What does it take to breed pigs? Is it a bit more work than raising feeder pigs?
We do both.
I do not see it as being much more work either way, just different.
... What's the best way to start with raising breeder pigs? Pasturing em? Confining em? I've raised feeder pigs for two years now I'm thinking about raising pigs and sell em locally. We have about 2-3 acres of wooded/rock fields that I was thinking about putting to use and raising pigs on it. I'd like to use electric fence and do rotation grazing type method to keep cost down on feed.
Confining increases disease HUGE. Along with your feed bill.
Our pig herd is free-ranging. When we tried confining them, we had to give shots for parvo. Once we began free-ranging them, no more shots for anything.
Electric-fence works great for pigs.
... Would 1 boar and 2 sows be a good start? I'm not looking to having too many pigs running around as I have cattle to take care of also. I'm able to get free bread from a bakery, milk from my cow, and eggs from my chickens & ducks and hopefully will be able to get produce from local groceries to feed to the pigs. Would this work on keeping feed cost down?
We have one boar [Large Black] and three sows [Hampshire].
They mostly feed themselves through the summer. I give them each about 2 cups of cracked corn everyday in the summer.
In winter is when I have to provide feed. We get cafeteria food-waste from the school district, during the school year. Which ties nicely with winter
... Any tips/advice I should know before doing anything. I don't plan on getting em til next year and learning a bit more. Anything helps. Ivan.
I do not see land expense as being a big factor, we pay $1.05 /acre in taxes. We have 5 acres of woodlot fenced-in for pigs. I never really thought about adding the land cost into the pork production cost [$5.25/year].
We have only been breeding this boar to these sows for four years. So far we have not changed any of them. I know that in time we will need to do that.
Our fencing is 2 strands of braided poly-wire electric. Our biggest problem is when trees blow-down across the fence.
Best thing I ever did was to ring a bell when I feed them. They get trained to the sound.
Also pet them. Rub their bellies and scratch their backs, when they think they are your pets, they behave better.
I have seen people insist that you need to separate boar from sows during farrowing. I have not seen any problems with leaving them together.
The bigger problem is when you decide to capture the piglets to wean them. They will stay with their mom, so long that they begin to chew off here teats. At that age [roughly 5 weeks] the piglets are still not used to being handled. So you need to figure out how you are going to contain them separate from their mother, and cut the boys.