From time to time, special guest authors will contribute articles to Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
Today's guest is my New Mexico friend Barb. Barb is raising a couple of pigs this year and has agreed to share her experiences with us.
Living with Pigs!
Yes we live with pigs, not the human kind!
This is our first attempt in raising pigs. We have bought 2 pigs, one female and one
male.
We bought them on May 5th
and they were 40 days old. The male was
castrated about 4 days before that. I
won’t go into how they castrate them but I know why he is more frightened of
humans than the female and I can’t really blame him.
However we brought them home on a Monday night in a dog
crate in the back of the car. I would not suggest that but our truck is broken
down and we had to have the windows down all the way home.
We had the stall in the barn all ready for them before we
went for them. When I went to take them out of the dog crate I got the scare of
my life the male actually tried to bite me and growled so I left them for a
while to let them get used to their new surroundings. They did not come out of the crate so I had
to tip it up for them to come out. Of
course they ran into the corner where I had the heat lamp set up. We had
shavings and everything for them so they were very cozy.
I made them some mash that consists of hog feed and water
since they are so young. My husband made
a 55 gallon barrel with water in it with a metal nipple on it for them to drink
from as hogs will knock over their water all the time. Presently they have both a water bucket and
the barrel to drink from as they as still too little to knock over their water.
They next day I stayed in the stall most of the day with
them just doing things and having them get used to me. Little by little they have come around. I can now pet them and feed them food from my
hands and they climb on me.
They are now 46 days old and can go out in their outside pen
also, we made the pen with cattle panels and buried them 6 inches in the ground
as hogs like to borrow underneath so hopefully that will keep them.
I have made a mud hole for them and put
sunscreen on them in the morning so they don’t get sunburned. They can be outside or in their stall out of
the sun.
They have grown so much in the 1st 6 days we have
had them I am told they grown 1.5 pounds a day.
The one thing I have found interesting about them is when they sleep
they really sleep. I went in one morning
and they were sound asleep and I petted them and they didn’t move but they were
breathing. I was very worried that
something was wrong with them but they were fine.
It will be hard for me when the time comes for them to go to
slaughter but I know that is why we got them and just to know that they will
have a wonderful life while they are with us.
I will update next month on their progress.
