Good morning sleepy heads, time for breakfast!
Coal Creek Farm has four pigs this year. They’re all females, so maybe I should call them sows, but they aren’t bred, so maybe they’re hogs.
Hog, sow, boar, pig, swine. Why are there so many names for these animals? I think I need to read up on this a bit more.
This is our second year with pigs. We loved raising them last year. We buy them when they weigh approximately fifty pounds and are around ten weeks old. In these photos they have nearly doubled their weight.
This morning we’ll be having corn and soybean meal.
Last year I went to the local feed store and bought all the pigs food. By month three I was spending $60 a week feeding them, it was horribly expensive. This year we have cut our feed cost down by buying bulk feed direct from a mill. We have the mill mix clean feed, which means we don’t feed any antibiotics or hormones to these pigs. They eat what is called 16% feed, which means they are getting a ratio of 16% protein consisting of corn, soybean and minerals. I’m almost certain I’m saying something wrong here, so please correct me, I’m still new to the pig farming.
These pigs are gaining weight much faster than our pigs from last year. Because we have four of them they are more competitive with their food and don’t waste one drop of it.
How do you like our feed trough? It’s some sort of tank that was cut in half and left on our farm for us to find and say, “Hey, that’ll work great to feed the pigs!” Except the pigs like to move it around and occasionally bury half of it in the mud, so maybe it’s not the greatest feed trough, especially in the morning when it’s pouring rain and I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get the trough out of the mud and feed the pigs and not have to take another shower. Please don’t tell me how stupid I am for taking a shower before I feed the pigs. I know this. I just can’t seem to stop.
This is part of the ton of grain we hauled home. When I say we hauled home a ton of grain….I mean we hauled ONE TON of grain home in our truck. The hitch was nearly dragging on the road and we thought for sure we were going to bend an axle or pop a tire or destroy something, because we are very good at breaking things. Especially when we get over zealous on our farm projects.
I’m using this grain to feed our chickens too. We use one 50lb bag of feed a day and we’ll keep using more and more grain each day until, um, well, I’ll get to that in a second.
I like to feed the animals, but I HATE to water them. We don’t have a convenient watering system and it drives me crazy.
This is my watering system. Yes, it’s cute, but not convenient. I have to say…every…single….day, “Okay, I’ll holler when I get back to the pig pen for you to turn on the water and then I’ll holler again for you to shut it off…don’t leave…stay right there. Okay? Okay? Are you listening? Stay right there. Don’t move…okay? Please? Please? Stay there honey, okay?” Then I run and pray that just this one time he’ll not get distracted and stay by the hydrant until I get back to the pig pen.
It never fails, the water system screws up every time. “CLOSE THAT LINK! NO! NO! DON’T RUN AWAY FROM IT! NO! SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF!” I make a lot of trips back and forth from the hydrant to the pig pen to ‘fix’ the watering system.
This is the reason we will be using a bit less grain. It’s time to um, well, say goodbye to these birds. You know I’ll fill you in on all the details when the day comes, because I like to share every detail of this farm life with you.
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Man she is a plump bird!
I love the watering system, he is quite cute.
The pigs aren’t cute at all…sorry, they just aren’t.
I can’t remember how many pounds of pork you ended up with last year? How many months did it last?
Jean,
From the two we had last year we got a little over 200 pounds of meat. We still have pork chops, ham and spare ribs left and we gave a lot of it away to family and friends and donated a sizable package to the school auction. We processed them in late September, we ran out of bacon and sausage last month. That’s why we got four this year. We will process three and breed one. I don’t ever want to run out of bacon…it’s a crime. If we would have kept it all for ourselves I think we would have made it until these new pigs were ready to be butchered.
Oh my. There are so many things I could tell you to make your life easier. But that would be an obnoxious post.
We had pigs for years when the big boys showed them for 4-H at county fair. We raised one for ourselves at the same time. One thing I will tell you is that there are nifty automatic waterers for pigs. They are like a personal pig water fountain. They just bite on the end to release the water when they want a drink. It does not run constantly like a people water fountain. The doodads are cheap and you attach one where they can reach it, screw the hose into the back and leave the water on. Hello! Your kid can watch cartoons instead. Or feed the chickens.
Ask at your friendly local feed store.
Oh, I know, I want one! Our problem is our hydrant is on the wrong side of the freakin’ drive way and we have to drive over our hose, which mean they don’t last long, especially if we leave them on all the time. And we desperately need a good feeder….but remember….we are the cheapest people in the world right now, so we are not going to make our lives easier…only more difficult, by not spending any money.
Someone ask me today, ” Who would get close enough to a pig to catch the flu?”
(She was being silly, I think)
Anyway…I thought of you.
The pigs have the saddest eyes yet the most beautiful eyelashes. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a pigs eyelashes before. Will you be breeding one or more of the pigs this year? How big will they get before slaughter?
And I first found your blog when you showed how to kill and clean one, a long time ago. I can’t wait for more photos. Sick maybe, but very interesting.
Hi Jean,
I think you mean when we killed and butchered the rooster, right? Cuz, we don’t have it in us to kill the pigs ourselves. Yes, we are going to keep the best one and breed her…it should be an adventure of epic proportions and I’m sure we will do everything wrong the first time. We try to get them over 200 pounds before butchering, there is a certain weight that once you get past it, they are only putting on fat and not muscle, so you don’t want to pay for the fat to be processed.
oh no! ain’t you skerd of the swine flu??
You’re making me hungry for bacon and eggs!
oh man, hate that when the watering system isn’t working properly…..or the hanging basket system for that matter
Are you having chicken tonight?
your pigs are growing great! we just got our new pigs too, and it’s really shocking how much all these farm animals can eat! i spend more at the feed mill than at the grocery store most weeks! we feed our pig garbage scraps that we get from a local resturaount for free, so that sure helps with the feed bill. we use a cut in half barrel for feed, too, and you’re right- it can get pretty yucky! we should be getting the call from the butcher any day now that our other 2 pigs are ready- can’t wait for some fresh ham and bacon!
SOME PIG!
Gosh this brings back memories! We raised pigs one year. Husband’s idea. All 11 of them grew so fast and got big and obnoxious in a hurry. When I would go into feed them they would grab my boots and one time knocked me off my feet, into, yep you guessed it, muck! After that day I told my husband they were big enough to go to the sale. We haven’t done pigs since. However they made a heluva garden for us! Completely rototilled the area where our garden is now.
Could you try a spray nozzle thingy for watering?
I think your watering system it too cute! That is a great picture.
Love the pigs. I have to use the same type watering system but mine is a bit older!
Have you used brewers grain?? The grain left over from making whiskey/beer etc. We’re using it to fatten a couple of calves for ourselves – selling the rest.
Also, there’s the left over corn from the ethanol plants.
They maybe cheaper options.
S
It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it, right!?! Good luck with the water issue.
P.S. I posted a good article today about Swine Flu Myths … check it out.
http://www.atincupchalice.com
Would it be possible to tunnel under the drive way with a PVC pipe containing your garden hose???
What about building a low sloping ramp that brings your cars up and over the hose gently?
I’m on your kid’s side here.
We got those little walkie talkies for our kids and we would make them the “hose police” they had to watch it and they would report back on the walkie talkie and then one of us could tell them what to go do. Of course we weren’t feeding pigs or watering them we were setting up an RV and when your inside and they are outside and you forgot to hook up the pressure reducer and water is spewing out everysingle spigot you it kinda comes in useful.
April – an unbred female pig is a Gilt – a castraited male pig is a Barrow and boars are always boars…male.
If you water down the pigs feed, and make it a ‘mash’ type food or slop as we call it – they will eat less and still gain well. What kind of pigs are they – Landracers or Chester whites or Yorkshires? Just curious! 
Maybe they are blue butts – yes thats a type of pig… they have blue spots on thier butts or body in places..:)
We got our cornish rocks this week – 24 of them and about 6 weeks from now we will do the “unspeakable” as well.
And…. We get our piglets tomorrow!!! Can’t wait – we are getting four as well but will not be breeding. This is our 3rd year of raising our meat. There is nothing like it.
I can totally relate to your watering system – Our old farm house has one faucet. We run a hose across our drive down the barn where the piggies reside. Good times…
I wouldn’t call them “swine” right now. They’ve changed the name “swine flu” to protect innocent piggies. People are freaking out down here in Texas!
They’re very cute and your little boy is precious.
We had a water system just like that at my old house in Oregon- man do I miss that water system now.
Farming looks hard. I think I’ll limit my agriculture know-how to reading James Herriot!! Your water boy is too cute!
Hi, the name of a female pig who hasn’t giving birth is a guilt. I know because I have one and I read it in a book somewhere. hope that helps.
Kayla
Your last comment is exactly why I can never have chickens. I would have made an extrememly hungry pioneer woman. I can raise them, feed them, but someone else must butcher them.
We still water all our cattle, 4-H animals, garden, and the whole yard by dragging a gajillion hoses around. I feel your pain.
I don’t think I could raise pigs then slaughter them.(although I grew up around a lot of families that had farms/ranches) All because of of my dear friend Shannon, who had a pet hawg, hog, pig.. whatever! Her name was Petunia (150lbs) AND get this, she lived in the house with the fam!! Potty trained just like the dogs. No kidding. She was super smart and HUGE part of their life. They lived outside of city limits in a very nice, beautifully decorated home. I became quite found of her(Petunia) and have never been able to stomach eating pork since. Dang, that Petunia.
You can say this about your chickens—They had a great life, except for one second of it.
I look forward to pictures. I’d love to raise some meat birds. How old are yours?
Time to get rid of the birds already?! You are fickle with your fouls…or hasty with your hens…or ok, I’ll stop now.
That water hydrant is SO cool looking! And I love your big ole pigs.
So, if a female pig has never given birth and is older does she have a gilt complex?
What a coinkydink! I have almost the exact same watering system for our chickens and goats. It is very cute and very, very inefficient!
Get one of these (or something similar) for the end of your hose.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100659291&N=10000003+90006
Leave it closed, turn on your water however you do that, then go to the end of the hose, turn on the valve, fill watever. Then you can turn it off and walk back to the source.
I love these on my little farm where I often have really long hose runs.
mix some cement and set it, make sure you can drain it, but it should help with your trough. we did that on our farm and it worked fine. Its not expensive.
Hi,
Girl pigs who haven’t had babies are called “gilts”. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would know so much about pigs but fortunately (or unfortunately) thanks to my darling husband and kids I KNOW WAY more about pigs than any human should know.
Have fun!
Another option to lower your feed bills is to find a dairy farmer in the area who’ll give you any extra milk they’d have to dump (colostrum, usually). Mix that with your grain to get a ton of growth out of a little food. I won tons of blue ribbons at the fair with that diet! (Or at least my pigs did) The farmer also might grind their own grain (my dad does) and sell it to you cheaper than the mill does. Just a thought from a former pig/dairy farm girl. Can’t wait to move out of town to get back into it!
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