podcast 022 discussion: Paul's pigs

podcast 022 is up!

the audio is a bit rough in parts because I could not get rid of all the traffic noise (I think Paul stuffed the phone in the engine compartment and yelled out the window at it recording this one  )

Paul- if you can remember while recording in a noisy environment give me a few pauses so that I can sample the background noise it makes the noise reduction filter so much more effective if I can get a clean sample of noise

Am I the only one that things the sound sounds ....  weird?  I'm only about six minutes in and it sounds ... unnatural.

told ya the audio weren't great I had to use a lot of noise reduction and could only find very small samples of noise for the noise profile

so it sounds kinda robotic but at least I can hear both your voices the while way through

Hi, first time poster, love the podcast.

I have recently run into the "bigger piglets robbing smaller piglets milk supply" you refer to in this cast. Were you able to solve that problem and what did you do?

I left that farm shortly after that happened.  I plan on keeping fence between moms until the piglets are six weeks old.

rezradio wrote:
Hi, first time poster, love the podcast.

I have recently run into the "bigger piglets robbing smaller piglets milk supply" you refer to in this cast. Were you able to solve that problem and what did you do?

You might check out a very long thread, keeping/feeding pigs, over in the critter care forum. Lotsa good there - and other pig threads in critter care.

Also, we're hoping folks will use first name (space) last name in the community here.

Glad you're enjoying 'em!

great podcast.  i enjoyed it.  i started out working on a commercial hog farm.  a 1000 sow unit that was set up from breeding to marketing.  and everything in between.  long hard, and underpaid hrs. but i enjoyed the animals. ive never had the opportunity to raise hogs on dirt before.  but i must say alot of the info on the podcast was similar to what i learned on the farm 20 yrs ago.    great job. kudos to those that worked hard at it all.

I'm a first time pig raiser.  I have two Tamworth pigs about 50lbs each.  Can you give more specifics about the electric fence?  You mentioned one strand of wire. I have two strands of poly wire around a 75' by 75' temporary paddock.  I would like to get away with one strand when I move them next, but I worry about how high the strand should be?  One of the pigs has escaped a couple times.  If there is only one strand will he likely escape more often?

If you are getting escapees, you probably need a hotter pop.  I would stay with two strands until i have zero escapees - then consider going down to 1. 

Plus, 75 by 75 is pretty small.  Especially for electric.  I think you need to explore a much larger area for electric, or go to a non-electric solution.

OK, I doubled the space for the pigs by only using one strand (decided to be daring).  I uploaded a video to YouTube. There was audio in the original, but I think it got lost during upload.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pkIklihkrU

The pigs seem happy.  I must be doing something right, they haven't died yet. (ha ha ha).

sound came through fine.

I wonder if the pop should be hotter.  Remember:  electric fence is a psychological barrier.  And the psychological part comes from one of these messages:


1)  ouch - did that stupid thing do something to me?  Maybe I'll kill it later.

2)  SUNNUFA-FUCKING-BITCH-WHAT-THE-HELL-WAS-THAT?  Am I dead?  Can i still walk?  I think I might be dead.  Oh please don't let me be dead.  Whatever that was, I am never coming near that again.

With #2, one strand is plenty and it will last a long time.  With #1 you might need that mesh fence stuff - which will get worn out quickly.

Thanks for the advice.  My charger is old and probably needs replaced.  I hate to toss it when it works pretty good.  If I get more escapes I'll break down and buy a new one.

Loved the podcast. I have been wanting to get a pig ever since I viewed the documentary with Sepp showing how he plows with pigs. I work long hours, and lots of overtime at my day/night job, but I think I could find the time to throw some pee's out on the spot I want plowed.