I had a boar I butchered, skinned and cut him up in smaller sizes, no fancy cuts. We smoked most of it, tasted like pork, no real difference.

 

Potbellied Pigs were developed to be a kitchen pig in Asia, a source of meat for the family as well as a garbage disposal for organics. In apartments they were kept in the kitchen in a little pen. In fancier houses in the court yard. They are meat. Pork to be specific. A lard pig to be even more specific. Lots of people raise them for meat, probably far more than who keep them as pets.

See this web site:
http://www.windridgefarm.us/potbellypigs.htm

-Walter

 

I was trying to find out info on them awhile back. Came across one site where people were horrified that anyone would eat one. One person claimed that you couldn't eat them cuz they'd give you cancer.

 

Had a friend that used to have his butchered. Said the best bacon he ever tasted was from pot bellies..

 

Thanks guys!!

 

There was somebody here on HS'ing who said he preferred pot-bellied pigs for eating partly because he could find them so cheap.

Seems to me pork is pork. Yummy!

 

Friend up the valley had one. 300 lbs. Not much lean meat but a lot of lard. The meat was ok.

 

The ones we have butchered and eaten all had good tasting darker than average meat. They also gave us plenty of fat to add in with our deer burgers and sausage or to render into lard. I've also crossbred my American Guinea Hog with pot bellies and I've noticed the meat isn't quite as dark from the offspring.

 

Are AGH really a different breed than Pot Bellied? I ask because I just saw someone recently write somewhere else that AGH and PB are the same thing. I don't have either so no direct experience. They said they use the term AGH to stay off the radar from the PETA and PET-a-Pig nuts.

 

Are AGH really a different breed than Pot Bellied? I ask because I just saw someone recently write somewhere else that AGH and PB are the same thing. I don't have either so no direct experience. They said they use the term AGH to stay off the radar from the PETA and PET-a-Pig nuts.

Yes, completely different. Different sources of origin as well as characteristics and meat.

 

Definitely different than Pot Belly Pigs. This is my AGH boar when he was around 9mo old.

Now almost 2 years old.

 

General Brown, if you have Facebook and can get past some of my corny posts, check out my page at www.facebook.com/stinkypastures. I have pics of the PBPs, my AGH and some of the meat I got off them.

 

Interesting, so some people are using AGH for PB. That will cause some confusion.

 

General Brown, if you have Facebook and can get past some of my corny posts, check out my page at www.facebook.com/stinkypastures. I have pics of the PBPs, my AGH and some of the meat I got off them.

Thank you for that. You have many interesting pics there!!!

 

Highlands, I've read people use AHH - Asian Heritage Hogs - for PB. I think someone got it mixed up with American Guinea Hogs - AGH.
Kit

 

PBB - Pot Belly Bacon

Recipe: http://www.realtree.com/timber-2-table/how-to-cure-and-smoke-your-own-bacon

 

Interesting, I've always wondered about eating them LOL

 

I just got a couple of sow's they are both bred one due in the next month or so and one not due for 3 months we got them to sell and to butcher a few of them , but I did not go for the little ones I looked for the larger ones my one sow prob weights around 125-150 and the other is around 100 or so we got them as they are easier for me to handle and move around and cheaper to feed and we are going to try to butcher them ourselves I have raise large pig's and pot bellies in the past but I have never ate the smaller of the two we shall see if we like it or not

 

I don't know how much this relates to the pot bellies but I find that with our pigs the larger ones are better at grazing. Bigger jaws, bigger teeth, bigger digestive tracts so they get more from the pastures and from hay without the need to feed any grain supplement to grow and keep condition. This makes it less expensive to feed them since the thing we have an abundance of is pasture.

I too had the concern when we started with pigs about them getting really big and handling big animals but they grow slowly on you so you have time to get used to them and they are tamed to us. Most of the breeders are only 300 to 600 lbs although some of the really big boars have gotten up to well over 1,000 lbs. Since pigs are so dense they don't seem that large.

-Walter

 

From what I understand, AGH have a longer digestive system, enabling them to make better use of rough forage than modern hogs. I suspect AHH (potbellies) are the same, given their background.