HOGS

[BOWHUNTER45]

How much pasture is needed per hog?  Weathergirl would love a pig but we could probably only make about an acre and a half of pasture.

I can see it know feral hogs on Decatur Island! 

That's O.K We can go and help him thin a few out after he is over run with them 

[quadrafire]

And when was the last time you heard of a pack of wolves killing pigs?..........

[KFhunter]

this work? 

   She's checking out the bacon




I put that fence in to keep the dog in the yard, it's worked great with the electric along the bottom and top.  Gets lot's of exercise in there and I don't have to worry about her hunting the quail in the field without me there.   She don't come out the yard w/o a check cord on.  Got some pigeons too and a bunch of feral coming when I trap em.  Neighbor has a barn full.

[KFhunter]

[KFhunter]

I'll get some better pics of the boar up soon

[Southpole]

Wow, look at them ears! Those hogs are a lot leggier than I was expecting. Good lookin' pigs though Thanks for the pics!

[KFhunter]

http://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/4738622955.html

[KFhunter]

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/swine/tamworth/

Evaluating the Breed

The Tamworth is a rugged, thrifty, very active breed of swine that is favored by many persons who are interested in raising a lean-type hog. The sows, like those of the Yorkshire breed, are excellent mothers and do a good job of suckling their litters. The Tamworth is an extremely high-quality breed and is the most active breed of swine that we have in America. People who particularly want hogs that will rustle behind cattle or harvest or salvage crops sometimes prefer Tamworths. The Tamworth has the reputation of producing the best bacon of any of our breeds and is uniform in type. It is one of the most prepotent of the breeds in fixing its type of offspring.

[Bob33]

I might also just use insemination once I get things going better.

You're not from Enumclaw, are you?

[KFhunter]

 


NO

[KFhunter]

Ai isn't going to happen, I got to reading and I guess it's dang near impossible to tell when a LBH sow is in heat.

I thought maybe I was a newb because I was having a hard time figuring out her cycle 

[skeeter 20i]

  Love the Brit in the picture reminds me of ours in her younger days out in the back.

[Southpole]

AI is a pain. I don't know about hogs, but you really got to be around your animals a lot to pull off AI. Like dairy farmers, they're around their cows in the morning and late afternoon every single day so they observe them often for behavior changes, they get pretty good at timing. I tried going with AI with a single Angus cow I had. She lived with 15 other steers so they would follow her around to give me a clue as to what was up, but timing was everything. If you AI too soon it won't take if you AI too late, well it's too late. Sometimes I just wasn't around enough to notice anything... Yeah, it's a pain I wouldn't recommend it unless you go big time.

[nwwanderer]

I can teach a 10 year old to AI pigs in a few minutes, the pain is the cost of overnight shipping fresh semen and the heat detection.  If you need 40 doses shipped together the cost is manageable.  For one sow, yikes!!  Sows are much easier to settle than gilts.  The real people selling semen are swine genetics international (SGI) and international boar semen (IBS).  Check them out.  Frozen semen is available but not yet perfected and methods must be followed very carefully. 

[Snakeriver10]

For all people looking to get into raising pigs, I would suggest very highly in having a concrete pen, you don't need allot of room, you want most of the feed to go into growing, not into energy to run around.  Pigs are very clean animals though, just not when dirt is involved and I also believes by having no dirt around, it gives a cleaner taste of meat.  Really a simple animal to raise though and are great for kids to show in 4h and FFA without too much effort.