We got pigs

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I forgot about updating. They are about 4 months old now and getting to be around 150lbs I guess. We have given the 1000 lbs of feed at $17 per 50 lb bag. We plan to feed them another 1000 lbs of finisher. We have a butchering slot late Nov. In the past we did the slaughtering ourselves but this place only takes them live. Fine with me. We had trouble finding a butcher that wasn't all booked up.
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Unfortunately we have to go by the date. It was difficult to even get a spot. I don't know why. Maybe people already have clients with slots for hunting season or something? We are somewhat still new to the area. I am guessing they will be around 250.
 
I almost put this in the rants section. Here is an update. Our slaughter date came a week ago. We had to deliver them live. I tried to do the sensible thing and start feeding them in the trailer 4 or 5 days out. Well they never did go into the trailer. We were feeding them minimally in the pen because they were really hungry. In retrospect we did not have any window or natural light in the front of the trailer.

We got the smaller pig in and the bigger one just was not cooperating. She was really stressed and we were tired. So we took we took the first one to the butcher. We came back and tried again and it was just all bad. She tore up a hog panel and a gate. We decided to just call it a day. It seemed the pig would have a heart attack or someone was going to get hurt. The butcher was great and gave us a date the following week.

This time I cut a window in the front and was going to tie her to the tractor and pull her in if needed. We had some big ole boy neighbors help this time. She slipped out on the first attempt and I was ready to just give up. The guys decided to try one more time and got her in. By the way the little one was 260 lbs hanging. This one was even bigger, like 350lbs. Many lessons learned but so glad it is done. We will rework our pig pen. It was originally for a mini donkey. Getting an uncooperative animal out was never a consideration. Also I made some mods to the trailer and may get a livestock trailer. Lastly we need to make an appointment with the butcher as soon as we get piglets so they aren't so big. The food dish is the bottom of a 55 gallon barrel.
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That's why they make "hot sticks". When dad and I both loaded cattle it wasn't a problem. But when he was no longer able to help I was left loading 4 - 5000lbs of beef alone.

After the first attempt alone I went and bought a hot stick. No longer a problem. I could fill a trailer with cattle in about 5min.

But... if you don't mind a suggestion. A heavily built loading chute will simplify things. A small planked holding pen is also an asset. It's annoying to build something that can only be used for one thing and only used once or twice a year. A wooden loading chute will make things so much easier.

A 2000lb bull? give me a hot stick and I'll load him in seconds.

Tip for use... make sure the animal is pointed in the direction you want him to go before using the stick... cause he'll run over what is in front of him.
 
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That's why they make "hot sticks". When dad and I both loaded cattle it wasn't a problem. But when he was no longer able to help I was left loading 4 - 5000lbs of beef alone.

After the first attempt alone I went and bought a hot stick. No longer a problem. I could fill a trailer with cattle in about 5min.

But... if you don't mind a suggestion. A regular loading chute will simplify things also. It's annoying to build something that can only be used for one thing and only used once or twice a year. A wooden loading chute heavily built with oak planking... works best. It will make things so much easier.

A 2000lb bull? give me a hot stick and I'll load him in seconds.

Tip for use... make sure the animal is pointed in the direction you want him to go before using the stick... cause he'll run over what is in front of him.
Zappers don't work quite as well for swine as they do for beef. I've used them plenty. They will get them moving, but pigs hate chutes and will flip themselves to avoid going in. We had a trailer that lowered on hydraulics and we did most of our loading out of pens with gates the same width as the trailer. The wider the opening the better. Get two guys on a panel or gate them same width as your chute or gate opening, and just start walking forward. With a little help from the prod, they'll go in eventually. But you're liable to get knocked down in the process...
 
Your hog experience is a lot more recent than mine. Dealt with hogs a lot before 1980... Since then I've only worked cattle.
Try loading them by the semi truck load from a modern hog confinement. Two thousand squealing, screaming, fighting, 270 pound Satan spawns trying to avoid going into the truck. 🙄
 
No thank you!!! I've castrated several 100 in a night. That's about as far as I'm willing to go!

I hated those nights, no matter how many baths I took I still had to go to school stinking like pig crap. On the upside, at lunch it was never crowded at my table. 🤪
 
I almost put this in the rants section. Here is an update. Our slaughter date came a week ago. We had to deliver them live. I tried to do the sensible thing and start feeding them in the trailer 4 or 5 days out. Well they never did go into the trailer. We were feeding them minimally in the pen because they were really hungry. In retrospect we did not have any window or natural light in the front of the trailer.

We got the smaller pig in and the bigger one just was not cooperating. She was really stressed and we were tired. So we took we took the first one to the butcher. We came back and tried again and it was just all bad. She tore up a hog panel and a gate. We decided to just call it a day. It seemed the pig would have a heart attack or someone was going to get hurt. The butcher was great and gave us a date the following week.

This time I cut a window in the front and was going to tie her to the tractor and pull her in if needed. We had some big ole boy neighbors help this time. She slipped out on the first attempt and I was ready to just give up. The guys decided to try one more time and got her in. By the way the little one was 260 lbs hanging. This one was even bigger, like 350lbs. Many lessons learned but so glad it is done. We will rework our pig pen. It was originally for a mini donkey. Getting an uncooperative animal out was never a consideration. Also I made some mods to the trailer and may get a livestock trailer. Lastly we need to make an appointment with the butcher as soon as we get piglets so they aren't so big. The food dish is the bottom of a 55 gallon barrel.View attachment 76300

You can use milk and eggs to tempt them in but I've found the best way is to use a bucket to get them to go where you want. A 5gal bucket covering their face will get them up back up and you can "steer" them right to where you want them to be. Build up a dirt ramp with fenced in sides and they will back right into the trailer.
 
Yeah, that guy that has the farm in New England. He has a youtube channel. There was one week he posted about how to get the pigs into the trailer. He prepared them for it a day or two in advance so they'd get used to the set up.

I learned that from my FFA teacher in highschool.
 
I had a butcher date before I ever had a hog. I ended up getting a 4H hog that didn't make weight which worked out since my butcher date was Halloween. Gave the hog a little more time to finish out (we had the heat dome & many animals went off feed for a few weeks.) Butcher shops get booked w/ fairs in the area and hunting. Any personal critters are fit in-between. Also, since last year it seems like more folks are trying to keep food stores up better which isn't all bad. It's just the urgency - it's not been the norm for 2 generations anyways.
Also, bear is delicious but is a rich red meat (Hubby's fav.) Yes, they are related, but the meat and cooking of each is totally different.
 
I just parked the stock trailer in the pasture. They were always fed in the trailer. The day before the appointment, I closed the trailer door during meal time. Same with cows. Two weeks before loading they were given sweet feed in an open chute. They exited the chute through the trailers front door when done snacking. Appointment day, close the doors while cows are snacking. I just led my milk cow in for starters and the rest would follow.

Obviously I didn't have a 200 cow/calf operation, but I did OK with fifty cows on my own.

I raised Large Black pigs, the sows got up tp 750 lbs and the boars could hit 900 lbs. It was crucial that they be trained like dogs to do what was needed and just like dogs, they would work for back scratches and belly rubs.
 
Then you did great with 50 head! We ran all beef and not one cow was as gentle as a milker. Don't get me wrong, if they could hear me call they'd come. But only a few would tolerate being touched. Of course there was always a problem walking through them with a feed bucket. lol
 
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