[charente]

Good afternoon to all you piggy people.

My wife and I have been living on our 5 acres smallholding for just over a year with our two kids, now 1 and 2. We already have 8 Sussex hens and a Sussex cock which roam freely around our land and now we are looking at getting some pigs to cultivate the land and then eat. The meat would be mostly for our family and a few mates. We already have proper pig housing. I have a couple of queries. What is the most economical type of pig fencing, some of which will needed to be moved once an area has been cultivated?

Also what breed of pig doesn't mind hot summers, good with kids(not eating or attacking them) and are tasty and how many should we start off with?

Thank you in advanced to new found piggy chums

[HappyHippy]

Hello,
I had 2 weaners last year, a saddleback x and a tamworth x, my kids were 2 and 4 when we got them and were absolutely fine with them. We slaughtered them at 9 months old (more to do with timing for xmas than anything else) and got loads of meat off them - we gave loads away to friends and family and are still eating our way through what remains in the freezer. I think all rare breeds are  tastier and when you raise them yourself you know what they're getting so the meat ALWAYS tastes better.
We tried electric fencing which ran off a battery pack and it was okay up until they were around 7 months, they discovered they could get through and that was it - we couldn't keep them in ! I think that harris fencing (building site stuff) cut in half and bolted together with a run of barbed wire round the bottom would be better and moveable too.
As for hot summers, as long as you've got some form of shade and a good big wallow for them they should be fine - but perhaps dark skinned breeds would do better in avoiding sunburn ?
I'm not by any means an expert, but there are plenty more folks on here that are and you'll get plenty of advice and support.
Good luck,
Karen 

[Rosemary]

I'd agree with HappyHippy about breeds - we all have our favourites. We've always had Tamworths and they have been brilliant but others speak equally highly of their favourite. I think that any rare breed or cross (or probably any pig) reared naturally will produce vastly superior meat to an intensively reared animal. Tamworths do have the advantage of not suffering from sunburn and they are superb ground clearers.

Any we've had have been very good natured - I suspect that's to do with the rearing too, in part. Although many years ago, I worked on a commercial pig farm and the pigs there were people friendly too. I think most pigs must be, by nature.

You can't have fewer than two, becasue they need company. We eat a pig a year and there are two and a half of us, with guests, but this year we're making more of our pig into bacon and sausages, so I don't know if that will change things.

We have post and rails which work well but obviously aren't moveable. Next year we're going to put a single line of barb round the bottom rail to stoip them undermining the fence (which they did spectacularly this year).

[garden cottage]

we have sheep netting with electric tape fixed to the upright posts, on insulators, put tape about 9 inches off the ground they will respect the fence once theyve had a few twangs on it,the tape we use is about 1/2 inch wide bit more visible than wire has been a great success so far and will save your main fence as they wont push against it or dig under. good luck neil

[rorsa]

I started in exactly the same way as you are. I got 3 weaners (having been told that you lose money with one pig, break even with two and make a small profit with three). The plan was to kill 2 of the pigs at 6 months for pork and keep the 3rd for breeding. All has gone like clockwork. We killed the first 2 a couple of months ago. We now have 7 pigs, 5 which are for eating and 2 breeding sows. We have already been through nearly all the rare breeds (1 Tamworth, 3 saddlebacks, 2 old spots, 1 Large black and 2 berkshires). We have found them all to have lovely characters although the old spots and the tamworths seem to be the cheekiest.

So far as fencing is concerned we have relied entirely on electric fencing and had no problems at all with it. When first introduced to the electric fence it is important that the battery is fully charged so that they get a really good shock off it to start with. Once trained to it we have left the power off for a week at a time with no problem at all as they wont touch it.

[Malc]

A good quality electric fence system within a field with properly constructed pig netting and barbed wire will keep the pigs in. Two strands of galvanised wire with wooden posts at the corners and plastic posts at two or three metres seems fine for all our Saddlebacks (famous last words). We now have to coax them to cross 'the line' when we take it down. Young pigs will panic a bit the first time they meet an electric fence, but don't panic, round them up and put them back. They should get the idea in a couple of hours.

If in doubt, get someone who knows what they're doing to help and don't skimp - it's worth laying out some cash on good fencing. Pigs will escape through a bodged up fence. Plus, we've found they're less likely to try to get out if they've got plenty of space, so give them as much as you can/dare. And run the electric fence off the mains if you can, but brand new 12v batteries if not (again, don't skimp).

I don't think it matters what breed you go for and crosses can provide better meat. We have Saddlebacks so we like them, but we had a couple of Tamworth crosses who were great and provided two very big carcasses at nine months. In future we'll slaughter at around 7 months as you can spend a lot of money on a lot of fat as they get older.

Hope it goes well. Pigs are terrific animals and I know you'll have fun with them.

[charente]

Good evening
I just read all my replies. Thank you all for this useful info. I will first sought out mains electric fencing ,12-14 volts I presume and the fencing it's attached to before getting our pigs, Tamworths we think.
Cheers John