Where To Buy Feeder Pigs
Ready to get your first feeder pigs yet not really sure what to do? You came to the right place! I can help you with some of the basics so you can be more confident your new enterprise will start well.
where to buy feeder pigs
Here at Serenity Valley Farms we raise a blend of the best quality meat hogs and roasting pigs. We have 8 sows and it seems like we always have piglets for sale. Our boar (Moe) is full bred Mangalitsa, Our sows range from full bred Duroc, to mix breeds of Berkshire/Hampshire, Landrace & Yorkshire.
Please note, we run a closed herd, that means we are not buying and selling pigs, any hog you purchase from us will have been farrowed and raised here on the farm. This way you know what you are getting. The hog you receive has not changed hands 2 or 3 times having been shuffled around in stressful situations, confined in stalls or pens. Our pigs are allowed to be pigs, outside were they are the happiest. Come out and see the operation for yourself, see the feed, check out the woods and look how happy the animals are doing what they do best, just being a pig!
For the hog roasters out there we offer two options, pigs at 175lbs or less and over 175lbs. Each hog will be one of our Mangalitsa crosses perfect for roasting on the spit or in a pit. We will provide the hog, you will need to process for roasting.
Investigations of 2 cases of high mortality in cull sows and feeder pigs from a buying station in Ohio and cull sows at an abattoir in Tennessee were conducted at the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. The animals were presented as weak, lethargic, and some with high fever. Rapidly escalating mortality was reported to be as high as 30-50% within groups at the buying station over 8-10 d, and 30-40% over 5-7 d at the abattoir. Splenomegaly and red lymph nodes were the most consistent macroscopic findings, with scant fibrinous polyserositis observed in one sow. The microscopic lesions of vasculitis, fibrin thrombi, fibrinosuppurative polyserositis, and intralesional bacteria were consistent with acute bacterial septicemia. Bacterial culture isolated Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) from multiple organs, including spleen, lung, and kidney. PCR tests were negative for African swine fever virus, classical swine fever virus, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine circovirus 2, and Salmonella spp. Porcine circovirus 3 was inconsistently detected at low levels by PCR, with a lack of associated lesions. Next-generation sequencing identified S. zooepidemicus and porcine partetravirus in the serum sample of the feeder pig from the buying station. Phylogenetic analysis of the szP gene indicated that the S. zooepidemicus isolates from Ohio and Tennessee are in genotype VI. We conclude that the cause of these high mortality events in swine was S. zooepidemicus septicemia.
A central nervous disorder occurred spontaneously in a herd of feeder pigs characterized by muscle fasciculations, convulsions, squealing, and acute death in numerous animals. Histopathology revealed a degenerative poliomyeloencephalopathy of brain stem and spinal cord consisting of neuronal hypertrophy, chromatolysis, neuronophagia, and satellitosis associated with Wallerian degeneration of ventral rootlets and neurogenic muscle atrophy of limb musculature. The sudden onset of clinical signs and the pattern of morphological findings were suggestive of intoxication. Though parathion was found in two animals, serum acetylcholine esterase activity and morphological findings were not compatible with an organophosphate poisoning. A hereditary disorder was excluded by genetic analysis. Summarized findings in the present cases are reminiscent of changes observed in ruminants suffering from patulin poisoning, a neuromycotoxicosis caused by Aspergillus clavatus. However, toxicological and microbiological investigations failed to identify the cause of this unusual and so far not described disease in pigs. Morphologically, lesion distribution and alterations of motor neurons resemble changes observed in equine motor neuron disease, spinal muscular atrophy of certain canine breeds, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) in man. Therefore, the term spontaneous porcine motor neuron disease (SPMND) is proposed for this new and unique entitiy.
Candi has spent many years growing and striving toward a more self-sufficient life. She grows vegetables, kills chickens, swims with pigs, milks a cow, and loves anything homesteading. She lives out in the country with her husband and 4 awesome children. She likes doing things the old fashioned way.
Great blog, love the info and insight! Thank you for sharing!We are building a new home in NW MN, on some wooded acreage we purchased, and we plan to have chickens, and I'd also like to raise a couple pigs. Hoping to do as much in a "homesteading" manner or fashion as we can, from garden to venison, and lumber solar panels. I'm wondering if they "need" sun, or how they'll do in the woods, or amongst trees primarily? Also, is there anything they should not eat, or is anything as far as leftovers considered fair game?
I've got two feeders, 9 week old, Long Blacks x Old Spots and wanted to know if you can suggest how many cups per day I should be giving them. Right now, they get one cup of Blue Seal, each, twice a day with a noon feed of a couple of our lettuce leaves, a bunch of clover, a couple of blueberries or raspberries. They're forest pastured within an eFence system and are happy little guys. I can't find helpful feed chart to go by as they grow. Any ideas?
The demand for quality feeder pigs is high and since we have had an increasinlgy hard time finding good quality piglets ourselves for each growing season, we decided to breed our own sows. We will have feeder pigs for sale December 15th 2022. These piglets will be presale only, which will require an advance deposit. Our next litter will be July 15th 2022, followed by every December and July.
Once you receive your 8-week old feeder pigs, it only takes 5 months more and they are ready for slaughter. Raising pigs for high quality meat is realtively easy if you adhere to a simple set of rules. These results can be repeated time after time with exacting precision. If you buy your piglets from us, I will also sell you a feeder and other supplies you may need. An outside area of not less than 500 square feet per pig you will raise. This equates to an area roughly 22 feet by 22 feet per pig. This area must be fenced with field fencing with the smaller squares down. This field fence should be fenced again inside about 4 to 6 inches, and 6 inches above the ground with an electric wire.
A shelter must be provided that has at least 3 sides, and a dimension of about 6 feet by 10 feet. A shelter this size is adequate for between 1 and 6 pigs. Inside this shelter could be placed a single round bale of hay and possibly their feeder. I put a 900 pound round bale of hay in the shelter which lasts the pigs for the entire 5 month duration.
A clean and continuous water supply must be provided which can be a pressure nipple or mini pond area that receives a clean supply of water at least periodically on most days.
An automatic feeder for dry hog meal of some kind. I have made gravity bins like this many times, and I place my gravity bin inside of the same covered trailer which I will use to haul the pigs to the slaughter house on that day. The reason for this is that I never have to fight to get the pigs into a trailer on that day because they are already in there everyday eating off and on all day anyway. All I have to do is slide the door shut.
An automatic feeder should have feeding slots 6 inches wide by 10 inches long and 4 inches deep. I use a commercial feeder now, but in the past I have made many of these feeder using plywood. My current feeder holds 500 pounds of feed, and I feed once weekly. If I was to build one from wood, I would make sure that it held at least 300 pounds. In any case, you should ensure that there is adequate feed available in the volume of 7 to 10 pounds per day per pig at a minimum.
Pigs need 5 gallons of water per day per pig. This needs to be clean fresh water. If it isn't good enough for you, then it isn't good enough for your animals either.
If feeder pigs have a continuous supply of quality feed and water, which they should, they will grow one pound of pork for every three pounds of feed they consume. Of course this depends on the quality of the feed and the feeder that is used, as well as the quality of water that the pigs have available. The feeder, if constructed yourself, should have dividers of a dimension of 6 inches width and 10 inches front to back, with a depth of 4 inches.
When you purchase your piglets, they will average 40 pounds each, but will range from 30-50 pounds. There are several factors that determine this weight. Sex matters with regard to pig weight as males tend to grow a little faster than females. Also, there is always a runt or two in pig litters. We recommend that you raise your pigs for 5 months. Considering that the pigs are 7 weeks old when you pick them up, this makes them just under 7 months old at slaughter time if you raise them for 5 months as we suggest. At 5 months, if you had a runt, it will weigh about 200-225 pounds. If you had females, they will weigh 225-275 pounds at 5 months, and if they were males of average weight at birth, they will weight between 250-300 pounds at 5 months (about 7 months total age).
Freezer meat ratio with pigs is 50 percent of hoof weight. As you can see, you will end up with somewhere between 100 and 175 pounds of meat in the freezer depending upon the above mentioned factors. The most rewarding part is the high quality of the meat. Believe me, you will notice the difference! 041b061a72