when Bossroo is coming........ BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!


----------



## Devonviolet

Baymule said:


> As a matter of fact, I have an updated picture of pig soup. When we first got them, all 3 would get in the tub.......but they have been eating like pigs........
> 
> View attachment 12809



Mmmmm!    PIG SOUP!!! Looks yummy! Is that my BACON?


----------



## BlessedWithGoats

Devonviolet said:


> _"I make a darn good cheesecake and can barbecue anything that used to cluck, moo, bleat, baa or oink!"_
> 
> 
> 
> This thread has gotten _*outta control!  *_And I'm lovin'it!!!
> 
> Btw, I'm thinkin' all of us Texas BYH-ers should plan a Texas get together this coming Summer!
> 
> MAN! What a feast we could all put together!


Bwah-ha-ha! Just got done reading some of these later posts.... 
Aww, man! I'll miss that Texan get together if y'all decide to have one... make sure to post pics, please and thank you!


----------



## Latestarter

Thanks for sharing the pig pic. That little porker isn't so little anymore. LOVE it! As for a summer get together, I'm on board, just gotta wait till I get down there! Wouldn't miss all that good eatin' for the world!  Grats on the porch... I'll bet that just makes you so happy   I hope the place I end up getting has one. Being retarded... I mean retired... I'm going to enjoy doing meals while sitting out on it!


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## Bossroo

OK Bay ! I have been hampered by an injury, but my supervisory skills are in full force.  Use biosecurity to minimize loss of vigor and avoid pestilence and make sure that the future BBQs are housed in a spa so that they stay cool, well exersised, and have an ever increasing appetite.    Feed those oinkers a top quality commercial feed , then give them a desert of milk soaked quality corn, oats, and barley with acorns added for added apetite enhancer to add to fat marbling throughout all of the muscles and to maximise bacon production.  Super secret  BBQ sauce ?  sweet and sour sauce.  Don't let anyone here in on it, so you can take full credit.  Oh yea,  regarding that cleared briar for the fence line.  Go to your well stocked farm supply store where they have herbicides that will kill off newly sprouted briars down to all of their roots.  Will kill them dead. Othrwise you will have briar covered fences from here to when the cows come home in the next century.     Oh,  pit barbequed whole lamb marinated in a 55 gal. drum , then basted every 15 minutes with beer at every 1/4 turn untill fully cooked  is VERY good .


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## frustratedearthmother

Beer basted ANYTHING is good!  Along as there is enough for the cook, lol!


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## Bossroo

frustratedearthmother said:


> Beer basted ANYTHING is good!  Along as there is enough for the cook, lol!


I should have specified that the ratio is 1 beer for the master chef, then a beer poured over the lamb, then when the master chef consumes the beer it is time for another 1/4 turn of the lamb and another basting of the lamb, then another beer for the master chef ... etc. untill the entire  lamb, pig, goat , etc. or parts thereof  is done.


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## Latestarter

By that time, of course the master chef is "done" too! LOL


----------



## Baymule

@Bossroo I do hope that your injury won't keep you from basting the lamb and pig for the BBQ. We will have a special chair just for your comfort.


----------



## goatgurl

@Brassroo you are making my lamb very nervous... i keep looking at him, grinning and muttering something about beer.  and yes indeed bay your piggies are growing like weeds.


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## Baymule

Friday is go to slaughter day for the pigs. I can't say that I'll miss them. I am ready to reclaim my garden. Hopefully the pigs have improved the garden soil (if you ignore the DEEP and BIG holes they rooted)  I hope the pine shaving mulch, 2 trailer loads of leaves/pine straw, bags of leaves and pig poop has helped out the sandy soil. Maybe I stand a chance of not only having a better garden this year, but having a garden at all.

Friends have told me that when it came time to load their pigs, they chased and wrestled the pigs into the trailer. Sometimes the pigs chased them back!  The idea of a pig rodeo really didn't appeal to me--I could see myself as the loser in a contest with 3 big pigs. So being the brilliant person I am, I came up with a better way.

This morning our friend and neighbor Russell came over with Cooper, his 7 year old son. We hitched the trailer to his tractor, then I lured the pigs to the far corner with pecans. Russell got the tractor to the gate, Cooper opened the gate and Russell backed the trailer in. We unhitched the trailer, Russell drove the tractor out and Cooper shut the gate. Then we proceeded to fence the trailer off from the pigs. The pigs will chew wires, tires, lights or anything else they can get to. Cooper stayed safely outside and shook a paper feed sack at the pigs when they came too close.


Russell said that it might take a few days for the pigs to go in the trailer, but I didn't think so. Sure enough, one of them got in the trailer to snoop around. I moved their water and feed containers in the trailer, if they want to eat and drink, the trailer is the place to find it. The way I see it, why chase them, just let them load themselves. A day or two before Friday, I'll lure them in the trailer with something stinky and then just close the end gate.

@Devonviolet are you ready for some bacon?? 


















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## Latestarter

Dontcha hate it when duplicate posts happen? And then we're not allowed to go back and delete them... have to ask support to do it for us.
My but your back yard looks green! I hope enough nutrients have been added to your garden soil to make for a copious harvest! The soil does look pretty good in the picture, of course you can't see it up close. Coincidence but I just stuck a pork shoulder in the oven  Love me some roast pork! Guess you'll be enjoying some right shortly. Do you have an idea of how much they weigh now? Will be interesting to know live weight vs processed weight. Good luck with the butcher!


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## goatgurl

bay, my pigs and steer and even the sheep and ds#1's wild meat buck were so greedy that I just climbed into the trailer with a can of feed and they would just followed me in.  I left the front escape door unlocked, walked in, put the feed in a fortex tub and stepped on out the front door as ds#1 was locking the back door.  worked like a charm.  greed gets 'em every time.  they are looking nice.  will be interested in what their weight is.  pork chops here you come!


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## Baymule

Not only do the pigs just hop up in the trailer, I have to squirt them in the face with the water hose to run them back out so I can go in the side door to feed them. I have no idea what they weigh. wish I did.


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## Baymule

Pigs. Are. Loaded. In. Trailer.

I gave them a pan of corn with yummies on it and they just hopped in the trailer and chowed down. Slam goes the back gate and locked down. Our neighbor Robert came over and helped me hook up the trailer and truck and trailer are ready to go in the morning.

Then we hooked the Hawg Hut to Marigold and I pulled it out of the pig pen/garden. I parked it nearby and will wash it down good later. We hooked the disc up and I played in the dirt. I disced for a couple of hours. BIG HOLES!! I went down in a hole and sometimes two wheels would be spinning in the air! It needs a good rain now to settle it down so I can disc it again.

I have concluded I am brilliant for raising pigs in the winter. NO FLIES. NO SMELL. Since it has started to warm up, the smell has wafted towards the house. A few flies made their presence known. I couldn't have timed it better.


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## Baymule




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## Latestarter

Fantastic start to the evolution. I bet you'll have a dream garden this year as long as you don't get flooded out. wow, one of them is quite a bit bigger than the other two... They do look delicious though


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## Mini Horses

Looking good there....nice hams.    My Guinea Hogs are all black and boy, if you have to feed in the dark, can't see them in that dang dirt!   Never forget the flashlight.   

Of course, the AGHs are smaller but, that's fine.  In fact, one of the reasons I got them.  Just don't need a full size to butcher.

Yep -- I can see the issues with the "re" prep for garden use.  BUT they sure dig up those grass roots for ya!   It's more of a replacement of the dirt than plow that's needed.   A real mess, really.....we'll both see how it grows now.   I've got about 200# of composted chicken coop cleanout to use, too.   Some of that will be used where I plant forage in the pastures.


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## Baymule

The barrow started out scrawny and smaller than the two gilts. Somewhere along the way he got BIGGER! They rooted up all kinds of roots and briars, I got a bucket of briars twice a week--and this is after I dug up wagon loads of briar roots with the tractor last spring.






This is what the garden looked like this evening after I dragged the disc around and around! It is still lumpy and uneven, need a rain to settle it down, then I'll disc some more.


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## Ferguson K

Love the finished product.


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## Baymule

Ferguson K said:


> Love the finished product.


I'm going to love it more when it's on my plate!


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## Latestarter

Wow, that looks a whole lot better than pure sand!


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## frustratedearthmother

Geeze louise - that's a big ol' garden.  I'm trying to downsize in my old age.. no wait.. that's not exactly true.  I'm trying to 'condense' the garden these days and get more stuff in less space.   Didn't work so well last year, but I'm either real dumb or eternally optimistic cuz I just keep trying....


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## Mini Horses

My first thought, too -- WOW, that's huge!  But, if you use a tractor to work it, it has to have lots of room for turns, etc.  Sure looks nice and free of grass/weeds.

I didn't do anything near that size...    Most of the "animal" veggies will be in the pastures for now.   Fortunately I've been here long enough to have fencing & cross fence in place --and several solar hot wire chargers.  

Looks great!!


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## Baymule

The garden is 70'x100' and i'll probably wish it was bigger. We took the pigs this morning to slaughter. It is a custom slaughter house family owned and operated by Mennonites. We heard nothing but good things about them and were glad to find them. We set the appointment a couple of months ago. That place was busy! We're having the hams and bacon smoked, with each ham cut in half. Pork chops, shoulder roast, ribs, sausage....


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## frustratedearthmother

Dang, maybe I should invest in a tiller for my tractor...

Can't wait to hear your report on the homegrown pork.  I know it'll be awesome!


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## Baymule

frustratedearthmother said:


> Dang, maybe I should invest in a tiller for my tractor...
> 
> Can't wait to hear your report on the homegrown pork.  I know it'll be awesome!


I just used the disc. In your clay soil, try to find a source for wood chips, pine shavings (how far are you from the horse event center in Katy?) and pile them on the garden and let them decompose. Mulch deep, grab bags of leaves from the curb in the fall and mulch with them. I pile leaves in the chicken coop and let them do the compost work for me. Humus would really help your clay.


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## frustratedearthmother

The soil in the areas that I've gardened for years is really very nice - but I could do soooo much more if I let the tractor do all the hard work!


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## frustratedearthmother

stoopid double post....


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## Mini Horses

I have a disc for my tractor and a 3' tiller that I use with my riding mower.   It does a great job and needs less turn space than the tractor --- BUT with tractor you could lift your attachment and back in.   I'm fenced where the garden will be and that can make things a little tight to turn and get close.    They all have pro/con issues but, both are faster than walking with a tiller -- sometimes

70X100  is what I'd dream of but, realistically, a whole lot for ME to take care of as I do this farm by myself.  As it is I am looking at about 1/2 of that.


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## Baymule

@Devonviolet and her husband were a lot more ambitious than me. Guess what they did? They only did the "kill and chill" on their pig, picked it up, took it home and cut it up themselves!!  They spent yesterday and today on their pig and have a freezer full of meat. I am so proud of them It will be a few weeks before our meat is ready. We are having the bacon and hams smoked. I will post pictures of our first supper! @Devonviolet where are the pictures of all that lovely meat??


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## Devonviolet

I started writing this before you posted your comment above. So, we were writing at the same time.  

We picked up our pig (Bacon) yesterday.  We decided to not have it smoked & to butcher it ourselves to save money. We did what is called a "Kill & Chill", which means they kill & gut It & skin It.  It ended up costing $150 less doing it that way.

It was quite a sight, seeing the butcher's son pull the 2 halves out of the cooler, on the track, hanging up on hooks. He cut it into 6 parts, so it would fit into our two coolers.

We bought a Kindle book on Amazon, that did a good job of telling us how to butcher our pig. Some places were a bit confusing, but we muddled our way through getting two chances too cut each section.   it had photos, that really helped

http://www.amazon.com/Butchering-Po...TF8&qid=1458955764&sr=8-1&keywords=Butchering

Here are the photos I took this afternoon. This is only part of the meat. We still have a rack of ribs, to cut into pork chops, as well as meat in our fridge (with the temp set at 34°F, to allow one batch of meat to freeze, so we don't over tax the freezer all at once. We also have a nice batch of fat, to be rendered at another time.




This is the back leg (the ham) which we boned. It doesn't look like it, but there are two ball joints & was quite a job to do the boning.



Top shelf of our full size upright freezer. The loin roast was done yesterday (3/24/16). DH got the date wrong when he labeled the packages of meat yesterday. 




Bottom drawer, of the freezer, full of meat.



Precious Filet cuts. YUM! Looking forward to cooking those!  



 Shoulder (Butt roast)




Bones to be used for bone broth.




While we were cutting meat today, DH was drooling, so I suggested he take some of the smaller pieces, that we are going to use to make sausage & fry it up. About the same time, I found a beautiful piece of muscle that looked a lot like filet. So, I cut it across the grain, which made it look like medallions. OMG! It was so tender & full of flavor! YUM!


----------



## frustratedearthmother

Good job!  We did a couple pigs a couple years ago.  My very experienced neighbor was in charge, but I helped A LOT.  I'm sure it's something that'll get easier every time....not that you butcher a pig every day though, lol. 

I know you'll enjoy every bite!


----------



## Devonviolet

DH wasn't sure about doing this ourselves. But, after reading the butchering book & having already butchering about 20 chickens, I figured we could do it.  I'm glad we did it, and while we were a little unsure we were doing it right, on the first half we did, it was easier when we did the 2nd half.

I would like to raise a couple feeder pigs, ourselves, next year & do the killing ourselves. I don't think DH is totally on board with the killing & initial processing part. We might just have to let the butcher do the Kill & Chill again.


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## Latestarter

Man, that all looks great! love the look of those cooked pieces too!


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## norseofcourse

Last night I actually dreamed I was raising a few pigs....  I am blaming @Baymule and @Devonviolet !!!   

This whole thread - the good and the challenges - has been great reading.  I never thought pigs would be something I would want to have, but now I can almost see myself raising a couple pigs someday.  I'm further north, so it would have to be a summer project for me.  Healthier meat, raised more naturally, and better tasting - maybe, just maybe....


----------



## Mini Horses

So -- after all this work and raising ordeal,  what was weight on hogs & hanging?   Was that available from this butcher, since he's more of an "independent" ?  Just curious....

I have AGH hogs, so far, far smaller, which is why I have those as I don't want/need all that at one time.   But, looking forward to taking one to freezer camp in not too distant future.   Since mine are so much smaller, I may do just kill and chill...depends on my own work schedule at butcher time, actually.  It is a lot of work.
A butcher I know will come to house & do but, not sure if I want to do that either.  LOL   Oh, he's from CO and a big time hunter as well as experienced butcher -- for a living.

Look at how nice and dark the meat is there, not the washed out stuff you get at store.   Now that's why such nice flavor.  Allowing them to "root & scoot" makes a much tastier carcass.


----------



## Ferguson K

We do all of ours here at home, start to finish. We "do the deed" as far as killing them as well. Depending on the size of the hogit either gets a .22 or a blade through the third rib into the heart. Both ways are humane and painless. 

A 270lb pig should hang at 245 lbs if you're figuring 20% for organs.

Depending on how much you cook and eat. One pig fills our freezer for about a month of that's all that's in there.


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## Devonviolet

I thought that last piece, in the fridge was a rack of pork chops.   Turns out it was a belly piece with spare ribs on it.

Once we cut the ribs off, we had a slab of bacon meat left.  Since we weren't curing the meat, and still had a lot to do (Thurs & Fri), we had just cut up the belly meat, to use in sausage.

This morning, when we ended up with a slab of uncured (very meaty) bacon meat, we decided to cut it into bacon strips.

Before we put it away, we decided to fry up a few strips, to see if we liked it that way.

When I put it in the pan, on low heat, it seemed to be getting a bit rubbery. So I thought adding some water & cooking slowly before frying it would help. We have some "liquid smoke" in the cupboard, so I added about 1/4 tsp to 2 Tbsp of water & poured it over the meat. A few shakes of Himalayan Sea Salt. On the lowest setting (with the lid on) I let it simmer until the water was gone. When I heard it sizzling, I turned the "Bacon" & browned it on the other side.

OMG!    This tasted better than store bought bacon, with just a hint of smoke flavor. 

Now I wish we had saved all the belly fat! 

Oh well, ya live & learn.  We keep telling each other, "we didn't know what we didn't know" 





I wish we had "smellavision!" it smells just like bacon!


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## Devonviolet

Before we wrapped it, for the freezer, I thought I should take a photo, to show how nice & meaty our bacon is. We ended up with seven 1/2 pound packages.



 


 
I love bacon so much, but can't eat commercially cured bacon, since I am very sensitive to nitrates [they give me nasty migraines]. 

When Baymule said she would raise a pig for us, I wanted to name it Bacon, so we could make nitrate free bacon. Then, with all the work learning to butcher the meat, making sausage PLUS learning how to cure meat, it was too much. We decided to forego curing bacon this time & I was feeling bad, that we weren't making bacon. Now we can safely enjoy bacon for breakfast!


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## frustratedearthmother

Woohoo!  BACON!   That's awesome - cherish that stuff cuz I know it's delish!


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## Bossroo

Devonviolet said:


> I started writing this before you posted your comment above. So, we were writing at the same time.
> 
> We picked up our pig (Bacon) yesterday.  We decided to not have it smoked & to butcher it ourselves to save money. We did what is called a "Kill & Chill", which means they kill & gut It & skin It.  It ended up costing $150 less doing it that way.
> 
> It was quite a sight, seeing the butcher's son pull the 2 halves out of the cooler, on the track, hanging up on hooks. He cut it into 6 parts, so it would fit into our two coolers.
> 
> We bought a Kindle book on Amazon, that did a good job of telling us how to butcher our pig. Some places were a bit confusing, but we muddled our way through getting two chances too cut each section.   it had photos, that really helped
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Butchering-Po...TF8&qid=1458955764&sr=8-1&keywords=Butchering
> 
> Here are the photos I took this afternoon. This is only part of the meat. We still have a rack of ribs, to cut into pork chops, as well as meat in our fridge (with the temp set at 34°F, to allow one batch of meat to freeze, so we don't over tax the freezer all at once. We also have a nice batch of fat, to be rendered at another time.
> View attachment 15874
> This is the back leg (the ham) which we boned. It doesn't look like it, but there are two ball joints & was quite a job to do the boning.
> View attachment 15875
> Top shelf of our full size upright freezer. The loin roast was done yesterday (3/24/16). DH got the date wrong when he labeled the packages of meat yesterday.
> 
> View attachment 15876
> Bottom drawer, of the freezer, full of meat.
> View attachment 15877
> Precious Filet cuts. YUM! Looking forward to cooking those!
> 
> View attachment 15878 Shoulder (Butt roast)
> 
> View attachment 15879
> Bones to be used for bone broth.
> 
> View attachment 15880
> While we were cutting meat today, DH was drooling, so I suggested he take some of the smaller pieces, that we are going to use to make sausage & fry it up. About the same time, I found a beautiful piece of muscle that looked a lot like filet. So, I cut it across the grain, which made it look like medallions. OMG! It was so tender & full of flavor! YUM!


When everything is said and done ... share the bones with your dog and throw some to Bay's dogs too. As you know, bones are the BEST  and HEALTHIEST chew toy


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## Devonviolet

Bossroo said:


> When everything is said and done ... share the bones with your dog and throw some to Bay's dogs too. As you know, bones are the BEST  and HEALTHIEST chew toy


We were planning to do that. Then we saw a comment in our butchering book, saying that pork bones are the only bones you shouldn't give to your dogs for two reasons:
1. Trichinosis
2.  If you cook pork bones - to kill the Trichinosis, they become brittle & will splinter when the dogs chew on them.

I decided to look online, to see if they were right. Sure enough. What I found seems to confirm what is says in the butchering book.


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## Bossroo

Devonviolet said:


> We were planning to do that. Then we saw a comment in our butchering book, saying that pork bones are the only bones you shouldn't give to your dogs for two reasons:
> 1. Trichinosis
> 2.  If you cook pork bones - to kill the Trichinosis, they become brittle & will splinter when the dogs chew on them.
> 
> I decided to look online, to see if they were right. Sure enough. What I found seems to confirm what is says in the butchering book.


 That piece of information was included in the "butchering book " is to cover themselves in case of a law suit. Today, most Veterinarians do not recomend the practice to protect themselves against a law suit too. Besides, cleaning dogs' teeth is quite profitable.    Congress passed a law way back in 1980 to outlaw raw garbage containing raw meat being fed to commercial and other pig operations .  Since then Trichinosis has been very rare.  Unless that is, if a backyard owner feeds his/her pigs garbage containing  partially cooked / raw meat that may be infected with trichinosis  , or the dog hapens to find and then eat a dead pig or another animal with trichinosis,  then all bets are off.  As for cooking bones and becoming brittle then splintering when a dog ingests it.  While cooking bones may splinter  is true, in the real world of dogs eating those bones, being stuck in the mouth ,esophagus, stomack , or intestines is prety rare. My family, friends and  I have  fed raw and cooked bones to our dogs  for well over a half centurey and never had an issue.


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## Latestarter

Concur with what Bossroo posted... Trichinosis has pretty much been eradicated in most commercial pork over the years through better laws and awareness. The trich worm actually curls up in the center of a large muscle masses, and if there, you most likely would have seen/found it when butchering the carcass. I wouldn't give the thin bones to the dogs, but large joint bones and thick bones like shin and leg, oh yeah! I've been giving them to my dogs as long as I've had them (dogs and bones). Even bones and such from store bought hams after cooking them. Have never had an issue or problem. 

Go with what your gut tells you is right!


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## Baymule

@Devonviolet your meat looks so wonderful! I am so proud of ya'll! On the bone issue, I have fed bones to my dogs and suffered no ill effects. I am keeping the pigs feet for the dogs. On the Trichinosis issue, I have seen Trich in wild hog meat. I carefully cut up the meat for sausage into small pieces so I could toss out the encapsulated Trich worm just like @Latestarter described. Our meat more than likely does not have Trich, the ground was "clean" having not had pigs on it before and the chance of wandering wild hogs contaminating the ground are pretty slim to none. That 1,000 acre high wire fenced ranch behind us quite effectively cuts off wandering feral hogs.

@norseofcourse I would highly recommend that you raise a couple of hogs. I have raised a pig or two but it was many years ago, so this was almost a brand new experience for me. I will definitely do this again. I have in my seed bucket, packets of winter squash, pumpkins, and mangel beets. Wish me luck in growing a crop this year for the pigs this fall.

These pigs were fed a commercial pelleted feed. We got lucky and were given 500 pounds of crimped corn with wevils in it. That helped a lot on the feed bill. My husband and I raked up pecans from the city park and picked up acorns here on our place. Devonviolet's husband raked up acorns from their place and brought them to us. So on a daily basis, the pigs got a coffee can of either acorns or pecans for their treat. I hope to grow food for the pigs this fall, but realize that I will still have to feed a pelleted ration to balance out their nutrients.

Our pig, Sausage, weighed in at 204 pounds. Devonviolet's pig, Bacon weighed in at 224 pounds and our neighbor's pig, Pork Chop, weighed in at 289 pounds, all live weight. Bacon and Sausage were guilts and Pork Chop was a barrow. Pork Chop was small and scrawny while the two guilts were strapping big and healthy. Pork Chop stayed smaller, but then hit a growth spurt and got huge. Lesson learned; buy barrows from now on!


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## Devonviolet

OKAY! Y'all have won us over!   We decided to give our hard working dogs pork bones.  

However, we decided to freeze them for several days first. I think I read somewhere, that freezing them kills off most parasites. They won't know why, but I'm sure our sweeties will be happy y'all chimed in on the discussion.


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## OneFineAcre

Devonviolet said:


> Before we wrapped it, for the freezer, I thought I should take a photo, to show how nice & meaty our bacon is. We ended up with seven 1/2 pound packages.
> 
> View attachment 15925
> View attachment 15926
> I love bacon so much, but can't eat commercially cured bacon, since I am very sensitive to nitrates [they give me nasty migraines].
> 
> When Baymule said she would raise a pig for us, I wanted to name it Bacon, so we could make nitrate free bacon. Then, with all the work learning to butcher the meat, making sausage PLUS learning how to cure meat, it was too much. We decided to forego curing bacon this time & I was feeling bad, that we weren't making bacon. Now we can safely enjoy bacon for breakfast!



We call that "streak of fat, streak of lean".
We usually broil in the oven.


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## Latestarter

So @Devonviolet where are the pics of those beautiful dogs of yours all going wolf on some fresh pig bones? Also, have you had a chance to enjoy some real fresh bacon yet? How did your head fare? No migraine I hope?


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## Devonviolet

Latestarter said:


> So @Devonviolet where are the pics of those beautiful dogs of yours all going wolf on some fresh pig bones? Also, have you had a chance to enjoy some real fresh bacon yet? How did your head fare? No migraine I hope?


We have the bones in the freezer for a few days, to kill any parasites, that we might not know about. Although we did not find any trich worms. So, now that I know what to look for, I'm not worried.

When we do give the bones to the dogs, I will take some photos. I know they will be ecstatic with them, because we have given them each two beef bones & they LOVE their bones!

We won't be curing our bacon, because of the sodium nitrates. We will use Wright's Liquid Smoke, like I did with the trial batch. All it is is smoke residue & water. And, no migraines. So, it is safe for me.


----------



## Devonviolet

Latestarter said:


> So @Devonviolet where are the pics of those beautiful dogs of yours all going wolf on some fresh pig bones? Also, have you had a chance to enjoy some real fresh bacon yet? How did your head fare? No migraine I hope?


Well, we finally gave the dogs two pork bones.



 

They got all excited, because they could smell it. This is Deo trying to get his bone.


 

Here he is checking it out once he got off by himself with it.


 

Here is Violet with her bone. When she got it in her mouth, she started moving it around the pen, but didn't really chew on it. She was looking around, to make sure no one took it from her. But, she was fairly calm.




After Deo chewed on his for a few minutes he started acting food agressive with it. The goats were 10 feet away, but he was barking/growling & started running at them. I called him & told him "NO" & he turned around & went back to his bone. A few minutes later he seemed to be looking at nothing (nowhere near where the goats were) & started barking again. 

He tends to be food aggressive (barking/growling in the direction of the goats) when eating, so we put both dogs in the kennel & keep the goats away from the kennel. Deo is _never_ food aggressive with Violet. If he was, we would separate them at mealtime.

Deo started chasing the goats again, so we put him & his bone in the kennel, so he wouldn't feel like someone was going to take it away from him.

Violet was fine, so we left her out while we got the chickens to bed.

By the time we came back, we decided it would be a good idea to take both bones away until tomorrow.

Before letting Deo out, we tried to get Violet's bone. While she wasn't aggressive about it, she didn't want to drop it. We were concerned she might snap & accidentally bite one of us if we tried to take it out of her mouth.  So, I gently put her on her back in submissive position, speaking gently, so she would know I wasn't upset with her.  At first she wouldn't let go. But, then she dropped it. "Good Girl!"

Deo dropped his as DH was letting him out of the kennel. So, DH snatched it up & put it in the bucket we brought for the dirty bones. 

We brought them in the house, cleaned them up & they are in the fridge for the night. The plan is to give it another try tomorrow morning.

We have given them two beef bones before, and never had this issue. 

Did we handle it right? Should we have done it differently? Should we try another approach in the morning?


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## Latestarter

IMHO The only thing I would do a bit differently is make them lay down and remain CALM before giving them the bones. Until they are calm, no bone. I would also make sure they take it gently, don't allow them to snap at it to get it. When they get all excited is when the food aggression thing can flare. If they remain calm, hopefully it will keep that in check as well. VERY good what you did with Violet to let her know that the bone is ultimately yours to give or take away. Glad they liked them, and thanks for sharing!


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## Baymule

I think you did the right thing. Fresh bones are exciting to dogs and taking them away for the night was a wise move. Little by little, they will get the hang of it. Maybe you can get more bones for them from a local slaughter house? If they get bones often, maybe they won't be so aggressive.

I have to brag on Trip, I fed him this evening without putting the sheep in the night pen. They practically climbed in my lap to see what I had in that red coffee can. I dumped a can of dog food in Trip's pan, then dry kibble. The sheep stuck their nosed in everything while Trip waited patiently. I set his pan down and he started eating and the sheep still stuck their noses in his pan. He did...........nothing!


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## frustratedearthmother

More kudos to Trip!


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## Devonviolet

Thanks. We were planning to do some training, with the bones today. But, it was a busy day & they didn't get their bones. We are planning it after morning chores.

That's awesome, About how trip let the sheep be around his food! Trip did an amazing job!


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## sadieml

Trip is incredible with his sheep.  No food aggression at all?  Wow!  Very nice.  

I haven't checked-out this thread since Dec, so I came back to it today and caught up.  Man those pigs looked great, but not as great as all that lovely PORK.  That lovely, lean bacon makes my mouth water and I am checking out a spot in my woods that would be perfect for a pig or 2.  Now if I can convince DH I haven't completely lost my mind, then come the fall, I think I'll grow out a couple of pigs.  I think I like the idea of doing it over the winter like @heckerdy did, to decrease the smell and flies.  I do love pork, so we may need 2 just for us if we want it to last most of a year.  We intend to raise Cornish X for meat starting this summer, so that'll make 2 of our meats home-grown.  We still have some venison, actually about 3/4 of the doe we butchered last fall, still 50lbs or better in the freezer.  I think I'll call around for butchers for the pigs before we get any.  I know a guy who raises pigs in a co-op with 2 or 3 others, so I'll ask them about price, 'cause I don't know if I want to butcher pigs.  That's hard work.  We did that deer ourselves, and it took 8 or 10 hours.  Maybe with a good book like @Devonviolet suggested, my son and I could manage, we did that doe with just a website and a few pics. We'll see.  It's a long way off anyway.  

Anyway, back to this thread, @Baymule and @Devonviolet - you are inspiring!  This thread is gonna lead to the happy, yummy end of many a pig's life, I have no doubt!  Thanks for the walk-through.


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## Baymule

@sadieml I am planting pumpkins and winter squash for this coming fall's pigs. I got some pumpkins from my DD, she bought them before Halloween, kept them for Thanksgiving, then I got them. I left one until February just to see if it would still be good. I think it was probably fermenting a little, don't think it would have made a pie for human consumption, but the pigs tore into it! If you are going to get a couple of pigs, you might want to plant some treats for them.


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## Devonviolet

We have had several meals, of our pork, and they have all been yummy.

Tonight however, it was divine! So I had to tell y'all about it.

We thawed out a rack of Spare Ribs, marinated them in a Vinegar Brine Marinade & grilled them.  I didn't get any photos, but I wrote down my recipe, which I adapted from one I found online.
÷÷÷÷÷÷÷
*Vinegar Brined Spare Ribs*
_Ingredients_:
1 cup apple cider vinegar
4 cups filtered water
2 Tablespoons Himalayan salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp No Salt All Purpose Seasoning
2 Bay Leaves

_Directions_:
Mix above ingredients
Pour in a zip-lock bag with Ribs
Squeeze air out of bag & zip closed
Marinade 4-6 hours or over night
Remove ribs from marinade

_To Grill:_
Pre-heat grill on high
Turn flame to lowest setting
Grill over low flame until puddles of liquid, on top of the ribs, is bubbling

Turn & grill on other side for no more than 5 minutes

We prefer ribs without sauce.
Brush ribs with favorite sauce.
÷÷÷÷÷÷÷
We liked the ribs so well, we saved the marinade & got a package of "Country Style Ribs" out of the freezer. The ribs are thawing in the marinade, in the refrigerator. So we can grill them tomorrow, YUM!


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## Latestarter

Oh mannnnn


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## Ferguson K

That sounds good!


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## frustratedearthmother

Sounds delish!


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## Mike CHS

I have brined poultry for years but for some reaon never thought about doing it with pork.  I'll have to give your recipe a try.


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## Mini Horses

Ribs sound good.  My little piggies going to camp soon

Baymule....you can strip some of the leaves from tops & feed, plant will still grow and regen leaves.  More feedings.   I got a lot of turnips given me for pulling this winter & used them, only pulling as I needed.  Chickens loved them, too.   Get a machete and quickly slice them a couple whacks as they eat them better.  Quick to do.   Those Mangels get huge, I'm told and I have some seeds for just same thing to plant.   Goats will eat the pumpkins & such, as well. 

Fruit -- my pigs have a real sweet tooth!   It's like a suction hose, speed and sound     And they do like fermented anything and also, sour milk.


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## Baymule

We picked up our pig today!  Live weight was 204 pounds, hanging weight was 159 pounds. We had the bacon and hams smoked. They cut the hams in half, but they are still big!

We thawed out a package of bacon and had breakfast for supper.   My husband said it is the best bacon he ever had. I asked him if he still thought his wife was crazy for wanting to raise pigs!


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## frustratedearthmother

That's some mighty good looking pork you got there!


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## Mike CHS

That is some meaty bacon.  The only thing missing is the gravy.


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## sadieml

I love some red-eye gravy on grits next to a plate like that!  Yum, yum!

Edit to add:


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## CntryBoy777

So, Bay how often do you anticipate having to do this for your pork?....or are ya Raising them now?


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## Baymule

CntryBoy777 said:


> So, Bay how often do you anticipate having to do this for your pork?....or are ya Raising them now?


I got pigs last year and raised them over the winter. We took them to slaughter in March 2016. We still have pork in the freezer, it's just me and my husband. Plus we buy beef on sale, we got deer meat in the freezer and we kept half of a lamb we took to slaughter-we sold 2 1/2 of them. So it looks like we need to raise pigs every other year. I will definitely raise them over the winter again, so will be getting pigs again this coming fall.


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## CntryBoy777

Did your garden turn out as you'd Planned?....it seems that ya sure got a Hamdle on it for Sure!!


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## Baymule

It was better this summer than it was last summer. The first year was a total bust, second year, much better. Looking forward to the third year! It takes time to build good soil, the longer I garden, the better it will be.


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## CntryBoy777

Especially with Sandy soil....dealt with it in Florida....we used shredded news paper and pine bark to mix with for moisture holding....it certainly is a process!!....btw...what do ya think about Durocs...at least I think that is what it was...well, it is a pig...


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## Baymule

I don't know a lot about the different breeds. I know Durocs are good meat hogs, if you have one or getting one, I think you will be happy with it. I like the heritage hogs, they seem to have better tasting meat. If you get a pig, get two, one gets lonely and will go looking for a friend.


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## NH homesteader

Oh I can tell you about the breeds.  So my pigs are half Duroc. Love them.  And they're delicious.  Don't know about purebred Durocs.


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## CntryBoy777

Oh yeh...for sure....was just looking at what's available in the area....and if I get any....I'm Blaming it on You


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## Baymule




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## NH homesteader

I love raising pigs! We have three at the moment. One is a giant pain and feels the need to push me towards the feed dish.  He's very gentle about it but not very patient, lol


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## CntryBoy777

Well, one thing is for Sure....gonna get the 'SetUp' done 1st...I've already Learned that lesson....


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## NH homesteader

Yeah it doesn't work well with pigs to not have a good setup going in. I hear about people who have pigs escaping all the time...  Ours never have, except once a piglet got out and into another fence but that was our fault.


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## Baymule

Definitely get the pen and shelter built before you get pigs. You don't want to see the money you just spent on a pig to escape and run off.


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## Mini Horses

Often they don't leave, they just root up everything along their path!    Mine were fine until I moved them to another area of the farm.   I thought it was bigger & better, they didn't want to leave their original pen, apparently.   Yeah, been there since only a couple months old BUT, they needed more room to raise the babies that will be arriving in the next 10-14 days.   

They found 2 places they were able to push out and came back up where they had been....rascals!!   They walk right back with me & into their new area.   Always come when I call them.  Rosie & Tiny are quite docile but, 200 # of determination is a real challenge for some things.   VERY smart animals.   Actually very clean, not what some consider of a pig.   Boy can they dig.


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