[Craigx]

Hello,

I may be getting some land for pigs.. Can someone tell me whats required? Im not getting the pigs till iv done some research and come to an agreement with the land owner,

So what Do i need?

I know i need shelter, water, feed, CPH (How much are these?)


What else?

Craig

[Yorkie]

Have you looked through the different threads on pigs in this forum?

Some useful info there.

Try this one for starters:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=78843.0

[arugula]

CPH should be free, but you need to do a lot of research before you consider keeping pigs.. 

[nuzuki]

Hi Craig,

The CPH is free, the feed can be got from a company called Haygates however they should have a distributor near you which means you dont need to buy it by the pallet load. They need strong fencing as they can push up underneath loose fencing so I would put some horizontal braces at ground level between the vertical fence posts. If you cant afford strong fencing then electric is fine but I wouldnt rely on it as if someone nicks your battery then keeping them contained might be a nightmare. I would opt for a mixture of both. You shall also need a trough of some sort for the feed and maybe a couple of pig boards. For the house ive heard you can source a cheap plastic oil tank and modify it to make a pig ark. Failing that they can be made from pallets or corragated sheet rolled round in a semi circle and pegged to the floor. Check out jimmy dochertys, first time farmers for some more pig farming info.

Ive not got pigs but have done a bit of research into getting them, I have space for sheep or pigs but not both so am deciding on which to have. Hopefully some of the above is useful to you. Good luck

[Craigx]

Thank you for all the replies,

yes i agree i need more research before i do anything else, sadly the place who offered me the land has decided against it due to transport

Craig

[johnpreston1971]

we got pigs for the first time last september with a view to raising them to slaughter weight by feb and then getting them in the freezer. Its been a bit of an experience but great fun all the way. you don't need a lot of land, we live in a town and keep them in the back garden. they have an area about 9 metres square and seemed perfectly happy in it. i built an ark from OSB that i got at the builders yard and some 3x2 for a frame. all in that cost about #50. a CPH is free from the rural payments agency

we put an electric fence in to keep them in line and, apart from a few escapes when they were working out how the fence worked, they never left the area. the two pigs ate about 400kg of feed in the 6 months we had them. they went to slaughter at about 100kg and each weighed about 75kg when we got them back.

slaughter cost 25 each, we had them back in halves and butchered them ourselves. you tube has some great guides on how to do this.

all in all it was no more difficult than keeping chickens and, because we only did it for 5 months, far less of a commitment. the kids have loved it and have no problem eating the meat.

i think we have enough meat to last through til next Christmas and we will get some more weaners in september as soon as we get back from summer hols and do it all again.

we got gloucester old spot weaners and paid 35 each for them i think. now we know a few more pig people i realise that we could have got them for far less, probably 5 each if we had gone to the livestock market.

id say give it a go, we did and am already looking forward to doing it again. was great fun and gives you plenty to talk about!

[Sparkyrog]

you must realise though that at the market yes you bid on price per pig But that is for the pen . If the pen has 11 pigs in it you buy 11 pigs ! And small pens always command a premium for that reason ,as weaners are normally sold per litter.

[johnpreston1971]

hi, no - at the local livestock market here (Thame) you bid, as you say per pig, and then take the ones you want. so, i bid ten pounds per pig on a litter of 10 and take the three i want and then the bidding starts again, next winner takes what they want at 7 pounds per pig and so on.

definitely works, friend came home with two 10 week old GOS weaners that had cost him 5 each last weekend. given the price of pig feed at the moment i cant see how anyone can afford to sell at that price though

[GTFC197]

If you look at my post "piggies here we come", you can see what we made our pig house from. Hope it helps.