I had been getting advice from a computer operator at one of my accounts about how best to raise a few pigs. I followed his advice and I built Four "Gate Sections" about 16 feet long from rough hardwood that I bought from a country sawmill and chained them together at the corners to make a pen that could be moved. I found a pig feeder at the Sears Liquidation Center at a good price and ordered some watering fountains from the Sears Farm Catalog that screwed on the end of a garden hose. The pigs are pretty smart and catch on fast to where the food and water are and how to get to it. Pigs don't overfeed themselves so you can leave food available to them all the time.
My brother, Bob, and I looked at the ads in the "Market Bulletin", (The paper that was printed for us ranchers listing farm supplies and animals for sale.) and we found some pigs for sale in Banks county at a reasonable price. I had already set up the pen and all was ready for them.
We took Bob's pickup truck and headed out. The guy who had the pigs for sale put the sow (That's what ya call the moma pig.) up in another fence. She looked like she weighed over 300 pounds and was not happy about us coming into her home. The guy told us to go into the shed and get the pigs we wanted. Easy for him to say.
Did you ever grab a little pig? They squeal very loudly and are pretty strong. They are fast and can turn sharper than we can. When they squeal you automatically turn them loose, but then you remember that you need to hold on to them when you finally catch one.
When I finally caught one again, and remembered to hold onto it, it continued to squeal loudly and I heard the moma squeal back. She was telling us that she was not happy with us and wanted to tear us into little pieces and you know that she could do it. We finally caught one each and put them in burlap bags and went out of the pig house. They were still squealing and the moma was straining at the fence that she was in and the fence didn't look very strong. We wasted no time getting to the truck and leaving!
Once we got home, we put the pigs in their new home and they soon found the food and water. I had a removeable roof over one corner and they quickly found the shady place.
They grew fast and weren't much trouble. You keep the feeder full and check that the water is flowing when you push the button. I had a lift on my Gravely garden tractor and every week I would lift a corner of the gate section fence and drag it to new ground. After raising the pigs we had a pre-fertilized and tilled garden spot where we raised our garden for years. Billy could squeal like the pigs and made us think the pigs were out before we figured out it was always him.
When they were large enough we called a guy to take them to the butcher and they made some good bacon, sausage, and pork chops. I never kept up with how much it cost to raise them for the meat yield (maybe I was afraid to know). We raise some pigs twice or maybe it was three times with good results each time.
Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
