How much space does a pig need?

[Big Daddy]

Wow Big Daddy...that is an ugly story.

Hmmm...... any other stories? Maybe a pig is not a good idea. We are on less than an acre and I have neighbors on one side. Could be bad news.

Although, I am in California where we get less than 10 inches of rain a year, so mud would def. not be a problem.

You might be ok with the small rain. That was our biggest problem. Some people go in and scoop the poop like with a dog. Our pigs poop wasn't usually real firm though. We did supplement with table scraps which I think was a a bad idea. The other thing is they sunburned real easy. We did have a house with a covered porch to protect them but they dig holes everywhere, then the holes fill with water and they play in it and go to the bathroom. I was thinking about getting a couple more and fencing them on about 1 acre.

The other thing is that when you consider feed and butchering the cost savings isn't much. Our meat locker would sell us a butchered pig for about the same overall cost. Of course when you raise them you do know what they ate which is a big issue.

Of course when you raise your own food there isn't really any cost savings unless you raise enough to sell some. The only real advantage is that you know what you're eating.

 

[Dace]

Good points.

I will keep digging (pun intended) for info. It may never happen but I am curious if I could pull it off!

 

[justusnak]

Dace, for the short length of time your pig/pigs would be with you, ( 5 to 6 months) I dont think it would be a problem. Now, for the smell....I always take a large bag of garden lime, and spread it after every set of pigs. The odor is minimal. Of course there is some smell...but really...poo stinks! The garden lime works wonders! You can also spread it in there after a good rain. I use it in the chicken runs after a rain, and it works great.

 

[Big Daddy]

You should keep asking. I really think they got too many scraps and that's why their poop was so nasty. Maybe it comes out like horse poop if they have the right diet. I think BK and FC raise pigs. You should ask them.

 

[freemotion]

When I was a kid we had two pigs one year. Only because I was at a small town horse show and there was a greased piglet contest and I felt so bad for the little piggy I bought it and brought it home. Dad bought another to go with it and they lived with my horse, who had free access in and out of the barn and pasture, with was about an acre. There was no smell with this amount of room....of course, I had a huge problem with it. Shavings were very hard to get back then. You couldn't buy them and you raced everyone else for the good ones at the mill that made windows. So I kept my horse CLEAN....but then the pigs would run in from the pasture to use her clean bed as a potty. Moist, well-formed turds that looked like people poo.

So they were then confined to a smaller area....maybe 25x25'? But were put in the freezer before they got very big, because of the extremely cold winters in Northern Maine, when the critters don't put on much weight because they use all they eat just to stay warm.

So that experience doesn't really help me. But they didn't smell. I thought the chickens smelled MUCH worse.

 

[FarmerChick]

Mine takes up about 1/4 of my deep freeze!

:bun

now that is a true SS answer!!!! I loved it!!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

Hogs stink. They are not a good smell no matter what you do!
Most hogs have the mushy poop all the time. Mix that with mud/dirt flooring in their pen and real fast you have poop/dirt mixture. Their hooves are like rototillers. Flies and more will happen. No way around it truly.

16 square is fine for 2. You will only be raising them up to about 400 lbs each...you don't want to go much bigger.

And be sure you have a trailer to haul to processer or can have someone haul for you. A 400 lb pig is not getting in the back of a pickup truck bed. Simple as that.

We never feed scraps. Since we sell sausage to the public we want our meat tasting the same every time. You can change your meat taste by feeding scraps. We stick to hog chow only.


I would do one hog. Make sure the pen is farthest away from EVERONE's home......Set up where you are going to take it for processing (or you are doing it yourself you must learn proper way), make sure you have transportation and make sure you got a big freezer...LOL


Hogs are fine if 1-2-3---when you get more than that it is a true war every single day.

Ugh

 

[Farmfresh]

The best way I have ever seen hogs kept is with a small pen and house attached to a big wooded pasture. They were with cattle as well. When kept this way they were quite clean and smelled just fine.

 

[Big Daddy]

The best way I have ever seen hogs kept is with a small pen and house attached to a big wooded pasture. They were with cattle as well. When kept this way they were quite clean and smelled just fine.

So they came in at night to pig out, then they went in to the pasture to take a dump? Sounds like a good plan.

 

[FarmerChick]

problem is people with limited space can't do pasture type situations, then they have to be in smaller confined situation.

any time a hog is contained---you got hog stink and hog nasty work..LOL