Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust

[Baymule]

Those are some meaty looking boars!

Then i wanna get some hereford semen.

The things we have on our wish list.........

Dear Santa,
I've been real good this year. I want 10 straws of Hereford semen. I will leave out the nitrogen tank and a plate of cookies.

 

[NH homesteader]

 

[misfitmorgan]

What ARE you doing back there Mom???

haha she was curious until she got "in the mood" then she didnt care.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Those are some meaty looking boars!

Then i wanna get some hereford semen.

The things we have on our wish list.........

Dear Santa,
I've been real good this year. I want 10 straws of Hereford semen. I will leave out the nitrogen tank and a plate of cookies.

No kidding lol. Interestingly you dont need a nitrogen tank for pigs, we use fresh semen it come in a bottle or pouch and is good for 7 days. Arn't those boars some gorgeous boys!!

The funniest part was hearing my mom on the phone when i told her she was getting a delivery of boar semen by noon tomorrow(saturday) morning. I had to say it 3 times and then she said why????? i said how else am i gonna make the pig pregnant? We usually plan better and get it delivered during the week but i was worried i was gonna miss her heat this month so i hurried up and had it delivered on Saturday and UPS doesnt deliver to my area on Saturdays.

Eva got her second AI dose last night and she took it better then the first so im hoping for a good litter. Lost almost no semen this time, maybe 10 drips.

 

[NH homesteader]

I finally got the pictures to load. Wow show pig muscle! Lol! I forget, what breeds are your girls?

I have told my (non farmer) mother some very strange things... But having pig semen arrive in the mail... That is a whole new level she could not handle!

 

[misfitmorgan]

I finally got the pictures to load. Wow show pig muscle! Lol! I forget, what breeds are your girls?

I have told my (non farmer) mother some very strange things... But having pig semen arrive in the mail... That is a whole new level she could not handle!

Eva is Berk/hamp cross, Sarah is duroc, Red is hereford/berk and Spot is berk/bluebutt. DH wants Landrace pigs and we cant find any anyplace near us except one guy who raises about 300 a year and will only sell you a barrow...all gilts go directly to the slaughter house transported by him, when you order pork by the lb. So i ordered landrace semen for him. Eva and Sarah are not related so i will AI her with landrace as well then we will hold back a a few gilts from each litter and AI them with landrace again which will get us up to 75% landrace and then repeat again and keep a boar and a few gilts and that will give him a high percentage landrace line. In the mean time Eva's next litter after this one will be hereford and Sarah's will be duroc. Sarah's current litter is duroc/berk/hamp and we are holding back the one gilt from her litter to see how she grows out. DH wants to breed Red and Spot back to berk and do a similar process to make a high percentage berk line. Eventually we want to get into registered show pigs but thats a few years down the road.

 

[NH homesteader]

Nice. We are going to breed our gilts to a Berkshire/Duroc. Excited to see what happens there. We aren't in love with the Landrace pigs, they're more of a bacon type right? Love Berks though.

Hey random question, do you up protein over the winter? Or just feed more? I've only had feeder pigs in the warm months! Have 3 little ones now, one of which was a runt so I want to make sure they stay warm!

 

[misfitmorgan]

Nice. We are going to breed our gilts to a Berkshire/Duroc. Excited to see what happens there. We aren't in love with the Landrace pigs, they're more of a bacon type right? Love Berks though.

Hey random question, do you up protein over the winter? Or just feed more? I've only had feeder pigs in the warm months! Have 3 little ones now, one of which was a runt so I want to make sure they stay warm!

i'm not in love with landrace but they grow fast, have large litters, sows/gilts usually have an extra set of functioning teats, they have an extra set of ribs so you get more ribs, more bacon per pig and a larger longer loin. Landrace is "the" commercial pig, when you buy pork in the store 99% of the time it is from a landrace pig. I will point out the flavor of store pork is in how they are raised and fed and not something bred into them per say. A landrace pasture raised and fed good food will taste as good as most any other pastured pig.

We do not. We feed the same base feed year round. Our barn always stay roughly 15-20 degrees warmer then outside. We feed a base measurement of 5lb per pig if a pig is looking to thin we up it to 6lbs and then to 7lbs if needed generally un-bred and not in lactation our sows only require 5lbs/day. We do feed other things as we have them though house scraps, goat milk, bread, eggs, powdered milk, old canned goods, old beans. We also grow squashes or pumpkins for the livestock that we feed them during winter/fall so they can have something fresh and the seeds supposedly help with parasites. In the dead of winter i i usually sprout some oats for all the livestock so they can have something fresh and green

 

[misfitmorgan]

Vet called earlier today and told me to go ahead and dose the herd with ivermectin but they didnt see any serious parasite loads. I bought up lack of cobalt with her which is when she said to dose with ivermectin cause she said if they are lacking and looking poorly a parasite bloom could easily take them out, she also agreed if i can get cobalt bolus to give it a try and it shouldn't hurt them since it is slow release for 3yrs and to give another copper bolus to everyone since it has been 6 months since the last.

 

[NH homesteader]

Landrace have an extra set of ribs? Weird, I had never heard that. They use Yorkshires commercially too right?

My pigs are the least bothered by the snow of all my animals. They've been out rooting all day. I think with 3 of them they should stay warm. They're like little heaters!