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Anyone here ever raised pigs for meat?
Posted on 10/18/24 at 3:22 pm
Posted on 10/18/24 at 3:22 pm
Plenty of topics on raising chickens but has anyone here ever raised pigs for meat?
It’s something I’ve been interested in and would like to hear experiences/tips. Pics of setups? Did you keep everything or sell? Where to sell? How does butchering work?
Am I crazy to want raise 2 or 3 at a time, sell one or two to recoup a little cost and have one butchered for me or to have a whole hog roast party?
It’s something I’ve been interested in and would like to hear experiences/tips. Pics of setups? Did you keep everything or sell? Where to sell? How does butchering work?
Am I crazy to want raise 2 or 3 at a time, sell one or two to recoup a little cost and have one butchered for me or to have a whole hog roast party?
14
Posted on 10/18/24 at 3:31 pm to Randall Savauge
This might be better on the Outdoor Board 
Seems like a lotta trouble since pork is one of the cheaper meats to buy!
Seems like a lotta trouble since pork is one of the cheaper meats to buy!
Posted on 10/18/24 at 3:44 pm to Randall Savauge
I haven't, but do know 2 people who did this for a while. One was an uncle who lived in Ama, La. right on River Rd. and he kept his pigs on the river side of the levee in a pen he built and when they were the size he wanted, he butchered them. He worked at the grain elevators up-river and would use some of what was lost during off-loading and processing to feed his hogs
The other guy was living in lower St. Bernard Parish and he'd regularly dumpster dive outside supermarkets to retrieve any food they tossed and use that to feed his pigs. He too butchered them for fresh pork. He kept them about 200 ft. from his house but the smell was God awful when the wind was blowing toward his house.
The only way I'd have hogs to raise is if I had lots of land to keep them far from the house. Wherever they are kept is going to be a mess.
The other guy was living in lower St. Bernard Parish and he'd regularly dumpster dive outside supermarkets to retrieve any food they tossed and use that to feed his pigs. He too butchered them for fresh pork. He kept them about 200 ft. from his house but the smell was God awful when the wind was blowing toward his house.
The only way I'd have hogs to raise is if I had lots of land to keep them far from the house. Wherever they are kept is going to be a mess.
Posted on 10/18/24 at 3:47 pm to Randall Savauge
There's been times in the past that it cost more to butcher a pig than a farmer could sell it for. I wouldn't expect to make any money at all on 2-3 pigs.
You likely need a large scale operation to make any sort of money.
Beyond that, it was very normal for many years for farmers to have 100-200 acres with chickens, pigs, a couple of cows and various other farm animals. Most of the farms in the USA had this. Pigs aren't that hard to raise, it really depends on how badly you want to do it.
You likely need a large scale operation to make any sort of money.
Beyond that, it was very normal for many years for farmers to have 100-200 acres with chickens, pigs, a couple of cows and various other farm animals. Most of the farms in the USA had this. Pigs aren't that hard to raise, it really depends on how badly you want to do it.
Posted on 10/18/24 at 3:53 pm to gumbo2176
quote:
He kept them about 200 ft. from his house but the smell was God awful
The smell is worse than awful. If you have any neighbors within a mile they may burn your house down
Posted on 10/18/24 at 4:00 pm to weadjust
quote:
The smell is worse than awful. If you have any neighbors within a mile they may burn your house down
You got that right. At one time I was looking at some rural land in southern Miss. to buy and came upon a nice 20 acre piece at a good price and went to check it out. It was nice and hilly in spots but had a good size area for a homesite and decided to come back with the Mrs. a second time to check it out.
The second time we got out the car and was hit with a very disgusting smell and immediately had second thoughts. A little driving around afterwards had us finding a large pig farm operation about 1/2 mile farther down the road. That took away any thoughts of buying that land.
Posted on 10/18/24 at 4:36 pm to Randall Savauge
Grandpa had a hog pen on a small plot of land he leased really cheap on back part of farmland, after dinner we would hop in the truck with him and drive down the dirt road to the pen to dumb the "slop bucket" with at the leftover food. First, glad it wasn't anywhere near the house. Second, think grandpa made a little money, but not sure it was cheaper than buying pork. Sometimes I think the only reason he did it was so grandma could make hogs head cheese.
This post was edited on 10/18/24 at 4:38 pm
Posted on 10/18/24 at 5:22 pm to Randall Savauge
Nope just for milk
Posted on 10/18/24 at 7:22 pm to Randall Savauge
My uncle quit raising pigs 30+ yrs ago because it's cheaper to buy.
I'd raise a cow though.
I'd raise a cow though.
Posted on 10/18/24 at 7:51 pm to Randall Savauge
Had an Uncle that raised hogs. His pens were built with concrete slabs. Easier to wash down and sanitize with bleach water, plus no rooting out. The slabs helped with the smell, but they had tin roofs to keep pens shaded.
Posted on 10/18/24 at 7:59 pm to Randall Savauge
No reason to raise them. Just go to the woods and shoot as many as you want. Landowners will hand you a rifle with free bullets if you go shoot 50 of them running wild on their property. We were trapping them and giving them away to groups that were feeding the poor. They have become a serious problem in the south.
Posted on 10/18/24 at 9:51 pm to Randall Savauge
When I was young, we raised all of our own meat…chickens, ducks, guineas, hogs and cows. Eventually, it got to be cheaper to buy all meat at the grocery store and we stopped.
Posted on 10/19/24 at 7:05 am to Spankum
I grew up on a farm with 50 to 80 sows. We grew out and finished the pigs. Usually had one with a rupture or bad foot,etc. and we ate them.
Posted on 10/19/24 at 7:42 am to Randall Savauge
Nope , but I have shot a few smaller ones while deer hunting .
Posted on 10/19/24 at 10:05 am to Earthquake 88
quote:
No reason to raise them. Just go to the woods and shoot as many as you want.
This, if you have the time and inclination. My brother-in-law and I would sometimes hunt them out in N.O. East where Bayou Savage Wildlife Refuge is before it became a wildlife refuge. Biggest one we took out of there was over 300 lbs.
They are all over the marsh out there and the area I would often go looking for wild blackberries off the Michoud exit has seen them destroy the blackberries when the forage for food.
Posted on 10/19/24 at 10:38 am to gumbo2176
“They were all over the marsh out there”
I wonder how they tasted? I killed and ate quite a few wild hogs but it was only in the fall and winter when they were fat from eating acorns and pecans (and deer corn).They were delicious,much better than pork from the store.Even ate few boars that were very good and lots of people say boars are inedible.
I never wanted to try one I killed in the summer when all they were eating was earthworms,grubs and roots.They might have been ok,it just didn’t sound very appetizing to me.
Reason I ask is because old guy in Eunice I bought beagles from talked about going rabbit hunting in the marsh and how any rabbits they killed .
He said they didn’t taste good to him?
I wonder how they tasted? I killed and ate quite a few wild hogs but it was only in the fall and winter when they were fat from eating acorns and pecans (and deer corn).They were delicious,much better than pork from the store.Even ate few boars that were very good and lots of people say boars are inedible.
I never wanted to try one I killed in the summer when all they were eating was earthworms,grubs and roots.They might have been ok,it just didn’t sound very appetizing to me.
Reason I ask is because old guy in Eunice I bought beagles from talked about going rabbit hunting in the marsh and how any rabbits they killed .
He said they didn’t taste good to him?
Posted on 10/19/24 at 11:12 am to LSUA 75
We'd take the meat and put it in ice chests, pour milk over it and then add bags of ice and let that sit for no less than an entire day, sometimes longer if a large hog and then rinse and wrap it for the freezer.
It tasted fine.
It tasted fine.
Posted on 10/19/24 at 10:05 pm to weadjust
quote:
The smell is worse than awful.
We raised pigs for 4-H for a decade and had anywhere from 3 to 7 at any time in a large pen at the back of 7.5 acres. They had one generous wallow hole, and the rest of their area was dry ground with grass. Never had any bad smell other than when you might step in their shite.
I think the bad smell comes when people put them in a small pen that just becomes mud and shite.
Posted on 10/21/24 at 10:15 am to Randall Savauge
I raise two a year. It takes 20 sacks of 16% protein feed to get a pig from a 30-50 lb piglet to a roughly 300 lb. hog. I like to start in October and end in March/April so I don't have the smell issue in the winter. I feed my pigs straight corn the last two weeks to clean them out. You need to worm them at least once. You need and automatic waterer for sure. They do not need much room. They just need a place to get out of the weather with a wind block. I bring mine to the slaughter house. I get all my bacon and hams smoked there as well.
Posted on 10/21/24 at 11:10 am to Randall Savauge
We did when I was a kid. We only had 5-6 at a time and would butcher a couple per year. Those fresh pork chops and ribs were great as I remember them. Like others have said, build your pig pen as far away from the house as you can. We had a big garden so they ate all the shells from the beans and peas. Plus they will eat anything else you throw in there to them. You'll need some kind of shelter so they can get out of the sun during the summer.
Good luck.
Good luck.
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