Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Pigs at Coal Creek Farm

We have four pigs this year. Unless you want to count our dog as a pig, then we have five. We bought them from the same gentleman that we had purchased from last year. He likes to keep his pigs until they are 10-12 weeks old and they weigh 40-50 pounds. We paid $50 per pig. This year we will keep one and breed her because our gentleman farmer is moving to another state. If all goes well we will have little piggies in December.


Pigs are very curious animals, they have to put their mouth on everything in case there is even the slightest chance that something could be edible.


If I prop my foot up on the rails they will come over and give my shoe a taste which is okay now that they are little, but when they get big, OUCH! You don't want the pigs tasting you, it hurts.


Preacher's tail was too much for the girls, they all had to give it a taste. This is why you clip pigs tails when they are born, otherwise they will chew off each others tails, not pretty. The pigs will be bigger than Preacher in a few weeks and I don't think he'll want to try to play with them anymore, because they will CRUSH him.


We used our old trampoline net to shade the pen. A sunburned pig is a miserable pig. Right now it's too cold to make mud for the girls so we put dry hay in their bedding pen and shade them from the morning sun and they keep each other warm and dry.


We bought 900 pounds of feed from a mill. We have had the pigs one week and they have eaten 125 pounds, so that feed won't last long.

This year we plan on purchasing all our feed from the mill in bulk to keep our cost down. We are also going to keep a better record of how much all our farm projects cost in hopes of being able to budget for next year.

Mmmmm, bacon.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is awesome! You are really becoming self-sustaining...way to go. :)

Molly said...

I grew up on a farm and I'd have to say that pigs have the best personalities of all farm animals. I loved it when one pig got excited and started running around and the rest of the pigs would join in. Soon you'd have a pen full of wild running pigs.

Mitzi said...

Hey -
Did you see this on blog about you on Quiet life? You know, Miz Booshay, she guest posts on Pioneer Woman. Anyway, just wanted to make sure you saw it. Cracked me up.
http://booshay.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-showers-i-love-stopping-by-aprils.html

You can thank me later.

April said...

Thanks Mitzi
My friend, Mrs Mama, actually told me about it last night and I was really surprised.

But, then again, I am a pretty famous chicken doctor you know, soooo having other famous bloggers blogging about me is just part of my normal day, ahem.

Jenni said...

Those are somepigs! They are absolutely terrific and radiant. I'm sure Preacher will help keep them humble also.

I never knew why pigs rolled in the mud before. They're so much cuter when they are clean--and little.

Unless you plan to make Preacher into sausage, bacon, and chops, better stick to calling him a dog. Or maybe he can be the kind of pig Babe was. Are you planning to add sheep to Coal Creek Farm?

jean said...

All I heard was blah, blah, BACON! Is there any better word?

Unknown said...

I want a homesteading farm that I can raise my own pigs on! I am so jealous!

Jennifer said...

we raise pigs on the whole homesteading thing, too. something that we do is get the slops and wastes from several local resturaunts. that helps cut down on the feed bill, and the pigs really love it!

Clayvessel said...

$50 each for pigs that size is EXCELLENT.

Are you selling some? Why do you need four? Selling the meat from three would definitely help you break even

April said...

We will keep one to breed and butcher the other three. Yes, we will sell some of the meat and some of it I am bartering with a local veggie farmer for lots of fresh produce.

I think I'll stagger the butchering too. Maybe do two pigs in July and then the last one in September.

We gave a lot of our other two pigs away, but we ran out of bacon and sausage, so I'll make sure I keep more of that on hand this time.

Jen said...

Can you use pig poo in the garden?

April said...

Yes Jenni, you can. Pig's poop is generally wetter than cow or horse poop, so it is harder to handle.

currently The problem Find antique reproductions said...

This is awesome! You are really becoming self-sustaining...way to go. :)