New Piglet on Our Mini Homestead
We have a new feeder piglet, which we’re raising for meat purposes. She adjusted to her new surroundings quickly, seeming to 
appreciate the company of our rooster and laying hens even without the companionship of her brothers and sisters. We got her from my sister, who raises pastured poultry and free range pork.
Our young pig also seemed delighted with the chance to root around a new environment and we frequently see her chewing on roots she’s unearthed. These pictures are from her first day in the coop, but within a couple days, the whole pen was neatly plowed.
The chickens, a little skittish of her at first, have come around to more of an acceptance of their new companion, and don’t hesitate to follow after her as she roots, scratching in the freshly-turned soil for bugs, larvae and worms.
The children have also enjoyed our newest animal, especially since it’s our first four-legged farm creature. But there was one protestation –
My four-year old son, Patrick, came running into the house distraught after we’d had the pig for only a few hours.
“Mama, Mama, I’m not going to let Daddy kill our pig! I don’t want her deaded!”
My husband explained that every animal has a job to do, and hers right now is to eat and get big and b
e enjoyed by the family, but that one day her job will be to feed hungry bellies — including Patrick’s. I’m not sure he was entirely satisfied with the answer, but knowing it’s not going to happen in the next few weeks or months seemed to reassure him.
We’ve butchered pigs in the past — down at my parents’ farm and with my sister and her husband — but this will be the first time we do our own. Honestly, I’d rather take her to the local rural butcher and have it come back in neat packages and pre-spiced sausage, but my husband feels doing it ourselves is good practice and lends to a greater degree of self-sufficiency. We’ll see if he’s still sure about that when she’s a couple hundred pounds.
Have you raised a pig for meat? Did you butcher it yourself or take it to the professionals?
Hmmm… we’ve never raised any meat ourselves. When Honey retired we agreed that he’d fill the freezer with fish and venison. Well, that didn’t last long. I’m not real keen on fish, and he tapped out all his hunting buddies. We’d pay them to hunt for venison! We did that a couple of winters. It was cheaper than buying all the hunting gear and paying for a lease. So we just bought their venison from them.
I love venison. But you have to know how to cook it. One of the deacons at our church gave us to legs from javelina…that is wild pork. But we didn’t grow it and we didn’t kill it. He just had surplus…apparently they are free for the killing down here in TX!
Can’t wait to see how this adventure turns out for you and your family!
May 18th, 2011 at 11:12 pmPat
We raised three pigs a few months ago. We kept one, and the other two were raised for two other families.
A summary is here: http://green-change.com/series/pig-project-2010/
We didn’t kill them ourselves – the laws here in Australia are pretty tight, and the other families wouldn’t have been allowed to take their meat home if we killed them on my property. Yeah, don’t get me started
.
It went really well, and we’ll definitely do it again!
May 19th, 2011 at 6:40 pmI think your 4 year old son is very wise and intelligent.
May 24th, 2011 at 4:10 pmIf everyone was like him, there would be no violence, anger, wars would cease, because people would be using common sense.
That child still has an open heart, so follow him.
where’s the harm?
My family is mostly vegetarian but I’m a full supporter of raising your own meat. My husband does eat meat and we have toyed with the idea of raising our own. He wants absolutely nothing to do with it though! We even had a few hens and a rooster that we needed to get rid of and I couldn’t even convince him them – even if I did the dirty work. So while the roo did get rehomed, we still have hens that don’t lay eggs. Sigh.
More power to you guys for raising your own. I bet your son will change his tune with cute little piggie turns into big dirty hog.
May 26th, 2011 at 11:41 amI feel sorry for your son. You can’t expect a four year old to understand raising a pig for meat. Why would you traumatize your child needlessly? I am not a vegetarian but I certainly couldn’t raise something and then kill it for food. If that’s hypocritical then oh well.
June 28th, 2011 at 10:42 pmWe raise and butcher our own. We just put a 450 lb. hog in our freezer. We have had a friend help the last 2 years but the first year we did it on our own. It’s a lot of work but well worth it to know where your meat comes from. We have one more to butcher when it’s cold enough and two more we’re raising, one to butcher in the spring and one to breed next year. We have a family of 7 and we don’t like to buy meat from the store.If you want to do it yourself, there are tutorials you can find on u-tube or ask around for someone with experience who may trade help for a little meat. I love the barter system! Best of luck in your new endeavor!
October 29th, 2011 at 12:50 am[...] New Piglet on Our Mini Homestead [...]
December 27th, 2011 at 6:15 pm