Pigs for waste

Foleyart

It annoys the crap out of me that we throw out so much food every week. Aside from the cost of paying for waste disposal it is just morally wrong. To that end I have been thinking of building a small shed out the back and getting in a couple of pigs. We have about 2 acres of space out the back and so far as I know, by moving the pigs around using electric fencing they are as good as a rotivator in the garden. I also quite like the idea of home grown pork. Anyone got any experience of this.

pauljordan

Pigs are easy enough to keep. You mention you have a couple of acres of land. Pigs are like rotovators, but you will need a lot of pigs to rip up 2 acres. Simply moving a couple of pigs around on 2 acres will take forever, and you don't want the pigs to get too big and they end up too fatty. To get pigs however you will need to get a pig herd number of the Dept of Agriculture. You apply for one and then they send an inspector to have a look at you holding to see if its suitable. This can take any where from 2 weeks to 3 months - it depends on how busy they are, and as this type of thing is getting more popular they are getting increasingly more busy.

The pigs themselves will eat a lot. I have 4 people at my house and the waste of 4 people is a snack to a pig once they get to around the 3 month stage ( aim for slaughter at 6 months). If you could source 'old' veg from somewhere then this is a better idea and mix it with some meal. Most shops will not give you any waste as its against the law. You will need someone who trusts you to do this. Or of course buy bags of pig meal for them which adds cost.

Then you will need to tag them or tatoo them with your herd number before they go to slaughter. Do you know anyone that can do this correctly as its not really a job for someone who hasn't done it before that can show you? Do you have some form of transporting a couple of 15st pigs? Then you need to source a trustworthy slaughter house - butcher. Some animals that are reared as a hobby and killed do not end up back to the producer !!! I've learned by experience. If you can find a butcher that 'home kills' and then will cut up the carcase in front of you then that an ideal solution.

Make sure you have some sort of shelter for the pigs. A few pallets knocked together with a roof will do the trick. I have tried to keep pigs within the confines of an electic fence and it doesn't work. They simply put their heads down and charge through it. You need a stake and wire fence putting up to be 100% with a row of barbed wire along the ground.

After all said and done though it is very rewarding getting a few pigs and rearing them yourself for the table.

Foleyart

Your response is much appreciated, thanks. In a former life I was a butcher myself and had experience of all aspects including slaughter. I dont think I could bring myself to actually slaughter again though, that particular switch is rusted shut. The cutting up will not be a problem. I had thought to go back to the ways things used to be in small towns at one stage, where you gathered slops and waste from the neighbours to feed the pigs, and supplement that with grain or meal. Any particular type of pig you would recommend ? Not really interested in exotic types, more for the pork.

CJhaughey

I'll add my 2c to this, Paul is right your waste will go towards about 2% of the pigs diet, you will need to buy in food, I used Organic meal at€17 a bag but I believe it is getting cheaper now due to big crops of cereals this year.
I also fed them on fish skeletons and prawn heads if I got them, no meat.
Don't underestimate how much a pig eats a rough guide is 1lb per day per month of age so if you buy a 8 week old piglet he will start off at 2lbs per day and go on from there.
I kept saddlebacks as they are hardier than the landrace that are used in commercial farming units.
I killed mine at 6mths age
Mains electric fencers worked well for me especially if the pigs are trained from small that the fence is LIVE.
Shelter, I found that the green plastic calf hutch from JFC was the best value~€250 or so, Portable and indestructible(very important later on)
The pigs lived on about a 100m2 patch of grounud that needed to be rooted and fertilized and they did this job superbly.

My local abbatoir charged me €30 to kill and cut the pig into 5 pieces and a friendly butcher charged me 110 to make sausages, chorizo,black pudding, roasts, chops and a lot of terrines/paté from the pig.

Well worthwhile and the meat is so much better than the commercial pork that it defies comparison.

valarie001

i got a pot belly pig to eat all my rubbish! he eats everything! after dinner we have so many vegetable peelings and bread he gets great variety, i dont know how i managed with all the waste before this! but i would say he makes a big mess of a ground especially with the rain and pig poo smells bad!! but still a composter would smell just as bad i suppose.

Rujib1

valarie001 wrote: »

i got a pot belly pig to eat all my rubbish! he eats everything! after dinner we have so many vegetable peelings and bread he gets great variety, i dont know how i managed with all the waste before this! but i would say he makes a big mess of a ground especially with the rain and pig poo smells bad!! but still a composter would smell just as bad i suppose.

I have 4 pigs already and they are living in the house with me. They are called teenagers :eek: Anybod suggest how I could get rid of their waste economically

R1

porte

Pease dont do what our dumb ass pig farmers done and feed them recycled breadcrumbs or we could end up with another pork crisis.:eek: