We’ve entered a new era. One of pigs.
Earlier this summer, we found someone getting out of pigs. He was selling a whole lot of pigs for really cheap. The sows were Mangalistas (you know, the primo of pork meat), the boar was Kunekune (you know, the best homestead pasture pig), and about 17 “piglets” at six months old. It was a deal we couldn’t pass up.
We’ve learned a lot since then.
We’ve learned that heat is a huge killer of pigs, especially if they’re not used to it. We lost four pigs, including our boar, to heat stroke.
We’ve learned always to castrate very young, as we have nine male pigs, destined for the freezer, not a life of luxury and breeding. Yet we have had four, yes FOUR, unexpected and unplanned litters.
We’ve learned never to breed our sows too young. Since we didn’t know they were pregnant (happened before we bought them), they were bred to young. We lost a whole litter of piglets because the mom wouldn’t nurse them properly.
We’ve chased pigs across the pasture and back, because our electric fences weren’t strong enough and pigs are smart.
We (or Bryan mostly) have been bit by both adult and baby pigs alike. Their teeth are sharp. Bryan never goes into the pig pen without pants and tall boots now.
We’ve learned that mama pigs can be super protective, and kind of mean to other pigs and to us. So we never let the boys in the pig pen. Ever. But we do bring the super tiny ones out. Just for a minute.
And all of this culminates next week in our first large batch of pigs going to the butcher for processing to sell. We butchered one pig for ourselves, mostly because we couldn’t keep her in the fence, but she was too small really to be ready yet. Next week we have four pigs going to the butcher. All of them are pretty big. We’re still not good at guessing.
We’ll see what else we still have to learn in the processing and selling department.
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