Greetings from Vail, Arizona

[The Vail Benton's]

So you will have to give us "non pig" people the run down. Housing, feed, time it took to feed out. I was trying to convince my dh to let me get goats. He did not like the whole commitment thing. He suggested I do a pig instead. shorter time, less commitment, meat in the freezer. this coming from my dh is a shocker.

Glad to hear yours tasted great.
g

We built our pig pen using landscape timbers from Lowes ( at the time fifty cents each), some vinyl type boarding made out of recycled material that we scrounged from a friends scrap pile (free), and scrap plywood we scrounged from a "free" pile of scrap we came across on a construction site. I will post a picture for you if I ever find that darned camera...
Our last pigs (we "finished" one for ourselves and one for my husbands folks)were purchased on March 2 at about 60lbs. We fed them to about 250lbs and it took just under 6 months to get there with COB (steamed rolled corn, crimped or rolled oats & rolled barley) that we mixed ourselves and little alfalfa hay so they always had something to forage through. We also fed whey from my cheesemaking and surplus fruits & vegitables from our garden. My husband had fun asking for a "Pig box" instead of a doggie bag whenever we went out to eat. I hear that some people feed thier pigs ANYTHING, but Since we didn't want to eat garbage, we didn't feed garbage to our pigs and absolutely no meat.
I think the biggest challenge is keeping them cool when you get up in the morning and it's 84 degrees at 4am. We provided a big mudhole for them but I think next time we'll install a mister system. We also want to provide more shade. The sun here is blistering and our pink sow had a problem with sunburn.
I reccommend you get yourself a good book. "Storey's Guide to Raiseing Pigs" is the one we started with. We also picked up alot of info online.
I would encourage you to give it a shot if you like pork and are partial to knowing EXACTLY what your eating!

 

[TanksHill]

Thank you for the info. Yes I already have the book. Not sure if we would want the pigs on or off the ground. It would most likely be a spring and summer project because my husbands likes to go to the desert in the cool season. So on ground with mud and water would probably be best. We get pretty hot here as well. Maybe I could shot for a May to July kind of thing. So the pig is finished before our high temps set in.

I guess I should start reading again. Maybe set a goal for next spring. Thanks. G

 

[The Vail Benton's]

My name is Stephanie and I'm a suffucientselfaholic!!! I got home late last night and before I could go to bed I had to stop in and see the new posts because it absolutely COULD NOT wait until morning! Now here I am AGAIN while my coffee brews and my critters eat breakfast... I haven't even had coffee yet!!! There should be a warning label on this site!
So before I peel myself away, and believe me, there will be claw marks on my computer, I would like to say thank you all so much for the warm welcome that keeps me coming back!

 

[The Vail Benton's]

On August 23 I set 18 eggs in our incubator (black sexlinks). Imagine my suprise when one chick hatched yesterday and 4 more today. hmmm... according to my calculations we still have several days to go but it WAS really hot and terribly humid in our neck of the desert during the period I collected the eggs to incubate. In any event, so far I am the proud mother hen to 2 baby girls and 2 baby boys... we lost one female to drowning
Over Labor day weekend I was stung several times on the thigh by a black fire ant that crawled up inside my pant leg. I hadn't realized what those big black ants were and although I knew they were out there in the yard, I never bothered to exterminate them. It's on top of my list of things to do this coming weekend. Now I know why the chickens don't mess with them. I had a pretty severe reaction to the stings but from what I've read, a pretty common one. Thank you to those of you who responded to my post for advice on how to treat it! It continued to swell for 3 days and then subsided almost overnight and special thanks to the person who directed me to the acaai website. That was a really big help and it eased my mind immensely.

 

[The Vail Benton's]

Today is an exciting day for me!!!
Forced to let go of my last horse umm... "a long time ago", I knew that someday there would be another one in my life. Well, TODAY is THAT day. I go to pick her up this afternoon.
Liberty (Libby for short) is a yearling Quarterhorse filly that I did my very best NOT to buy. I tried, really I did. I swear. I'm serious. My dh and I have spent the past 2 days putting up the corral where she will live until we can get a fence up for her. My husband is incredibly amazing because I don't know many who would get behind a hairbrained idea like this one.
Yes, I definitly could have planned this better, but that's not really how I roll.
So... I would like to post pictures as promised, but I can't figure out how to get past the upload stage . How do I get them to go from my storage space to here? Thank you in advance from me and the other technologically challenged folks like me.

 

[MorelCabin]

I usually upload pics to tinypic.com and then just copy and paste the code they give me to my message on here. I am really not sure if there is another way, but someone will pipe up if there is:>)
Nice to meet you by the way, I usually pop in here from time to time and catch o=up on posts. Can't wait to see pics of your new horse!

 

[The Vail Benton's]

Today I'm canning some pints of chicken to make room in the freezer for the cockerels we will cull tomorrow. This time around is difficult for me so DH is having a buddy come over to help - I incubated these myself, hand raised them, and despite my trying to remain objective & practical, some of them have turned out to be quite friendly and I'm a sucker for that.
I have a buyer for my Barred Rock Rooster, 3 year old hens & 3 BRX pullets - I'm excited. I always am when I think I'm making money raising animals. Deep down, I know how much I've spent raising these birds.

On January 10th we brought home a new pig. We have raised 3 so far, this is the 4th. He was farrowed on October 1st, or so they said. Sounds close enough to me.

We named him, and then we named him again. The second name didn't stick either. They were "D" names. He's our 4th pig. "D" is the 4th letter of the alphabet. Our first pig was Abby, the next 2 were Bonnie & Clyde. The Current pig is Pork Chop - so much for tradition, but I had to name him something that would remind me of his ultimate purpose. I should call him "Heartbreaker".

So back to day one - January 10, 2010 - we drove to Palominas, AZ to see some pigs. Quite a place they had there. I wish I would have taken some pictures. There were trailers and buses & vans everywhere. Broken down, but inhabited none the less,. The word "commune" comes to mind. They had Dogs & Pigs & mules & Horses & mini's, goats & I'm sure a chicken or two and probably some cats although I didn't actually see or hear any. Suprisingly, the conditions for the animals were makeshift but decent and remarkably clean. We bought the last two pigs we raised from a nicer place but their pigs were kept in deplorable conditions compared to this place. The fact that the pig we bought is a healthy & happy pig, pretty much says it all.

So we bought the pig and brought it home. We set up the pig house with loads of warm, clean straw and we filled a waterer and loaded up the feeder while the pig waited in the trailer. I went in the house for something. DH came in to see what I was doing. He didn't say much, just said, "wondering what you're doing", and then he went back outside. Shortly after, I followed. I looked across the yard and there was Mark, on the ground, apparantly wrestling the pig. Again, I wished I'd had my camera with me. But anyway, there they were. Suddenly the pig made a break for it and he was loose, running across the neighbors yard. Our dog (Scooby) nipping at his heels, DH chasing after them both. They got to almost the end of the street and the pig came to a fence he couldn't get through and stopped. I think Mark would've had him there but Scooby wanted the game to continue and he "encouraged" the pig to run somemore. So there they went, back up the street and back across the neighbors yard and up to our horse pasture.

So, here was this pig, running to the pasture fence. Now the horses had been watching the whole episode unravel and they became pretty curious so they ran to the fence as the pig frantically approached. The pig stopped in front of the horses, looked up at them through the fence and started squealing like nobody's business. Now I'm not claiming to be a Dr. Doolittle - when an animal speaks or makes sound, I don't hear them in english. In fact, when they "speak", 99% of the time, I am actually only guessing what they might be thinking (I know, hard to believe) and I put it into my own words. That being said, I would swear in a court of law that that pig was begging those horses for sanctuary. "HELP! HELP! Please let me come in and hide in your pasture!!!!! They're after me!!!!!" Poor, poor pig.

While all this was going on, I went to the feed shed and grabbed a genuine ropin' rope. I approached the pig slowly & quietly. Oddly enough, the pig was not afraid of me and didn't run away until he saw DH again . After a couple tries, I got that rope around that pig and was able to pretty much drag him to his new home. Oh but the story doesn't end here.

The pig seemed pretty depressed for a couple days. When he did come out to eat, he was skittish and seemed to prefer being in his house. His apetite wasn't great. I was alittle worried about the poor little guy. Perhaps the trauma was too much for him and we were going to lose him to the stress of the move. Then one morning, I went out to feed the pig and he was GONE. Gone as in NOT in his house, GONE as in NOT in his pen. Gone as in "moved, left no forwarding address" gone. Crap! We spent $75 and a tank of gas acquiring that little piggy. Gone was not a good thing. And then I saw him. He had moved into the pasture with the horses. They were biting him, kicking at him when he got underfoot, but they were NOT hurting him. They were merely showing him what his place in the herd would be. When they ran, HE ran. When they ate, he ate with them. When they laid down to bask in the sun and take in a nap, he did so with them, sometimes curled up against them between their legs. Amazing.

We tried to put him back in his pen, but he finds his way out and back up to the pasture he goes. It's normal now to see him wandering around the front yard when he's hungry. So far, he's only made his way over to the neighbors to visit once. Now that I've set him up a proper bed in the horse corral and gave him a nice store of grain & alfalfa, and his water, perhaps he will stay in there until he is no longer small enough to squeeze through the gate.

We shall see!

This morning I brought some pumpkin scraps out to the pig. It's interesting trying to find a place to feed him where the horses can't steal his food. On my way in, I must've dropped the wooden spoon but I hadn't noticed. I dumped the Pork Chops food into his feeder and turned to see where he was and here he comes, trotting up with my wooden spoon in his mouth. He dropped it at my feet and went on to eat his goodies.

I'm in Pig (I mean BIG) trouble! I really, really like this pig alot.

 

[TanksHill]

Oh, my goodness. Talk about a funny story. Thank you for sharing. I think that pig is hoping the horses will protect him from your DH.

He does sound very smart. But I am sure in a couple months things might be a bit different. Oh, I think he should be named "D"iner.

Post some pictures if you have them Good to hear from you.

gina

 

[The Vail Benton's]

It is alittle embarrassing to be known in the neighborhood as the people to go to if there is livestock at large - a couple months ago one of my friends needed a place to put her two yearling calves. We let her build a corral & shelter for them in one of our open areas near the road. They were here a month and found a way out once a week, each time while DH & I were away at work. I would come home to find baling twine strung across our driveway in an effort of the neighbors to keep them on our property, and I would instinctively (ya can't get much past me ) know they had been naughty. She also brought 2 nubian whethers and a Nigerian dwarf. I was concerned that her corral wasn't big enough for all her stock so I had her leave them in my goat yard with my 2 ladies. The next morning I opened my front door to see 5 goats waiting patiently for me so they could order breakfast.

 

[TanksHill]

I can totally relate to the neighbor thing. Yesterday my son was leaving school and a neighbor who lives about an acre away from us informed him there were chickens on her driveway. My 9 yo simply replies. "Oh, thast ok they will come home later by themselves." Not sure that was the answer she wanted.

gina