We're definitely, finally raising a few hogs come this Spring. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about pig breeds, husbandry, nutrition, etc., which is unfortunately a woefully small number of books. Our local library system had a whole four books on the subject, two of which I'm reading, and two of which I have on hold. I'm surprised and bummed by the lack of information that I've been able to find locally.
With the reading that I have been able to do, I've hit upon a few breeds that really intrigue me - the Kune Kune, the Saddleback and the Chester White. Not that we'll end up with any of these breeds! Looking at Craiglist, it appears to be a sea of Yorkshires, Hampshires, Berkshires or some mixture thereof available in my area and not much else. So I guess we'll get what we get!
Anyhoo - if you have a favorite breed or a hot tip on raising pigs for meat, give me a shout. I'm hungry for more information (and also, some bacon.) ;)
We like yorks. Tried durocs last year, and they seemed pretty aggressive compared to the yorks we had the year before, or other breeds hubby raised when he was younger. Also, yorkshires are nice and long and pretty efficient on feed conversion.
ReplyDeleteDon't know how much space you have, but we give ours a really big pen with room to root and run. Also, training them to hotwire right at the beginning is great. One touch, and they won't go near the fance again.
As for books, Storey's guides are always a good bet.
"Fence", not "fance". Stupid phone substitutes words! :)
DeleteThanks, Rae! The Storey's Guide to Pigs is one of the books I have on hold at the library. Some turkey somewhere in Olympia is taking their sweet time reading it! ;)
DeleteGood to hear that Yorks are mellow and long bellied - because giant, agro hogs scare the pants off me, and also cuz - BACON!!! :)