New Homestead Animal Revealed!

Where have we been? I apologize for the lack of blogs this week. I try to stick with a loose schedule of Tuesdays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays but this week has been quite busy!

Springtime seed starting has taken over, caring for the ravenous meat birds, trying to keep up with the boys and all the mud that keeps accumulating in my house has kept me quite busy. To add to the normal spring-time hustle, Bryce has been working hard to finish fencing for our new animals! (Hinted about in our New Life: Adding to the Homestead from a few weeks ago!) And another unexpected trip to the ER. (That’s a whole other story!)

Now we decided to branch out with our meat varieties we produce here early this year (long before Social Distancing or Shelter at Home guidelines came into the picture). So no, we did not jump on the “panic buy” bandwagon of livestock! (Well, with these babies, at least).

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So what craziness have we dove head first into?

We have been reading about foresting pigs and different theories of management for months! If you’ve ever gone into animal raising, you may know that no matter how many books you read or videos you watch, you never REALLY find what works for you until you get the animals onto your property.

Let me tell you, pigs are not herding animals! And if they’ve never been exposed to electric fencing, and their human interaction has been minimal, your fence (no matter how hot it is) will NOT keep them in.

We spend the better part of two hours trying to corral one of the hogs back into their pen. No matter how many times she got hit, she kept running right through the fencing. Our temporary solution has been a make shift little pen. Seeing the physical barrier has been the best solution to convincing them to stay into the area. (She’s received the justified name of, Head Cheese. We also have a Bubbles and Everest.)

They are currently in a confined space, but we are hoping that will be temporary. There are three separate wooded paddocks fenced in for them that we hope they can enjoy soon! Our woods are thick in brambles, nut trees, and undergrowth during the spring time for them to forage and root up. So please don’t think their current accommodations are permanent!

Each paddock is 70’x100′ of complete woods. We do have enough room to add an extra, if needed. The plan will be to move them periodically and overseed with clover and other beneficial cover crops for the next round of hogs to eat. We’re using a double strand of electric fencing with a solar energizer from Premier 1. I couldn’t find the same model we have on Amazon, but this option from Premier 1 will do a half mile of 3 strand fencing.

I had been searching for a heritage breed lard hog to raise. A lard hog has a thick layer of fat that can be used for cooking and baking. They usually take longer to grow out to butcher weight (anywhere from 12-18 months). Since this is our first attempt with pigs, we decided to go with a bacon hog that will mature in about 6 months.

The Hereford Hog

The decision to go with a Hereford hog was mostly based on availability. I wanted a heritage breed that we would be able to butcher by late fall. Cost was also a factor, as most local heritage breeders only offer breeding stock or show quality animals. We have no desire at this time to do either, and just wanted feeder hogs to grow for our personal freezer.

The breed traces it’s bloodlines back to 1920’s in Nebraska. Their goal was to create a hog that resembled the Hereford cow. They have a red saddle on their backs with white markings on the ears, trotters, and belly. They fatten well, can make good mothers, and forage well. Their meat is supposed to have good fat marbling which makes the meat more juicy and flavorful.

I was able to find a local(ish) heritage breed about 40 minutes from our home. They were conventionally raised in a barn, so naturally they were a bit nervous when we put them into their forest pens. We are confident they will adjust well, but are doing our best to make the transition as easy as possible for them. They’re about 70lbs each. A tad older than we would have liked, but since the temperatures are still dropping into the 30’s, we wanted the bigger pigs so they could handle the cold nights better.

Feeding

To make sure we follow Social Distancing recommendations to the best of our ability, we had bought the pig feed from a local, organic grain mill several weeks ago that should last us through this year. The girls will also receive extras from our garden, our food scraps, and anything their little snouts can root up in the woods.

The feed we have is a mix of organic, non-gmo grains that’s locally sourced. The plan is to soak their feed to reduce feed waste (we do the same for our meat chickens). Currently, we’re using rubber feed pans (definitely appreciate the handles!) and water dish. We may or may not change the water system, as they have a knack for laying in it so far!

We are super excited for these new additions! They, like our other animals, will be very well loved and we will do our best to give them a healthy, happy life while they are with us!

Do you have a dream farm animal?