Ham, Bacon, Pork, Lard
(Page 2 of 3)
March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
A young pig (or two) should be bought in the Spring - a March or April born pig is best. Such an animal costs at 6 to 8 weeks of age $5 to $12. Buy either a young sow pig or a barrow (castrated male). Be sure the pig is inoculated against cholera. This usually costs 50 cents. The young pig should also be wormed before you buy it.
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It has often been pointed out that the day you buy your pig is the day you'll make or lose the most money. In short, buy from a good breeder or farmer with clean, disease-free stock. Be careful you don't get a runt. Choose a young pig that's long - a chunky one will make too much lard. The breed is not important - all breeds have been developed to produce meat.
Easiest Way to Feed
The simplest way to feed a pig is to provide grain, (corn-on-cob, wheat or barley), a protein supplement (alfalfa leaf left from the hay fed goats for example), and a mineral mixture or a complete hog ration in separate compartments of an automatic hog feeder. This feeder plus an automatic waterer cuts chore time to the bone. Automatic feeders, which let animals eat as much and whenever they like, work best of all with pigs. No matter how much food you put before a pig it will eat only until full - never overeat.
Feeders and waterers are sold by Sears and Montgomery Ward.
Feed garbage, surplus garden produce etc. in a trough. This you can easily make, especially if you buy iron trough ends. Save garbage in separate can and keep free from paper, soap, glass, dishwater, etc. Don't feed garbage older than 3 days.
Housing
Housing for a pig or two from April to December can be of the simplest. The standard portable A-type hog house is satisfactory and can be bought knock-down for around $35. However, the backyard farmer probably hasn't enough land to require a portable house. A simple shed structure, 8 x 6 feet, 5 feet high in front, 3 in the rear, is most satisfactory. The front is open and the sun, which is the best disinfectant of all, can penetrate to the rear of the house. The roof is tar-paper, the rest of the shed is made of wood, including the floor which is set well off the ground to keep the pigs dry. In the fall we keep the floor bedded with straw.
New Method of Raising Pigs
Of special interest to the backyard farmer are the experiments sponsored by the Portland Cement Association, Chicago, Illinois. These experiments have to do with the confinement system of raising pigs on concrete. Like the battery-broiler system, instead of permitting animals to range, all food is brought to the pigs. Less than 15 square feet of pen is allowed per pig, obviously a system which requires so little land is of interest to the backyard farmer.
