posted 10 years ago
Kyle: I think the suggestion to subdivide your half acre is a good one. moving them often is going to be your best defense against pests, and your best hope of consistently having forage/ground cover, and keeping your land from becoming an over-nutrified, barren moonscape. And 2 pigs on 1/2 an acre (even if it is subdivided, and is littered with acorns right now) are definitely going to need some external feed brought in. There are plenty of people doing small numbers of pigs with little or no milled annual grains, but most of them have broad acreage, and/or whey from cheesemaking operations. I feed my pigs anything that humans would eat, but try to get it to them before it becomes stinky, just cause the pig's fat will carry a lot of the flavor characteristics of their foodstuffs. Also look up some of those 4H project pig charts you can download. It is helpful for telling you how much your pigs might be eating at each age of life. I think their chart says about 10 pounds of grain per day for a finishing hog. Keep in mind that grain is pretty calorie dense, and moisture free, and a lot of food scraps are the opposite. So if you're feeding them kale trimmings and carrot tops, you're going to need caseloads per day for 2 full size pigs.
On the breeds, if amount of meat is important, I would get one that grows to full size, forages well, and has a good fat cap (for flavor and insulation). If you can barn the piglets for the first few months, while its cold and while you train them on electric fence, then you could start them soon, in hopes of fattening them on next fall's acorn drop -Acorns are great for fattening pigs, and do have a lot of starch and the most beautiful fat. You're also going to need to have a good setup for training them on electric fence, indoors or out. Wind, wet, and cold are a bad combo. But so are dry, hot, and un-shaded.
Luke Groce: Trying to figure out how to grow food and heal land.
Instagram: @GroceFamilyFarm
grocesgrow.wordpress.com