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New to pigs

 
Stephen Cummings
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I had a bad accident 3 years ago. My wife held things down til I could get rid of the animals I couldn't care for. I am back and want to start back again. I have about 2/3 of an acre fenced off for animals and 1/3 for a garden. I am set up for and want chickens again as eggs are easy to sell here. I am torn between raising and breeding mini donkeys( I love them) and raising some pigs to full my freezer. The part for animals has an overgrown patch of black raspberries, peach, pear amd apple trees in it. I am looking for insight as to where I should go.
 
Timothy Norton
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I merged your stuff with the following thread. I hope that is okay by you.
 
Stephen Cummings
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You could stay my pen is overgrown. I had an accident 3 years ago and had to get rid of my chickens. (Wife wasn't happy taking care or them) I am trying to start again and will have chickens. I have 2/3 of an acre fenced for ani.als and 1/3 of an acre for garden. I really want to raise a few pigs for meat. Will they be ok with the chickens? Also will they help clear the land a little? I had a beautiful black raspberry patch that is out of control. Will they eat black raspberry? Most of the pen is peach and apple tree. What is your best advice for someone new to pigs? We currently buy a whole pig slaughtered every year and love fresh pork. Should I buy a mating pair or just one to raise for pork
 
Cj Picker
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I just butchered my first meishan/mangalitsa gilt who couldn't catch from my kune boar, she started out sweet but she was getting huge and starting to act ornery so we were thrilled to have the meat and one less mouth to feed.  

She is considered "medium" but I don't see how we could possibly sustain breeding pigs that size.  We now have 2 female potbellies for our kune boar and they are far more manageable imo.  My advice would be to start small.  Thought about American Guinea Hogs but couldn't find any nearby.
 
M Waisman
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I would do baby steps... full size boars and gilts will very well root 2/3 of an acre pretty quickly. Before long you'd have babies and could have overpopulation problems and require separate housing for the boar. I would want to rotate them more. You could get yourself a couple of weaner pigs for meat and skip the breeding for now. Any pig will eat what you have listed (depending on the tree size) but grazing pigs will root much less. It's up to your own desires and goals. I think most pigs and chickens can do quite well together but the minerals in the different species' feed can hurt the other species. There's ways around that but letting them eat each other's feed is not a good idea.
 
Anne Miller
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Justin Rhodes has a video that might answer your question.  

Justin said, "Putting our Plowing Pigs and Tiller Chickens to work together prepping our crop garden





This sounds like a great idea to me.

What for the guard goose.
 
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