This post contains affiliate links, when you purchase using one of these links, I receive a commission, thank you!
We own pigs. Currently we have 15 pigs on our little homestead which is down from the 19 it was last week before 4 went to the locker.
We never planned on owning pigs. We had our ducks in the beginning and that is all we planned to do. Low and behold one day, our dogs were pestering a little pink animal on the road in the country and it turned out to be a piglet. None of our neighbors owned pigs so we kept the little guy and raised him. We figured out, we like having pigs and the rest is history. After our first pig went off to the locker we started to buy piglets off of a local farmer.
We talked about farrowing hogs, but decided that we should wait till our kids were older before we tried that. However, once we moved, an acquaintance asked if we wanted to buy his boar, sow and their litter of 8. It was a good deal so we took them up on the offer. Just like that, we found ourselves in the farrowing game.
That was just the beginning for us. We figured out, we have a bit of a pig problem. We like them! They not only taste great, but they also give plenty of lard for frying and baking, plus they eat anything. This can be an issue at times as they will eat their own poop if they feel like it, but with plenty of food around, they generally prefer real food. There is a blessing to it as well, they eat our kitchen scraps such as the banana peels, stale bread, egg shells, etc. They also eat any garden produce that we don’t. Pigs LOVE squash, pumpkins, zucchini and melons. It also gives me a respite from needing to preserve things. Our goal is to raise as much food as we can ourselves, but with lots of little kids, and just general life, I have been overwhelmed with produce and, sometimes, it is better for my sanity to simply feed it to the pigs instead of trying to get it preserved. This allows our food waste to be very little.
There are a few things we get to experience for the first time this year. We get to learn how to farrow hogs as we will hopefully have piglets this spring! This will also be our first time pasturing pigs. We have Idaho Pasture Pigs that are known for their gentle nature and ability to grow well on pasture without tearing the land up. New and exciting adventures for us!
Would I recommend other people getting pigs??
The short answer is YES!
I think pigs are a good animal for any homestead to try. They will eat your produce and they grow quickly. The big downside to pigs is they will let you know when your fence or containment of them is inadequate. They are very strong and they can get bored pretty easily, but as long as they have a decent fence, plenty of food and water, you should be alright. I would recommend a companion so they do not get lonely. It is best for the companion to be another pig, but we have raised single pigs before and my ducks ended up staying near the pig all day.