Makin' Bacon-Piglets are on the farm!

[farmertrappe]

One of the two best days of the year. The day i get my piglets and the day the last hog leaves the farm for the year. A friend came over and help repair the roof and finish up getting everything ready yesterday afternoon. I picked up the piglets this am and they seem happy. Never saw dirt in their life before, started to root right away and dig down to cool off. Attachment Deleted

[farmertrappe]

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[farmertrappe]

Attachment Deleted First 100# of feed gone, a ton more to come.

[rendezvous]

Jun 17, 2015 9:55:07 GMT -5 farmertrappe said:

First 100# of feed gone, a ton more to come.

They eat like pigs!  

[shawn]

Bacon, yum.

[farmertrappe]

starting to look good and growing.

[farmertrappe]

Spent Sunday morning in the hog pen. Mucked out the poop area, switched out a feeder, scrubbed the water tank good, made a nice wallow for them and gave them a fresh bale of straw to play with. Best to keep the girls happy and content. Attachment Deleted

[farmertrappe]

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[farmertrappe]

Attachment Deleted Moved three hogs to the butcher shop today. Cuts the feed bill by a quarter. First time ever the hogs walked onto the trailer and right off at the butcher shop, I like them Hogs.

[farmertrappe]

Attachment Deleted I have been keeping an eye on a field of watermelons that were done, finally hooked up with the farmer and got a truck load for the nine remaining hogs. Chickens enjoy them also.

[farmertrappe]

Attachment Deleted MMM melons.

[SkFarm25]

Awesome! Do you ever breed your own or just get weanlings?

[farmertrappe]

Rp I just get feeder pigs from a trusted farmer who I've dealt with for many years- now the son runs the hog operation. For my small acreage I figure its the best way to go. I'm interested in raising hogs the Swedish method in deep straw, every hear about it? I would be able to run year round as appose to seasonally.

[SkFarm25]

Yeah usually easiest to grab weanlings in the spring. But prices are high and over the years the wild hog population has exploded in a lot of areas and cross breeding has happened with the domestic stock so you don't know what your really getting.

Tried to breed my own las year but my sow wasn't bred successfully. Try again in a couple months!

Never heard of that method at all. What's it all about?

[farmertrappe]

Oct 8, 2015 15:14:26 GMT -5 SkFarm25 said:

Yeah usually easiest to grab weanlings in the spring. But prices are high and over the years the wild hog population has exploded in a lot of areas and cross breeding has happened with the domestic stock so you don't know what your really getting.

Tried to breed my own las year but my sow wasn't bred successfully. Try again in a couple months!

Never heard of that method at all. What's it all about?

Google: Swedish Deep-Straw Farrowing- Minnesota Institute. Couple pages down is the Deep Straw Hoop Structure System.

[farmertrappe]

Called the butcher shop to check the hanging weights (gutted, head and feet still on) of the hogs I dropped off Wednesday. #195,#178 and #180. Started with 35 pound piglets on June 14th, nice weight gain and feed cost was not too bad about $140 each to date. The other nine have a date to head out on Oct. 28th. I pick up the largest tomorrow just like it is and deliver to a high end restaurant I deal with, at $3.25 a pound I'm a happy FarmerTrappe.

[SkFarm25]

Oct 8, 2015 17:53:47 GMT -5 farmertrappe said:

Oct 8, 2015 15:14:26 GMT -5 SkFarm25 said:

Yeah usually easiest to grab weanlings in the spring. But prices are high and over the years the wild hog population has exploded in a lot of areas and cross breeding has happened with the domestic stock so you don't know what your really getting.

Tried to breed my own las year but my sow wasn't bred successfully. Try again in a couple months!

Never heard of that method at all. What's it all about?

Google: Swedish Deep-Straw Farrowing- Minnesota Institute. Couple pages down is the Deep Straw Hoop Structure System.

Thats awesome, Ive seen a lot of those buildings popping up around here as shops and cold storage areas. Would make a great pig barn!

[nytrapper23]

Farmer you ever raise quail to sell for meat?

[farmertrappe]

Oct 9, 2015 13:07:53 GMT -5 nytrapper23 said:

Farmer you ever raise quail to sell for meat?

I looked into it years ago, Still have my copy of Raising Bobwhite Quail for Commercial use. Circular 514 Clemson univ & US Dept of Ag. Adding Quail and rabbits along with a few meat goats would round out the farmstead nicely. I also like to raise what I like to eat.

[nytrapper23]

I bet those high end places you sell to now would trip over each other to get them . Really easy to raise.