Contemplating pigs
Posted: Saturday 19 September, 2009
We had a visit the other evening from a friend of Dan's, along with two of his neighbours. They live in a small village and are hoping to rent some land and fatten some pigs.
To convince them that it was a good idea, Dan roasted some pork and served warm pork rolls with apple sauce. From the "mmm"s of satisfaction, I guess the project is a goer. Actually, the pork was particularly tasty, I thought, but that was maybe because I'd been working outside and was pretty hungry.
They had lots of questions, but I think we covered everything they need to know, so they are going off to work out their final plan, for implementation next spring. If our experience is anything to go by, they won't regret it.
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Comments
Ann Bishop
Hi Guys
Looking to buy a few pigs for fattening and maybe breeding, never done this before so any info would be gratefully received. Looking to buy some oxford sandy and blacks, does anybody know of any registered ones, i live near peterborough, also i need a pig ark and feeders and waterers, any suggestions???
Dan
Hello Ann, start with our pig guides - follow the Livestock link in the main menu then choose Pigs, you should end up here:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/livestock/pigs/
For breeders in your area join the forum and post in the pigs or the marketplace section:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/
For equipment ask on the forums for recommendations.
Hope this helps, good luck with your pigs!
Ann and Rob
Many thanks Dan for your help
Oliver Cleaver
Drove to Mumbley's Farmhouse north of Bristol this morning and had a lovely tour with Jules Moore. Her 11 Oxford & Sandy Black piglets are frisky and delightful and I paid a deposit for three boar piglets which I'll collect in a month's time when they are around 8 weeks old. The first pigs I have ever owned! My pig ark is being delivered on Thursday and next week, with the help of my expert fence maker Pip, we will fence out 75x35 ft of orchard space for the weaners. I am already looking at rare breed meat prices and working out how to get them processed and butchered. Think it is important to do this in case I get too fond of the little blighters. I have a friendly farm nearby who keep piglets for fattening and they have been encouraging - sure I will lean on their expertise when the project gets going!
Oliver Cleaver, Hembury Hill, East Devon
Chris and Beccy Oliver
We are currently researching, keeping pigs on our land, is there such a thing a ratio for the number pigs in relation to the size of the area they should be kept on? We only want two pigs, but I want them to have plenty of room.
What is best in terms of fencing stock netting? we have chickens so I am a bit worried about using electric fencing.
Thanks
Chris and Beccy
Dan
Chris and Beccy, take a look at the Land and Fencing for Pigs article on the site, then have a search in the forum for further advice. How much space you need depends on several factors, including the type of soil you have - there's no hard and fast ration or rule of thumb.
Bernaden
Are there rules for cleaning up land where pigs have been kept?
We are looking to turn an ex pigsty area into a veg patch.
Thanks
Rosemary
We used pigs to clear an area for a vegetable garden. We found that deep rooted perennial weeds came back ie the pigs hadn't eradicated them and the pigs had created a bit of a "soil pan" that had to be broken up.
We didn't clear any dung, if that's what you mean. That was our fertilizer lol
Comments are now closed for this post.
Amy
Thursday 17 September, 2009 at 11:42pm
mmmm sounds lovely!