pig keeping

[Paid 935]

Just got my first pigs, a couple of kune kune cross oxford sandy and black gilts.

Going to have a go at filling the freezer with them in a few months, been meaning to do this for years

but finally started.

 

 

 

 

 

cute little things for freezer fillers, settled in well so far.

 

anyone else here done this before ?

[mattydski 560]

The wife wont let me have pigs.............she gets too attached.....

 

I suppose some people are like that with family though

[outbacktrecker 0]

Hi, have 6 young Kune kune pigs, fantastic little things, tasty too!

 

Good pics, look more Kune kune than O.S and B.

 

They will eat loads of grass, make good mowers, spuds, carrots, apples and barley straw. Put barley straw down for bedding and to eat.

 

Meat darkish and very tasty, bacon from them good as are sausages done as wild boar.

 

If you are slaughtering them yourself go for a shot gun or rifle through the eye to get to brain for a clean kill, skull thick esp in boars!

 

Good luck with them

[Wolly 4]

Abet Them Oinkers hanve Swine Flu

[CI HIR 13]

I`ve been keeping pigs for a couple of years,just for our own use.Much tastier than pork from supermarkets.

[louis123 12]

do you have to have any kind of license to keep a few pigs?

[CI HIR 13]

do you have to have any kind of license to keep a few pigs?

 

You need to register with Trading Standards that you want to keep pigs,they will give you your herd number to go with the holding number of your land.They will send you all the paperwork explaining everything you need to do.Basically you need to fill a movement form(in triplicate) when you sell a pig or take one in to be slaughtered plus another form(you keep a copy,trading standards has one and the slaughterer etc).You need to get eartags with your herd number and individual number on eg your first pig`s eartag will have your herd number on one side and 0001 on the other.You can purchase the eartags with your required numbers and an applicator easily on line.They`re easy to use.

[JoeD 24]

Good luck to you mate, I wan't to do this one day have my own little eco small holding.

 

JoeD

[BlueCoyote 0]

Abet Them Oinkers hanve Swine Flu

lol i was wondering if anyone would bring that up

 

i raised a pig last year. didnt have her butchered though. we needed the money worse than we needed the meat, so i sold her. i plan to get another next january... might get two.. just piss people off.

i decided to let my pig grow into an adult and played with the idea of letting her have a litter, but my husband wouldnt hear of it

 

anyway she was easy to handle. after the first day she was following me around like a puppy and would squeal if she couldnt find me. the biggest problem i had was support from the family. no one would listen to my ideas nor would they help build a proper pig proof pen(try saying that three times fast!) so naturally she got out a lot.... but she always would come when i called her.

honestly the thing i miss the most about the pig was she would eat any and all left over food. never had to waste anything.

Edited May 4, 2009 by BlueCoyote

[Paid 935]

I have an 8 month old kune kune boar now, and have ordered 2 gilts from a fourth coming litter some one has planed.

So once these 2 are off to slaughter, I'll stick with the kune kune pure breeding.

 

 

Here's the boar, he is a bit shy at the moment

 

[bosco 3]

is this breed of pig a minature breed of pig???

[Guest MickyB]

I reared 4 tamworth for the freezer last year, but those kune kune are a good choise for small acreage, and they are natural grazers too, which dont do too much rooting, wheras the tammys will turn a field upside down fairly quickly, excellent for getting the vaggie patch ready though....

Id be very interested to hear from you after butchery, about quality of meat and fat content... even more so with the pure k k.

 

Cheers

 

ATB Micky

[Paid 935]

I'll let you know mate, though it will be a while before I take a pure kk to slaughter.

The 2 cross breeds will be going in about 4 months, if they make a good size, if not, a couple of months later.

[chimp 299]

cost wise is it worth doing , how much did one of them cost and how much bigger will they get?

[Paid 935]

Start up costs are high, arc, electric fence, slap marker, setting up water ect, feed costs are quite high, unless you can

source a lot yourself.

 

Pigs are cheap,mine were £25 each wiener, there about 2 months, keep them to 6 months for pork, older for bacon, about a year any older sausage.

All breeds vary in weights and size ect. So depends what you go for.

 

Dunno what you get back meat wise, but most people say its not greatly coast effective, I'll see soon enough.

 

Its more about knowing where your meat comes from, and stuff, than money saving.

 

But in saying that, I recon you could do it on a budget.

 

You will also get visits from agents like defra, animal health, trading standards ect, so bear all that in mind too.

Edited May 8, 2009 by Paid