Food batteries & learning curves
Dec. 30th, 2019 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormI'm mostly going to talk about pigs.
So I don't have a nearby pig mentor. I do a lot of internet learning, some common sense stuff, some panic internet learning, and some talking to folks who live in the area. I don't think I know anyone nearby who farrows (breeds) their own pigs, though. At least no one within cell and internet service -- pigs make a great off-grid animal.
And there are very few folks around who have Ossabaws - half the size of a normal pig and half the domestication, I understand. In fact, I think I only know of 3 others in the province, and maybe a couple on the other coast.
Some things I can learn by paying money - I can take the piglets to the vet and get the vet to teach me to castrate, for instance.
Some things I can learn by chatting with local people - like how pigs will bury themselves in hay or straw when it gets cold, so they can overwinter around here really well. Keep a draught- and moisture-free house and when there are enough of them they don't even seem to need their extra straw.
Some things I can learn from the internet, like how mama pigs make a kind of terrifying contented noise when all is going well.
Some things are more nuanced, though, and come from my own pigs and my own situation. For instance, Rapunzel and Nox co-raised their last set of babies. When I set up a farrowing hut I assumed they would share. They did not share, Nox had her babies in the barn, and I think they either got squished by the other pigs, eaten by the other pigs, or... it seems unlikely she just had the one, and that one didn't make it.
The males definitely come into interest in breeding by 3 months, and they definitely have boar taint by 6 months.
Piglets, when they're just born, always look like they are going to die any minute now. Some animals are born without fur, fat and wiggly, and they kind of look like they should be helpless. My piglets (ossabaws are very hairy pigs, so YMMV) are born with enough hair and fully-formed enough that they look like they should be able to run around immediately, and they kind of can. You can see their ribs, and their hind legs don't work quite right, but they have fully formed hooves and ears and their eyes are open. Every time I think I'm going to lose them, even Rapunzel's piglets which have tripled in size since they were born on christmas eve just short of a week ago.
My girls always seem to get very affectionate right before they farrow. The week before they all want lots of ear scratches and snuggles. This is without me giving particular treats or anything like that.
The boar checks on new babies and any weird happenings. When babies are very new he checks on them every 10 mins to half an hour, maybe for the first couple days. Every time I went up to the babies he'd come up, see who I was, and wander away. It's only my junior boar who chases away ravens, but that one is not very friendly with me and I need to get rid of him before he grows tusks.
Piglets are very skittish when they're babies. They mellow out some if you handle them as they get older, but the first ten weeks are kind of a write-off. Well, maybe the first two weeks are fine.
These pigs seem to hit a hundred pounds live weight at six months and have very nice fat proportion at that time.
Pig fat texture will vary depending on what you feed.
At the moment I have my original group - the boar, who is half from Big Red, and four very diverse sows. They're all a little over a year now, the boar a bit younger than the sows. I have three left from the first litters, out of Nox and Rapunzel - one gilt, Apricot, who I want to keep; one boar who I want to either castrate and eat, or just feed to the dogs (the dogs do like pork roasts!), and one gilt who I will eat eventually. I have ten from the Penny and Sparky litter, with four boarlets who need castrating and six gilts. And this last litter, of Rapunzel's, has three boarlets and 3 gilts.
That's quite a pipeline. People around here seem to want pork, but I am still very uncertain about hauling them offsite for slaughter. Here they don't have much of a traumatic experience at all. Sales aren't legal when the animals are slaughtered onsite, and I'm not sure I'm up to making pretty retail cuts for people anyhow.
I absolutely love Ossabaw meat. It tastes like... food. It's not white, it's a medium-deep flesh red. It's succulent and hits a lot of my body's buttons. You can cook it pretty much any way and it's good.
So I think pigs are going to continue to be part of my life.
Gotta figure out how to fit them into the ecosystem permanently. They're definitely a disturbance species - they dig and cause change to the landscape.
Hm.
So I don't have a nearby pig mentor. I do a lot of internet learning, some common sense stuff, some panic internet learning, and some talking to folks who live in the area. I don't think I know anyone nearby who farrows (breeds) their own pigs, though. At least no one within cell and internet service -- pigs make a great off-grid animal.
And there are very few folks around who have Ossabaws - half the size of a normal pig and half the domestication, I understand. In fact, I think I only know of 3 others in the province, and maybe a couple on the other coast.
Some things I can learn by paying money - I can take the piglets to the vet and get the vet to teach me to castrate, for instance.
Some things I can learn by chatting with local people - like how pigs will bury themselves in hay or straw when it gets cold, so they can overwinter around here really well. Keep a draught- and moisture-free house and when there are enough of them they don't even seem to need their extra straw.
Some things I can learn from the internet, like how mama pigs make a kind of terrifying contented noise when all is going well.
Some things are more nuanced, though, and come from my own pigs and my own situation. For instance, Rapunzel and Nox co-raised their last set of babies. When I set up a farrowing hut I assumed they would share. They did not share, Nox had her babies in the barn, and I think they either got squished by the other pigs, eaten by the other pigs, or... it seems unlikely she just had the one, and that one didn't make it.
The males definitely come into interest in breeding by 3 months, and they definitely have boar taint by 6 months.
Piglets, when they're just born, always look like they are going to die any minute now. Some animals are born without fur, fat and wiggly, and they kind of look like they should be helpless. My piglets (ossabaws are very hairy pigs, so YMMV) are born with enough hair and fully-formed enough that they look like they should be able to run around immediately, and they kind of can. You can see their ribs, and their hind legs don't work quite right, but they have fully formed hooves and ears and their eyes are open. Every time I think I'm going to lose them, even Rapunzel's piglets which have tripled in size since they were born on christmas eve just short of a week ago.
My girls always seem to get very affectionate right before they farrow. The week before they all want lots of ear scratches and snuggles. This is without me giving particular treats or anything like that.
The boar checks on new babies and any weird happenings. When babies are very new he checks on them every 10 mins to half an hour, maybe for the first couple days. Every time I went up to the babies he'd come up, see who I was, and wander away. It's only my junior boar who chases away ravens, but that one is not very friendly with me and I need to get rid of him before he grows tusks.
Piglets are very skittish when they're babies. They mellow out some if you handle them as they get older, but the first ten weeks are kind of a write-off. Well, maybe the first two weeks are fine.
These pigs seem to hit a hundred pounds live weight at six months and have very nice fat proportion at that time.
Pig fat texture will vary depending on what you feed.
At the moment I have my original group - the boar, who is half from Big Red, and four very diverse sows. They're all a little over a year now, the boar a bit younger than the sows. I have three left from the first litters, out of Nox and Rapunzel - one gilt, Apricot, who I want to keep; one boar who I want to either castrate and eat, or just feed to the dogs (the dogs do like pork roasts!), and one gilt who I will eat eventually. I have ten from the Penny and Sparky litter, with four boarlets who need castrating and six gilts. And this last litter, of Rapunzel's, has three boarlets and 3 gilts.
That's quite a pipeline. People around here seem to want pork, but I am still very uncertain about hauling them offsite for slaughter. Here they don't have much of a traumatic experience at all. Sales aren't legal when the animals are slaughtered onsite, and I'm not sure I'm up to making pretty retail cuts for people anyhow.
I absolutely love Ossabaw meat. It tastes like... food. It's not white, it's a medium-deep flesh red. It's succulent and hits a lot of my body's buttons. You can cook it pretty much any way and it's good.
So I think pigs are going to continue to be part of my life.
Gotta figure out how to fit them into the ecosystem permanently. They're definitely a disturbance species - they dig and cause change to the landscape.
Hm.
