March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
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Our 1/4 ton of pork! When we bought young pigs the chicken-wire netting was necessary to keep pigs in. Incidentally, have you heard the old farmer's definition of a good fence: ""Hog tight at the bottom - goat high - and sturdy enough to hold a bull"".
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"You can breed the pigs and buy the corn and get on; You can raise the corn and buy the pigs and get on; If you buy the corn and buy the pigs to feed, you haven't got a chance; But if you breed the pigs and raise the corn you'll make money." -Louis Bromfield EVEN though this pessimistic little poem's about raising pigs commercially, it has a point that the backyard farmer shouldn't forget: The really profitable way to raise your own pork is to raise and fatten your pigs chiefly with surplus garden products, table scraps, home-grown corn.
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The first year we started our plan, we raised two pigs. Because we didn't have many surplus vegetables, we bought about $35 worth of grain per pig. We paid $12.50 for inoculated 7 week-old pigs in April, had them slaughtered in December when they weighed 285 pounds. The dressed weight (per pig) was 230 pounds. In short, our pork cost 22¢ a pound. Last year it cost around 18¢.
From this experience we learned a few important points: For a family of three or four one pig will give quite a bit of meat. Even a 200 pound pig (live weight) will give about 55 pounds of hams and shoulder, 40 pounds of bacon and loin, plus lard, sausage, pigs feet, etc. Two pigs are sufficient for a family of 6 to 8.
With only three in our family we made a mistake keeping our pigs until they weighed 300 pounds. After pigs go over 225 pounds their ratio of weight gained to food consumed drops.
We found that if you buy a 7 to 10 weeks old pig, innoculated, properly weaned fed and cared for, you shouldn't have any trouble raising it. With only 3 in the family, the amount of table scraps and surplus garden vegetables we had was discouragingly small when fed to two pigs. Incidentally, a pig will do well even if it doesn't get much grain. To keep feed bills down, you should plant a patch of corn or supply extra food scraps or garden or orchard produce. In fact, good pasture, fenced into three lots for rotating will supply 10 to 15 percent of the total food for a couple of pigs.
A single pig, unlike a single goat, doesn't get lonely.
From weaning time (6 to 8 weeks) a pig should put on about a pound a day. If fed grain entirely it will eat nearly 1/2 ton from April to December. But with pasture and surplus produce - vegetables, corn stalks, fruit, skim milk, acorns, and table scraps, even 200 pounds of grain will produce a good sized pig.
The backyard farmer shouldn't try to keep a sow, breed her, and produce young pigs. This requires a lot of time, trouble, experience and feed.
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