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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] raising pigs.. acquired tastes;
  • Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:13:50 -0500


Rebecca Lewinski wrote:
you guys overwhelmed my inbox over the last week, so I deleted most everything and started fresh! But I did catch Leslie's pig story and
how the old boy tasted. Maybe someone here knows what to feed a pig
to make it tasty? They can be nassssty.


Our pork has been "to die for"...
You've heard, you are what you eat...right? Pigs are not picky about
what they eat. You may have caught a recent story about a pig eating a
possum..and I can tell you that one of the worst sounds I have ever
heard was a pig chomping on mice....they also eat snakes, roots, fungi
and other stuff in the 'wild'.

Our pigs did eat all kinds of stuff, but I never bought pig food. I
did, once, feed them dog food when I did not have anything else...but
mostly, the pigs ate people food, and whatever worms or weeds they dug
up in my garden area. I kept them in a 16x16-hog panel square-that I
moved around either daily or every other day as needed. They were
excellent roto-tillers and weeders...when I moved the pen, I knew that
the soil was worked to a foot deep or more, and the pen dragging across
the top leveled it out a lot.
Anyway, I fed the pigs our scraps, leftovers, things I would normally
compost, like broccoli stems or soft celery...plus goat milk and
whatever other food I could find. If we had enough eggs, I fed
eggs...we had a Dolly Madison bakery in town and I got trays and trays
of stale goodies for pennies. I came home and froze it.., then doled it
out everyday to the piggies. I would buy loaves of bread or other goods
on sale and feed it to the pigs..they seemed to really love lemon fried
pies and moon pies...lol..I did feed my pigs meat, which some say you
shouldn't do, but it was always cooked first, and I kept it as a small
part of their diet. I also collected and gave them mast/acorns and
such..I read that chestnuts were good finishing food, so I have planted
chestnuts for that purpose-planning for the future. You just don't want
to feed pigs too much meat or nuts, because then they will be greasy, so
maybe that is what happened to you and Leslie's pig...I suspect wild
pigs would eat more meat than domestic pigs, causing a different texture
and off flavor.
Most people finish pigs on corn, and I think we did feed some milk
soaked corn towards the end, but contrary to what most people do, I
don't think it is absolutely critical if the pig is eating good all
along. Clean water is critical, I think...Pigs drink a lot of water,
and because they are rooters and messy, it is hard to keep the water
clean, but it is important. Many people make slop just to increase the
water in their diet, and the water adds some warmth. Pigs are very much
like people in their needs, they just don't have our aversion to
disgusting things like a bucket of food scraps mixed with milk and warm
water...they like their food warm, just like we do.
There are others on the list who have raised pigs, too...I can't imagine
a legitimate reason why a domestic pig to have an off taste, unless
someone has misfed them or screwed up the butchering and tainted the meat.
If you move pigs around, they don't get as dirty. Some people in these
parts raise them on wood decks. Some people raise them on the ground,
held in by electric fencing and then they ring their noses to keep them
from rooting. I wanted to keep it as natural as I could so I did not
ring them, emulate pasture raised pigs by keeping them on fresh ground,
and fed them food I could have eaten had I needed to. It worked for me.
Oh, and the mouse thing...my pig shelter was a plastic water tank that
was encased in a metal crate. We had used the tank for rainwater
collection until it sprang a leak, so we cut out a big hole in the side
and then used this tank as a dog house for our Great Pyrenees dogs and
as a pig shelter. I filled it with half a bale of hay and then rolled
it around as I moved the pen everyday. The first time I moved the
pen/shelter, was when this incident with the mice happened. Apparently
a colony had taken up residence under the tank and when I moved it, they
scattered everywhere..the pigs went crazy running around, squealing with
glee, and chomping on mice like they were gorging on chocolate...I was
horrified...I figured they must need some meat every now and then. I
have also seen them rip snakes apart, same glee...

Bev



--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda




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