A lot of people may disagree, but it can be quite fascinating raising livestock on your homestead. If you have a little bit of interest in raising livestock, apart from the love for pork, then you can consider raising a feeder piglet.
Now, what is a feeder piglet?
A Feeder piglet is a kiddo pig (not more than eight weeks old), which you can purchase, raise it until it becomes four to six months old, and then slaughter it for meat.
As we know, pigs are bulky in size; even a piglet after butchering can yield you enough pork, which you can store in your freezer and eat for the next year. Then you can go for another batch of feeder piglets.
Everything You Need to Know About Feeder Pigs
As pigs are very social animals, it is advisable to bring at least two piglets at a time. If you are worried about the expenses, caring, and feeding of feeder pigs, we have come up with all the questions you might be having in your mind right now.
Like, what all are the requirement for raising feeder pigs?
We will also include their feeding pattern, health care, and another requirement in the article below.
Why Do You Need to Raise Feeder Piglets?
After knowing about a feeder piglet, the next question that arises is: What is the need to raise a feeder piglet?
Many people want to raise pigs for pork, but because of the long-term and hassle full raising of pigs, they drop their thought. In such a case, the feeder piglet is the solution. Not just will they get rid of the overwintering process of raising pigs for years, they will get their pork only by raising pigs for a few months.
I have a personal experience of raising pigs. But what I found is that raising pigs for years can be a tedious job, why not keep them for a half-year if the ultimate target of raising a pig is pork.
Although you might need to spend a little on purchasing a feeder pet, it will be more economical than raising a mature pig for years or purchasing processed pork round the year.
You might need to spend at least $25 or at most $100 to bring a feeder pig home. The price of feeder pig depends on the location you are living in. But you will get natural pork within six months of raising a feeder piglet.
Also Read: How Much Does A Pig Cost to Raise?
Where can you find the suitable feeder piglets?
As a beginner, it requires a lot of research to come to a perfect feeder pig. We did a lot of research to find you the ideal place to buy a feeder pig.
After beginning our search, we found out that it is better to find some healthy feeder piglets via social networking sites. Most people search for feeder pigs of social network sites like Facebook.
Apart from this, you can also search for one on the website online. Many websites are selling livestock with the specifications you want. You can head towards these websites for getting a feeder pig.
Search for feeder pigs or mutts, and you will get the desired results. You can ask your supplier the size of the parents of the feeder piglet you are going to get. If their parent will be tremendous in size, so will they.
Another crucial thing to keep in mind is that feeder piglets are not for breeding. They are specifically for meat.
How to provide feeder piglets a shelter and fence?
Pigs don’t require a great house. A small hut with a four-sided roof and a roof is sufficient for them. You can build their shelter on your own if you know a little bit of carpentry.
Talking about the fencing, don’t mistake to install hog paneling around your pigs. Electric fences are not just easy to install. They are even more affordable.
Fencing can be very crucial if you want to separate them from other flocks. If you install an electric fence, the sharp edges of the fence will become a threat for your feeder piglets, and they will never try to escape from that fence.
Just keep the fence at a height till your knee. As pigs are smaller in size, five strands will be sufficient to keep them enclosed.
Storing Pig Food and Feeding
If you want to feed your piglet with an adequate amount of nutrients and minerals in it, then there are three options available in which you can avail of a perfectly balanced meal for your feeder pigs.
The first one is purchasing a pig feed from the market. It will contain the required percentage of protein, carbohydrate, and other essential minerals that your pigs needed.
The next option is growing pigs feed at your farm. You can also produce some vegetables and grains in your farm or homestead to feed your feeder piglets.
The next option is feeding them with all the leftover food you have. We all have some leftover at the end of our meal. If you are raising a feeder piglet, you can utilize that leftover food by feeding it to the piglets.
Also, some people post an advertisement to sell their old food products online.
So, you can search online for an old trunk of feeds for your piglet. You will have to barely spend around $25 to bring an older trunk home, including the transportation charges.
Pigs need food in a very high-quantity. If you have a habit of bringing their food in bulk, then its storage problem arises.
In such a case, you might need to purchase some containers with a closing lid on it. In this way, you can store your pig’s feed more safely.
Apart from this, you just can’t spread their food on the ground, as they might hit the fence and hurt themselves while foraging the food. It is better to bring a feeder so that you can feed them more effortlessly.
Don’t worry about the expense of storage containers and feeders, as it is a one-time investment, which will last for many years. Thus, it is worth bringing a feeder and storage container in your house.
Also Read: The Complete Pig Feeding Guide: How to Feed Your Pig the Perfect Diet
Medicated or Non-Medicated Feeder Pig
When you went to the buyer for purchasing the pig feed, you will have two options in front of you, one the medicated feed and another one the non-medicated feed.
Although you might find the medicated one a bit expensive as it has all the vitamins and minerals that your feeder piglet needs. This means you will not need to provide them with any other food item to fulfill their vitamin and mineral requirements.
A non-medicate one doesn’t have additional vitamins and minerals. Thus, you might need to feed your feeder piglet with fruits and vegetables to get adequate vitamins and minerals.
Although if you are raising your feeder pig on a farm or at a place with a garden in it, then you might not need a medicated feed for your feeder piglets. Pigs being great forager, will fulfill their additional needs on their own while foraging.
But if you live on a concrete or floor with no access to the ground and still want to raise a feeder pig, you must consider the medicated feed, and then they will not have any additional food requirement apart from their meal.
How many times does your feeder pig need water?
Like any other creature, pigs also need water. Watering them daily is very prominent; otherwise, they can also suffer from dehydration as we do.
To provide water access whenever they need, you can set a drum with a hog water nipple in it. If you have a drum, then well and good. Otherwise, you can purchase an older drum online. Hog nipples are also available at various websites online from where you can buy them.
With a large enough drum, you will only to refill it once a week. No need to worry about your feeder pigs water requirement whole week long.
Did the feeder piglet stink?
The most prominent question while raising a feeder pig or any other pig is that, do they stink?
The reeking smell of feeder pigs can irritate you the most sometimes, and it becomes intolerable to raise a stinking feeder piglet. But do all of them necessarily stink?
There are few rules that one might need to follow while they are raising a pig. If they don’t follow them, they can encounter quite a strong stinking smell from their feeder piglets.
It is a myth that pigs are messy. It all depends on their master. Hygiene is the key, with which you can easily avoid the stinking smell of a piggy.
Just make sure that your pigs are clean. Bath at least once a week to keep then clean and hygienic. Don’t let them play in the mud for so long.
All these steps will lead you to a lesser stinking feeder piglet. Although, a clean feeder piglet doesn’t stink at all. But if the smell is bothering you even after bathing them, you can sprinkle some zests and drop of lime on the ground. Lime works as a perfect odor controller.
You can also use an air freshener to avoid the pigs’ stinking smell, but it will a temporary solution and not the permanent one.
Feeder Pig Gender
It is very crucial to choose the gender of the feeder piglet you are going to raise. Each gender has its pros and cons.
If you choose a female feeder piglet, it won’t grow as large as a male feeder piglet can grow, but will not need to worry about castrating them.
On the other hand, choosing a male will provide you a large amount of meat, but you will need to castrate them before butchering. Although, uncastrated male feeder pigs are comparatively cheaper than the female ones. Also, they will grow pretty large, providing you more meat than most pig breeds. But male pigs can also be aggressive sometimes.
Final Thoughts
One last thing that you should know if you want to raise feeder piglets by yourself to get a lump of budget meat is how to butcher a pig? Although you can take them to a butcherer for meat, again you will pay the butcherer the cost of his work, so it will be better if you know it on your own.
Now that you know all the tips and tricks you are needed to know about the feeder pigs before raising them, you can get into this business. In the end, you will be able to get delicious, natural, and healthy meat at a very affordable price.
Not just you will be saving some bucks, you will find it quite entertaining to raise a flock. The advantage of keeping a feeder piglet is that you will not need to keep care of them for years before they get ready to serve you.