Free's piggie thread...new pics p 19

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey baby! great work with them pigs!

do they have a wallow yet?? might explain the water tub flippin. they really do love the mud.

as for sausage... (*consults pig-o-meter*)

we ended with:

12 pounds of sausage (mixed for sausage)
42 pounds of plain ground pork

i dunno where other folks get their ratios but we were heavy on the fat in our sausage - especially the back fat which was at least 2 inches deep! and we had tons of fat for lard

we love the ground pork - we use it like ground chicken or beef in everything from meat balls to taco/nacho meat.

we were 'light' on the actual mixed-for-sausage this time only because we like the loose sausage (and not cased sausage)....and once you have the meat you can season it however you'd like. so when i made meat sauce i just seasoned the meat with the sausage mix of spices...and then added italian spices as well.

we used most cuts for the ground meat. anything that was trimmed off our chops or loins, for instance went in the "to be ground" pile. it was easy for us b/c we did all the cutting ourselves. and it was extra easy b/c Bourbon Red (who directs us in the pig dressin) has the Mother of All Grinders.... so it went really fast.

if you are handy with a knife you can consider having your butcher give you the pig back in big chunks - then you can do whatever you want. unless you're gonna kill that pig in your yard - if thats the case just let me know and give you all the instructions as i know 'em. by then you'll hate them pigs so much you'll be doin' the killin' for sure!

as for the trees... pigs will eat anything. remember that we threw ours into a huge pasture of poison ivy - they loved it. and yep they will strip the leaves and bark off any branches they can reach.

as for the food - feed 'em as much as they want. are you feeding 3 times a day? and dont hesitate to throw an armful of hay into their pasture - or weeds that you knock down. they love that stuff.

excellent work!

 

[~gd]

hey baby! great work with them pigs!

do they have a wallow yet?? might explain the water tub flippin. they really do love the mud.

as for sausage... (*consults pig-o-meter*)

we ended with:

12 pounds of sausage (mixed for sausage)
42 pounds of plain ground pork

i dunno where other folks get their ratiosif you mean me, it comes from the Standard of Identity for Sausage~gd but we were heavy on the fat in our sausage - especially the back fat which was at least 2 inches deep! and we had tons of fat for lard

we love the ground pork - we use it like ground chicken or beef in everything from meat balls to taco/nacho meat.

we were 'light' on the actual mixed-for-sausage this time only because we like the loose sausage (and not cased sausage)....and once you have the meat you can season it however you'd like. so when i made meat sauce i just seasoned the meat with the sausage mix of spices...and then added italian spices as well.

we used most cuts for the ground meat. anything that was trimmed off our chops or loins, for instance went in the "to be ground" pile. it was easy for us b/c we did all the cutting ourselves. and it was extra easy b/c Bourbon Red (who directs us in the pig dressin) has the Mother of All Grinders.... so it went really fast.

if you are handy with a knife you can consider having your butcher give you the pig back in big chunks - then you can do whatever you want. unless you're gonna kill that pig in your yard - if thats the case just let me know and give you all the instructions as i know 'em. by then you'll hate them pigs so much you'll be doin' the killin' for sure!

as for the trees... pigs will eat anything. remember that we threw ours into a huge pasture of poison ivy - they loved it. and yep they will strip the leaves and bark off any branches they can reach.

as for the food - feed 'em as much as they want. are you feeding 3 times a day? and dont hesitate to throw an armful of hay into their pasture - or weeds that you knock down. they love that stuff.

excellent work!

 

[Kim_NC]

......

Question for you pig growers....How much sausage should I expect? What did you get for ground pork? I know I can request what I want at processing time, but need an idea, a ballpark figure. I am growing and drying my sausage herbs now, and need to know how much I may need.

It really depends on what you specify with the butcher. You will get more ground and/or sausage if that's what you ask for.

Try this chart from Sugar Mountain Farm (VT). It's on his blog:
http://sugarmtnfarmblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/pig-cut-chart-poster.html - click the image on the blog for a larger printable view.

It gives expected weights per section for a typical market hog of 200-250 lbs. Also tells you what cuts/options you can get from each section.

 

[freemotion]

I have a day off today and am trying to get some of the pasture and all of the gardens watered. Since it is over 100 F right now, I also am checking on all the animals often. I have to move the pasture sprinkler every hour or so...no, I can't put an inch down on the entire pasture, so I am trying to save as much as I can and hope for a good storm soon.

I went out to move the sprinkler and brought two boiled eggs, salted generously, for the pigs. They were nowhere in sight, so instead of calling them out into the sun, I decided to go see where they were holed up, sleeping. I crashed through the crispy pasture and through the jungle of sumac, cherry trees, pokeweed, raspberries, and goldenrod that is growing like a jungle on the shady mound of rich dirt. I found them asleep on the top of the far end of the 12-15' high mound. Sleeping very soundly, I might add.

Pigs CAN fly.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

HOT HOT HOT! We're praying for rain here too.

Here piggie piggie piggie! Pigs sure are funny when they sleep. Do yours snore? My ag teacher had a few pigs and they always snored, sounded just like people

 

[debo4702]

Hi I've been lurking around... I have learned so much but I dont post often. I may have a solution to the water flipping. My pigs did that as well and it gets hot here. I always worried about them not having water. So I took an old wash tub and put a cinder block in it to weigh it down now they drink and no flipping the thing over!

 

[Farmfresh]

Stop lurking and start joining in!! Everyone has something to share and you just proved it!

 

[debo4702]

Thanks! I will try to do better.

 

[freemotion]

Yesterday, while I was driving home from the work day from aitch ee double hockey sticks, I called dh and found out that the pigs were out of their pasture. Fortunately, they were still within the big pasture, and he'd closed the gate to keep the goats in and the pigs out of their stall and front area. I would've been fit to be tied had they started digging up the floor of my barn! Pig roast! All invited!!

I was talking to dh while locking up the school and going to my car, as I felt very unsafe after talking to a student about his close-to-flunking status. I am seriously creeped out by this guy, and found out that several other women at the school feel the same way. I have a meeting tomorrow with the dean. What a lovely way to start my only day off this week. I haven't had a day off in several weeks because of meetings and phone calls about problem students. This is massage school, for cryin' out loud! What is going on here? Are there moon spots or solar flairs or something??? Yikes. Four weeks to go. Sorry, venting. Thinking about dh telling me the pigs were out brought up where I was when I was on the phone with him. :/

Anyhoo, he'd tried leading them back into their pasture with fermented corn but they popped right through the so-called electric fence. After a couple of hours of fence inspection and maintainence, he found and fixed a loose wire on one of the grounds. Fixed it. Pigs laughed and ran through again. It is just too dry to keep things wet enough, even with the sprinklers.

So when I got home, we worked together to lure them into their pasture and towards their little round pen, where they spent their first few weeks with us. When the boy started to pass the big water tub, he decided it was stinkin' hot and did a pig version of a cannonball right into the tub, landing on his side, rolling over and over to cool his whole body. He had a look of pure piggie bliss on his face. I wish I'd had the video camera with me.

Cuteness aside, I'm still stinkin' mad. I'm with you, OFG. I HATE THEM PIGS! Ok, I was quite grumpy to start with, I admit. I still hate 'em.

I finally got them locked safely inside, and we moved their water tubs and filled them and created a mud wallow inside the little pen. Then I paced off the fenceline so we can replace the electric with cattle panels. It is about 120' long! Those pigs had it good and how do they show their appreciation? By scoffing at our efforts to have happy pigs, expressing their pigness by rooting all they want. Buncha ingrates.

I may have to stop calling dh "Cityboy." He used to respond with, "Who you callin' BOY?" and we'd both snicker. Today he made arrangements to borrow a pick-up and he went and got 5 of the cattle panels tonight and laid them end to end along the fenceline, ready for tomorrow. We will need more, but it will take two trips. But he did all this, and yesterday's fence-fixing and pig chasing, all by himself....He may have earned the new title of "Farmboy!"

The fencing, although ultimately it makes our pasture safer, just added another buck a pound to our precious future pork....

 

[TanksHill]

Bummer on the fence. You know I understand the whole pastured pig thing but it really seems like those ingrates need to be well confined. I had seen some really sturdy hog pen things on line and posted a link a while back. The consensus was that they area was too small for a "healthy" pig.

How much room does the darn pig really need, expecially if its only going to be around for 4 months???

Well I am glad your getting yours securred. Just think of the good side. Next year you won't need to buy a fence!!

gina