The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Bionic on August 03, 2015, 10:55:41 am
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My GOS weaners are now 18 weeks old. I measure them every 2 weeks and they are gaining each time.
Anyone know roughly what they should measure now and at slaughter time?
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That made me look back at old blog posts and I found one for our first ever Tamworths in 2013 at 19 weeks old (http://smallplotbigideas.co.uk/2013/09/13/pig-check-point-19-weeks-old/ (http://smallplotbigideas.co.uk/2013/09/13/pig-check-point-19-weeks-old/)) - apparently I calculated that they were around 40kg at that age if that helps.
As for the slaughter weight that depends on what you want from them and how much feed you're willing to pay for. My plan for this year is to send our 2 off at about 80-90kg but I need to check them tonight as they might have gone a bit over that by now ;D
Either way in the next couple of weeks I'm looking forward to some lovely pork and crackling as well as the usual sausages etc.
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I haven't kept GOS but the OSBs and Large Blacks I sent away at 43"-45" girth and were around 72-75kgs liveweight, 60-63kgs deadweight. Great for pork, you'd want them a bit larger for bacon, really. The OSB was 7 months old, the LBs took a bit longer to get the same girth- but I forgave them when I tasted the meat :yum:
Someone posted once that a porker wanted to be up to your knees - I took him to mean an average man's knees, so a few inches higher up than mine! - and mine were about that.
The last one I had away was a larger, older Saddleback x OSB, for bacon, and I was a bit concerned she may have too much fat depth. So I cut her hard food right down for the last fortnight / three weeks to take some fat off. (She had plenty of grazing and vegetables, so she wasn't starved.) It worked brilliantly, she had just the right amount of fat.
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Thanks both. Mine are 31" and 28" girth at measuring last Friday so they have a fair way to go yet but then I expect to have them for 2 more months.
Surprisingly the one who had the rectal prolapse earlier is doing the best. Mind you she is the most bolshy one and will 'hog' all the food if I let her so I have been putting it into 2 seperate bowls to stop her from pushing the other one away.
They are having a measured amount of nuts and quite a bit of fruit and veg direct from the grocers so I will just keep on with more of the same and continue monitoring their progress.
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The breed and the strain you have will play a big part in how well and how quickly they finish, as will how well their dam milked and what they were fed while they were still with her, when the food conversion rate is at its most efficient. The views of the back end of a pig that are in the starter pack you're sent when you first get your herd no. are a good guide to how they should look.
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Fearings do a weigh tape that helps you calculate actual weight not girth. We tested it against the scales and it was pretty close.
As Marches Farmer says the food conversion rate is best the younger the pigs. I wouldn't recommend SallyintNorth's cut in food at the last minute as it is more likely to cause a lay down of fat - the pig thinks there is a food shortage coming and it should make reserves. Swapping to a lower protein food has the same effect.
You should feel your pigs regularly along the back bone. If they feel well covered but firm you aren't doing bad. If they feel squidgy they are putting on fat. Better to not let them get too fat to start with. Tamworths and Large Blacks can look lean but can still have quite a fat layer. I would happily take my Lops to a £100 kilo live weight and have little fat. GOS I would not take to that weight.
With modern dry cures for bacon some fat is necessary but you don't need as much as a traditional bacon pig would have had. They would have been well over the £100 kilo mark.
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I wouldn't recommend SallyintNorth's cut in food at the last minute as it is more likely to cause a lay down of fat - the pig thinks there is a food shortage coming and it should make reserves. Swapping to a lower protein food has the same effect.
Aye, that's why I said they got plenty veg - you don't want them to think they're being starved, just cut down the high-octane food. (Not that I ever feed traditional pigs a high protein feed. They get sow rolls from 4 months on, and not the top-spec feed from 8-16 weeks.)
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I do feel them regularly. They love a cwtch and are happy to be touched. They feel covered and firm :thumbsup:
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All my GOS get 16% sow & weaner nuts all the time.
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Hello there....
We've just taken off our three GOSs.... all 25 weeks old, one smaller than the others...
We've always been a bit lazy and never measured them to assess weight, so over last three years have always taken them off at 23/24 weeks. We've always had dead weight of 70-75kg (save for this year's obviously littler one at 62kg). Just got the booty back on Friday - and now having, as ever, 'the best pork ever'.
The day of dispatch seemed particularly challenging this year (piggies did NOT want to unload) so we went home feeling that misery that I suspect is the smallholder's lot - all that love and care seeming to go a bit wrong at the very end....) BUT, then I revisit TAS threads about that sad bit, and all the responses about what good lives we all try to give our precious animals, and if we want to eat meat etc....
Ok, I've gone off on one, sorry. Am sure your GOSs will be FAB!
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I know you didn't starve them SallyintNorth and you were happy with your finished pig but having seen many growing and finished pigs I wouldn't recommend a cut of hard food at the last minute.
I also know a lot of people who feed traditional breeds sow nuts because they think finisher rations are too high in protein for traditional pigs but actually that isn't true. You will get a better carcase with finisher but people are also put off by the cost so they feed cheaper and feed for longer to get to the same weight so it is false economy.
Obviously commercial units want fast growing pigs, ready to kill as soon as possible whereas most smallholders are looking for taste, which takes time.
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Not sure about that one. We used to be a finishing unit for the Traditional Breeds Meat Marketing Scheme, set up by the Rare Breeds Survival Trus,t and the butcher in Ledbury who took all our pigs used to refer new pig keepers to us for advice on what to feed to get the finest quality pork possible.
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I've always used sow and weaner nuts until the end. I didn't know there was such a thing as finisher nuts.
Should I be feeding them and if so when?
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You rarely hear anyone say their home bred pork didn't taste good and people will finish their own way. I know different butchers who like different amounts of fat for example, they know what sells in their shops.
My friend also finished for the TBMMS. Later he finished pigs for several different butchers and spent a lot of time looking at finished carcase quality, feeding regimes, talking to feed companies and looking at profit margins. He finished mostly traditional breeds.
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Let's face it. most people on here are finishing a couple of porkers for their own consumption and carcass quality isn't critical. nor is the size and/or weight of the finished pig. If however you are in the business of producing a decent carcass then adjusting feed a couple of weeks before slaughter isn't going to work. If you need to do that you've been getting it wrong for a long time. Pigs need to be monitored over their whole post weaning life and fed according to their condition. It's not rocket science. I was having a conversation with the owner of the abattoir that we use a couple of weeks ago. He was complimentary about our Saddlebacks and we discussed the weird and wonderful array of pigs that he deals with every week. One thing we agreed upon was this, a fat pig isn't fat because of it's breed, it's fat because it's been fed too much.
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I agree with you hughsey that you shouldn't be needing to make changes in the last couple of weeks. It might not be rocket science but when you see lots of finished pigs hanging at the abattoir clearly we all follow different sciences!
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I wasn't recommending reducing rations for the last fortnight for porkers - although some do. This was an older girl. I was complimented on the quality and conformation, and lack of fat, and the bacon was superb.
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I agree with you hughsey that you shouldn't be needing to make changes in the last couple of weeks. It might not be rocket science but when you see lots of finished pigs hanging at the abattoir clearly we all follow different sciences!
That is true indeed.
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I have no objection to fat on pigs, I use the lard all year round for baking, pastry making and roasting. My pigs are fed on sow rolls, fruit and veg (especially apples) and what they can forage around the fields. I render the lard, but not too much, and store it in large jars.