How to Raise Pigs for Meat on the Homestead

Raising pigs for meat is a great idea for most homesteaders. Every year we raise pigs for our own family and to sell to our local community.

Pigs require good infrasturcure, constant water and feed, and good fencing. If you take good care of your pigs you can yield hundreds of pounds of pastured pork, which tastes so much better, and is so much better for you.

We discuss the economics of our pork operation, and how much will it cost per pound to raise pigs.

[danxxish]

I really appreciate that you and your wife ask and answer such a wide variety of questions in each of your topics so it's easier for viewers to get information from different aspects. I've watched your video about the dexters and ladybug, now the hogs. Thanks so much, cheers!

[aaroncallahan]

I apprrciate what you folks do. I love pork, bacon, and ham.

[deals]

Thank you for your input. I'm on your side. Prices for feeders and feed vary everywhere. I can drive 3 hours to get a feeder for $50. But 15 min from me they are $100. I raise just two a year for our family. We use NON GMO feed and it is $12.75 for 50 lb bag here. It takes 15 bags per pig to raise them. All in all with processing it ends up netting out at $2.50 per pound in our freezer. I'm looking into processing them myself to save more.

[andydcrus]

This makes a lot of sense. we have one boar and three sows. When you have breeders say goodbye to a weekend off. Don't get me wrong it is a rewarding life, but you need to be sure your willing to make the commitment. 😀

[candicechristensen]

I'm so glad you addressed that issue. Makes total sense. thank you! good info

[indizona]

Great info, you have kept me from making a bad decision.. I'll start with some feeders! Thanks Derek from blue cactus dairy goats!

[DustySmalls]

Timeout. $800-900 per pig? I can get a feeder for $50 at 8 weeks old. I usually have $120-130 in feed and then my butcher cost. I may have $300 in my pigs...

[cdjhyoung]

I've watched a bunch of back-to-nature fanboy videos over the last few years that really gave bad information on raising pigs. Yours is a pleasant relief. The preparation information is vital to be ready, as is the advise about good fences. If you raise pigs, a daily walk around your fence line is a must do to find the weak spots before the pigs can exploit them. The good thing about raising so few pigs is that to an extent they can become 'pets'. This can help with herding them back in the pen if you can play on their sense of curiosity to corral them.
As are others responding to your video, your quoted cost seem extremely high verses other parts of the country. You're hooked up with a farmer for feeders you are confident in, so pay the price to get the quality. But I would seriously shop around for a better deal on feed. Are there other local pig farmers you could buy home milled feed from? There are disease issues to contend with, but if you could over come them you could save a lot on your costs.
Over all this is a really good, informative video. I also think you sell yourself short on being able to market more hogs (especially iif you can gain control of your feed costs).

[zaccariasippidabarbercollins]

Getting mines soon. Getting my pen setup on my Ranch. Got 24 acres here in NE Mississippi. Happy Homesteader.

[zarathompson]

I could never eat pig personally (I have pigs for pets and they remind me of dogs) but I support this a lot more since they are not tortured while they are alive. They have good lives and you are not giving money to factory farms.

[kevinjean]

Hey great video! We are local in Massachusetts and just picked up our first two today.... should be great

[chuckwarnimont]

What you don't include in your calculation of feasibility of keeping breeders is the sale of piglets to others. If you get several litters a year that you don't need, you could sell those for $100 a piglet and pay for the cost of your breeders. One or two litters sold and you have all of your costs covered plus profit.

[loganv]

The most critical quote from this vid: "Is it right for me?"
Finances, time, health, opportunity, infrastructure, personality, interests, etc,
A friend wants to get into running a goat dairy. She's starting with 3 does for a year.
That's a test of "right"!

[HiddenHeightsFarm]

Great video! Hogs are a must on a homestead..

[victorroux]

Love this video reliable, honest practical information

[stephaniemorrill]

your so right Austin raising pigs is great, that's eactly what my family and I are trying to do Icant wait for more vids about pigs..all this information is so helpful thanks your pig guy know a lot of stuf.. we have one boar right now like 3 sows we breed, , we are trying to find another boar so no inbreeding, I'm so excited to get bigger one day they are very tough year around that's what we do also

[ty]

Excellent video, you definitely earned my subscription. Thanks for the awesome content!

[rrittenhouse]

LOL I didn't realize how hilarious piglets are. Thank you for making this great video. I live in the city and have only 1.1ac BUT we are zoned as agricultural. Maybe someday we will try our hand at 2 piglets? Thanks to you and many others, we now have 11 chickens in the brooder who are 5 weeks old. Before watching your videos, I never realized exactly how farmers operated or made money at a smaller scale. Very enlightening!

[austinsensenig]

Hey Austin hello from Illinois, I raise and farrow my own hogs here at our farm. Only thing that you may have not brought into consideration is we make quite a bit of income per year on selling feeder pigs to people like yourself for a quality price due to our feed and our pasture style and pen style birthing, we always make good money if we have 24 piglets per farrowing and we keep back 12 to butcher for our customers we take the other 12 and sell them just an idea with your new farm yo do :)

[gabbykabins]

Lol I felt so bad for the piggies when their bums kept touching the electric fence
They didn’t mean to touch the fence, they just got junk in the trunk
I love piggies