Raising hogs

20798 Views 11 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Robroy, Mar 19, 2010

fj60

Discussion Starter · Mar 13, 2010

Hey -
Basic question - how much purchased feed (corn, sweet feed, hog chow, etc.) does it take to take to bring a feeder pig up to slaughter weight?

I'm assuming you buy your feeder pig in the early spring and slaughter around 12/1 or so, as soon as it's cold enough to kill and hang the meat.

I am having a hard time finding any numbers on this. I understand you might supplement with free sources of feed, but if I was only feeding bought feed, would I need 200, 300, 500, or more pounds of feed on average to fatten the hog?

Would it make financial/practical sense to slaughter him before winter, or does it do you any good to keep him and let him get bigger? Are you only putting on more lard when you do this?

Also, what's your favorite easy keeping homestead hog?

Thanks very much. I have a hunch that pig raising could be summed up in about 10 good sentences, but I'm having a hard time finding those sentences!

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Hick Industries

· #2 · Mar 13, 2010

Young hogs turn their feed into mussle at a ratio of 6 to 1. Meaning that it will take 1200 lbs of grain to fatten your feeder pig to a 240 lb butchering weight. 1200 lbs of corn is 24 bu and would cost about $80. This is why very few people make money feeding pigs on purchased feed.

That same pig will fatten up to 240 lbs on 1000 lbs of corn stalks, sweet corn cobs, rotten lettuce heads from the supermarket dumpster, plus about 200 lbs of grain. You make the call.

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