I haven’t touched this blog in 3.5 years. I still can’t say why I have held onto it, when I have not felt a desire to write in all that time. Yet, here I am. Trying to cobble together my thoughts in an attempt to help process the recent events I have been struggling with.
Three weeks ago tomorow I said goodbye to three sows. They represented half of my small breeding herd, two generations of breeding, and a whole lot of time, effort, and love. For those that know my girls by name, I said goodbye to Bri, Mandy, and Jenny. It was planned for months, which allowed plenty of time to prepare emotionally, and I was unwavering and absolutely certain in my decision and the reasons. Still, it broke my heart and left me in a bad state mourning the loss of my beloved sows even though I still know it was the right thing to do.
The Necessity of Culling
Culling is a necessary evil for the betterment of breeds/species. In the homesteading or farming world, it is common practice and is an act of love. Choosing to care for, steward, and be responsible for livestock is hardly easy, and there is a reason a lot of people aren’t cut out for it. For most of us that shoulder the responsibility, we love our animals, want to do right by them, and are passionate about our chosen species or breed. Some admittedly more so than others. Ultimately, we want them to have good lives and be happy, healthy, and productive as long as possible. For those who don’t homestead/farm, they may struggle to understand how you can love and care for an animal day in and day out and then turn around and make a decision to cull. It can be difficult to convey that it is for the betterment of the species, the breed, the welfare of the animal and/or future progeny, and for the longevity of the homestead/farm. Some inexperienced onlookers see it through a skewed lens. They are quick to write you off as heartless, accusing you of “using the animal up”, or only caring about your bottom line. My personal favorite is the unsolicited Disnified alternative solutions that are offered. “Wouldn’t they be better off if X or can’t you just give them to X”. No, no they wouldn’t, and no, no I can’t. Again, the lack of experience is blatantly obvious as they do not understand the grass is not always greener, and some fates are far worse than death. Horror stories upon horror stories exist of animals that are given away or sold as a “pet”. I would never, ever subject one of my animals to that fate.
Unless you’ve experienced the heartbreak of the decision much less the follow through, you can’t possibly understand the toll it takes. Particularly on a small homestead, even more particularly when it is an animal that was born and raised on your property. Even MORE when she has served you well and it an act of compassion. It can be heartbreaking, soul crushing, and excruciatingly painful… even when it is the right choice.
Culling is for the greater good. When it isn’t practiced bad genes, poor temperaments, crappy moms, inferior performance, unthrifty animals, bad conformation, etc gets perpetuated in the gene pool. Translation: the bad traits that are a detriment get passed onto the next generation . Not every animal is cut out to be a breeder. Just because an animal has its respective reproductive parts does not mean it should use them for a myriad of reasons. The betterment of the breed, the species, and the genetic line should always be front and center in your mind. Is this animal going to take my herd forwards, backwards, or maintain? Not all animals are going to be superstars and take your herd to the next level, but still these are questions that should be asked.
As the old saying goes “breed the best and eat the rest”. It’s short, catchy, and rings true. If humans weren’t in the equation to interfere, natural selection would be the driving force at work weeding out the inferior as opposed to people. In the natural world, if a sow is such a terrible mom that she consistently lays on and crushes her litter, well, she won’t have many or possibly any surviving piglets to perpetuate her line would she? Nature has its way of weeding out the weak. Instead, some humans despite this glaring offense that screams “not fit for breeding” continue to knowingly breed her. Or, even worse, sell her to some poor unsuspecting victim.
Not all culls are cut and dry. I sure wish they were. It would make decisions far easier, and dull the heartbreak. It is a hell of a lot easier to have to say goodbye to an animal with a nasty or aggressive attitude. The one that’s final offense was the last straw, and you’ve adopted the “don’t let the door kick you on the way out” mentality. This is a stark contrast to bawling your eyes out and repeatedly screaming “I’m sorry”, cradling your deceased beloved mama who has been nothing short of wonderful in every way, knowing you saved her from an inevitable and painful decline. I have experienced both, and will take the former over the latter any day.
The Why
Now onto the reason that I’m sure most of you clicked on this blog post. The “why”. What was my reasoning behind my choice to cull Bri, Mandy, and Jenny? Three sows, three different track records, three different histories, three very different reasons.
Baby Bri
Bri had all the promise I could ever hope for out of a gilt. She had it ALL. The growth, the obvious heats, the incredibly laid back personality and strong maternal instinct. Then, she went on to farrow 12 piglets in 65 minutes completely unassisted her first litter, and weaned all 12. I had stars in my eyes and thought I had a true rockstar on my hands. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there.
Ever since weaning her first textbook perfect litter, Bri has been a notorious problem child. A sweet, endearing, and absolutely loveable problem child. The one that allll the weird and unexplainable things seem to happen to. The one that you’re always trying to problem solve or troubleshoot. Why she isn’t settling, why she lost her pregnancy, etc. She has been my special case for years. The one that always gave me something to figure out and left me scratching my head. I would be lying if I said I regretted the work and effort I put into her. She is the first sow that I had to truly investigate and figure out the cause for many repeat services. I sleuthed, came up with a theory, executed a solution, and solved the problem. She went on to give me Geillis and Mandy that next litter.
After that, the writing was on the wall and part of me knew it would only be a matter of time before I couldn’t continue to make excuses. It wasn’t if, but when. I have never had a sow with a better temperament or personality and there was no greater mother than her. She loved her babies harder than anyone, and even ones that weren’t hers.
Unfortunately, being an absolute rockstar of a mom isn’t good enough if you fail to breed back and/or have trouble doing so. I simply couldn’t count on her, and when everyone gets bred and carries to term without issue it becomes glaringly obvious it’s a problem at the individual level. The final nail in the coffin so to speak was failing to breed back for a fall litter last year, then settling on a fall breeding for the following spring, miscarrying the litter with no obvious cause as to why, only to get rebred and have a whopping three piglets. An animal that weighs 665 lbs takes up a lot of space and feed. In one year’s time she gave three piglets and ate nearly 1 ton of food herself in the process. Unfortunately, even though she was the sweetest thing ever, I couldn’t turn a blind eye to the fact that she was dead weight any longer.
Overall, I lost a lot of money on keeping her around as long as I did over the years. But, working through her problems taught me a lot that I otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn. I will be better equipped to identify and solve problems early not only in my own herd, but also for those in my Patreon that I support thanks to her. I do not regret my choice to work through the problems as long as I did, nor do I regret the decision I ultimately made to say goodbye.
Mandy
Mandy was one of the replacement gilts that I kept out of Bri’s second litter along with her sister Geillis. I was really excited about the Large Black sired girls, and everything that entailed from a maternal instinct standpoint. There was no lack of that to inherit from Bri, but adding in Large Black genetics too? I was sure that was a recipe for success. Confession: I actually only wanted to/needed ONE gilt and I had fallen in love with Mandy and her pink splotch on her nose just like her mother. But, she would need someone to grow up with as a companion, and I thought well, might as well keep two girls just in case one doesn’t pan out. That is the only reason I kept Geillis and thank God I did.
Everything leading up to Mandy’s first farrowing screamed promise. Her growth rate was incredible, she was hardy and an easy keeper, absolutely sweet as could be with a laid back personality, wildly strong and obvious heats and settled on first service. As a gilt, her underline resembled one more like a second or even third parity sow, and I was chomping at the bit to see what she was made of when farrowing came.
She farrowed middle of the night. Piglets came out like rapid fire just like her mother and I was on cloud 9 watching her quickly pass piglets unassisted without moving much less getting up. The dream state quickly turned into a nightmare. Once a good chunk of the litter was born, squirming to the udder and all around her making noise, she came unhinged. Full blown psychosis. Snapping at/biting piglets, lunging at them, trampling them, and literally spiraling out of control. Some were immediately killed by being trampled to death, and the rest I saved by swooping in and scooping them up as quickly as I could.
This is not uncommon behavior out of gilts unfortunately. To make a long story short, I worked some magic to calm her down and she did accept her babies. She loved them hard, was an absolutely fantastic mother, and weaned every single piglet that I scooped up and saved their first traumatic night of life.
With how well she did after the farrowing itself, I gave her another shot. Again, these things HAPPEN with gilts. Because she quickly accepted and loved her babies after the fact, I was certain it could be chocked up to #giltproblems. If it happens as a gilt it by no means is a guarantee it will happen again.
She bred back right away without issue, and then her second and final chance came. Unfortunately, round 2 went much of the same. Rapid firing of piglets only to start biting them and tossing them across the room combined with spiraling out of control. A full blown 550lb tornado out of control with me scooping piglets up, trying to save them and whisk them away from her. Then, much like the first time, when the dust settled, she turned into a completely devoted and nurturing mother.
What was wrong with Mandy wasn’t fixable. She had textbook perfect nutrition as a gilt as well as throughout gestation, no stress environment, etc to set her up for success. What she had was a hormone regulation problem, and was dependent on ME to externally regulate her through farrowing. It was a HER problem, and the only thing that could be done would be for me to have to be there for every farrowing to save piglets and band aid the situation until she got through it and calmed down. This is a trait that is unacceptable in a breeder. If I hadn’t been there both times to intervene, I cannot image the bloodbath I would have walked into the next morning.
Again, I do not regret my decisions I made. I gave her a second chance and I am so happy I did because it just as easily could have gone another way. Unfortunately, it didn’t. But, I know I set her up for success and gave her every opportunity to prove herself. Sadly, she just didn’t have the goods and I had to do what was right and say goodbye.
Jenny
There simply are not enough pages on this blog to sing Jenny’s praises enough. She was an absolute rockstar of a sow in every way imaginable. I have shared plenty on my Instagram about Jenny’s impressive breeding and farrowing history, and I am going to bank on that if you’re reading this you have some understanding of her history. Simply put, she was an absolute powerhouse and a monster breeder in the best way possible. Very fertile, prolific, milky, maternal, and ultimately just a wonderful sow. I could always depend on her. To settle on first service, to bring the litter size, and to have a high weaning rate. She had it ALL and over the course of her seven litters she had an average litter size of 14 (range 11-17) with a born live to weaning rate of 97%.
I have said for years on my Patreon that Jenny’s undoing would be her knees, not her performance. She was the second gilt I ever kept for myself and while I had learned a lot by the time she came around, I still made some mistakes. Mainly, I didn’t set her up for success with proper bone mineralization for longevity. If she were a less prolific or milky sow, her body may not have ever had to pay for my mistake, or at least maybe not so soon. But, that’s not how things worked out. Those large litters and heavy milk production come at a high price, and unfortunately, her body wasn’t properly prepared and paid the toll. With each litter, I saw her knees knock more and more. Her body was breaking down and the writing was on the wall.
This past winter when she far along in gestation, she struggled to walk on the pitted and bare frozen ground without snow as insulation and cushion. She couldn’t leave the shelter because it hurt her too bad to walk on the uneven ground. This meant she couldn’t walk to her water source. So, for a week I lugged buckets multiple times a day to hand deliver her food and water praying for snow so that she would be able to leave. Snow finally came, and she was once again able to leave her shelter.
Several weeks later after she was moved into the farrowing area and had her 7th and final litter, much of the same happened. I didn’t have to deliver her food and water due to the infrastructure, but it quite literally was painful to watch her walk. It was very clear she was hurting despite not carrying the massive weight of her litter anymore, and it hurt me to watch her. I knew she wouldn’t have another winter in her. I bawled like a baby sharing videos of her walking in my Patreon gutted that my prophecy from years ago had come true and I had to do what was right by her. I didn’t have a choice. She had been so good to me, and I owed it to her to do right by her. This meant I couldnt be selfish and keep her around knowing the pain she was in, how hard the previous winter was, and that it would only be a matter of time before she went lame. She deserved better after everything she has done for me and I cared way too much about her to let her suffer. She deserved to go out at the top of her game coming off a carefree summer versus injured and suffering.
August 3rd, 2024
When you get down to it, I have very basic hopes for my animals whether they are a culled breeder or one that is destined to be a feeder from the start. I want them to be born here, live here, and die here. I don’t want them to ever know mistreatment, stress, or suffering. That’s all I ask, and at the end of the day it isn’t too much to ask for.
The easiest thing for me to do would have been to load Bri, Mandy, and Jenny on a trailer and send them off to a processor. Save myself the pain, and not have to see it for myself. But, that would have resulted in an incredible amount of stress for them leaving the only home they have ever known. Easier for me, but harder for them. I believe so strongly in my most basic hope that I would knowingly put myself through more anguish and heartbreak to spare them stress and suffering. Truly putting my beliefs and ideals to the test.
I am NOT knocking those that send animals off to a processor. Do not read between lines that don’t exist. But for me, that was never an option, it didn’t exist. The only option was for them to die at the only home they’ve ever known, without stress or a worry in the world. Thanks to my friend Hogan at Kerev Butchery, my beloved sows got exactly that.
I will not go into the details of their death, but all that matters is two things:
- I was there with them and for them in the end
- It couldn’t have gone anymore textbook.
They died instantly with me by their side, the one face that has been the constant day in and day out over the years. I was there when they were all born, every day in between, and I was there when they died. It was painful for me to be there, but again there was no other option for me. I needed to set my heartbreak and pain aside and put their comfort and needs in those final moments above my own. It was me that they knew best, me they were most comfortable with, and me that should be there. It was every bit as emotionally excruciating as you may imagine. I bawled, whaled, was an absolute mess, and I knowingly put myself through that for them. The last act of love I could show them.
There was not one ounce of suffering or stress experienced on their part. Ultimately, that is what I am most grateful for and I will forever be thankful and in Hogan’s debt for that. I couldn’t have asked for better for them, and as soon as it was done I felt an incredible wave of relief wash over me knowing that it couldn’t have gone any better.
It has been almost three weeks since I said goodbye, and I still miss them terribly. But, in a sense they are still here. I look around at my gilts and sows, and I am reminded that they live on in their daughters. Every time I look at Geillis, I see Bri in her eyes as well as her sister Mandy. I see some of Jenny’s early personality traits in her daughter Maggie. While they may be gone, they will live on in the generation I have, the ones that are still to come, and will never be forgotten.
If you have been following me on Instagram this summer, then you already know we decided to completely overhaul and expand our existing farrowing barn. We knocked down the right wall, doubled the sized, busted out and re-poured a new concrete slab, hard wired electric, put on a metal roof, and completely redid the fencing and configuration of the paddock. It was a bit of a project, but it is officially complete and it feels great to have such an awesome set up in place.
If you follow closely, yes this farrowing barn is now our third revision. Our first set up we used when we had zero experience whatsoever. Some things worked, most things didn’t. Enter our second set up, based on things learned from the first. We tossed out the dog kennel creep and went with the “pitched roof” style, and increased the size. It worked well for us, but there were some functionality aspects that could be improved. Plus, it was only big enough to accommodate one sow. Because we have retained several gilts for breeding to increase our operation size, we needed something bigger. Hence the doubled in size farrowing barn.
Below is a video tour where I walk you through the setup. At least as much as I could in the 15 minutes allotted to me by Youtube. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read the previous posts that I wrote on each version. We didn’t start out with this set up, it took a few years of trial and error, and failure. While it may not be perfect, based on our previous experience we think it’s quite fitting for our needs.
We are extremely excited about this new farrowing barn set up and all of the piglets that will be born here in the coming years!
Happy Farrowing,
Farrowing season is a very exciting time on the homestead, and personally is my favorite of all. It can be a bit nerve wracking (especially that first time) but just like with kidding, a well stocked farrowing kit is a safety blanket that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Our vet that “treats” pigs is over an hour away, and to be honest I have more experience with farrowing than they do. I have learned the hard way some of the difficulties and issues that can arise, but I’d be lying if I said that my farrowing kit hasn’t saved piglets lives.
I detail the purpose of many of the items in my kit in my post on caring for piglets from birth to weaning, but not all. And some of the items I discuss in that post are not in my “farrowing kit” because they aren’t relevant to the farrowing or moments surrounding it, but later down the road. In addition to all of the items mentioned in both, there are medications I have accumulated over time that are multispecies and not necessarily “pig specific”. When you raise enough animals, there is a natural build up of medical supplies.
When I refer to the farrowing kit, I am referring to what is by the door waiting for me to grab on my way out when we have a mama in labor. As always, let this be my disclaimer this is what I use and have accumulated over time. There may be things that you may need that I don’t use, or vice versa.
What's In the Kit
For the Piglets
- Mistral Powder
- Nutridrench for Pigs
- Iodine with spray nozzle
- Puppy Pads
- Frozen Goat Colostrum and small syringe for administering (not “in” the kit but something that I always have in the freezer in case a piglet needs a little extra help)
- Livestock Marker for marking litters
- Chlorhexidene Solution
The mantra around here for any baby being born is “dry, dip, drench, colostrum”. Mistral powder is used to dust on the piglets and dry them off (this is most important during winter farrowing not so much summer or fall), spray their cords with iodine, give them a couple pumps of Nutridrench in the mouth, and make sure they get that oh so important colostrum. The mistral powder is used for drying versus rags or towels, but I do keep some puppy pads in my kit to wipe my hands off as well as to help stimulate and revive piglets that are born close to death.
Chlorhexidene solution is always good to have on hand in any kit in the event of a cut or abrasion. I did have a piglet born with Epitheliogenesis Imperfecta. While it can be severe enough that the piglet should be euthanized, it wasn’t severe enough that didn’t clear up on its own with some antiseptic. It can come in handy.
For the Sow
- Thermometer
- Chlorhexilube
- Shoulder length disposable polypropylene gloves
- Slapshot with various size syringes/needles if you need to administer meds to an agitated or ill sow
- Oxytocin
- Nutridrench
- Molasses/Corn Syrup
The administration of Oxytocin is another protocol that some feel very strongly for or against. While I do agree that it is very much mis and overused, there are circumstances where I do believe the benefits outweigh the risks when properly administered. I try to use it as an absolute last resort measure if I suspect there may be a retained piglet or placenta. For me, if I’m faced with the risk of infection and sepsis in my sow or administering a dose of oxytocin, I’m going with the oxytocin.
If I think the farrowing is over but I have not seen the placenta pass after quite some time, I will first sleeve up and go in to see if I can feel any piglets blocking the birth canal and pull them. If the birth canal is clear, and after more time there is still no placenta, I administer a dose. For several minutes after administering a dose, the hormone strengthens smooth muscle contractions which can help pass a retained piglet/placenta.
Throughout the farrowing I will occasionally give the sow some Nutridrench to help keep her energy up, and give her bumps of selenium that helps release the placenta naturally. You can also use molasses/corn syrup as well, that can be poured into the mouth or rubbed on their gums. Fortunately we have always had relatively quick labors that only last for 2-3 hours. But, if things aren’t moving along so quickly it can last as long as 8. So, a boost of energy to keep things processing along can prevent stalling.
Generally speaking, when it comes to farrowing for the most part the sow will get the job done on her own. I however am always of the mentality “I’d rather have something and not need it, than need something and not have it”. Especially considering our vet is largely useless when it comes to farrowing, not to mention over an hour away. Even if they were helpful, the chances of them getting here in time to be of any use are slim. Even more especially since farrowing always seems to happen here during the wee hours of the morning, when no one is awake much less open!
The ideal scenario for farrowing let alone any birthing is that mom does it all on her own unassisted, and without issue. Obviously this is the gold standard everyone hopes for. Sometimes no matter how good of a mother you have on your hands, or how good things have gone in the past, stuff just happens. We all need help now and then, and these are living animals we are talking about! We breed pigs to provide a source of feeders for our own consumption, as well as to sell to fund projects on the homestead and offset feed costs. So, I want as many healthy and live piglets as possible, and if that means occasionally I need to lend a hand, I will do it. It is for this reason that I always have my farrowing kit stocked and ready on hand.
Happy Farrowing,
It is no secret that we utilize every single animal we have to clear our land, fertilize, and produce delicious food in the process. Each animal is at the very least dual purpose, some tri, some quad! In order to do this, proper fencing for the homestead is paramount.
Our Icelandic Sheep rotationally graze our pastures and fertilize while producing delicious grass fed lamb and fleece. The pastured meat chickens follow the sheep, and scratch and peck through the freshly mowed grass while dropping their nitrogen rich manure. Our dairy goats clear brushy and overgrown areas to convert into milk. Then, our wonderful pigs till and turn over the soil in our woods in preparation of converting it to pasture while packing on the pounds with all of the forage the land has to offer. Before fulfilling their higher purpose of feeding us, our animals heal and reclaim our land.
With all of these animals moving around in different frequencies and areas of our property, it can be a complicated choreographed dance. Through this, we have gotten quite skilled at fencing and have accumulated many different types as we have fine tuned our processes. I have touched several times on fencing for the homestead as it pertains to our different animals specifically. But, I figured I should break it down for each animal in one comprehensive and digestible post to refer back to.
General Set Up
Understanding what we use and how we use it will probably be easier if you understand our set up. My (crudely) drawn map below shows an aerial view of our property, with different colored lines each representing a different animal’s area. PS it is soooooo much more open now, I can’t wait for a google earth update!
- Aqua X: Location of our AC electric fencers. One in the goat barn, one in the garage. Each one feeds its side of the property with power via travel lines to allow us to easily hook up our netting to
- Red: this is our “new” sheep silvopasture that we have recently reclaimed from thick overgrown woods. The entire perimeter is fenced in with permanent perimeter fence and has an electric travel line that runs along the inside.
- Blue: Goat silvopasture off of the barn. Perimeter is fenced in with a combination of a couple different types of permanent perimeter fencing. This is the first area we established when we moved here.
- Yellow: Our pigs areas (both feeders and breeders) The area off the farrowing barn has permanent perimeter with a training line of electric on the inside. Everything else is 100% electric.
Sheep
The sheep without question are the most frequently rotated animal we have. Because we want grass fed lamb, we rotate our sheep everyday to fresh ground. This way they have as much as they can eat that particular day, but don’t stay in a place long enough to over graze and stunt our pasture growth. They move around our newly created pasture (red) that we break up into paddocks with our netting, as well as the front and side lawn, logging trail, and anywhere else we can stick them. If there is a travel line to hook up to nearby and there is grass, we will put them there. Each year we are creating more pasture, which gives us more opportunity to graze. The frequency of rotating the sheep would be impossible without the use of electric netting and the tools we use.
- Permanent perimeter fence: Red Brand Sheep & Goat Woven Wire 4×4 Square 48″ high with a galvanized travel line running along the inside via T-post insulators
- Premier One Electric Netting – my life will never be the same after discovering this. This netting is essential for us for easy rotation and security of our animals
- Premier One Power Links – allow you to quickly connect two strands of netting together, gate to the netting, or netting to travel line. We have about ten of these, we use them everywhere!
- Premier One Gate – easy electrified gate that comes in different widths for either walking through, or driving a side by side. Depending on set up this can be extremely handy.
Goats
The goats are rotated less frequently than the sheep. I try to keep them as close to the barn as possible due to milking, so they spend most of the time in their blue pasture. However, there are several times in the summer when we put them to work clearing a stone wall or some brushy areas. When we move them around, they are contained by the same Premier One netting as the sheep. Their blue pasture is surrounded a hodge-podge of permanent perimeter fence. Some we bought initially and have since replaced because it was the wrong kind, some we got for cheap, some we got for free. Below are the different types we have ripped from another blog post:
- Cattle Panels:
- Feedlot panels (6′ x 16′): These are by the far the most expensive panel I have ever seen or purchased, but in the small paddock directly off the back of the stalls of the barn this stuff is what encloses it. This panel is tall enough to deter anything from jumping over (whether that be out or in) and the squares are so small the entire way up that even the smallest Nigerian Dwarf baby goat can’t squeeze through. When the kids are very young they don’t get to go out into the big pasture quite yet, so they stay in the smaller paddock with mom. This allows them to be truly contained and safe.
- Feedlot hog panels (50″ x 16′): These are cheap at a local TSC in comparison to the aforementioned Fort Knox grade panels. These are used in approximately half of our big pasture and make setting up fencing really easy and are much more aesthetically pleasing than spooled fencing. They also have small enough squares on the bottom half of the panel to keep babies from slipping through.
- Woven wire: Used in approximately half of my large pasture for the goats. It can be a little bit of a pain to get set up because you have to do a lot of pulling and stapling to prevent a saggy fence, but it does hold up very well to rubbing and is cheaper than panels if you’re fencing a large area. My recommendation is to get the tallest one you can to deter jumping, and with the smallest squares. We use Red Brand 48″H 4″ x 4″ square. If you end up getting goats with horns, if they can stick their head through they will get stuck and can strangle themselves. Small squares keep this from happening and help prevent baby goats from being able to slip through.
Pigs
I talk a lot about using our pigs to clear our land and how big of a difference they have made in turning overgrown woods into pasture. This year we opened up a new wooded pasture for our breeding stock yellow pasture that’s on “top” of the map. This is a virgin area of woods that we fenced in with our three strand polywire set up. The girls have been digging, rooting, and turning over the soil for us and come fall after they’ve been moved back to the farrowing area, we will come in and drop trees, rake, and seed or bale graze this winter. The yellow pasture that’s on the “bottom” of the map is also fenced in with our three strand polywire set up. This is a heavily wooded area that we rotate our feeder pigs through. Just like with the goats, we use a combination of different types of fencing for the pigs depending on where they are physically, as well as their stage in life.
- Farrowing area: off the back of the farrowing house we utilize 34″ x 16′ long hog panels to fence in their farrowing pasture. We have a single line of polywire that runs along the inside for training purposes.
- Premier One Hog Netting– we utilize this netting for training piglets on electric fence
- Three strand polywire set up – once the pigs are sufficiently trained, they will be contained with this set up from thereon out.
Meat Chickens
The meat chickens are kind of the unsung heroes in terms of the power they posses to transform your land. After seeing with our own eyes the incredible difference their manure makes in pasture grass growth, we have become obsessed with utilizing them as much as possible. Thanks to our mobile chicken coop, we are able to easily move them wherever we feel the pasture needs a little something extra in terms of fertilizer. They scratch and peck around, nibble on greens, pack on the pounds, and drop their gold-like manure onto our soil. Like anything else it’s about finding a balance. The frequency with which we rotate varies greatly depending on their size, and the condition of the paddock they’re on. You want them to be on a particular piece of land long enough to make a positive impact but not a moment longer. They leave the land richer than they found it. Just like any other frequently rotated animal, we would be lost without the use of our electric netting:
- Premier One Electric Netting – keeps the birds in, the predators out, and makes moving a breeze
- Premier One Electric Gate – essential for easy entry and access, bringing in water, feed, etc. Ours is wide enough to drive our side by side through
- Premier One Power Links – like I said before, we use these constantly!
We have learned a lot over the past four years here and have fine tuned and improved our methods as we have become more established. I like to think of myself as a bit of a fencing connoisseur, and it is one of my favorite things to do. It didn’t always use to be so easy moving this many animals though! Through the use of quality fencing for the homestead, we have a good system in place and strong fencing to keep our animals contained and safe, while improving the quality of our land in the process.
Happy Fencing,
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Well, the day finally came. Integration Day. Big Marie our resident sow is officially fully retiring (for reals this time) and it was time for her to join our gilts Red Jamie and her daughter Claire.
A quick trip down memory lane on Big Marie: When we got her over two years ago, she had up until that point been a solo pig. Aside from when she was rearing a litter of piglets, that was the case here as well. With the addition of new gilts we are retaining for breeding, and the feeder pigs we raise for meat, we weren’t going to keep Big Marie separate too. She needed to join the rest of our breeding stock if she was going to stick around.
Doing this isn’t as simple as just putting them all together and walking away. Well, it could be, but it could also take a very nasty turn very easily. Some pigs will brutally fight and if you’re lucky, they are only bloodied and beaten up a bit. I have heard first hand accounts of some pigs killing each other when integrating. If this was the case here, Nick and I both know that there is nothing we could do but watch if 1,500 pounds of pig are duking it out to the death. It’s a very scary thought.
Pigs (like most other animals) have a pecking order that they need to sort out. When you throw a new animal into the mix, it upsets the current order and things need to get re-established and settled amongst themselves. While there is nothing that we could have done to make 100% sure that without a doubt nothing really bad would happen, we took some precautionary steps to help ease everyone into the integration and minimize the chance of a really bad scenario as much as possible.
Look But Don't Touch
Like I said previously, aside from when she had a litter, Big Marie has always been a solo pig. So, I was worried about her not only because of her physical size advantage and ability to hurt Claire or Red Jamie, but I didn’t know what kind of social skills she possessed or lacked. She didn’t know what it was like to be a part of a passel. Would she just instinctually know how to act? Would her otherwise very mellow and laid back personality suddenly shift towards the aggressive? Or, would she just not care and be indifferent?
After weaning her last litter, we moved Big Marie back to the woods into a paddock adjacent to Claire and Red Jamie. The only thing dividing them was a three strand electric fence set up. They could see each other, smell each other, and to an extent, interact with each other. This is the closest contact Big Marie has had with other pigs, and we wanted them all to get used to each other. Being able to see and interact with each other all day every day allowed them to get familiar with and used to each others presence.
We kept them separate like this for two full weeks, and by the end of that time they were completely indifferent to each other and it was old hat.
Keep the Hormones Out of It
At this point Claire and Red Jamie are both well over a month post breeding and pregnant (yay!). Big Marie on the other hand, is fresh off of weaning her last litter of piglets. So, during that two week transition period where she has been adjacent to them, her hormones have been all over the place. Not only has she been extremely hangry from having her food cut back from a lactation to a maintenance ration, but she also went into heat shortly after moving into her new paddock. In my experience, this first heat cycle post weaning is always a bit on the extra crazy side. It always seems to me like the proestrus phase is way longer, and more exacerbated and volatile than normal. Simply put, she is out of her mind with hormones and I don’t even want to be in there with her. This again is being compounded by how incredibly hangry she is, I’m sure.
Nothing is ever easy to do with pigs when they are in heat, so I wanted to make sure that this was not a factor whatsoever when integrating. I wanted that first cycle to be over and long passed, so that we weren’t dealing with any extra crankiness thrown into the mix adding more stress to the situation.
Other Key Factors
In addition to the factors mentioned above, there are some other key things I took into consideration that I feel are just as important:
- Keep the food out of it as much as possible and always do the full integration when everyone has had a nice big breakfast. Food will only be another thing to fight over, and it’s a good reason to fight too.
- Give them as much space as possible. When integrated, the area that Claire and Red Jamie are in combined with Big Maries paddock is about 1.5 acres. Even if it’s not sunshine and rainbows at first, all of this space makes it so they can get away from each other if they want and they aren’t forced to be together. Keeping them tightly restricted will only cause more fighting and issues. We also have two shelters, (one in each other their former “separate” areas) so that again, they each have their own space to go to and don’t have to fight over one.
- Personality and the animal’s breed also plays a pretty big role in how rough or smooth your integration will go. Some breeds (and individuals) are naturally more aggressive than others, while others are more docile. Personality is always something I harp on with any of our animals, and is another reason why we stick with the heritage crosses with pigs. We like our laid back ladies.
The Big Day
So, after two weeks of being near each other and used to each others presence the big day arrived. Big Marie’s heat cycle was long over, and her hangriness was starting to subside. It was time to officially integrate. So, we fed the ladies a nice hefty breakfast to make sure that they were extra satisfied with full bellies. Once everyone finished their prospective dishes, we removed the three lines of fence that divided their paddocks and hoped for the best.
Like I said before, there really is nothing that can be done by humans once you’ve reached this point. You just have to let them sort things out for themselves, and hope they are able to get it all out of their system with as little physical harm as possible. Blood can and usually will be drawn. They’ll bite, chase, and knock each other around. This is all normal. There is no way to sugar coat it, it sucks to watch your animals beat up on each other. But again, it’s just the way it is and you just have to hope for the best.
There were some initial squabbles that were to be expected. But for the most part, Big Marie didn’t want to be bothered by Claire and Red Jamie. True to form, she was just doing her thing and taking in the new space. Claire and Jamie were way more interested in her than she was in them. There was some pushing, chasing, some biting (as seen below), and only a little bit of blood. The interest in each other only lasted for about an hour, and then everyone basically went back to their regularly scheduled day of wallowing and napping.
By dinnertime less than twelve hours later, they were eating within eyeshot of each other followed by a post dinner wallow session. It was like they had been living together all of their lives. I am extremely happy with how well the integration went, and I don’t think there is one thing I could have done differently to make it go smoother than it already did. Considering the fact that I had two pregnant gilts that are under 400 pounds integrating with a 900 pound sow, I’d say it went swimmingly.
Now all three ladies will spend the remainder of the summer back in the woods together. Come late summer, we will have to move them back to the farrowing house in preparation for Red Jamie and Claire’s farrowing. Jenny, the gilt that I retained from Big Marie’s last litter is growing out with her brother and sister that we are raising to harvest this fall. Once she has grown and is big enough to handle herself, we again will have to go through this again when we integrate her in with Red Jamie, Claire, and Big Marie to make one big happy family.
Happy Integrating,
If you have any preconceived notions going into this post that pigs cannot be raised solely on electric fence I need you to check yourself at the door. Knock that thinking off right now, because it is not true. We have been raising pigs for a few years now, and guess what? Aside from a permanent perimeter fence (with an electric training line inside) off our farrowing house, our pigs are raised exclusively on electric fence. Yep, from one strand of polywire to electric netting, we use it all. It is 100% possible with the right training and equipment. I am going to show you how we train piglets on electric fence to set ourselves up for success.
The key to successfully containing a 100, 400, or even 900 pound pig on electric is to train them properly when they’re 10-30 pounds. Our piglets are technically exposed to a single hot line of polywire from day one, as it runs inside the permanent perimeter fence we have in our farrowing area. They aren’t exactly out exploring the world at that age, so they aren’t necessarily touching it, but it’s there. Once they are around a week old and they start to explore their outdoor surroundings, I will occasionally hear a piglet screech that touched the fence. At this point they are getting shocked and can feel it a bit, but they aren’t really grasping the concept of what it is and to stay away from it. This is why a permanent fence that surrounds is important, they need a physical barrier to stop them from running through.
Following our general timeline of raising piglets, it is around the two week mark that we open up a new section adjacent to the permanent area with our Premier One Electric Netting. Why don’t we expose them earlier? We have found that any younger than two weeks old the piglets are too small, meaning they don’t physically have enough weight to properly ground themselves to complete the circuit. The more an animal weighs, the more its feet/hooves are firmly planted into the ground, which will ground that particular animal more, allowing a stronger shock from the fence. Prior to that two week-ish time frame they are still small enough they could squeeze through the squares in the nets. At that size they will feel a significantly reduced shocked (if any), which could allow them to push their way through the holes in the netting unscathed. This will teach them that the fence is not something that causes a brief pain or discomfort, and doesn’t need to be respected. Then you’re really setting yourself up for failure.
We keep the netting up from the two week point until a couple weeks after the piglets are weaned. Anywhere from 8-10 weeks depending on how they’re growing. We raise our feeders and breeding stock in the woods, and it’s at this point they graduate from the netting and are contained by 3 strands of polywire. It allows us to set up a bigger area for them, and it doesn’t get grounded out like the netting can when they’re tossing leaves, branches, etc on it. Believe me, if we raised our pigs on more level ground that wasn’t in the woods, we would use the netting to rotate them just like we do with our sheep and goats. It’s incredibly easy to move, set up, and tear down. But, given the terrain it just isn’t ideal and would cause us more issues than a three strand set up. So, once they are at the graduation age/size to move from netting to single strands, we test the piglets and their respect for the fence.
In the area that is contained by netting, we will run a single line of polywire a couple inches off the ground (snout height) to section off a corner. Then, we observe and wait for any squeals. Some pigs won’t test it at all because they know what it is. Others, may take a few shocks for the message to really settle in, which is why the netting is still set up in case they slip by it. Once we can see the piglets are respecting it after a few days, we usually repeat the test one more time in a different corner just to make extra sure they identify what it is and know not to try and go past it. This may seem like overkill to some, but I am NOT chasing escaped piglets. It’s at this point we are sure they respect it that we start moving them through our woods contained by our three strand set up without any perimeter fence.
Fencing Tips
I have heard of many a failed attempts at raising pigs exclusively on electric. Occasionally you do get a pig that is just a genuine a-hole and will try to break through anything. But most of the time, it can be traced back to improper set up, a glitch in the fence, or human error. This post I wrote a while back goes over some of the tools we use in our set up and how we use them.
I cannot overemphasize enough the importance of a HOT fence and a STRONG ground. You should not even attempt to train piglets on electric fence until you know that you have achieved both. We use a plug in 50 mile Parmak charger with a digital output. Because we run travel lines from this charger along different fences, the digital output is irreplaceable. There is never any question if there is a branch down on a fence somewhere, or some kind of issue because I will be able to see a voltage drop. Even with multiple nets from the other animals connected to it as well as the pigs single strands, it can still click away at 14,000 volts. We have a strong ground and that baby packs a punch. This is a big part of why our animals don’t escape.
If you can’t do some kind of plug in fence, I personally am not a fan of solar chargers. I feel they don’t have a strong enough charge and any animal is liable to just walk right through the fence. This couldn’t be more true with pigs. Some people use them with great success and argue with me on this, but I have also tried them (attached to my existing grounding rods that with my Parmak fencer you feel like you got struck by lightening) and I could barely feel anything when I grabbed the fence. If you’re in a setting where you must be mobile and move the fencer along with the netting (we could never move grounding rods like that with our landscape) I would recommend using a set up with deep cell marine battery. The batteries can really last, and if you have two, you can just swap them out for each other so you always have one charged on standby. I personally would rather be occasionally swapping out batteries than chasing escaped pigs.
There are many ways to train piglets on electric fence I’m sure, but this is the way we have done it for the past several years. Knock on wood, despite the varying sizes of pigs that we have kept and use of netting/ different numbers of strands, escaping hasn’t been an issue. Red Jamie did escape twice this winter, but it’s because the snow was so high she was able to walk right over the fence. They can’t respect what they don’t see! I largely attribute our success to properly training them while they’re young, while also giving them plenty of space so they don’t want to leave it.
Happy Fencing,
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Every time a new baby is born, I think I like that species most. Goats are surely my favorite when they’re kidding, and nothing can possibly beat lambs. But, if I’m being honest with myself, piglets really are the best. When I first decided to get into breeding pigs I was amazed at the seeming lack of information out there on farrowing let alone how to care for piglets. There are a billion different books on chickens, and I mean honestly, how boring are they in comparison? Yet pigs, the dogs of the barnyard and anatomically, the closest to humans, there is little information. What there is, is scattered. I don’t get it.
This is why I have made it a point to be “heavy” with the pig content on my blog. My hope is this blog can become a source of information for people who are having the same struggles that I did with the lack of information. I am certainly not an expert on the matter, but I have been around the block a few times. How to care for piglets is certainly something I should have posted about long ago, but hey, I’m only human. Better late than never!
When you farrow, you are left with a litter of piglets to contend with. I once heard that when it comes to breeding livestock, farrowing is where the men are separated from the boys. Based on some of my experiences, I don’t disagree! If you’re fortunate enough to have a good sow (who is worth her weight in gold) you can rest easier about a lot of scarier things that can happen once they’re born.
Big Marie is the most nurturing, careful, and attentive mother I could ever ask for. This is exactly why we retained two of her daughters for breeding. Despite the fact that trimmed down she’s still in the 900 pound range, she is oh so careful with every step she takes and when she lays down to try and not crush a piglet. Sadly accidents do of course happen though, and unfortunately that’s the name of the farrowing game. That’s why pigs have such large litters, to ensure some offspring survive. Oddly, it’s very un-mammal like? You will however have mothers that are “floppers” and will just go down like a sack of potatoes without taking a first look let alone a second. Or more horrible, will savage and turn on their own offspring. So, I say it again a good sow is worth her weight in gold.
While you can put a lot on mom, us humans do have a hand in things. There are some things that we need to do for the piglets after they’re born, and a general timeline to follow to ensure we are raising a healthy litter with as little loss as possible.
Immediately After Birth
How to care for piglets after they’re born is not much different than caring for goats. With any animal we raise there is a general post birthing sequence I follow: dry & warm, dip, drench, colostrum. This is a common theme outside any special cases or abnormal birthings.
Depending on the time of year you’re farrowing and if you happen to be there of course, the drying part may be unnecessary. In cold climates, it is important to get the piglets dry as quickly as possible. Rather than using rags or towels, I keep a bucket of mistral powder close by to sprinkle on piglets and rub all over them. It’s a mineral based anti-bacterial absorbent that absorbs any moisture and allows them to get warmer quicker. It literally sucks the moisture right off their bodies. Once they get a good coating of mistral, I quickly hold them against my chest and trim their umbilical cord if needed, and give good soaking spray of iodine. This is followed by a couple of pumps of nutridrench in their mouth. Give that awesome sow some nutridrench too to help give her a boost and keep the party going.
I sprinkle mistral on each piglet as they’re born. The rest of the process (dip and drench) is given to each piglet individually once we have a few on the ground, and after I’m sure they’ve gotten some colostrum. Just like with goats, sheep, or any other mammal, colostrum is essential. From this point on, it is just a matter of observing the piglets and making sure they are nursing and (hopefully) not snuggling with mama. Depending on where your sow decided to farrow, the piglets may need help finding their creep space initially. If need be, I will put each one in there after i’m sure they’ve nursed. This way they learn where it is, and that it is a warm area they will be wanting to go.
Days Following Farrowing
Piglets are born with a limited store of iron, and due to their accelerated growth they require supplemental iron for tissue growth and blood production. The stores that a piglet is born with is only enough to sustain them for 3-4 days before becoming anemic. Supplemental iron can come from natural sources such as dirt when raised outdoors. But, when raised inside or born in the winter when the ground is frozen, it must come in the form of an injection.
If your piglets have no access to a natural source, they should each get a 2ml (or what your bottle specifies) shot of injectable iron with a 1/2″ 20 gauge needle to the neck. If they have access to the outdoors, rooting through the soil or the soil on the sow’s udder when nursing should be sufficient to make up for this deficiency.
How can you tell if they have enough? You will be able to tell fairly easily if your piglets are anemic. Piglets will become lethargic, look white or jaundiced, have pale eyelids (think FAMANCHA in goats), rapid breathing, and scours. These all indicate a deficiency, and they should be dosed.
Within the first week of life, piglets are highly susceptible to scours due to an immature digestive system . While the consistency and color of the piglet’s poop will naturally change as the sows milk turns from colostrum to milk, it’s important to be on the lookout for excessive scouring. It can be caused by something as innocent and temporary as them gorging on milk, to a more serious and persistent cause such as E.Coli or Rotovirus. If it should happen and it seems excessive or concerning, it should be addressed quickly with an oral solution such as Spectoguard.
Under 2 Weeks of Age
At around a week old, I start to incorporate creep feed into the piglets diet. Essentially creep feed is just soaked grain/feed. Soaking the feed good and sloppy makes it more palatable and digestible for them at this age. They will still feverishly nurse from the sow, but at this age they do start to transition to nibbling on feed. I soak a little feed with goats milk or whey to make it more desirable for them, but regular milk or even water will work just as well. Put it in a large shallow pan in their creep space away from mama, where they can nibble on it in peace. Soaked feed does spoil quickly, so it’s best to toss what isn’t eaten after 24 hours. Start with a small amount as they won’t eat much initially so you have minimal waste. As they start to get the hang of it and eat more, you can increase the amount of feed and dial back the sloppiness.
Under the two week mark, unless you are keeping a male in tact for breeding, this is the time to castrate. Admittedly this is the worst part and the least fun job. The general rule is castrate the males as soon as you possibly can. So, if you can protrude the testes, castrate. For us, we try to do it by one week of age at max. Doing it at as young of an age as possible has numerous benefits. Not only is the piglet physically smaller and easier to hold and handle, but it will bleed less, heal faster from the antibodies in the sows milk, and poses minimal risk for a hernia when done properly. This is in addition of course to less nerve development which means less pain. Pig’s skin heals incredibly fast, especially at a young age. The castration itself is a simple process seen in a timelapse below:
- Sterilize area with iodine
- Cut slits over the protruded testes with a sharp scalpel or some people use side cutters (admittedly this Is where I need to speed things up because I always try to cut as small of a slit as possible when honestly it doesn’t matter)
- Pop the testes out, and pull to allow the spermatic cord to rip on its own as opposed to cutting. Not only is this faster, but it heals quicker. The more spermatic cord you pull the better.
- Repeat with other testis and check to make sure spermatic cord isn’t left hanging. If it is, trim it at the site of incision.
- Spray with diluted chlorhexidine solution and send him on his way
They will be immediately be back up and running around, and by the next day it will already be healing and scabbing over.
Depending on the climate, within the first two weeks you can start to raise or adjust the timing of the heat lamps and mat. When piglets are born they require incredibly warm conditions in the 80°-90°F range, as they don’t have any fat to help stay warm. It is a proven fact that initial environmental temperature conditions has a direct correlation to piglet mortality. The warmer you keep them, the greater chance of survival. Not only this, but the larger size at weaning. As they grow, piglets will require less heat. This can easily be gauged based on their behavior. If they’re piling, huddling, or shivering, clearly it isn’t warm enough and the heat lamps need to be lowered or additional ones added. If they are lying next to each other and seem content and at ease, the temperature is good. This is highly variable depending on the time of year and climate, and behavior is going to be your best indicator on if the conditions are acceptable or not.
Two Weeks On
From this point on until weaning, it’s just a matter of basic maintenance. Continuing to dial back the supplemental heat or turning it off altogether, as well as increasing the amount of creep feed. At around two to three weeks when they are getting adventurous and able to withstand the elements, this is when we begin to train them on our electric netting.
Piglets will still continue to nurse up until the time of weaning (6-8 weeks), but they will naturally get more interest and desire to eat supplemental feed as well. Once they have reached the appropriate size/age, we physically separate the sow from piglets. Feeders we are selling go to their new homes and the rest we keep to raise for meat.
It is our desire to raise our pigs as naturally as we possibly can given our climate and land. The piglets have access to the outdoors from day 1, and are raised completely outdoors from weaning until butchering. Because they are raised with space to move and roam and not be confined, things like docking tails and cutting needle teeth are unnecessary things for us to do. Our pigs need their tails to swoosh away flies in the summer, and we have never had even an inclining of a problem situation with needle teeth as newborns or adults. So if this is something you need, consider that in your timeline. Another thing to take into consideration is your vaccination protocol. Depending on what your philosophy is you may choose to vaccinate or not. This is something that should be worked out with your vet for what works best for you in your geographic location. This is not something I am educated enough on, or feel comfortable offering any kind of advice.
This general timeline works well for us, our needs, and our set up. Maybe you live in the south and rather than battling cold you have excessive heat. Or, maybe you are in the same climate and have a completely different set up and system altogether! Just like with any other livestock, make it your own and do what works for you and your animals. This is a good general timeline that works for us and the piglets we raise. For more on all things pigs in general and specifically farrowing, be sure to check out my numerous other posts as well 
Happy Farrowing,
We have since applied the elements of this farrowing house to an improved and expanded farrowing barn! This will allow us to accommodate more sows, and has several significant improvements!
One of the more amazing things about essentially starting a homestead from scratch is you can see the progression as you learn and fine tune. Everything we have built more than one of, you can tell which was first and see the improvements through trial and error. You can see how each stall in our goat mini barn improved as we built them, the quality in our fencing job, and our most recent farrowing house design is no different.
I could delete the original blog post I posted prior to our first farrowing and pretend like I had it right from the beginning. But, that’s not how I roll. I learned how I wanted to change the set up because of failures, things that didn’t work, and things that did. So, if you didn’t read my first building a farrowing house blog post, go back and read it. I am going to make direct comparisons on what worked, what didn’t, and what we changed. So, let’s hop to it!
The Layout
So, if you remember previously we essentially took 1/2 of our chicken coop and built a dividing wall with a door for access. A 6×8 portion was given to Big Marie, and the remaining area was given to the ducks. We thought that this 6×8 section would be plenty big enough for her to be comfortable and raise her babies in. Honestly, it worked pretty well. What we didn’t think or know about until we saw how she was as a mom, was how devoted she is! Feeding her outside was no longer an option, as we struggled to get her to eat the first few days after farrowing much less leave her babies. So, she just didn’t have enough space to comfortably eat, or move around easily when you factored in how much time she was spending in there. It became cramped, and we ran the risk of piglets accidentally getting stepped on no matter how careful she was.
With the new farrowing house design, we busted down that wall and removed the door, and opened up the entire area for her. So now, she has roughly 12×8 feet of space to move around. Because of her size, I feel that this is big enough for her to be comfortable, but small enough to be in that “sweet spot”. No matter where she lays she is close enough for her piglets to find her. Thinking forward, this space is definitely large enough to accommodate two smaller gilts, such as Red Jamie and Claire
One thing we also added was bumpers all the way around. We made them the same height and distance from the wall as before, but they surround all interior walls. Previously we only had one bumper on the wall we constructed to divide off her section. It worked well and served its purpose. But last farrowing, at some point in labor she switched sides and wedged her butt in between two studs on a wall (left above). She had four piglets here, which piled up and got trapped with nowhere to go. They died.
With bumpers around all walls, she can’t wedge her butt in between studs anymore, and is always at minimum 8 inches from the wall. So, the piglets will at least have a fighting chance to not be crammed and be able to find their way to mom.
She has the same door configuration that allows her access to the same paddock as before. I will rehang an old rug once she farrows for draft control as we found this made a significant difference in reducing drafts while still allowing her free access to go outside.
Piglet Creep Space
The last thing that we drastically changed was the creep space for the piglets. This is their “safe space” to stay warm away from mama so they don’t accidentally get crushed.
Originally, we tried a dog kennel as mentioned in the previous post. It barely made it out alive through Big Marie’s aggressive nesting, and then only held up for a couple of days after. If it had held up, piglets would have rapidly outgrown it and another space would have had to be created anyway. So, we scratched that idea pretty quickly and had to improvise. We assembled a corner creep area with some boards, but given the total size of the area we didn’t have much room to work with. After a couple of weeks, the piglets quickly outgrew that space as well.
With this farrowing house design, we went all out. Now that we know how much space even a litter of seven piglets can take up once they’ve grown a bit, we over sized it. We took a six foot long corner that was the furthest point away from Big Maries door to reduce drafts. Using wood we took down from the wall, we blocked off the corner to create roughly a 3 x 4 x 6 triangle. After seeing how Big Marie behaves when she is nesting or has piglets, we didn’t want her to be able to see into it if at all possible. So, the boards had to be high enough over her head, and built strong enough should she try and get a snout under it checking on her piglets.
It fits our 24 x 36 stanfield mat with plenty of room to spare and for piglets to grow. Instead of just vertically stacking the boards like I see so many do, we actually had the boards go back towards the wall to create a pitched roof. This will help retain heat and keep it in the creep space, with enough of a gap behind the peak to drop in additional heat lamps.
So, to quickly recap what did we change based on our experience with two farrowings in the original space?
- Doubled the total size of the area from 6 x8 to 12 x8
- Applied our same bumper design to all interior walls
- Scrapped the dog kennel for a creep area, and utilized a corner to create an oversized space with a pitched roof to help retain heat
With the new farrowing house design, we are improving upon our failures from the previous version in an effort to avoid the same issues in previous farrowings. This doesn’t mean that this version is perfect, or we can guarantee that accidents or deaths won’t still happen. But as long as we are providing our sows the housing and tools to set them up for success, then we have done our part.
One of the most common questions that I get from blog readers and Instagram followers is “how much does it cost to raise a pig for meat?” This is 100% a justified question! For someone who has never done it, they don’t know if it’s $100 or $10,000. There isn’t a whole lot of information out there on pigs. If you don’t personally know someone who raises them, you can be left in the dark. Hence this blog post. So, here comes the answer that everyone hates to hear… it depends.
Yes, I said it. It depends! Different factors affect growth rate, feed conversion, and ultimately the price it costs to raise one pound of pork. It depends on the pigs breed, age, price of piglets in your area, quality and quantity of feed. This is in addition to the amount of space they have to run, how big you want your pig at slaughter, etc, etc. The variables are endless. I cannot give you an exact dollar amount that it will cost to raise a pig for meat. But, I can shed some light on different factors that affect growth, and share what it costs to raise my pigs.
Note that this is not an all inclusive list of every variable that affects growth, FCR, etc. I couldn’t possibly explain every little thing down to the affects lysine has on growth. BUT, what I can do is hit on the “biggies” that are going to have the greatest affect on the cost to raise a pig for meat.
Choosing the Breed
While there are many factors as I previously mentioned that affect growth, it all starts with the pig itself and its breed. Not all pig breeds are created equal friends. There are “lard pigs” and “bacon pigs” which I discuss their distinction in my post on how to render lard. These heritage pigs produce well marbled meat, a healthy does of fat cap, and flavorful cuts. Heritage crosses are what we breed and raise for our own consumption. That will never change. While they are slower growers generally speaking, they are ideal pasture pigs for our model. They clear our woods while simultaneously producing the best pork. Heritage breeds are not the only ones out there though – lest we not forget the commercial breeds! “Pink pigs” such as Yorkshires (among many others) are renowned for their quick growth, leaner meat, and efficient feed conversion ratios.
You could raise a purebred heritage or heritage cross as well as a commercial breed in the same exact setting. Same feed, same housing, same everything, and you will get a different result in the meat. Genetically they are pre-programmed to put on weight differently, and this is something that cannot be completely changed through feed. Experimenting with different breeds and crosses to achieve the ideal combination of growth and marbling is a popular option. It’s also one we take advantage of by breeding our own pigs via AI. Choosing the right breed or cross for you is the first step in getting the pork you want in the end.
Feed Conversion Ratio
How To Calculate FCR
Before we can dive into the nitty gritty of feed, a general understanding of feed conversion ratio (FCR) is needed. In a nutshell, FCR is the amount of feed it takes to produce 1 pound of finished meat on your plate. This is a measure of efficiency, as a more efficient animal will require less feed to produce a pound of pork. In turn, this will mean you spend less money. If you want to get down to the exact thousandth of a decimal point, FCR calculations can get pretty complicated. You have to account for every scrap of feed wasted, as well as any additional food such as forage or waste/scraps they’re consuming. Luckily, on a homestead we don’t need to be that exact. Which is good, considering most likely aren’t equipped for it. You just need to have a pretty good idea, so you know if you’re doing well or spending too much money. Luckily a very good close estimate that tells you how “good” you’re doing is a simple calculation:
FCR= Total pounds of food fed out / (pig hanging weight – pig starting weight when started on grain)
So for example, let’s say that you brought a feeder pig home and it weighed 30 pounds (this is a live weight which is one reason we are getting a close estimate not exact). You fed it 600 pounds of food over the course of its life and it ended up with a hanging weight of 260 pounds:
FCR= 600 pounds/ (260-30)
FCR= 2.61 AKA it took 2.61 pounds of feed to generate 1 pound of finished pork
Interpreting Your FCR
Is that good? Is that bad? Again, the more efficient an animal is, the less feed it will take to generate one pound of finished pork. So, the lower the number, the more efficient the animal.
Typical FCR’s in the commercial pork industry hover right around the 2.5 mark on average, give or take based on google. I take this number with a grain of salt however, because we aren’t raising commercial pigs. We raise heritage cross breeds and the conditions and environment we raise our pigs in is nothing like the commercial pork industry. That’s kind of the point right? My pigs run in the woods free while burning calories in the process. I will never be on par with the “standard”, and I am okay with that. To me it’s all about the quality of life for the animal and the pork. Still, it is good to know what the standard is, so that you have something to compare to.
While FCR may seem cut and dry, like many things it isn’t. It’s highly subjective to interpretation on a small scale like a homestead. Just because an animal has an efficient FCR doesn’t mean you will be happy with the end result. Commercial breeds are generally speaking highly efficient. But, if you don’t like leaner cuts and are specifically looking for good marbling and fat, you may be sorely disappointed despite your pigs efficient growth.
Factors that Affect FCR
There are many factors that affect an animal’s growth and in turn, FCR. As previously mentioned the breed and an animal’s genetics have a significant affect on growth and efficiency. Access to fresh water, overall health, parasite load, climate, and sanitation/living conditions can have a great deal of an impact on growth as well. Aside from this, there are other factors that make a significant effect:
FEED
First and foremost, feed. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of quality feed. As the saying goes, garbage in garbage out. You are what you eat, and the animal you’re eating is what IT ate. You get the picture.
Finding quality grain however, without breaking the bank is a delicate balance. Beware of the temptation to go and buy the cheapest feed you can. It may seem like you are getting a good deal if you look at it from the standpoint of price per pound of feed. But, if the feed is garbage, you very well could end up feeding out 2-3x the amount as you would with quality. In turn, you could spend more money!
While mycotoxins are a concern with any animal, pigs are particularly susceptible to their effects. These are toxins created by different molds that get into an animals feed by improper harvesting and storage of grains. A quality feed company will regularly check for mycotoxins. They can have devastating effects not only on the animals overall health and reproduction, but growth. I went through a mycotoxin scare when I was buying feed from a local farm. When I questioned their testing protocol and it didn’t meet my standards, they immediately lost my business. Lesson learned.
We feed organic, non-gmo, soy free feed to our animals, and it isn’t exactly the easiest to find. I have tried several different feeds over the years, and purchased it in varying amounts. We finally have a good system in place where we purchase feed in bulk to get the best price and have it shipped to us. Always buy it in bulk if you can properly store it, it saves a TON of money.
While any scraps/kitchen waste and forage the pigs have are icing on the cake, likely grain is the bulk of diet. So, quality is paramount. Last year we ended up with an FCR of 3.70, which given the conditions in which we raise our hogs and their size (which I will discuss further), I was satisfied with.
LEVEL OF ACTIVITY
This may seem like an obvious thing to mention, but I feel like it could be easily overlooked. Level of activity is going to have a significant impact on the cost to raise a pig for meat. This is a big part of why large scale operations have such efficient FCR’s whether it be pigs or even meat chickens. An animal kept in confinement is less active, meaning it burns less calories. If you have an active animal that’s running around, they are not going to gain weight as quickly or efficiently!
We have a system of rotational grazing pigs through the woods on electric and finishing them in the fall. Exercise is something we not only allow, but encourage. Not only do our pigs have an exceptional quality of life running around a half acre at a time, but using those muscles creates delicious pork. Sure, you may need some more feed to generate a pound than an animal that lives in a barn stall. But to us, it’s worth it not only to allow our pigs help us clear our land, but produces premium cuts of pork in the process. It’s a balancing act of enough space for activity and to maximize clearing, but not too much that we are spending a ridiculous amount of money on feed.
MARKET WEIGHT
The size of the hog at butcher all comes down to a matter of personal preference. The industry standard for “market weight” has slowly changed over the years. For the longest time it was 250 pounds live, but over time as genetics have improved it has slowly crept up to the 290-300 pound range.
Airing on the side of caution you can anticipate a 30% loss from live to hanging weight once the viscera and blood has been removed. That means if you raised a 250 pound hog, it would yield a 175 hanging weight carcass. I don’t know about you, but that is not enough meat for this gal. Nor would those cuts have a hefty enough fat cap and marbling for me. Luckily, one of the many benefits to raising your own animals for meat is that they can be as big or as little as you want when it comes time to butcher. There is no “one way” to do it, suit it to your tastes!
But why is this the “standard”? I will save you my side rant on Americans fear of fat and their obsession with lean, “other white” meats…
Aside from that, there is in fact some scientific basis for this. Once a pig reaches 250-280ish pounds, there is a noted drop in their feed conversion efficiency. They are not converting feed to lean meat as efficiently when they’re 270 pounds as when they were 200 pounds. So if you raise them over the mark, it will have an effect on your overall FCR. In the commercial industry, they are constantly striving to improve the genetics to produce an efficient FCR closer to this 300 pound range. Hence the slowly creeping market weight size. Remember, these are commercial hogs though, not the average homesteaders stock. Manage your expectations appropriately.
You will see below in my numbers that I raise some pretty big pigs. It’s a personal preference! They hang as big as the live “market weight”! So, is their efficiency diminished because of this, affecting my overall FCR? Absolutely. But, I do it because it gives me the ideal fat cap and marbling for my liking, as well as a hefty supply of leaf lard and back fat for rendering. We love our fats in this household, and it is just as important to us as the meat itself. We may lose some efficiency to get there, but for us it is 100% worth it to get the pork that we want on our plate.
Price Per Pound for My 2019 Pigs
Okay, so now that I’ve talked to your ear off about what FCR is and some of the things that may affect it let’s get to what’s really important. How much does it cost to raise a pig for meat? Like I said, having a general idea of FCR is a very good thing, but for me it ALL comes down to the price I’m paying per pound. This is the number that I calculate immediately once I have hanging weights and butchering cost for my pigs, not the FCR. Some people may shudder looking at my FCR of 3.70 last year and think “how horribly inefficient!” But I’m over here like, “have you seen how cheaply I was able to raise my organic/non gmo/soy free pork?!” So, let’s get into it:
Below are the costs associated with all three of of the pigs we raised last year in 2019: Sheldon, Ralphie, and Smidge. Keep in mind Smidge was a runt and totally threw off the curve. Because we raised them together, fed them together, etc I calculated the entire group as an average. There is no way to know exactly who ate how much, but I know what the group as a whole consumed.
We breed ourselves and I didn’t “buy” them, but I still put a dollar amount on them that would be what we would have sold/expected to pay for similar pigs. There are afterall costs associated with breeding! Feed costs include the 1.5 tons of grain they ate throughout the year, factoring in the cost of shipping. The butchering cost includes the processing of all three, with some smoking (our friends who bought Ralphie had their cuts smoked while we smoked our own). There were no additional crazy costs that I have associated with raising them as we had infrastructure in place, no sickness that required a vet appointment, etc
Then comes a matter of how much each pig hung at (weight after they have been dressed). Hanging weight is the weight that is used “in the biz” as the measure to base price off of. It includes fat, bones and meat, all of which are things that we get back from the butcher. Hanging weights for all three were:
Sheldon 289 pounds + Ralphie 262 pounds + Smidge 106 pounds
= 657 POUNDS OF PORK
Can I get a drumroll please...
$3.18 PER POUND of ORGANIC/NON-GMO/SOY FREE Woodlot Pasture Pork
Can I get a hell yeah?
Now, let’s remember this is the average price per pound for an entire pig, and is not factoring in different cuts. So, think about that. That “premium” expensive bacon (that is arguably garbage) found at any regular ole’ grocery store fetches over $6.50 a pound. I pay a little over $3! And the quality is not even in the same league, not to mention the fact it’s 100% organic.
I also can’t help but think how much better my numbers would have been if Smidge wasn’t in the picture. She was a runt, and sometimes you get a pig that just doesn’t want to grow. The potential for genetic capability was there, just look at her brothers. So, there is no question she thew off the numbers, but to what extent I will never know.
There are so many ways to cut costs, and factors that will affect the cost to raise a pig for meat. Grain price is going to be a huge factor, as is butchering costs. This year we are switching to a mobile butcher who will do an on site slaughter as opposed to taking the pigs to a slaughterhouse. While this is a slightly more expensive option, it’s more convenient for us and better for the animal. So it’s a cost we are willing to incur.
There are SO MANY VARIABLES at play that affect the cost to raise a pig for meat. Like anything else with homesteading there is no one right way to do it. It’s all about raising the quality of meat that you want and of course trying to do it without breaking the bank. It’s all about finding reliable and quality feed/piglet sources, and a system that works for you. Hopefully I have been able to give you some food for thought, as well as shed some light on raising your own pork!
Happy Pig Raising,
Today is a sad bittersweet day. Today the piglets are three days old, and seemingly all is well. Big Marie is killing it as a mother again after largely farrowing on her own. The piglets are not physically removed from her, and are free to co-mingle with her as they please. They have a creep space they can go to when they choose, or they are free to snuggle up next to her. I trust her completely, and have not intervened. I watch as she gingerly tip toes around each individual piglet as to not step on them with the grace of a ballerina, then gently eases her body down careful to not crush any babies as she rolls over to nurse. It truly is a wonder to behold and I can’t help but watch in sheer amazement and awe of her.
In order to gauge Big Marie’s milk production and ensure everyone is gaining weight as they should I spot weighed them. We weighed them when they were a day old as a benchmark. So with that to compare to, I can know without a shadow of a doubt if Big Marie is giving them what they need to thrive. I went into todays weighing cautiously optimistic, but hopeful because things really seemed to be so much better this time around. Numbers don’t lie, and sadly every single piglet has lost weight.
Big Marie’s milk production is certainly better than last farrowing. I can tell by her udder development and the more “settled” the piglets seem in comparison. But, she still has never been engorged (her milk didn’t even come in before farrowing), it has always been a struggle to express milk, and while they piglets seem more settled, the agitation that comes when they aren’t getting any milk is there. It’s better, but isn’t good which isn’t good enough. In order for them to thrive and grow, I have no choice but to supplement them with milk. Not only does this mean no more goats milk for me this year (it will all go to the pigs), it also means no more breeding for Big Marie.
Whether her first farrowing set her up for poor milk production due to low demand on her udder from a small litter, or genetically she just isn’t a good milk producer I don’t know. And there is no way to know. But, I do know that I can honestly say I did everything I possibly could (diet change, supplements for deficiencies in our area, udder rubs, milk boosting herbs, trimming her down ) to improve her milk production and all around set her up for a better farrowing this time. This was her second and last chance to determine if it would be worth continuing to breed her. Sadly, it wasn’t good enough, and wanting something bad enough doesn’t make it so
Nick and I had this funny dream of being 60-70 years old and our sow being a descendant of Big Marie. I think the fact that this isn’t going to happen is what’s hardest for me, not that SHE won’t be having anymore piglets. There truly is no other pig like her, and she has the most phenomenal personality, temperament, foraging/grazing abilities, and is a wonderful mother. I could go on and on about her, and I wanted to keep a little piece of her with me forever. But, she cannot give her babies the milk that they need to thrive. I could breed her again to a boar with excellent milk genetics, hope she has a quality gilt, and hope that gilt inherits the sires milking genes. I seriously thought about it in a desperation to keep Big Maries legacy going.
But, after serious thought and logical thinking, I decided it is best to just cut our losses and start fresh rather than risk yet another disappointing situation in an effort to desperately hold onto a dream. We want quality genetics, with sows that have great milk production to wean their own piglets and farrow with ease. I fear we may never get there with Big Marie.
I have so much thank her for from a learning standpoint. I learned how to artificially inseminate from breeding her both times. I learned some hard lessons in what to look for when choosing a gilt. I learned about the sorrows and heartbreak that farrowing can bring. I learned SO MUCH about different problems that can arise medically and how to address them. I learned how to be a proper midwife, trust my instincts and think on me feet faster.
I learned, I learned, I learned.
She may not be the matriarch that I had hoped for that I could carry her line on for as long as I breed pigs. But without her, I wouldn’t know a fraction of what I know about breeding pigs and caring for sows. The hard lessons and knowledge I gained from her is something that I can carry on with future sows, even if they aren’t her descendants.
She will always be special to me, and I will be forever grateful for all the things I learned as a direct result of raising her. To some they may think “geez she’s just a pig”. Well, to me she is so much more. People don’t know the journey I have been through with her, the energy I have put in, the hopes I had and dreams pinned on her success. They don’t know the sleepless nights, or the tears. It is is extremely difficult to know that I gave everything to give her the best shot, did everything I possibly could to set her up for success and despite both of our best efforts, it just isn’t good enough. From a pig standpoint, she was my “first” for so many things, and throughout it all she was patient and trusting. I have to accept her for the many wonderful things she is, and things she isn’t.
So, I am moving on with a new gilt full of promise. I am picking up a six week old Gloucestershire Old Spot x Duroc gilt in a little over a week. I am wiser this time, and I know what I’m looking for in terms of teat conformation, size, body conformation, and lineage. She comes from a sow that has repeatedly farrowed without human intervention. Who boasts large litters with low mortality rates, and with no problem weaning even a litter as large as 13 on her own.
There is always some level of risk and things that can go wrong of course. Sometimes good genetics skip a generation, there are no guarantees. Even champions throw duds. But, bringing in a young gilt with such desirable qualities in her bloodline is the best way I can start over. As sad as I am about not breeding Big Marie again, there is a sense of a fresh start and starting over that feels promising and relieving.
As for Big Marie? Typically a retired sow is destined for slaughter, that’s just how it goes. We are adamant about not raising pets when it comes to livestock. We are meat eaters and are proud that we raise our own, and are no stranger to eating animals we have bonded with and the emotional toll. But, some animals truly are special and I believe they deserve a free pass. She is one of those animals. She makes us laugh, smile, and is the best land clearer we have. After everything that I have been through with her, I cannot bring myself to say goodbye to my third dog. Life around here would truly not be the same without her. So, we are making an exception to our “no pet” rule. She will live out her life clearing our woods, creating neatly stacked piles of brush for us to burn, and living her best life all while respecting a single line of electric fence. Even though I will miss seeing her be the fantastic mother that she is, hopefully I have many years ahead of me to enjoy her company and the joy she brings to our lives. We love her.
