COMPARING THE FIVE BEST BACKYARD ANIMALS
(Page 5 of 8)
Porkers don't require much room . . . you can raise one or two from weanling to market weight in a pen 16 feet square. (Note that for backyard meat production, pigs should be purchased as weanlings in the spring and raised through the summer to their market weight of about 220 pounds each. Using this method, you'll avoid the considerable husbandry problems associated with handling newborns, piglets, and those 400- to 500-pound boars and sows.) And all you'll have to do until butchering time is feed and water your stock twice a day . . . and clean out the manure as often as your compost pile needs it or your nose tells you to.
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Most pigs are not jumpers, but they will try the best of fences at ground level, so your enclosures must be absolutely "swine tight" at the bottom. I've found that commercial hog panels—each of which consists of 16 feet of 32"-high welded wire—are just about the ideal fencing for a backyard pigpen.
Along with the tendency of porcine critters to root their way out of captivity, pig raising has other drawbacks, such as the work involved in butchering a 200-pound hog . . . and even the problem of trying to find room for 100 pounds of meat in your freezer. But the biggest disadvantage to these otherwise excellent meatmakers is the public's general reaction to "essence de hog", so you absolutely must consider your neighbors' olfactory tolerances before you set up a pork factory behind your house.
TAKE YOUR PICK
I've tried to outline some of the objective pluses and minuses of each of the five best mini-farm animals . . . but don't forget that one of your chief considerations should be your personal preference. The homesteader who really enjoys his or her critters will give them more care and attention . . . and the animals will, in turn, be more comfortable and therefore more productive. So if, for example, you like the soft clucks of a flock of chickens but find the thought of raising pigs disgusting, don't let cold economics alone determine your choice.
After all, the caretaker who delights in his or her backyard wards is usually the one with a successful, highly productive mini-farm livestock operation.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Randy Kidd's articles about basic husbandry for each of these five livestock species appeared in the following issues of MOTHER: "Ten Commandments for Raising Healthy Rabbits" (No. 61, page 80) . . . "Ten Commandments for Raising Healthy Chickens" (No. 67, page 96 and No. 68, page 94) . . . "Ten Commandments for Raising Healthy Sheep" (No. 60, page 162) . . . "How to Raise Healthy Goats" (No. 65, page 74) . . . "How to Raise Healthy Pigs" (No. 63, page 88). Turn to page 48 to order back issues.
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