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pigs

New piggies may 2026

thomas rubino

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posted 4 months ago

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Hi all, picked up this year's Piggies this weekend.
Two fat, happy boys, 10 - 12 weeks old.
A summer of green grass, ice-cold Artesian spring water, all the organic produce from our garden, and several neighbor gardens.
I also just scheduled a date in late August/early September for them to go on a road trip to meet the butcher.
Until then, they are in Piggie Paradise!

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Their bedroom with food dispenser for late night snacks

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Rico Loma

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posted 3 months ago

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Very fine swine, indeed.
Some folks believe boars have an off taste when compared with sows. What is your opinion on this?

thomas rubino

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posted 3 months ago

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Well, any boars I have had have been castrated.
So absolutely no difference in taste.
However, they are butchered at 6 -8 months old.

I also have heard that an uncut boar can have a tainted flavor.
During the rut, a buck deer or a bull elk can have a gamey taste that is impossible to completely cover with spices.
I have never raised breeding hogs (They are huge!)
But I would have to guess that a breeding boar would indeed have a different taste.

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Karen Allen

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posted 3 months ago

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Hey Thomas,

Great to see you here - and thanks for posting these. Are you training them to electric wire for pasture?

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 7164

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 3 months ago

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Hi, Karen
No, I have three pens that I move them through.
There is plenty of room, and less chance of predators this close to the house.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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posted 3 months ago

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Moving day.
Today I shut the piggies out of the bedroom pasture and let them into the comfrey pasture.
It won't take them long to till up this area, and be ready for the next.
I will reseed both of the small pens when I let them into the apple tree pen, home of the summer palace.

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Kara Ann

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Location: Mason County, WA USA:Ha; Harstine gravel ashy sandy loam

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posted 2 months ago

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Love the title of 'The Summer Palace' Thomas - the piggies surely will think so!

“Not everyone can be a truffle. Most of us are potatoes. And a potato is a very good thing to be.” Massimo Bottura, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 7164

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posted 2 months ago

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What a difference a few days makes!
The piggies have been working diligently at tilling the whole pen.
If they dig too deep, they will hit a water line!
By July, they will be moved to the Summer Palace, which has its own apple tree.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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posted 2 months ago

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Well, it has been just over a week now, and tilling is progressing quickly.
They exposed the water line briefly and are very close to it out in the middle.
They have terrorized the Comfrey patch as far as they can reach.
One more week should do it, unless they expose the water line again...

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 7164

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posted 2 months ago

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The piggies got too close to the waterline in the comfrey paddock, so I moved them onto the summer palace grounds.
In days they had dug up as well. They have three months to eat, drink, and sleep, and on September 2nd, they go for a truck ride to meet the butcher.

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Scott Weinberg

Posts: 422

Location: North East Iowa, USA

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posted 2 months ago

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Oh-- to be a pig!

YOU can eat like a pig, act like a pig, and just be an overal PIG and everyone is happy!

Got to like that.

Scott

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 7164

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 1 week ago

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Righty and Lefty went to meet the butcher yesterday.
Hanging weights were #216 & #198; couldn't be more perfect.
They come home next Friday, and they get to ride in the Subaru instead of in the back of the pickup truck!

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Jay Angler

master steward

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Location: Pacific Wet Coast

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posted 1 week ago

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Looks like they got a last meal too!!! Joel Salatin would approve - a really good life with one bad day!

Well done!

How does the economics work out? I have no doubt it's worth it from the food quality direction, but how much of a time and money perspective does this investment represent?

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 7164

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 1 week ago

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Hi Jay
Good question; unfortunately, I do not have a clear answer.
When I started raising weiners, they averaged $50 each, now they are $150
There is quite a bit of driving involved, from picking up the youngsters to going to get feed and their last truck ride.
Fuel has continued to go up in cost. When I deliver the piggies to the butcher shop, I drive the old Ford pickup at 8mpg...
Butchering costs also have risen.
Unlike the old days I'm certainly not making any money, and it no doubt costs me money (If I checked)...
But we are perfectly happy to do so.

In our opinion, the benefits easily cover the rising costs.
Knowing exactly what our pigs eat gives us hormone-free meat that does not affect digestion.
Raising happy animals with good food, clean water, and good dirt to root in makes all the difference in the end product.
I visit the pigs every day they are here; I bring them fresh compost from the house and fresh trimmings from the garden. I hand-feed them comfry all summer long. Once the apple trees start producing, they get several apples hand-fed every day.
They literally ran to see me when I came down, knowing that good eats were on the way.

The real payoff starts when they come home from the butcher.
The Bacon, the roasts, the cutlets, the pork chops are all over the top.
This may sound odd if you have never had home-raised pork; the fat is not only edible, it is one of the tastiest parts!
My whole life, I immediately cut off the rind of fat on a pork chop... even at a fancy restaurant, the fat tastes horrible; the old saying of "you are what you eat" applies to your food as well as your own health.

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Jay Angler

master steward

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posted 1 week ago

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thomas rubino wrote:Hi Jay
Good question; unfortunately, I do not have a clear answer...

In our opinion, the benefits easily cover the rising costs.
Knowing exactly what our pigs eat gives us hormone-free meat that does not affect digestion.
Raising happy animals with good food, clean water, and good dirt to root in makes all the difference in the end product...

This may sound odd if you have never had home-raised pork; the fat is not only edible, it is one of the tastiest parts!
...the old saying of "you are what you eat" applies to your food as well as your own health.

This is so true. Finding healthy fats is an incredibly valid point. Knowing you have a lot of real food on property to form the bulk of their diet is critical, because I doubt you would get as good results if they were in a barn being fed pellets. At one point Joel Salatin was offered expired food from a food charity and his pigs got sick on it.

So you may be paying a premium for the final product, but you are producing real food and your taste buds know it!

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Kara Ann

pollinator

Posts: 114

Location: Mason County, WA USA:Ha; Harstine gravel ashy sandy loam

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posted 1 week ago

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Righty and Lefty went to meet the butcher yesterday.
Hanging weights were #216 & #198; couldn't be more perfect.
They come home next Friday, and they get to ride in the Subaru instead of in the back of the pickup truck!

Oh my Thomas that time went SO FAST - seems like just a short bit ago you were posting about their arrival!

And thanks for all the pictures. Do you have some special things you are planning to plant where the piggles have kindly done the tilling for you?

“Not everyone can be a truffle. Most of us are potatoes. And a potato is a very good thing to be.” Massimo Bottura, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 7164

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 6 days ago

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Hi Kara, I replant every year shortly after the piggies move on.
I have tried growing different things over the years, and I have found that a general pasture mix seems to be the best.
If you plant just one seed, if they like it, it's gone in the first couple of days. If they don't like it, they will refuse to eat it for as long as it is piggily possible...
This means a week or two until they can't stand it anymore! When a pig does not like something, they eat it last... After all, eating, sleeping, and lying in the pond are what pigs do best...
By planting a pasture mix, they seem happy to pick the goodies out and then finish the rest. Very similar to how I approach a brand new box of chocolates!

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Kara Ann

pollinator

Posts: 114

Location: Mason County, WA USA:Ha; Harstine gravel ashy sandy loam

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posted 5 days ago

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You have coined a fabulous phrase there Thomas:

"...as long as piggily possible..."

Thanks for the update about the pasture mix.

“Not everyone can be a truffle. Most of us are potatoes. And a potato is a very good thing to be.” Massimo Bottura, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef

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