Idaho Pasture Pigs

[Machias]

Picked up 5 Idaho Pasture Piglets last week.  3 registered gilts that are 8 weeks old.  A barrow, which we castrated when I picked them up, he's 8 weeks old and a registered boar who is 11 weeks old.  They are already pretty friendly, except the boar was a bit skittish at first, but he knows who feeds him and is already allowing back and side scratches.  We named the boar, who is cream colored, Hamlet.  The girls are Ginger, Pattie and Juliet.  The barrow is Romeo.  Will separate the boar and the barrow in a couple of weeks from the gilts.  Then breed the gilts in Jan and butcher the barrow in Feb.  I'll post some photos in the next couple of days.

[bigdave]

Nothing like homemade bacon!!!

One of my earliest memories is of my dad helping my grandpa castrate piglets. They put me in the feeder so I would be safely out of the way. The sow was separated from us and kept angrily charging the feeder trying to rescue her squealing little pigs. It could have traumatized be for life....but my dad said "Are you hurt?" I said through tears "no sir" ....then he said "then quit your bawling you sound worse than those pigs". HAha that one stuck with me.

[Machias]

 

The one we castrated when I picked them up was not too happy and the sow blew out of the paddock he had her in.  So we ended up moving well away from the barn area and castrated them up by the house.

[HUNTIN4SIX]

Have you ever butchered these before?

[KFhunter]

I roped and castrated a 5-600lb boar with huge cutters, its hard to keep a rope on a hog, they slip the noose.

He's hanging!

[KFhunter]

Don't let those pigs get too fat if you wanna butcher, they're mixed with lard pig breeds

[HUNTIN4SIX]

Don't let those pigs get too fat if you wanna butcher, they're mixed with lard pig breeds

Glad you said that.  Most folks don’t know the difference.  Some of these heritage breeds are more of a novelty and make terrible carcasses.  They generally take longer to finish.  Here is a pic of a kune kune ham we butchered the other day.  Trimmed about 70% of the weight off that thing. 

[KFhunter]

Lard was about as important as meat way back in the day

[jackelope]

Don't let those pigs get too fat if you wanna butcher, they're mixed with lard pig breeds

Glad you said that.  Most folks don’t know the difference.  Some of these heritage breeds are more of a novelty and make terrible carcasses.  They generally take longer to finish.  Here is a pic of a kune kune ham we butchered the other day.  Trimmed about 70% of the weight off that thing.

One of my 4-h rabbit kids also shows kune kune pigs. I cringed and continue to cringe this year because their family didn’t figure it out after last year.

[rasbo]

Thought foresure this was a post about the red dog saloon in murtaugh Idaho,lol. That sweet,my son is thinking about getting some,I'll be following. Good luck

[Fidelk]

Lard was about as important as meat way back in the day

An essential ingredient in fried bread or spread on toast. Still cook with it upon occasion.

[fireweed]

Picked up 5 Idaho Pasture Piglets last week.  3 registered gilts that are 8 weeks old.  A barrow, which we castrated when I picked them up, he's 8 weeks old and a registered boar who is 11 weeks old.  They are already pretty friendly, except the boar was a bit skittish at first, but he knows who feeds him and is already allowing back and side scratches.  We named the boar, who is cream colored, Hamlet.  The girls are Ginger, Pattie and Juliet.  The barrow is Romeo.  Will separate the boar and the barrow in a couple of weeks from the gilts.  Then breed the gilts in Jan and butcher the barrow in Feb.  I'll post some photos in the next couple of days.

                                                                                                                                                                 I'm pig gender ignorant.  Barrow? gilt?

[Southpole]

Barrow is a castrated male hog and a gilt is a female hog that hasn’t had any piglets.

[Southpole]

I’ve seen a handful of heritage hog carcasses, mostly American Guinea hog. The hams are like a big turkey leg after trimming off a crap ton of fat. Probably pretty tasty though. Still need pictures Machias   

[HUNTIN4SIX]

I’ve seen a handful of heritage hog carcasses, mostly American Guinea hog. The hams are like a big turkey leg after trimming off a crap ton of fat. Probably pretty tasty though. Still need pictures Machias   

Problem I’ve seen is folks sell them by hanging weight, then we trim 60% of the weight off in fat and the buyer gets screwed and wonders where the meat is.  The chops are generally about 3-4” around.

[Machias]

Have you ever butchered these before?

Yes

[Machias]

Don't let those pigs get too fat if you wanna butcher, they're mixed with lard pig breeds

 

[Machias]

Idaho Pasture Pig—also called IPPs—are comprised of Old Berkshire, Duroc and Kunekune breeds. Many years of dedicated work went into creating a pig that is great for small family farms, as well as anyone interested in raising quality pork. The meat from grass-fed pigs is higher in omega-3 fatty acids.

The Idaho Pasture Pig (IPP) is a medium sized breed of pig developed in 2006 with ongoing selection to breed to the stated ideal standards.  The Idaho Pasture Pigs are exceptionally friendly, have a calm disposition, and has been bred to graze instead of root.

A medium sized pig with sows maturing to 250-350 pounds and boars maturing to 350-450 pounds plus or minus a few pounds.  Sows greater than 400 pounds and boars greater than 500 pounds could be disqualified.

The average litter size of the Idaho Pasture Pigs is 5- 7 for a gilt (first time mom) and 8 – 10 for a sow.

[KFhunter]

 

Familiar with them.

Great little pig if you do it yourself, easy to butcher, easy to raise, you can get a lot of lard to cut in with venison, or butcher early for leaner, but small cuts. 

You'll never get a plate filling chop that ain't mostly fat, but meh, just eat three chops!   

[Birdguy]

Absolute best of luck to you on your new farm additions! Noting like fresh pork grown on the farm. We love doing a few pigs a year. We always do full size crossbreeds. With the cost of feed the fast growth rate and is a factor for us. Raising them on grain and having them clear our property we keep them lean and usually slaughter at about 7 months and 250 dressed. I encourage anyone and everyone to do some sort of home farming, gardening, etc!

[Alchase]

I have to admit, pork chops, pork blade steaks, and pork ribs, are my go to when my wife flys back to Washington to be with grandkids.
I had a butter fried blade steak last night to dinner, 

I had hopes wild pigs would be as good, boy was I was very mistaken.

My hats off to you guys who raise quality pork.

[Twispriver]

Shhhhhhh - Pork blade steaks are still relatively inexpensive because the trendies haven't discovered them yet. The first rule about pork shoulder steak is that you don't talk about pork shoulder steak 

[Southpole]

Shhhhhhh - Pork blade steaks are still relatively inexpensive because the trendies haven't discovered them yet. The first rule about pork shoulder steak is that you don't talk about pork shoulder steak 

I really like them cut really thin, on the pellet grill