HELP my 1st Pig

[CrealCritter]

I got a little bit of ole chopper on the smoker with Cherry and Oak chips. Going to have BBQ pulled pork sandwiches tonight for dinner

Now don't that look delicious already?

The cut is considered a rear leg ham as per this butcher chart. Which I had handy when I cut up ole chopper.

 

[CrealCritter]

After a little smoking of spent oak wiskey barrel and cherry wood. Lil bit of ole Chopper goes into the Crock-Pot.

I then called to my wife who was upstairs that Chopper is in the crock. She hollered back ok, I'll come down and take care of it in a minute. I hollered back - No I want to do this, what am I supposed to do if you kick the bucket? Eat off the McDonald's dollar menu everyday - YUCK? She hollered back No you'll find you another woman to cook for you - I'm coming. So she came down and told me to Google all recipes slow cooker Texas pulled pork. Now my wife makes some awesome Crock-Pot pulled pork and now I know how she does it

She told.me to follow the recipe but use olive oil instead of veggie oil, no Thyme, use turkey broth instead of chicken broth and only 1/2 the amount of chilli.powder . So that's what I did.

Anyways my son came in with my granddaughters and said what smells so good? I said ole Chopper in the crockpot being made into Smoked Texas BBQ Pulled Pork. He said to bad I have to work, save me some.

 

[Farmer Connie]

Following!

Berkshire Gilt Steaks on the grille last night. Fed high protein diet. Hardly any flare up because of the low fat content.
Grilled over Pecan wood. Pecan gives Pork a very sweet and mild smokey flavor..

 

[Farmer Connie]

I'll be raising some lil bacon bits up to butcher this spring for sure.

For a Bacon yield, you must process @ 300# or greater to create a belly worth processing. Our last two growers were finished at 250# which is an industry standard. "no salvageable belly" these last two. I needed pen space so we hauled them off early.
Our previous Berks weighed in @ 340#. Belly was plentiful.

 

[canesisters]

I just sat down and read this ENTIRE thread.
GREAT info. Thank you for sharing this whole experience.
I'm considering getting a few pigs in the near future - can't beat the 'free' price - but I'm not prepared AT ALL. It's helpful to see someone start out with zero prep and still have an enjoyable experience with a good outcome.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Post @242 is where Mr Porkchop goes to freezer camp.

 

[sumi]

Wow, well done! It's a nice looking pig.

Some tips… For starters put that water bucket in the ground, or you are going to have a VERY muddy pen and refills needed 10x a day

Go to your co-op/feed store/farm store and ask them for some commercial pig food. You can supplement that with just about anything kitchen scrap wise, vegetables, fruit, even meat and weeds from the garden. Pigs will eat nearly anything. Feed it twice a day, as much as it will eat in 20 minutes. You can give it snacks like weeds etc in-between.

Make sure it has some shade, even if it's not hot by you, pigs are prone to sunburn, which is why they love mud bathing so much, it protects their skins and keeps them cool.

I see it's tail is not curly, which is a sign of good health, but it could just be stressed. Get some dewormers into it asap, just in case. Check if it's skin is o.k. Not too dry, no skin ailments. In South Africa we used to rub used car engine oil all over the pigs if they were mangy or scabby. This would eventually get rubbed off, or fall off, leaving their skins beautiful and healthy underneath.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment...

 

[baymule]

Give her plenty of room. Pigs are clean animals and she will use a potty spot. Our last batch of pigs had a half acre. They used a potty spot, had a mudhole spot, trees for shade and they were happy pigs. Pigs root, it's what they do. If confined in too small of a space, they wind up eating their own poop. It's not fair to the pig, understanding their physiology goes a long way to making a good environment for a pig.

Yes, you have a potbelly. She will get up to 300 pounds or so. This might be the nudge you need to get a couple of feeder pigs and feed them out for the freezer. It's not hard to raise pigs. I never used a hot wire for my pigs.

 

[Beekissed]

Bay, you don't spend quality time with your pigs, petting them and holding them on your lap and such?

 

[NH Homesteader]

... Riiight.... You're going to eat her huh? I think you might be in trouble...