Homestead Hogs: Pork Production Basics

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These pigs are raised on red clover with supplemental grain. The electric fence and shade structure, on wooden runners, are moved frequently to new pasture to provide fresh forage and distribute manure evenly.
These pigs are raised on red clover with supplemental grain. The electric fence and shade structure, on wooden runners, are moved frequently to new pasture to provide fresh forage and distribute manure evenly.
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Raising your own pork may cost you more, or less, than supermarket pork, depending on hog prices, grain prices, the availability of free food scraps and unanticipated veterinarian bills. One way to bring the cost down is to slaughter and butcher the animal and cure the meat yourself.
Raising your own pork may cost you more, or less, than supermarket pork, depending on hog prices, grain prices, the availability of free food scraps and unanticipated veterinarian bills. One way to bring the cost down is to slaughter and butcher the animal and cure the meat yourself.

Farmers always have found many uses for the homestead hogs — a livestock animal that fits beautifully into the cycles of life on a small-scale farm. One reason behind the enduring popularity of homestead hogs is the animals’ willingness to eat practically anything, including kitchen scraps and garden waste. Large-scale commercial hog operations keep pigs confined indoors on a strict grain diet, but the animals are naturally omnivores that love to graze and forage for a broader range of foods.

Pigs also are hardy creatures that require a minimum of attention. When they were introduced to North America by European colonists, they routinely roamed free. Many farmers didn’t even fence them in, opting instead to let the pigs roam the forests, feasting on insects, roots, fruits and nuts — even such small animals as mice. As a consequence, their meat took on more succulence and flavor than the supermarket pork most of us eat today.

If you’re ready to start raising pigs yourself, one of the simplest ways to get started is to buy a few young pigs in the spring and raise them to market weight. Pigs are herd animals that are more content day-to-day when they have the companionship of their own kind.

“Typically a feeder pig starts at about 50 pounds and should be ready to butcher after four to five months,” says Mark Honeyman, an Iowa State University animal science professor who also works with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. “By then, they’re 5 to 7 months old and weigh about 260 pounds.”

Getting Started

  • Published on Apr 1, 2004
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