A ton of good points Chris. Too many times people don’t know what they’ve dealing with by having a boat around. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience 👍
We keep having people show us videos full of ... well just Crap about farming so I'm just trying to help as many folks as I can . Thought about you the other day , I was setting some traps over a ground hog burrow or two wish I had filmed it
Truth be told I trap way more groundhogs than I shoot. The traps work all day, and often times I get too busy to take the gun (and camera) for a walk 😁
@@HuntingFarmerOfficial we just had them move in here a few years ago ( have no idea where they came from ) about the same time the wild hogs and coyotes showed up and I could do without any of them . I'm amazed at what a ground hog can eat up , had one taking one bite out of every water melon in a field
Thanks Chris I am starting a homestead from a beef farm however never had pigs. Mine arrive July 10th mix heritage cross tamworth / berks for our meat. Appreciate your comments and tips.
Chris - I have learned a lot from y'all. We started with feeder pigs and we just had our first litter of piglets. Do you have a good video of castration? Do you know any reputable producers in North Alabama? I live in an extremely rural county and I know no one that raises pigs. Thanks
BTS Mel Box Truck Driver good video Chris lots of knowledge will be getting up with you when I'm ready for piglets not set up yet but working hard on it.
I am so thankful I found you. My wife and I are moving onto her family land in Northern Arizona. It is high desert and the soil is not great for pasture, but we have horses. I want to use pigs and chickens to improve to soil quality. What breed of pig, in your opinion, would do good in that climate? The are doesn't get the extreme heat like other parts of Arizona and it does get cold and snow in the winter.
Any of the traditional breeds should do fine . You might need to do shelters different than I do, built on skids with a floor I'm told is the best way for cold weather. Then you can move them as you let the pigs build the land
Where I grew up in SW Virginia everyone raised Hampsires and they always rung their nose with three rings. I never did care for it myself. It didn't stop them from rooting completely but it did slow them down. We still had a devil of a time keeping them in, and that's with the fence on locust post and nailed to a locust log running along the bottom. They are hard to stop when they get determined to go.
Thanks for the videos and info! Our old spot pigs stand without spray or a boar nearby. We just track when they are in heat and start checking every few hours until they stand and then AI. We did decide to get a boar this year because mistakes can happen and we want to be as involved and sure about our pig development as we can.
You may have covered it before but I haven't seen all your videos yet...when breeding do you take the sow to the boar? boar to the sow? Or have a natural pen to breed?
I normally take the sow to the boar and leave her until she goes out of heat , 3 days . Then check 3 weeks later to make sure she doesn't come back in . Boar pens at the other end 20 by 24
Until he's to big for the sows to hold him up usually around three , I try to give them away they have almost no market or meat value might bring 50.00
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay one more question then, could you butcher him at 2 without the gamey taste? Thank you for the response. I've been raising pigs for meat for 9 years, but this is my first year with a breeding pair. No one around here raises them and I'm having to drive further and further away to find them. Plus, I like knowing where they are coming from..
@@billobrien4761 I've never had any luck with the meat off an old boar , in the old days they would cut them and wait a couple months . The oldest I kill a boar for meat is 6 months and don't want to have been even close to anything in heat . Finding decent stock is getting harder everywhere I think
Chris, Great video! I have a few questions for you. I'll give you some back ground info first. I've got 10 acres of mixed pasture and forest with 40 pigs right now. I started with 5 gilts (2 Duroc, 2 Berkshire, and 1 Hampshire X Berkshire) a year ago. All have given birth except for 1 of the Berkshire gilts but she is due on the 15th. They were all bred to my Hereford X Hampshire boar. Question 1. Can I breed the gilts of these 5 sows back to their dad or will that cause problems? Now I have 14 new gilts that I plan to breed when they are old enough which leads me to my next problem/question. I don't have a barn big enough to house 14 gilts and 5 sows all giving birth at the same general time. With the 5 originals I was able to spread them out for farrowing so I could put them in my barn for the first month or 2 until I weaned the piglets. That's not gonna work once all 19 are farrowing within a few months of each other. Question 2. When you and your Dad had all the pigs back where your corn is growing now, did y'all farrow on the ground and if so, how did it go? Do you have any suggestions/tips that would help? Question 3. When the 14 gilts start going into heat, can I put the boar out to pasture with the gilts for a month or 2 until they are all bred and then return him to his pen or should I take each gilt to his pen individually? Thanks for taking the time to make these videos! It really helps. I grew up on 50 acres running cows and showing pigs and steers in our county fair. This pig raising operation I started a year ago has been a great learning experience and it definitely helps when you have someone with more experience to ask questions to. Thanks for everything Chris!
Ok , breeding back to dad is not a good idea unless they are definitely going to be meat pigs ( and they sometimes are crazy ) next we did have mobile farrowing shelters and in hot weather they worked .. but you'll lose more pigs than in the barn . Personally I would try to spread out breeding to have two or three litters a month , that would be a lot easier on you and having pigs to sell all year is a lot better , these farrowing pens I use are pretty quick and simple a few of them would help . Glad to help if I can and I have a question what do you think of the Berkshires ?
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay Chris, Thanks for the info! I live in North Florida. If I were to try farrowing outside of the barn, do you think living in a milder climate "especially winter time," would that help my success rate at all? I did buy a different boar that is a Hampshire X Yorkshire to breed these new gilts with. I've heard in some of your other videos that you aren't a big fan of the Hereford pigs. Is there a certain reason or something I need to be looking out for with him? One of the reasons I chose the Hereford was because I always loved the look of the Polled Hereford Bulls and a Red Hereford Boar kinda reminds me of that. Doesn't the red in the Hereford pigs come from being crossed with Durocs? One more question, If One of these sows farrow a good looking boar piglet that I want to keep for breeding stock, can he breed sisters from the same litter without problems and/or can he breed his half sisters from other litters without problems? As for the Berkshires, I love the temperament of the Berkshire pigs and they taste really good too. The marbling in the meat is really nice. I'm like you with the red Duroc pigs. I love a red pig. The temperament of the Duroc is sketchy as best. One of my Duroc's I can get in the pen with her and her piglets and do whatever I need to as long as I don't try to hold them and make them squeal but the other Duroc sow will try to eat you alive when she has piglets no matter what you do. The personality of my Berkshire pigs is really cool. They are almost like a big puppy.
@@booneliscious I don't recommend any inbreeding , its done at times to concentrate some traits but you have to cull heavy if any are future breeders . It causes more mental/ temperament problems than anything . I don't have anything against the Herefords really ,never had good luck with Berkshires but that could be a problem with our local stock ( back to that inbreeding thing ) . The difference between farrowing on pasture and in the house is normally half the litter , biggest thing is being with her and a heat lamp to draw the pigs out of the way especially with a young sow and luck seems to matter a lot too . I hate to lose a pig and I stay up all night delivering pigs regularly but I don't lose many , Our e-mail is on the home page send me one and I can go into way more detail
I have been watching your videos for months now. I love your videos because you speak the truth about the good and bad. We currently have 3 sows and 1 boar, and we are about to build a big set up to start farrowing close to 100 piglets a year. Any advice on fast growing/best selling breeds? We currently have Hampshire sows, and a Hampshire/tam worth boar.
10-4 The first time my sow farrowed out 16 from him. She laid on 2, and we sold 12. The other 2 hit the freezer. Hopefully the 2 new gilts will do good with him. All 3 females are farrowing out within the next month. Thanks for the feed back.
How long do you keep a boar ? Also do you have a good method to tell how old a boar is ? We bought a boar and was told he was around 2 but I think he's much older. He's a GOS boar and the sweetest gentle boar Ive Ive been around but then again I've only ever been around a few. Last question ... how prevalent is boar taint ? Ive read that it is intact rare and is only in certain breeds. We kept a boar from our last litter that turned out to only have one testicle and now he's big enough to butcher but is intact. What are your thoughts ? Love the channel !!!
I usually get 2 or 3 years out of one , depends on how big your sows are and if you keep any guilts off him . That boar here is a little over two and he's close to being to big that's what ends them age isn't that important . They can breed at least to 5 or 6 but it has to be a big sow to hold them up . Butchering a boar is hit and miss we process a few at 200-250 lbs and do fine ( anything under 6 months ) if you can't smell" boar" when you're around him I'd chance it but a mature breeding boar is horrible. We have given a few away and the folks bring use some pork back and I don't know how they ate it !
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay Thanks for the advice. The boar that we are thinking about processing is about 2 and has never been used since he only has the one testicle. My main boar is around 5 and he's such a sweet boy never pushy. He's very tolerant and good with piglets also. I wouldn't even consider eating him he's so big and I think way to old but we were thinking about the 2 yr old.
Just found your channel got fifty years into raising hogs out doors,enjoying it. Tip if you have to handle any boar,best way I have found to work on one is a half loaf of bread soaked with beer ( works with sows after a tough farrowing).
We've used sour mash the same way a few times . Had people say beer was the ticket for stopping a sow mauling pigs, have you ever had trouble with that ?
Sows usually four or five years , I've had a couple eight or nine but that's not normal. If you can keep the boar from getting to big or only have big sows they're good for five years or so until they're just to heavy to cover a sow
Great info ! I remember as kid you would see small hog farms all over the place . Now you don't see them hardly at all . They made it to hard to sale your pigs .
@Aaric Hale - by "to hard to sale" do you mean it cost more to raise them than what you received when you sold them? In other words the going rate per pound when you sold them gave you less money than it cost to feed them? I just wanted to spell it out for the new generation. That situation started back in the 70s. It affected the chicken, beef and grain markets, too. For whatever reason the price per pound of a live animal ready for market started dropping back in the 70s and factory raised meat started to take over. I took Micro and Macro Economics back in 2013 and the text books said (which is what we were taught) that if you sell 10 items at a dollar each you make $10.00 but if you invest in increasing your production and sell 1,000,000 items at a dollar each you make $1,000,000.00 which will probably pay for your initial investment . Most farmers never had $900,000.00 laying around to do any large scale investing - nor the land to do it on - and the bank would own your farm if you had a natural disaster happen and you failed to make your payments. Which would mean you and your family would have nowhere to live. I remember this situation well. It was a hard decision to make whether to 1. keep on raising livestock for sale and keep on loosing money, 2. keep on raising livestock and hope the price per pound will come back up or 3. give up raising livestock and loose that potetial income. As you can see the first thing I thought of when we were taught that in Economics is "so that's what killed the farmer and brought in Factory Meat and other Factory Food". The same thing happened to field crops too. Some of which were sold on the Global Market which in turn dictated their price so you grew what paid the most per bushel and would also grow in your location. A farm doesn't survive without an income to support it. Even in the "good old days". Back then you had to have money to buy horses, horse drawn machinery, harnesses for the horses which is size specific, stoves, mason jars, pots, etc.
@@sheilam4964 That's what put us put Miss Sheila , I wish the days would come back where you could be small and sale directly to the public an make a living
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay That is the honest to God truth. And you and I and others who also know are going to keep saying it till the "powers that be" hear it.
I’m from north Carolina right below Virginia line got two feeders about a month ago first time one for me one for my dad and already love it want to try and start breeding but only know one guy with pigs to buy from close around here what part of Carolina are you from
i've got a question and my mom bought me a red with black spotted pig when i was 3 years old i cannot find the name of the breed that makes red with black spots i was wondering if you could help me out with that
That's hard to answer, glochester or spc bred to a Duroc or Tamworth but it shows up in 3 and 4 way crossed pigs that don't have a spotted ancestor that's big breeds now in the small breeds I think Juliana and maybe kune kune have that pattern but I'm not sure
Once again, Chris you are telling it like it is, a 3½' high pig is taller than a 3' kitchen countertop and longer than 7', most of the time. That's about as long as a large sofa. How many people's sofa will fit in their kitchen and be taller than the countertop? A full grown pig is often larger and heavier than a black bear and twice as deadly. They both run at about the same speed, can break bones 4-5" across and climb 7-8' tall fences. When you said pigs are mini bulldozers you weren't exagerating and they move and turn faster. They will push, ram and plow through the unimaginable whereas a bear won't. A bear will stand on its hind legs and push things but a pig will will be all over it like white on rice. I did see a video of a grizzlie bear ramming a Range Rover and it lifted the two tires nearest it off the ground but grizzlies are twice the size or bigger than domestic pigs but not by much. Yeh, we're not talking about those cute little pot belly pigs are we? Cute little pigs are like cute little bear cubs. They grow up.
Yep they don't stay cute long Miss Sheila , it amazes me how many homesteaders don't realize how big livestock is or go with small half useless breeds because they're scared of them
We have some problems occasionally Thomas , eagles and horned owls will get a piglet and neighborhood dogs get after a hog but they lose most of the time
In these 2 years since youve posted this, have you had any predation...because im genuinely curious... Any baby animal in human care will always call in the predators...it may take awhile, but they'll show up. And every predator loves baby pigs....up until about 64.9 lbs round here. 🤣🤣🤣. ...meaning, "baby" pigs are a handful and we don't have predators, outside of stray dogs or a super "ballsy" yote. I've been lucky on all accounts thusfar. In light of this, my 100 lb brickhouse bluetick just had a run-in with some yotes a couple nights ago...he's good, but the so-called "wild critters" are getting more experimental as some folks introduce "easier pickens." As soon as the subdivisions popped up, so did "extra wild" predators. We've been good here, as i hope you've been...but it almost seems as if wild animals can sense the "wild" in our country, and act accordingly...and get more aggressive.
@@r.j.english8088 we still have not lost any to predators and we have coyotes and bobcats here and bears but they do not bother us our outside dog seems to be doing his job and he is on a chain. the deer walk up to the pig pens and eat corn
I wish i woulda cut my berkshire bore tusks when he was small hes 800p now and gettin meaner then a rattler in a corner!! He nice calm but outa no where the other day he came at me and boy it was close call!! Iv got a guy wanting to buy him but i hate let him go for 250 buks!! Put lota feed thru his arss but dont want kill for meat eather so mite just sell him off after i breed his butt
The A.I. definitely was a pain, just because of finding the time when theyre ready. Ive never studied pig nether-regions before, but i got my share in the times looking for heats and everything after. The boar spray will make them stand....if they are in heat, or ready to come into heat for the A.I. If not...they investigate and move on. I would say it's necessary for A.I., but not in every circumstance. 2 of our gilts stood right up rigid. 1 was a bit more troublesome, but she took 2 doses after rejecting about half the first.
Why is it important to keep boars separated? We are a fairly small farm down in south Alabama and I have had hogs for 5 years now and I keep the boar in with the sows full time. I remember my grandfather raised hogs and he always had Duroc or Poland China boars and he kept them separate but he said that was because they were so mean and would also kill piglets. I haven't had any issue with my Hereford boars in that aspect yet. Thanks.
It's important to control feed an breeding is the main thing . They boar has a tendency to get most of the feed and beat up even cut the sows up, try to breed them while they're having pigs etc.
If you have them on a good 16% feed some bread or sweets ( donuts, little Debbie etc ) or milk on top of normal feeding will usually kick them up a notch
Hey Chris, As always I loved the video but you forgot something! You can’t plow a field by turning it over in your mind. Lol. Y’all be safe up there as well as everyone else that follows the channel!🇺🇸
Pappaw had a sow that was mean she’d eat her pigs, she’d chase everybody that came into sight. Him and a neighbor put a nose holder on her and pulled her head up and laid it down her back and sat on her and took a hammer and broke her tusks off. he had to do it twice. That was back in the 70’s
As a novice, I didn't have any trouble doing AI on the ground without a boar around. However, I eventually concluded that for my two sows, it was less expensive to maintain a boar than to purchase semen.
I think you doing a great service. I am got to for lots of people around here for animals and live stock. I have been doing videos for a while and enjoy it more all the time. I like putting people on the right path.
Some great information as always. Currently, 2 of my 3 of my bred gilts have duroc in them already. Hampshire mixed for sure, maybe some spot. The third is looking more tamworth. Anyhow, I needed them bred, so we A.I.ed them for their first breeding. It seems they all took, at this point...do you have any videos to spot first time pregnancies??...I could use a couple/few. We A.I.ed duroc to the duroc crosses, 2 doses apiece, with a hampshire chaser for the third. Our big tamworth looking gilt got all Spot semen. I couldnt find a trustworthy boar in the time i needed bred for my timelines. That spray you spoke of...is almost necessary for A.I. when they are supposed to enter into their heat but may need a "bump." It made them stand...but the back-end wasn't always in the same wavelength. You'd know the difference all day...amateurs, like me, not so much. We had refusal from the first 1 of the 3 for our big tamworth looking girl, but she took the next 2. The 2 other gilts were very receptive. I'm always on the lookout for a young, quality boar. And, or, im gonna buy a bred sow to straighten up our lines, but we may have to A.I. again if this goes well, and maybe if it doesn't. Things are different up here it seems...pigs been hard to find and/or pay for. , Did you mention pig farming is a giant gamble? We, (I) may buy a "full blood," bred sow to integrate into our setup, but I'm waiting to see how things go with our girls. I want to breed back, not immediately, but we only have so much time in the north. Ahhhh, to be a pig farmer. Ha ha ha. Gotta be special. Love your info. I pray y'all are well.
Good stocks hard to find everywhere I think . I'm running two herds now so we can supply unrelated breeding stock . I have had some real trouble finding good boar's finally have two now like we wanted
In my Dad's later years and hard on cash, he got an old boar. It weighed about 600 lbs live. He put it in an 11 acre fenced in forested area on our farm with a source of water and left it there for about 6 months before butchering it. He nor we ever fed it. Just checked on it now and then to see if it was still there and alive and kick'n. He said "It was fine. You'd never know it was an old boar." I had some and agree, if it was the old boar I was eating but since he had no income, I'm pretty sure he wasn't pulling my leg.
We used to eat them too , old people here never wasted anything . You could eat it but you knew something was different . Some of the difference between then and now is those old women knew how to make anything fit to eat and that's a lost art around here
Thanks just ordered one. They all look the same just different prices. I just took my first batch of pigs to the butcher. 3 of them, duroc- landrace mix. They grew well but one didn’t eat as much as the other 2 it just screwed around all the time so it stayed smaller. Is that normal for one to be smaller
@@Peachmountainfarm keep that mill greased and don't run it too long at the time and it'll probably hold up. It's not uncommon to have some run behind , mine are pretty consistent but still might be 25 to 30 lbs difference from lightest to heavest
I am fascinated by your hog videos. I can remeber one hog kiling my Dad done when I was really young. It's like I tried to explain to one of my family members with a degree in philosphy. I don't give an educated man more consideration than a man with no education. Education can be a bad thing in agriculture cause the fella doing the teaching is trying to sell a book. If that man with no education is farmer he's done seen hard times and had to make cost effective decisions to make a living.
this is the second video of yours i have watched.. and i am already hooked.. speaking the truth and telling it how it is.. also since i was a kid duroc has been my favorite.. they are long.. lean.. slick looking and big enough.. yeah some grow faster some are bigger some are built like line backers but duroc pigs were my first wow that is a great looking pig
Bred a lot of Sows with no boar just used the boar in a bottle spray stuff. Worked well for us, yes took lots of effort to watch for heat, but we managed well. Good conception and good litter sizes. As far as meat pigs instead of Showpigs you are right, we did find a boar stud that had a commercial production line along with Showpigs and was very economical to buy. I don’t like about natural breeding is some boars can’t aim well and end up dumping the goods in the ground then you miss that cycle and 3 weeks behind. I don’t trust boars to naturally breed. Hand mating worked well for us meaning we helped assist in every mating but lived covered we just helped with the aim
Modern blood lines haven't been selected for natural breeding for years so it's not uncommon for them to have trouble. Its different with old line stock it's uncommon for a boar from naturally bred lines to have trouble after the first couple of times ,we don't help ours we turn the sow in let him breed her twice . Usually takes about 30 minutes then she goes back to her pen . Most of the older sows will stand at the gate when they're in heat they learn the routine pretty quick
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay what is your favorite cross, you mentioned your breed of choice is Duroc, but what do you like to cross with or do you keep ‘em pure
@@Chief-h8d most of our sows are the Carolina Gold breed we developed but we still have some SPC, Hampshire and Duroc purebred stock . Red Hamps sell the best by far next would be red spotted pigs I mostly breed for type and growth rate but color sells pigs so I have to take that in consideration. We keep three separate herds so we can provide unrelated breeding stock .
Have you ever heard of feeding pigs coal as a dewormer? A buddy of mine was telling me that a long long time ago this old guy he knew of walked the railroad tracks picking up coal that had fallen off the trains. He just threw the lumps in the pen and the pigs would woof it down.
That's a new one , I've heard everything from sulphur to garlic and rosemary . In the old days they used lye then arsenic later on . Half mine won't eat squash much less a lump of coal
Homesteading the Hard Way well now we live in southern Illinois. That’s all we have is high sulfur coal here. So maybe that’s why they thought it’d work. They just derailed a train in my hometown last week so there’s plenty of coal on the ground if ya want me to send you a bag to try 🤣
I bought from Shipley genetics twice and spent over $500 on 2 different tries had a teaser boar got them to stand and both times after timing and putting dates in calendar and never had no luck had 3 litters this spring with one still born out of all 3 litters Tamworth mulefoot Berkshire mix, and didn't really understand mulefoot was a small breed until I heard you say it the other day, my boar is 350lbs and is 1.5 yrs old .... My first ai of a expensive pure breed registered Yorkshire I bought yielded a prolapsed anally and cost me $300 then she died
@@bigman3835 I can't remember exactly but I don't think that spotted boar was over two in the video . Had to put him down a few months later and he weighed almost 800 lbs
Two schools on that one Jeremy , old way was at 45 or 50 lbs after you wean them. New way is at 1 day old same time you clip tails and teeth , I do it 10 days before I wean and I've had really good luck and they heal fast
I have not raised a bore hog, but I have killed may wild bore hogs and most of the taste good. I also got a 600 lbs bore that a guy needed to get rid of and gave it to us free. We kept it for a few months, and the butchered it, and it was great tasting meat.
Some people can't taste it but I've rarely seen one that was edible. After 6 months the taint is usually terrible it might be something you get used to . Like eating a deer or bear that was run by hounds but 9 out of 10 people won't eat one on a bet .
Not only do they not castrate in the uk anymore some over there don't even chem castrate and send them to slaughter at a younger age and smaller weight idk maybe it's working for them but id like to send a finished hog in personally 😅
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay well if you haven't heard or read it already there's a bill trying to be passed in Colorado that as far as im concerned is the most ridiculous anti ag bill ever put forth in any country. And this is why folks who don't understand agriculture shouldn't be in charge of making decisions on it but to highlight a couple issues no help birthing has to be all "natural" no castration and if I remember correctly the animal has to of lived up to 40% of its natural life span before slaughter just saying we're in a crazy world
Hey Chris, I saw you saying if anybody has first hand experience with the spray to post it. I do have first hand experience with it, and it does work. However, I believe that AI is more expensive than keeping a boar. The only reason I AI is 1- I want to pick/change my genetics around. And 2- I don’t want to mess with a mean boar hog. Here is a link to us using the spray. We make no money on UA-cam, and we really don’t make any money on the farm yet 😂. Just wanted to give you an honest video on it in case you’re curious. ua-cam.com/video/CTIjlN8GfI8/v-deo.html
I did have a great idea for a teaser boar I had a little mini pig that I acquired had no use for him he had nuts and I built an impenetrable cage I can put him right outside my females then I didn't have to deal with such a big animal and he would put them in heat but I couldn't get the ai's to ever take I actually took pictures of me doing it and everything and everybody said I was doing it right but it didn't work
A ton of good points Chris. Too many times people don’t know what they’ve dealing with by having a boat around. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience 👍
We keep having people show us videos full of ... well just Crap about farming so I'm just trying to help as many folks as I can . Thought about you the other day , I was setting some traps over a ground hog burrow or two wish I had filmed it
Truth be told I trap way more groundhogs than I shoot. The traps work all day, and often times I get too busy to take the gun (and camera) for a walk 😁
@@HuntingFarmerOfficial we just had them move in here a few years ago ( have no idea where they came from ) about the same time the wild hogs and coyotes showed up and I could do without any of them . I'm amazed at what a ground hog can eat up , had one taking one bite out of every water melon in a field
If you're not monetizing this, please do! You deserve it! Thank you for all your help!
I have 5 gilts, 1 sow, and damn good bore and sir you are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you.
Glad to help!
Thanks Chris I am starting a homestead from a beef farm however never had pigs. Mine arrive July 10th mix heritage cross tamworth / berks for our meat.
Appreciate your comments and tips.
Glad to help
Chris - I have learned a lot from y'all. We started with feeder pigs and we just had our first litter of piglets. Do you have a good video of castration? Do you know any reputable producers in North Alabama? I live in an extremely rural county and I know no one that raises pigs. Thanks
Email me . I can send you a video but we don't have one on utube
BTS Mel Box Truck Driver good video Chris lots of knowledge will be getting up with you when I'm ready for piglets not set up yet but working hard on it.
Let me know and I'll save you a couple
Where do y’all get your hogs processed? I have used one down in Sims North Carolina before but I’m always looking for someplace better.
Flowers is the best we've found, we weren't impressed with McLambs . They're both considered in Sims I think
I am so thankful I found you. My wife and I are moving onto her family land in Northern Arizona. It is high desert and the soil is not great for pasture, but we have horses. I want to use pigs and chickens to improve to soil quality. What breed of pig, in your opinion, would do good in that climate? The are doesn't get the extreme heat like other parts of Arizona and it does get cold and snow in the winter.
Any of the traditional breeds should do fine . You might need to do shelters different than I do, built on skids with a floor I'm told is the best way for cold weather. Then you can move them as you let the pigs build the land
Where I grew up in SW Virginia everyone raised Hampsires and they always rung their nose with three rings. I never did care for it myself. It didn't stop them from rooting completely but it did slow them down. We still had a devil of a time keeping them in, and that's with the fence on locust post and nailed to a locust log running along the bottom. They are hard to stop when they get determined to go.
We used rings with a turn up they work better , seems like all I did growing up was Chase pigs and fix fence / pens !
Great video. We will be putting up our little pen following your model and instructions. Thanks so much from north Florida.
Glad to help and I'm here if you have any questions
Thanks for the videos and info! Our old spot pigs stand without spray or a boar nearby. We just track when they are in heat and start checking every few hours until they stand and then AI. We did decide to get a boar this year because mistakes can happen and we want to be as involved and sure about our pig development as we can.
Your new subscriber! very educative. im in the process of starting a pig farm in Kenya. good job thanks😘
If you need to know anything specific let me know . Glad to help if I can
Good luck @KenDutchFarmKenya I hope it goes good for you
What breed would you recommend for a beginner that wants to use feeder pigs to clear pasture and sell at 260lbs?
You may have covered it before but I haven't seen all your videos yet...when breeding do you take the sow to the boar? boar to the sow? Or have a natural pen to breed?
I normally take the sow to the boar and leave her until she goes out of heat , 3 days . Then check 3 weeks later to make sure she doesn't come back in . Boar pens at the other end 20 by 24
Ok, great thank you!
How long would you keep a good boar, and what do you do with him when he's retired?
Until he's to big for the sows to hold him up usually around three , I try to give them away they have almost no market or meat value might bring 50.00
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay one more question then, could you butcher him at 2 without the gamey taste? Thank you for the response. I've been raising pigs for meat for 9 years, but this is my first year with a breeding pair. No one around here raises them and I'm having to drive further and further away to find them. Plus, I like knowing where they are coming from..
@@billobrien4761 I've never had any luck with the meat off an old boar , in the old days they would cut them and wait a couple months . The oldest I kill a boar for meat is 6 months and don't want to have been even close to anything in heat . Finding decent stock is getting harder everywhere I think
Not sure if you'll see this but, would an old boar be good food for feeding other animals?
They would be fine dog food , just would need to be cooked
Chris, Great video! I have a few questions for you. I'll give you some back ground info first. I've got 10 acres of mixed pasture and forest with 40 pigs right now. I started with 5 gilts (2 Duroc, 2 Berkshire, and 1 Hampshire X Berkshire) a year ago. All have given birth except for 1 of the Berkshire gilts but she is due on the 15th. They were all bred to my Hereford X Hampshire boar.
Question 1. Can I breed the gilts of these 5 sows back to their dad or will that cause problems?
Now I have 14 new gilts that I plan to breed when they are old enough which leads me to my next problem/question. I don't have a barn big enough to house 14 gilts and 5 sows all giving birth at the same general time. With the 5 originals I was able to spread them out for farrowing so I could put them in my barn for the first month or 2 until I weaned the piglets. That's not gonna work once all 19 are farrowing within a few months of each other.
Question 2. When you and your Dad had all the pigs back where your corn is growing now, did y'all farrow on the ground and if so, how did it go? Do you have any suggestions/tips that would help?
Question 3. When the 14 gilts start going into heat, can I put the boar out to pasture with the gilts for a month or 2 until they are all bred and then return him to his pen or should I take each gilt to his pen individually?
Thanks for taking the time to make these videos! It really helps. I grew up on 50 acres running cows and showing pigs and steers in our county fair. This pig raising operation I started a year ago has been a great learning experience and it definitely helps when you have someone with more experience to ask questions to. Thanks for everything Chris!
Ok , breeding back to dad is not a good idea unless they are definitely going to be meat pigs ( and they sometimes are crazy ) next we did have mobile farrowing shelters and in hot weather they worked .. but you'll lose more pigs than in the barn . Personally I would try to spread out breeding to have two or three litters a month , that would be a lot easier on you and having pigs to sell all year is a lot better , these farrowing pens I use are pretty quick and simple a few of them would help . Glad to help if I can and I have a question what do you think of the Berkshires ?
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay Chris, Thanks for the info! I live in North Florida. If I were to try farrowing outside of the barn, do you think living in a milder climate "especially winter time," would that help my success rate at all?
I did buy a different boar that is a Hampshire X Yorkshire to breed these new gilts with. I've heard in some of your other videos that you aren't a big fan of the Hereford pigs. Is there a certain reason or something I need to be looking out for with him? One of the reasons I chose the Hereford was because I always loved the look of the Polled Hereford Bulls and a Red Hereford Boar kinda reminds me of that. Doesn't the red in the Hereford pigs come from being crossed with Durocs?
One more question, If One of these sows farrow a good looking boar piglet that I want to keep for breeding stock, can he breed sisters from the same litter without problems and/or can he breed his half sisters from other litters without problems?
As for the Berkshires, I love the temperament of the Berkshire pigs and they taste really good too. The marbling in the meat is really nice. I'm like you with the red Duroc pigs. I love a red pig. The temperament of the Duroc is sketchy as best. One of my Duroc's I can get in the pen with her and her piglets and do whatever I need to as long as I don't try to hold them and make them squeal but the other Duroc sow will try to eat you alive when she has piglets no matter what you do. The personality of my Berkshire pigs is really cool. They are almost like a big puppy.
@@booneliscious I don't recommend any inbreeding , its done at times to concentrate some traits but you have to cull heavy if any are future breeders . It causes more mental/ temperament problems than anything . I don't have anything against the Herefords really ,never had good luck with Berkshires but that could be a problem with our local stock ( back to that inbreeding thing ) . The difference between farrowing on pasture and in the house is normally half the litter , biggest thing is being with her and a heat lamp to draw the pigs out of the way especially with a young sow and luck seems to matter a lot too . I hate to lose a pig and I stay up all night delivering pigs regularly but I don't lose many , Our e-mail is on the home page send me one and I can go into way more detail
I have been watching your videos for months now. I love your videos because you speak the truth about the good and bad. We currently have 3 sows and 1 boar, and we are about to build a big set up to start farrowing close to 100 piglets a year. Any advice on fast growing/best selling breeds? We currently have Hampshire sows, and a Hampshire/tam worth boar.
Thsts a good cross , red listed pigs sell as good as anything
10-4 The first time my sow farrowed out 16 from him. She laid on 2, and we sold 12. The other 2 hit the freezer. Hopefully the 2 new gilts will do good with him. All 3 females are farrowing out within the next month. Thanks for the feed back.
How long do you keep a boar ? Also do you have a good method to tell how old a boar is ? We bought a boar and was told he was around 2 but I think he's much older. He's a GOS boar and the sweetest gentle boar Ive Ive been around but then again I've only ever been around a few. Last question ... how prevalent is boar taint ? Ive read that it is intact rare and is only in certain breeds. We kept a boar from our last litter that turned out to only have one testicle and now he's big enough to butcher but is intact. What are your thoughts ? Love the channel !!!
I usually get 2 or 3 years out of one , depends on how big your sows are and if you keep any guilts off him . That boar here is a little over two and he's close to being to big that's what ends them age isn't that important . They can breed at least to 5 or 6 but it has to be a big sow to hold them up . Butchering a boar is hit and miss we process a few at 200-250 lbs and do fine ( anything under 6 months ) if you can't smell" boar" when you're around him I'd chance it but a mature breeding boar is horrible. We have given a few away and the folks bring use some pork back and I don't know how they ate it !
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay Thanks for the advice. The boar that we are thinking about processing is about 2 and has never been used since he only has the one testicle. My main boar is around 5 and he's such a sweet boy never pushy. He's very tolerant and good with piglets also. I wouldn't even consider eating him he's so big and I think way to old but we were thinking about the 2 yr old.
You can totally cut the tusks...I always keep an eye on my boar!!!
Just found your channel got fifty years into raising hogs out doors,enjoying it. Tip if you have to handle any boar,best way I have found to work on one is a half loaf of bread soaked with beer ( works with sows after a tough farrowing).
We've used sour mash the same way a few times . Had people say beer was the ticket for stopping a sow mauling pigs, have you ever had trouble with that ?
How long does breeding stock last ?
Sows usually four or five years , I've had a couple eight or nine but that's not normal. If you can keep the boar from getting to big or only have big sows they're good for five years or so until they're just to heavy to cover a sow
How often you got to deworm them
Depends on the parasite load in your pens . I worm mine every four months as a precaution because people bring sows to breed
Great info ! I remember as kid you would see small hog farms all over the place . Now you don't see them hardly at all . They made it to hard to sale your pigs .
@Aaric Hale - by "to hard to sale" do you mean it cost more to raise them than what you received when you sold them? In other words the going rate per pound when you sold them gave you less money than it cost to feed them? I just wanted to spell it out for the new generation. That situation started back in the 70s. It affected the chicken, beef and grain markets, too. For whatever reason the price per pound of a live animal ready for market started dropping back in the 70s and factory raised meat started to take over. I took Micro and Macro Economics back in 2013 and the text books said (which is what we were taught) that if you sell 10 items at a dollar each you make $10.00 but if you invest in increasing your production and sell 1,000,000 items at a dollar each you make $1,000,000.00 which will probably pay for your initial investment . Most farmers never had $900,000.00 laying around to do any large scale investing - nor the land to do it on - and the bank would own your farm if you had a natural disaster happen and you failed to make your payments. Which would mean you and your family would have nowhere to live. I remember this situation well. It was a hard decision to make whether to 1. keep on raising livestock for sale and keep on loosing money, 2. keep on raising livestock and hope the price per pound will come back up or 3. give up raising livestock and loose that potetial income. As you can see the first thing I thought of when we were taught that in Economics is "so that's what killed the farmer and brought in Factory Meat and other Factory Food". The same thing happened to field crops too. Some of which were sold on the Global Market which in turn dictated their price so you grew what paid the most per bushel and would also grow in your location. A farm doesn't survive without an income to support it. Even in the "good old days". Back then you had to have money to buy horses, horse drawn machinery, harnesses for the horses which is size specific, stoves, mason jars, pots, etc.
It always money Aaric , most of the old guys quit because they lost money one year too many ! People just aren't willing to pay more for better pork
@@sheilam4964 A lot of small markets went out of business and you couldn't sale them with out records and tales not cut off stupid stuff like that .
@@sheilam4964 That's what put us put Miss Sheila , I wish the days would come back where you could be small and sale directly to the public an make a living
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay That is the honest to God truth. And you and I and others who also know are going to keep saying it till the "powers that be" hear it.
I’m from north Carolina right below Virginia line got two feeders about a month ago first time one for me one for my dad and already love it want to try and start breeding but only know one guy with pigs to buy from close around here what part of Carolina are you from
We're in Lenoir co. Had a guy down today getting a couple of guilts to breed from Norfolk VA. said it took 2.5 hours to get here
i've got a question and my mom bought me a red with black spotted pig when i was 3 years old i cannot find the name of the breed that makes red with black spots i was wondering if you could help me out with that
That's hard to answer, glochester or spc bred to a Duroc or Tamworth but it shows up in 3 and 4 way crossed pigs that don't have a spotted ancestor that's big breeds now in the small breeds I think Juliana and maybe kune kune have that pattern but I'm not sure
Once again, Chris you are telling it like it is, a 3½' high pig is taller than a 3' kitchen countertop and longer than 7', most of the time. That's about as long as a large sofa. How many people's sofa will fit in their kitchen and be taller than the countertop? A full grown pig is often larger and heavier than a black bear and twice as deadly. They both run at about the same speed, can break bones 4-5" across and climb 7-8' tall fences. When you said pigs are mini bulldozers you weren't exagerating and they move and turn faster. They will push, ram and plow through the unimaginable whereas a bear won't. A bear will stand on its hind legs and push things but a pig will will be all over it like white on rice. I did see a video of a grizzlie bear ramming a Range Rover and it lifted the two tires nearest it off the ground but grizzlies are twice the size or bigger than domestic pigs but not by much. Yeh, we're not talking about those cute little pot belly pigs are we? Cute little pigs are like cute little bear cubs. They grow up.
Yep they don't stay cute long Miss Sheila , it amazes me how many homesteaders don't realize how big livestock is or go with small half useless breeds because they're scared of them
Chris do you know the best thing about pigs for me is?....They are the only animal we have that we don't have to worry about predators with.
We have some problems occasionally Thomas , eagles and horned owls will get a piglet and neighborhood dogs get after a hog but they lose most of the time
In these 2 years since youve posted this, have you had any predation...because im genuinely curious...
Any baby animal in human care will always call in the predators...it may take awhile, but they'll show up.
And every predator loves baby pigs....up until about 64.9 lbs round here. 🤣🤣🤣.
...meaning, "baby" pigs are a handful and we don't have predators, outside of stray dogs or a super "ballsy" yote.
I've been lucky on all accounts thusfar.
In light of this, my 100 lb brickhouse bluetick just had a run-in with some yotes a couple nights ago...he's good, but the so-called "wild critters" are getting more experimental as some folks introduce "easier pickens."
As soon as the subdivisions popped up, so did "extra wild" predators.
We've been good here, as i hope you've been...but it almost seems as if wild animals can sense the "wild" in our country, and act accordingly...and get more aggressive.
@@r.j.english8088 we still have not lost any to predators and we have coyotes and bobcats here and bears but they do not bother us our outside dog seems to be doing his job and he is on a chain. the deer walk up to the pig pens and eat corn
@@thomasschmitthomesteadproj6025 we had a bear getting into the hog feed last month . You ought to have seen this pack of curs after it lol
I wish i woulda cut my berkshire bore tusks when he was small hes 800p now and gettin meaner then a rattler in a corner!! He nice calm but outa no where the other day he came at me and boy it was close call!! Iv got a guy wanting to buy him but i hate let him go for 250 buks!! Put lota feed thru his arss but dont want kill for meat eather so mite just sell him off after i breed his butt
What breed of pig is good for meat to be raised on concrete only . You do have a great channel, which I enjoy watching
Any of the large breeds should do fine ,some of the old line stock would get foot sore but that hasn't been a problem in years
So why not leave the boar in with the sows all year long? Is that to time out the pregnancies?
Can't control feed and they're rough on the sows
The A.I. definitely was a pain, just because of finding the time when theyre ready. Ive never studied pig nether-regions before, but i got my share in the times looking for heats and everything after.
The boar spray will make them stand....if they are in heat, or ready to come into heat for the A.I.
If not...they investigate and move on. I would say it's necessary for A.I., but not in every circumstance.
2 of our gilts stood right up rigid.
1 was a bit more troublesome, but she took 2 doses after rejecting about half the first.
Biggest problem we ran into was the seman not being as advertised that and our customers didn't like it
Thanks for all the Boar-ing information!
Why is it important to keep boars separated? We are a fairly small farm down in south Alabama and I have had hogs for 5 years now and I keep the boar in with the sows full time. I remember my grandfather raised hogs and he always had Duroc or Poland China boars and he kept them separate but he said that was because they were so mean and would also kill piglets. I haven't had any issue with my Hereford boars in that aspect yet. Thanks.
It's important to control feed an breeding is the main thing . They boar has a tendency to get most of the feed and beat up even cut the sows up, try to breed them while they're having pigs etc.
Thanks so much for responding! @@HomesteadingtheHardWay
@@jasonbusby8711 glad to help if I can , any questions just let me know
Good discussion my friend!
Thanks Geeky
Hogg's raised in the dirt is how they was designed from the beginning and Amen at 8:45 !
I've raised them inside and I promise they seem happier on the dirt and everyone around here swears the pork is better
Can recommend a weight gaining supplement for feeder pigs?
If you have them on a good 16% feed some bread or sweets ( donuts, little Debbie etc ) or milk on top of normal feeding will usually kick them up a notch
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay thank you!!
Our sow stands in heat when we approach her. Our boar is very similar to how youve decided yours in this video. We have Yorkshire. GA
Most of mine wont even with the spray .
Nature is best
How do u get rid of the tusks completely ?
I don't know of a way , surgery maybe . It takes a long time for them to grow back if you cut them off and they'll never be as sharp
Hey Chris, As always I loved the video but you forgot something!
You can’t plow a field by turning it over in your mind. Lol. Y’all be safe up there as well as everyone else that follows the channel!🇺🇸
I was mighty tired when we filmed this DJ
Homesteading the Hard Way I just had to call you on something.... lmbo! Much love for you and what y’all do Pops 👊🏼🇺🇸
@@dejayblair7571 Lol I'm lucky I can remember my name DJ , appreciate the support !
Pappaw had a sow that was mean she’d eat her pigs, she’d chase everybody that came into sight. Him and a neighbor put a nose holder on her and pulled her head up and laid it down her back and sat on her and took a hammer and broke her tusks off. he had to do it twice. That was back in the 70’s
Super great video, your throwing knowledge that I appreciate
Glad to help
As a novice, I didn't have any trouble doing AI on the ground without a boar around. However, I eventually concluded that for my two sows, it was less expensive to maintain a boar than to purchase semen.
I think you doing a great service. I am got to for lots of people around here for animals and live stock. I have been doing videos for a while and enjoy it more all the time. I like putting people on the right path.
I worked on a Tyson hog farm for 3 years, and it was total AI. 2100 sows and gilts, used lil Chinese breed teaser boars.
Some great information as always.
Currently, 2 of my 3 of my bred gilts have duroc in them already. Hampshire mixed for sure, maybe some spot.
The third is looking more tamworth.
Anyhow, I needed them bred, so we A.I.ed them for their first breeding.
It seems they all took, at this point...do you have any videos to spot first time pregnancies??...I could use a couple/few.
We A.I.ed duroc to the duroc crosses, 2 doses apiece, with a hampshire chaser for the third.
Our big tamworth looking gilt got all Spot semen.
I couldnt find a trustworthy boar in the time i needed bred for my timelines.
That spray you spoke of...is almost necessary for A.I. when they are supposed to enter into their heat but may need a "bump."
It made them stand...but the back-end wasn't always in the same wavelength. You'd know the difference all day...amateurs, like me, not so much.
We had refusal from the first 1 of the 3 for our big tamworth looking girl, but she took the next 2. The 2 other gilts were very receptive.
I'm always on the lookout for a young, quality boar. And, or, im gonna buy a bred sow to straighten up our lines, but we may have to A.I. again if this goes well, and maybe if it doesn't.
Things are different up here it seems...pigs been hard to find and/or pay for. ,
Did you mention pig farming is a giant gamble?
We, (I) may buy a "full blood," bred sow to integrate into our setup, but I'm waiting to see how things go with our girls.
I want to breed back, not immediately, but we only have so much time in the north.
Ahhhh, to be a pig farmer. Ha ha ha. Gotta be special.
Love your info.
I pray y'all are well.
Good stocks hard to find everywhere I think . I'm running two herds now so we can supply unrelated breeding stock . I have had some real trouble finding good boar's finally have two now like we wanted
Great Video thanks for the advice
Thanks preacher !
The spray you are talking about is Boar musk. Can you make pig baloney from the old boar?
I've been told pepperoni is the best use but our processer doesn't do that
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay That would make sense.
@@sarahmoore4917 every time I've tried to eat one it was way too gamey so enough spice to cover it up probably would help
In my Dad's later years and hard on cash, he got an old boar. It weighed about 600 lbs live. He put it in an 11 acre fenced in forested area on our farm with a source of water and left it there for about 6 months before butchering it. He nor we ever fed it. Just checked on it now and then to see if it was still there and alive and kick'n. He said "It was fine. You'd never know it was an old boar." I had some and agree, if it was the old boar I was eating but since he had no income, I'm pretty sure he wasn't pulling my leg.
We used to eat them too , old people here never wasted anything . You could eat it but you knew something was different . Some of the difference between then and now is those old women knew how to make anything fit to eat and that's a lost art around here
Hey I live in Florida and my land is real wet in raining season will it be ok to raise pigs
We have hauled in sand to build up under pens before or you could put down some concrete
How is that china hammer mill holding up
Still running, only use it to make chicken feed . Hundred pounds a week or so
Thanks just ordered one. They all look the same just different prices. I just took my first batch of pigs to the butcher. 3 of them, duroc- landrace mix. They grew well but one didn’t eat as much as the other 2 it just screwed around all the time so it stayed smaller. Is that normal for one to be smaller
@@Peachmountainfarm keep that mill greased and don't run it too long at the time and it'll probably hold up. It's not uncommon to have some run behind , mine are pretty consistent but still might be 25 to 30 lbs difference from lightest to heavest
I am fascinated by your hog videos. I can remeber one hog kiling my Dad done when I was really young. It's like I tried to explain to one of my family members with a degree in philosphy. I don't give an educated man more consideration than a man with no education. Education can be a bad thing in agriculture cause the fella doing the teaching is trying to sell a book. If that man with no education is farmer he's done seen hard times and had to make cost effective decisions to make a living.
I deal with collage educated folks a lot , had one didn't know a cow had to have a calf to have milk !
this is the second video of yours i have watched.. and i am already hooked.. speaking the truth and telling it how it is.. also since i was a kid duroc has been my favorite.. they are long.. lean.. slick looking and big enough.. yeah some grow faster some are bigger some are built like line backers but duroc pigs were my first wow that is a great looking pig
Bred a lot of Sows with no boar just used the boar in a bottle spray stuff. Worked well for us, yes took lots of effort to watch for heat, but we managed well. Good conception and good litter sizes. As far as meat pigs instead of Showpigs you are right, we did find a boar stud that had a commercial production line along with Showpigs and was very economical to buy. I don’t like about natural breeding is some boars can’t aim well and end up dumping the goods in the ground then you miss that cycle and 3 weeks behind. I don’t trust boars to naturally breed. Hand mating worked well for us meaning we helped assist in every mating but lived covered we just helped with the aim
Modern blood lines haven't been selected for natural breeding for years so it's not uncommon for them to have trouble. Its different with old line stock it's uncommon for a boar from naturally bred lines to have trouble after the first couple of times ,we don't help ours we turn the sow in let him breed her twice . Usually takes about 30 minutes then she goes back to her pen . Most of the older sows will stand at the gate when they're in heat they learn the routine pretty quick
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay what is your favorite cross, you mentioned your breed of choice is Duroc, but what do you like to cross with or do you keep ‘em pure
@@Chief-h8d most of our sows are the Carolina Gold breed we developed but we still have some SPC, Hampshire and Duroc purebred stock . Red Hamps sell the best by far next would be red spotted pigs I mostly breed for type and growth rate but color sells pigs so I have to take that in consideration. We keep three separate herds so we can provide unrelated breeding stock .
Good video as always!
Thanks jess
Have you ever heard of feeding pigs coal as a dewormer?
A buddy of mine was telling me that a long long time ago this old guy he knew of walked the railroad tracks picking up coal that had fallen off the trains. He just threw the lumps in the pen and the pigs would woof it down.
That's a new one , I've heard everything from sulphur to garlic and rosemary . In the old days they used lye then arsenic later on . Half mine won't eat squash much less a lump of coal
Homesteading the Hard Way well now we live in southern Illinois. That’s all we have is high sulfur coal here. So maybe that’s why they thought it’d work.
They just derailed a train in my hometown last week so there’s plenty of coal on the ground if ya want me to send you a bag to try 🤣
I have heard of using coal as a dewormer.
@@richardheinen1126 I would love to have some , I'm useing lump charcoal in the small forge and it's expensive
Where are you in nc I'm newbern working on a small farm
About an hour east down 70 from you keith
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay when I get my pens built I'll try to get up with you to get some feeder pigs
@@keithbennett5991 just let me know , we have a waiting list for the next few litters
It will be next yr I have alot of clearing to do and getting everything thing ready
@@keithbennett5991 I understand that , took me two years to move mine across the farm
What size is that pen the boer was in
He's in a sow pen there 20 ish by 65 , the boar pens a 16 by 32 for breeding And a 16 by 24 for holding . I normally take the sows to the boar
...... I never knew that's why pig noses get rings.
That's the only reason and as the pig grows you have to replace it with a bigger ring . Makes it hurt to root
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay now that you say it, it's obvious. I simply never knew.
10 4 buddy, big supporter here just to bussy with the damb confiment hog
Thank Mike
REAL.TALK. 💯
I bought from Shipley genetics twice and spent over $500 on 2 different tries had a teaser boar got them to stand and both times after timing and putting dates in calendar and never had no luck had 3 litters this spring with one still born out of all 3 litters Tamworth mulefoot Berkshire mix, and didn't really understand mulefoot was a small breed until I heard you say it the other day, my boar is 350lbs and is 1.5 yrs old .... My first ai of a expensive pure breed registered Yorkshire I bought yielded a prolapsed anally and cost me $300 then she died
I haven't had much luck either outside the hog house
My boars are usually getting to big 500 to 600 lbs or more by the time they're two
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay I wonder if it the mulefoot I feed 5 lbs day of good quality pork maker plus slop and garden scraps
@@bigman3835 probably , they don't get big like a York or Berkshire
@@bigman3835 I can't remember exactly but I don't think that spotted boar was over two in the video . Had to put him down a few months later and he weighed almost 800 lbs
Thank you!
Glad to help
Great content my brother.
Thank you
What about f1 and f2 generation?
We cover that in some other videos . I could talk about breeds and cross breeds for hours and never cover it all .
When would you castrate a boar piglet?
Two schools on that one Jeremy , old way was at 45 or 50 lbs after you wean them. New way is at 1 day old same time you clip tails and teeth , I do it 10 days before I wean and I've had really good luck and they heal fast
Where do you live in north Carolina
Lenoir co.
I have not raised a bore hog, but I have killed may wild bore hogs and most of the taste good. I also got a 600 lbs bore that a guy needed to get rid of and gave it to us free. We kept it for a few months, and the butchered it, and it was great tasting meat.
Some people can't taste it but I've rarely seen one that was edible. After 6 months the taint is usually terrible it might be something you get used to . Like eating a deer or bear that was run by hounds but 9 out of 10 people won't eat one on a bet .
Thanks for the help
Glad too !
Just bought a purebred duroc boar. If you ever find yourself in middle GA. I know a guy for you.
I've got one now , he's young but champion stock . Far fetched and dear bought !
Thanks
Glad to help
Not only do they not castrate in the uk anymore some over there don't even chem castrate and send them to slaughter at a younger age and smaller weight idk maybe it's working for them but id like to send a finished hog in personally 😅
It's going to be that way here soon commercialy but I'm with you I'd rather not have to worry about it
@@HomesteadingtheHardWay well if you haven't heard or read it already there's a bill trying to be passed in Colorado that as far as im concerned is the most ridiculous anti ag bill ever put forth in any country. And this is why folks who don't understand agriculture shouldn't be in charge of making decisions on it but to highlight a couple issues no help birthing has to be all "natural" no castration and if I remember correctly the animal has to of lived up to 40% of its natural life span before slaughter just saying we're in a crazy world
@@jaybaker9684 I heard something about it , I doubt it'll pass but something like it might in the future
I have 13 Boars
I live in Sampson county north Carolina and I have dorock piglets for sale
I need your phone number !
I like cross of white man pig and black man pig
I know a guy that can hook you up with registered Duroc Boars
Hey Chris, I saw you saying if anybody has first hand experience with the spray to post it. I do have first hand experience with it, and it does work. However, I believe that AI is more expensive than keeping a boar. The only reason I AI is 1- I want to pick/change my genetics around. And 2- I don’t want to mess with a mean boar hog. Here is a link to us using the spray. We make no money on UA-cam, and we really don’t make any money on the farm yet 😂. Just wanted to give you an honest video on it in case you’re curious.
ua-cam.com/video/CTIjlN8GfI8/v-deo.html
Thank you
I did have a great idea for a teaser boar I had a little mini pig that I acquired had no use for him he had nuts and I built an impenetrable cage I can put him right outside my females then I didn't have to deal with such a big animal and he would put them in heat but I couldn't get the ai's to ever take I actually took pictures of me doing it and everything and everybody said I was doing it right but it didn't work
That's the complaint I hear the most , I don't know why but it's hard to get an outside pig to catch with AI
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Thanks Anthony