Here's a photo of our 2nd spring litter farrowed last night. This girl had 11, just like her sister.
More piglets on the ground
And here's a picture of her sister's litter who are now 5 days old.
That's one thing I really miss, is the new pigs in the spring. Where I grew up, it always seemed like they would wait until a real cold night. Many a night I spent in the hog house keeping an eye on the newborn piglets.
Yours look great!
Bernie
Thanks Bernie. These type of pigs (heritage Large Blacks) pretty much take care of themselves. They are without a doubt the best mothering breed of pig around, and I worked in the commercial industry for 12 years, so I've seen the PIC, Dekalb, LWx L f1 cross, and about every other combo you can think of. Their number born alive may not compare with modern crosses, but I'd put their weaning percentage and litter weight up against anybody's.
I kept Hampshire & Yorkshire cross. This was 50 years ago, so things were way different.
We weren't very scientific about it. Only kept the gilts for a spring litter & a fall litter. One year a Hamp boar, the next a York. No inbreeding either. We would always wean around 10 to a litter.
More money in it for sure. 1959, I fed out 6 barrows during the summer. I sold 5 to a meat market & kept one for our own meat. With the money from the 5, I bought a 1952 Ford car.
Try buying a 7 year old car with 5 pigs today!
Bernie
That's a great story. That right there is why they used to call hogs the "mortgage lifters". You wouldn't recognize Hamps or Yorks these days. They've introduced so much Pietrain into all the modern breeds that they're all almost identical except for the coloring.
This message was edited Mar 19, 2010 3:46 AM
Congrats..
Those pigglets are soooo cute! I know, a girlie thing to say, but they are!
Back in the 70's there was a fairly large hog farm down the road from the stabbles where my dad and I kept our horses. On the weekends, when the weather permited I used to trot down and ride along the fence and look at the hogs. They we Yorkshires. They were all outside hogs and they had little huts where they had their babies and slept at night. I really don't see that style of hog farming any more. I went to school with several of the guys who worked part time there. When I caught them outside with the pigs I used to ask them all sort of questions about the hogs. Of course, they thought I was weird as girls should no be interested in such things! Ah well!
Today's hogs really don't look the same as those hogs did. The hogs I used to visit had much larger ears that the modern Yorkshires, their body types seem to have changes, and the older hogs also had much better personalities. Those hogs from the old farm (which is gone now) used to take such an interest in their surroundings and would trot over to watch me ride. I do visit the 4H fairs now and the state fair when I can. I'm glad the heritage hogs are making a comeback. The modern hogs just don't seem to have any personality.
By the way, I wanted to thank you, ImaTulsaDawg, for the input regarding the turbo wire fencing. DH went out and got the product you recommended and installed turbo wire fencing for my garden and yard for my anniversary present! It was just what I wanted! =D This fencing was already repelled two coyotes and the neighbors "free range" Great Danes!
I may also sound girly, but those babiez drive me crazy cute! Congrats on the sister being a good producer too.. I am happy for both of you. LOL
Terri, I'm glad the turbo-wire is working for you, and ZZ and MissJestr, thanks for the comments. Next week I'll turn them out in the pasture and have some really good photos.
In high school my best friend raised pigs, I raised cows for FFA. It came time to castrate her piglets, and they led the momma outside and a few of us were in the barn and we scooped up a piglet and they made a ruckus.... Not the kind we made as the really mad momma crashed thru the door and was headed straight for us madder than a wet hen... We ended up putting her in a squeeze chute until we could get done... LOL That is my pig story..
I have an old lawnmower that was missing it's muffler. I was going to throw it out, but I had my one and only brilliant idea. I put that old mower just outside the electric fence and then feed the sows whose pigs need cutting right next to it. You couldn't hear Eddie Van Halen play "Eruption" on a 10,000 watt amplifier next to that old mower, much less hear a pig squealing! :) Makes life alot easier without having to fend off angry sows.
lolol....love it!!
Good idea....
ImaTulsaDawg - I had to come back and look at the pictures a couple of time, just love pigs! Wish we could have one or three here, they're so smart. Growing up we always had a couple and taught them tricks. They used to ring bells when they wanted out of their pen to the pasture and had to 'wave" when we put the feed pan down. Lover of all things that go Oink..
Sigh....maybe someday for us. When DH gets over his fear of sows. He was chased by a vicious sow when he was a boy and never got over it! I've only just now convinced him that we could do goats.
Thanks, ImaTulsaDawg, for letting us "trot by" your pretty piggies! I wish I still had that horse from days gone by. But I think he is irreplacable. =(
Thanks Annie, terri, and taynors. It's not all peaches and cream though. This weekend we had a freakin blizzard here. I'm talking about 60 mph winds and snowing. My gilt that farrowed first (Geez is her name) layed on one of her pigs. He was a big ole nice pig I called "socks" because he had 4 white bands on his legs that looked like socks. Now he's just a mashed potato. I think the wind blew snow up under the eave on my farrowing ark and he probably got too cold. I hardly ever have a pig get mashed so that blizzard chapped my assterick! I'm turning the 2 litters out tommorrow, so I'll post up some more photos soon.
Real nice! I've never seen black and white speckled hogs. We have 2 Blue Listed hogs. A barrow and a sow. Going to the processor soon. Should be 600lbs between the 2.
Cajun, the hair color trait is a funny thing. White is the most dominant color (cross any of the black, red, or spotted breeds with a York and you get blue butted pigs), but you just wouldn't think nature would choose white as dominant. Black, red, or spotted pigs blend in much better in a natural environment, (making them less visible to predators) so you would think one of those colors, especially black, would be most dominant. Go figure!
Love your piggies! brings back memories of my childhood when I would make pets of them all, and rub their tummies to get them to grunt for me!
My mom was telling the grandkids about raising pigs & them getting laid on. She said they designed some type of floor with a board for the sow to lay on & a space wide enough that when she rolled or flopped down the piglets could just drop into the space, stay warm & not squashed. Has anyone heard of this type floor? Or is it just something my grandpa thought up? It came up after looking at your pictures with the kids & all the snow coming down. They were all concerned about them.
we had a foot here. It snowed on Sat... freezing rain on Sunday & melted today. I was nearly 2 hrs away when i got the call that Oklahoma had a blizzard.. let me tell ya.. i high tailed it home down I-44. We barely walked in the door before the sleet started falling. I'm sorry you lost one of those darling babies. I'd love to have one eventually. Mom tells wonderful stories of hers, she showed them in 4-H nearly 60 yrs ago!
Heard of it. Mom was telling me of something similar. Seemed to mostly consist of a 2"x6" along the walls, above floor level (oops not floor, sorry) so the sow couldn't take up all the space and squish anybody.
Very sorry for your loss. Family in Guthrie and they said it was crazy...really hurts with new babies around though:(
Ima... I am planning a road trip to see my son who is at Ft Sills army base.. just how far are you from there? do you accept Visitors on your ranch?
MissJestr, we're about 4 or 5 hours northeast of Ft Sill by car. ( I reckon if they shoot you outa one of them there big ole cannons they got you could get here in a half hour or less) :) Come on over anytime!
We always needed extra heat in our pig barn for the little ones. So one corner of the pen was boarded off with 2 x 6. Piglets could go under into the corner. There was a heat bulb hung in the corner. Piggies would sleep under the light. Hardly ever had any laid on.
I was probably about 10 years old, I went with my dad to look at a new boar. The man had Spotted Poland China pigs. (White with fairly big black spots.) He had a nice green pasture with the little huts for the sow & litters. The young ones were about 2 weeks old. There must have been about 20 litters there. Very pretty sight!
Bernie
Pastured pigs are very rare these days.
But so happy.
If the spotted ones stayed that tiny, I'd say stick one in the mail for me today! They are so darn cute! We can only have pot-bellied pigs here, I don't like the way they look even as piglets.
Edited for spelling
This message was edited Mar 23, 2010 10:33 AM
ImaTulsaDawg, we got your freekin' blizzard when you got through with it. Power went out too. Thanks ;)! Sorry to hear about your little guy. And yeah, I know its not all peaches and cream.....grew up in farm country and grew up with horses. Still, I like being outside and working outside when I can.
So what does it entail to have a pig or two? What kind of space do you need? Do pigs do okay if you just have one or do you need at least two for company?
Gwendalou, you can raise 1 or 2 pigs in a 16'x16' pen (which equals 4 tall woven wire fence panels) if you use a deep litter system, which means you have to add straw (or any available bedding material) a couple of times per week. The tall panels are because the litter will get deep over their growing period. If you raise them in the summer you'll need shade cloth and a mister to keep them cool. You can buy a hut, or build one for shelter. Put in something to feed and water, and that's all you need.
Some friends have one pig and while he does have a pen, most of the time he goes 'free range' on their property, which is about 5 acres. He's very quiet and mellow. I never see any damage he's done. They don't have any landscaping other than the natural landscaping (they have a gorgeous property) of trees and some shrubs. But I've never seen any evidence that he's rooted anywhere or anything like that. That's the kind of pig I want! I've never even seen any pig poop anywhere.
We have a small wooded area and I'm wondering if I let a pig roam free in that area, would he want to wander over to my flower beds and dig them up or would he be content to stay in the woods (or in his pen)? We also have an orchard, so I wouldn't mind him in that area as long as he left my flower beds alone.
Have you read The Good Good Pig? Such a wonderful book! Of course, I'd like a pig slightly smaller than Christopher. ;) I like the spotted old glouchester (that's not the name but it's close) and there's another breed with adorable floppy ears that I like.
If you want to give a pig room to roam you should put up electric poly wire (turbowire from Gallagher is the best available) if you don't have fencing already in place. If you want to keep the pig from rooting you need to put a humane nose ring in his snout. These will keep him from rooting until he's full grown. It's their instinct to root, so a pig will be constantly digging, whether it's in the woods or in your flower bed. If you grow a garden you can fence him in your plot and let him pre-till it for you. That's what we do, albiet on a large scale. The pig you're refering to is called a Glouchester Old Spot. They're known as orchard pigs in their native England because the folks there let them clean up the fallen fruit in their orchards. I've grown several of them myself. They're an alright pig, but have extremely fatty meat.
I don't want to put up elec fencing. Our property is 100% fenced, altho not elec. We also have other fenced areas. My veggie garden is fenced all the way around and then we have a drain field and a pond area that has a fence around it, altho not what I'd call a secure fence. Don't know if a pig would figure out how to go thru it or not. But the area behind it is large enough that a pig would have plenty of space (an acre or more) to roam just in that area.
Don't know if I could put a nose ring in an animal. Doesn't sound real humane to me. Once they're fully grown they don't root anymore?
I let my chickens pre-till for me!
So what kinds of pigs have the mose loveable nature? I'm looking for Wilbur...
Once a pig is full grown a nose ring won't slow them down. They'll dig as if they didn't have one. A humane ring doesn't hurt them. No worse than an earring or any other piercing the kids are getting today. The gentlest breeds will be the pure, rarebreed pigs, like Large Blacks, Old Spots, Mulefoots, Red Waddles, and Ossabaw Island. The Tamworths are kinda in between the rare breeds and the modern synthetic breeds.
So if a pig has a nose ring, what does it do behaviour-wise if it can't dig. Won't they be frustrated if they can't do what comes naturally?
I tryed a heat lamp for my piglets but i had a really bad experience.They buitl a nest up around it and caused a fire! Thank godness i had left the hose turned on with a sprayer handle hanging on the cage as when the fire melted a side of the hose it sprayed the fire and put it out before the whole barn cought fire! I dident loose any pigs because i leave the side door to their yard open and they went outside.Needless to say i wont ever try that again but i have been reading about a huge heating pad they make for the floor.Has anyone tryed the pad? Im curiouse if it produces enough heat for a litter of piglets to survive in an illinois winter.
This picture was taken just days before the fire.
This message was edited Mar 24, 2010 10:13 PM
