I have been thinking about raising some type of animal as a kind of hobby. I want an animal that is not really high maintenance, and doesn’t cost a lot. I was thinking about getting two or three feeder pigs. I haven’t been able to find as much information about them as I thought I would have online.

Would it hurt to have them in a wooded type area, or would they like a grassy area better? How much land per pig?

How big should a shelter be for two or three pigs?

Other than corn or hog feed what is acceptable for them to eat? We have several apple trees and would have many apples for them to eat if this is ok.

Would they need to be watered more times than they are fed? How do you give them their water? A constant supply?

If there is any thing else really important I am missing out on feel free to inform me. I would like to thank you all in advance for any replies.

 

We raised pigs when I was a kid and I can tell you that they aren't really a low maintenance kind of thing. The worst part is they always trying to get out of your pen, no matter where it is. That's when the hog rings start getting put around noses. They will definitely tear up any grassy area that you put them in eventually.

They will eat most anything, apples would be fine, but for them to put on weight quick grain is the best. They would probably need at least some grain even on apples. We usually had either automatic waterers or a 55 Gallon drum with a auto drink trough attached to the side.

Fresh pork is the best if you are wanting to raise for meat, but otherwise there is a lot of work for not much payoff. Not to mention that if you buy some that haven't already been "worked on", you get to "de-man" them.

 

I've had pigs a couple of times. The flavor of home grown pork makes you think that you'd never eaten real pork before. And as far as making it worth your while, my last pigs were very profitable. I sold halves to friends in the city who wanted to know where their meat was coming from. I hauled them to the butcher and paid the killing fee, the customers paid me $3.00/pound plus the cut and wrap fee of $.50/pound and then I home delivered the meat to seattle and portland. I got all of my pork for free, paid for all the feed and made a little bit of cash as well. If you can make that kind of market work for you it is profitable.

They are low maintenence except for the fencing. it is no fun chasing pigs around! Wooded area would be fine as long as you don't mind having it all dug up. Water should be available all the time, feed them almost anything. Spoiled milk is premium hog food. They don't like soy though. apples are great, along with all your kitchen scraps and restaurant waste too, if you can get it clean and free of dangerous debris like broken glass. Shelter should be big enough for them to get in out of the weather comfortably. My first pig just had a 55 gallon drum with the end cut out until he got bigger and then I built a lean to shed for him. I made the mistake of letting the last ones use part of my barn for shelter, and they made a mess of it.

I killed and butchered our first one myself, and it was an unforgettable experience. It is a LOT of work, especially with a big pig. Our neighbor's tractor with a front end loader was essential.

I've been thinking about doing a few pigs again this fall, but I sure won't let them near the barn again!

 

We had them growing up. We would go by the local Flowers bakery shop, and buy their expired bread by the 55 gallon drum for $25 a pop. They will destroy land like a set of discs, and smell...

Good for dinner, tho...

 

If you need to get rid of a patch of blackberries, mow it down with goats or a tractor and then follow that with pigs. They will dig up all the roots that would otherwise regrow in the spring.

 

we had some when I was younger. Feeding and watering is the easy low maintenance part. They eat all the table scraps, leftover bread, and all sorts of stuff. The diffculty in it as most have already stated, pigs make a career out of trying to dig out of fences. Its imperitive to walk the fence perimiter every few days to inspect for digging. It is not fun at all chasing a bunch of pigs around the neighborhood. They also will tear up and destroy whatever is in the ground where you put them. Im actually thinking a wooded area would be better than a grass field. If you put them in a grass field it'll end up being a bog

 

This might help http://www.ics.uci.edu/~pazzani/4H/Pigs.html

 

Thanks for the info and the link. Building a shelter for them shouldn’t be much of a problem, but I can see I need to start looking in to getting supplies for a pretty strong fence.

 

My first pig escaped within 20 minutes of being put in the pen, and it took me two days to hunt him down and catch him again! What I ended up doing there was digging a trench all along the base of my fence, and putting scrap 1x8 on edge all along the trench, securing the board to stakes driven into the ground, stapling the bottom of the fence to it and back filling the trench. Fortunately, it was a small pen!

My last pigs didn't get out until they were almost ready for market, and then it was that they had just pushed the fence over. That pen I made with welded wire stock panels and steel t posts. They had dug it up so much that they loosened one of the posts, and three 300 pound hogs made short work of knocking it down after that. But they didn't stay escaped for long; they knew where food happened and they came right back within a few minutes.

 

One sure way to kill a bunch of trees is to let a bunch of hogs root around them.

Nothing may seem to be wrong, for a year or so, then the trees will start dying and falling, over a period of years.

My father raised hogs, big time, when I was a kid.

He would run a gas station, from before daylight to after dark, getting cold checks and bad credit all day, then come home to worry with a bunch of sows pigging, and hogs tearing up the neighborhood, then come in and take it all out on us kids.

He ain't had a hog in years, but he is still ill to the bone for the experience.

I don't recommend hogs for profit or pleasure.

 

If you want a low cost, easy animal to maintain get some goats. Not only that they will do a heck of a job on brushy, overgrown areas.

We have 2 male, fixed Alpines that we fenced into a very overgrown area about 100' x 100'. The area was loaded with prickers and poison ivy. They pretty much leveled it in less than 1 year. I'm getting ready to move them into a new area. when I do, I'll just harrow up the area they have been in. York rake it and seed it down.

They are calm and great with kids, cheap to feed and easy to keep in with an electrified mesh fence. There is very little odor.

 

yeah goats are pretty low maintenace as are sheep to some extent. But goats are probably the easiest

 

if you want them outside put up a hog wire fence then put an electric fence about six inches inside and about four inches off the ground. they are scared to death of it. my brother had a couple of sows in ffa growing up and we used to cut the males ourselves , long ago, still hear them thing squeling. a friend of mine raises at least ten or so at a time now. does ok with them. nothing more fun than to watch baby pigs in a pen. now thats good stuff.

 

Our goats were fence crashers, and we eventually ate one and gave the other two away. They were fun while we had them though. We have a few sheep now, Black Welsh Mountain sheep. They are pretty easy when you can keep the coyotes and neighbors' dogs out of them. We have four lambs less than a month old right now.

Had at one point about 60 free range chickens until the coyotes and dogs got into them a few times. Two survived and raised up five chicks so now there's seven of them and they are basically feral now. They sleep in the barn, but we don't feed them at all.

 

What few experiences we have had with goats is that no matter how high the fence, nor how tight the mesh, nor how sharp the barbs, nor how hot the wire, they will figure a way to escape.