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Author Topic: Buying and keeping two weaners  (Read 6805 times)

sabrina

  • Joined Nov 2008
Buying and keeping two weaners
« on: November 08, 2008, 11:21:06 am »
As I have said I plan. to get a couple of weaners next Spring. I was thinking of the Oxford Sandy and Black to start off with and was wondering about the costs of buying and feeding. Injections they need, how often to worm. We have a small paddock next to a large barn which has 5 stables. My plan is to allow them access to one of these so they have somewhere warm and dry to sleep or get out of the sun. Part of this paddock does get muddy which would be easy to keep that way for them as I have water next to the paddock.

Sabrina  :)

Blinkers

  • Joined Jan 2008
  • Carmarthenshire
  • Carmarthenshire/Pembrokeshire border
    • Glyn Elwyn - Faithmead Herd
    • Facebook
Re: Buying and keeping two weaners
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2008, 01:37:26 pm »
Hi Sabrina - Weaners are generally anything around £35 - £65 each 'ish.    Feeding can be expensive, so you need to shop around for the best value nuts/feed you can get, but a bag on average is around about £6.50.   They'll 'finish' on about 2kgs each a day - It's very easy to over feed pigs, so you need to keep a close eye on their weight.    Any spare fruit veg you can get hold of all helps.  Normally the sows are wormed before farrowing and this cover will carry on into the piglets, so you shouldn't need to worry about doing them again.  The set up sounds absolutely fine, but you might need a strand of electric wire about a foot off the ground  around the perimeter of the pen......or they might be under it  ;)
There's lots of folk on here with pigs, so I'm sure you get lots more advice, suggestions and help.     But a WARNING.........pigs are very very addictive  ;) ;D
Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again !!
www.glynelwyn.co.uk

sabrina

  • Joined Nov 2008
Re: Buying and keeping two weaners
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2008, 03:06:30 pm »
Thanks for advice, I worked with a lady who bred Welsh Ponies and she  kept pigs this was many years ago but these were kept in pens that were not even big enough to turn round. Hated to see them like that but I did learn just how friendly they could be and spent many an evening going round speaking to them and giving them a cuddle. Is nuts the only feed or can they have grain like barley and oats. Would they eat soaked sugar beat. we have electric fencing for the ponies so it will be an easy job to do the paddock also. Are they prone to infections. I know they can get sunburnt.  :)

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Buying and keeping two weaners
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2008, 08:37:07 pm »
We do what you're planning to do. We've never had any health problems (touch wood). We keep them for six months then rest the land for six months, so we don't worm. I wish I could get pig food at £6.50 a bag - we were paying £9.35 a bag.  We also feed 6lb per day, which is a bit more than 2kg. I'll reduce it next year and see how we go.

Sabrina, sounds like a good set up.

Hilarysmum

  • Joined Oct 2007
Re: Buying and keeping two weaners
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2008, 09:06:40 am »
I think the 2 kg per day should really depend on the time of year, in summer they can find a lot of food, in autumn they eat the acorns, chestnuts and beech mast, in winter there is very little. In a warm summer they dont need the heating aspect of feed whereas in winter they do.  It must also depend on the protein content etc.  So in short its a bit in the eye of the beholder.  If the pig looks thin increase feed if its fat reduce it. 

I think our pig food works out at about £7.20 per 25 k. sack.  Thats 16% protein, the higher protein stuff i(20%) is more like £9.80 a sack.

garden cottage

  • Joined Sep 2008
  • forest of dean
Re: Buying and keeping two weaners
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2008, 08:39:29 pm »
yipes rosemary thats expensive, were paying £7.60 for allen and page nuts

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Buying and keeping two weaners
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2008, 07:46:29 pm »
WE buy teh Allen and Page Rare and Traditional Weaner / Finisher pellets - are we being done?

Malc

  • Joined Oct 2007
    • The Edge of Nowhere
Re: Buying and keeping two weaners
« Reply #7 on: November 10, 2008, 10:10:59 pm »
£6.50 a bag!!!!!!! I wish! The price here in Orkney has just dropped to £8 for grower feed (25kg bag) and £8.50 for sow rolls. There's a shortage of barley and other straights as well, so mixing our own isn't really a proposition. We're considering buying tonne bags from Aberdeen and, even with the shipping costs (ferry to Orkney, then ferry out to Westray where we live) it should still work out cheaper.

Anyway. . . we feed the regulation 1lb per month of life to the porkers up to a max of 6lb. A 500g ice cream tub (empty of course) is a terrific tool as it holds one-and-a-half pounds of feed.

Don't get too hung up on breed - it's more important to find a seller who is reliable, experienced and willing to offer 'after-sales' advice and help.

And an electric fence is a really good idea, although skittish, nervous young pigs (as they will be when they first arrive) will go straight through it. Make sure there's plenty of feed and nice piles of straw to investigate - they'll soon get the hang of things and so will you!

Have fun.

 

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