a probably 3 month old pig walked into my yard..now what?

[Latestarter]

I've eaten a lot of pig over the years, and wild boar is always gamier than sow, so my guess is the same would hold true with farm pig. I've never raised my own (yet, but hope to) and IMHO a castrated male of any species is always better tasting than not castrated... Now if I could just test that hypothesis with a few mule deer and elk... Hmmmmm

 

[heckerdy]

you guys it is all over the internet so you know it is all true right ? LOL kidding ..but really there are a lot of very interesting articles I am not sure of the posting rules here yet but I am happy to post links for some good ones about castration but I have not visited all of this board and think it has probably been discussed ..it is not a bad thing to leave a lone mail intact I guess the meat should be fine if I butcher by 10 months and even at that I read several articles about even leaving them with females and intact ..that is just so crazy sounding to me since I have always had neutered dogs and am fine with it ..but if I do not have to do it for a little guy I am gong to raise to about 200-300lbs? I am going to just leave him be there are no other pigs around here at all and he is not going to be very confined at all it seems that with fresh air and sunshine he should be fine and not have tainted meat when we butcher

the other thing is the eggs he LOVES eggs but I am not sure if I can give him too many eggs? I am so confused I feed him a smallish pile of food three times a day including garden pullings right now and a scoop of animal chow

 

[babsbag]

I don't think you can give him too many eggs. The trough I used to fed in was about 18" x 36" and 6" deep. I filled that 2x a day for 2 pigs and I am sure they would have eaten more. If you can find a grocery store that will give you produce go for it. I raise goats too so they had a lot of milk. I used a hog grower feed from a local mill. Lots of garden and orchard scraps plus all the feed from the school, they are eating machines.

As far as castrating...I would do it. Would it be worth raising him with all of this time and money invested only to find out that the meat is yucky? I know a person that raised one intact and the meat was only good for highly seasoned sausage. I wouldn't take the chance. Mine were done before 7 weeks. They also had tusks "clipped".

 

[Ferguson K]

The only time I would recommend not castrating a pig is when you're planning on breeding them. They put nasty pheremones I'm the meat. Even wild boars... Fwew! If he's not around females, and there's no wild females to entice him, he will probably be okay.

The longer you wait the more likely you are to catch infection. Then you have to treat infection and use antibiotics. All antibiotics have withdrawal times. Avoidance is key.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I read your first post and I am scratching my head in severe confusion and irony. About 5 days before you posted this, my husband and I came across a young female pig someone had hit...in the middle of nowhere on back road. (It wasn't a wild hog, it was domestic). About 3 days before this, in a separate part of the state, my family came across a young pig running in circles and in/out of traffic like mad....my step-father tried to call it to him and it stopped, looked at him, then went running into the woods. Very crazy!


Best of luck with the little piggy!

 

[jhm47]

Be sure to castrate him. Boar meat is HORRIBLE!!!

 

[heckerdy]

I read your first post and I am scratching my head in severe confusion and irony. About 5 days before you posted this, my husband and I came across a young female pig someone had hit...in the middle of nowhere on back road. (It wasn't a wild hog, it was domestic). About 3 days before this, in a separate part of the state, my family came across a young pig running in circles and in/out of traffic like mad....my step-father tried to call it to him and it stopped, looked at him, then went running into the woods. Very crazy!


Best of luck with the little piggy!

Thank you so much! it is crazy huh? how does this happen ? We (husband and I ) were comparing photos to her pig (my friend who had one walk in her yard six years ago at the same time of year) and Bacon and wow they are the same breed same age and both boys …just a strange thing to happen and really there are no pigs around here anywhere! little scoundrels for sure


Jhm47 please elaborate because what you are saying is truly not what I am hearing from folks here I would like to know if you boar tainted meat or just do no like the taste of boar?

now "gamey" is a tough one because people have described a lot of meat I adore as "gamey" I love mutton and venison that has not been hung I like the taste of wild meat and aged meat so that kind of "gamey " would be a bonus for me ..taint would not

I want to read as much as possible and not make a mistake so I need more than just "it is horrible " I know if boar meat it "tainted" it is horrible but not all boar meat is tainted that is a fact i know it is not just a thing that they taste bad it is more to do with hormones and living conditions is what everyone including my vet told me and she contacted a local vet who specializes in pigs for me.

as far as castrating goes the argument against it is growing

the debate is fierce and I am having difficulty finding folks who do it LOL! I am talking to folks and reading some compelling info ..no one is pulling my leg and I was a totally "going to get those off " kind of woman ..I neuter everything LOL I have never even had a dog that has not been neutered..the only thing that escape me neutering are my husband and poultry LOL But I promise I keep getting the "don't do it have you ever tried boar bacon???" they are not castrating as much in this area and boar meat is very "on trend" and people are selling boar meat putting it on menus and really disproving the whole boar taint thing.

most of the discussions I am getting from locals here about boar taint are based on first hand info of farmers doing it "this way now"..and "we just were going on what we were taught but decided not to do it and are glad now" discussions the taste of the meat how healthy the pigs are and what they are doing differently from their predecessors this one kid is young and he has after several boars on the table convinced his dad he no longer needs to do it his dad was of the castrate it side of the table until eating the meat …and they are just not doing it as much, honestly and some even are leaving the boars around females having realized a lot of the "taint" has had to do with previous methods of keeping pigs IE no fresh air breathing their own poop and the timing of the butchering also they say if you toss them out in the fresh air and let them graze the taint comes out anyway.

there is always controversy huh? I am still in the "discussion phase" but the two farmers I was told to call and ask about it told me they were no longer doing it on their own pigs as well. there are some really good articles online and discussions in person on both sides but lately the trend is leaning towards leaving them alone


times change info changes and what worked before can be different today and what worked yesterday will come back tomorrow ..I am still vacillating and for sure I am gong to actually taste some boar meat shortly and see how it compares ..the kid swears once "you taste really nice boar you never go back to castration" he raises boars intentionally now for the bacon mainly he says it is off the charts good … and he is third generation in pigs …(I wish he lived closer he was so generous with info and invited us over I would tap his brain more but he offered to keep in touch online so that is cool nice kid and the feed store folks said he was "the go to guy , brilliant and legit" )

I did an inspection on him the best I could .. he is a very healthy looking guy (but I am comparing him to a dog or what I know should be healthy skin eyes hydration ..lol I am a people nurse so I triaged him up close finally now that he is warm and well fed he is more amiable that is for sure) I do not see any testicles at all on him and he has no teeth but can chew things because I thought he did have teeth the way he is eating pumpkin and harder things (and snapping!) ..he also smells fine now …I love that he goes right to a cardboard box with some pine shaving in it and tries to poop in it ! how cute is that? but he walks far from his bed to poop and then poops right next to the box so he gets the idea I just used a scooper to put it in the box and then I can take the box to the compost heap when he gets it …hopefully it will become a habit but it gave me an idea how far he looks to "go" from his bedding …I had not clue but obviously just from this guys behavior he wants to be clean just a few days of clean straw and a blanket and he is so much better looking ..there are no fleas or lice i can see and I looked close so I am going to not treat him (I worry about treating fleas and lice with my beehives ) he is getting used to us but still quite feral. We are finishing the pen this week we have a star plate geodesic dome (we were going to put a cedar hot tub in but now it is turning into a pig dome for him LOL it is ok we could not do this for another year anyway) ..wood and electric fencing we needed badly anyway so no matter what that will be repurposed elsewhere ..we have invested about $200 total but nothing we can not use a anyway for the yard and animals we have …so far Bacon is still a "free pig" to us and he is eating everything I put in front of him and his stools are normal ..(see nurses we want to know what goes in and what comes out LOLOL) so even though I know nothing about pigs I do know dogs and people and could tell you if they were healthy so hoping I am correct in the same assessment of Bacon

thanks so much for the input this is so valuable and very much appreciated

should I move this discussion you think is this ok?

 

[Ferguson K]

If he's around three months and you see no testicles he's neutered. By three weeks you typically know they are there. At three months they're quite obvious. You can't miss them. He might be castrated.

I may have missed it, but, is he a potbelly? Or just a pig of some sort?

 

[Latestarter]

I want a little bacon to wander into my yard...

 

[heckerdy]

I am going to post a photo asap and share with you I do not know but I think I see " them" I see he is a boy??? but????

I would sleep better honestly .. If they were already gone!