Pigs – Wrinkle Farms

This weekend, we had a bad storm rolling in to our area. All weather reports said that the storm would hit mostly north of us, but we still needed to do some things to prepare here around the farm for the severe cold that we expected. Although we knew it wouldn’t be a bad storm for us, it would still bring colder air and a little snow. One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that there is different preparations needed for different weather types. For example: rain vs snow. With snow, we can get several inches and it will not soak through the cow’s thick hair. This is great, because they don’t get soaked to the bone. Their thick hair keeps the snow out, and it settles on their backs. Sure it is colder, but the hair and their own body fat keeps them well insulated from the cold. With rain, however, it doesn’t take long for that to soak through to their skin. When the cows get soaked with the rain, they have a harder time retaining heat. They will then develop sickness such as pneumonia due to the cold rain. However, with the rain, there is not much we can do to protect them from the weather save from packing them all in the barn.

We started off our preparation by putting a bale of old hay in with the pigs to give them something to burrow into. I figured with enough food and some warmth from a wind block they would be fine. I also decided the cows needed a wind block. This was harder to do for the cows, as one bale would not cut it.

I put out 4 bales for the cows next to one of the barns. That should have been enough to last two days, but they ate almost all of it over night. I ventured out today to try and put a few more bales out. Unfortunately the pad lock was frozen solid. I tried everything but the obvious. After 30 mins I tried hot water… it worked first try.

After putting more hay out for the cows, and feeding the pigs, I hitailed it back to the house. As the saying goes, even in the winter the farmer has to work.

I was always told pigs stink for more then one reason, but I never really knew why. Late last year, I decided to buy a couple pigs to fatten up for stocking the freezer. So far, this has proven to be a stinky mess. Pigs are one of the worst smelling creatures that I have ever smelled before in my life. In addition, we are spending a small fortune feeding them.

Before we got our pigs, we had purchased half a hog from a local who sent the pig off to the butcher for us. All we had to do was pay for our half plus the butcher fees, and tell the butcher how we wanted the meat packed. In hind sight, this was the cheaper option.

There are pros and cons for both of these options. If you raise the pigs yourself, you obviously know exactly what the pigs have eaten. You also have more freedom as far as when you want to butcher. But, as aforementioned, the stench is almost unbearable. Pigs are also notorious for throwing mud anytime you get close to the pen. Pigs are well known for eating everything. This can be an advantage, but also a con if you think about it too much. Our pigs ate their sister.

An advantage of buying a butcher pig from someone you know is that you still have a general idea of what they are eating from day to day. You also are not the one who is out any cost if the pigs get sick or die at any point.

Both of these options are WAY better than buying meat at the store. It is way cheaper, and you know generally how the pig was raised, and in what type of environments.

In the future, I do believe that we will just buy our pig from someone that we know and trust, and forego a lot of the extra costs.

In the meantime, does any body want to buy a pig?