We cut a barrel in half and used one half as a trough. One of the most significant hurdles of feeding pigs is safety and securing the feeder. This will keep water, mice, and rats from eating your feed. However, if you prefer to purchase your feed all at once (like we do), it’s a good idea to buy heavy-duty barrels or trash cans with lids. The upside to purchasing feed from your feed store is you can buy a bag at a time. We’ve purchased 2 truckloads and have enough food (when mixed with feeding our pigs leftovers, garden scraps, and extra eggs) to sustain them their entire stay.Īlong the same lines, you’ll need to consider how you’re going to store all of this food. They’ll give you a truckload of crushed corn tortillas for $30. This year, we’ve found a deal where someone is selling old corn tortillas. For instance, in our area, we can travel to the next town over and pick up a truckload of old bread products for $25 per truckload.
Not only does this prevent waste, but it helps add to the girth of your pigs.įinally, you can search social media outlets for people selling old food products. It’s a good idea to save all of your leftovers and feed them to your pigs. The third option for feeding your pigs should be used with another feeder option as well. Your next feed option should be used with another feeder option, but you can grow a garden for your pigs or feed them garden scraps. Prices will vary in your area, but in my area, purchasing store-bought feed will cost around $150 per pig you raise. Your first option is to purchase store-bought pig feed. You have multiple options when it comes to feeding your feeder pigs. They’ve done quite well, living side by side because neither animal has the desire to go near the electric fence. Which is more to deter our goats from coming into the pigpen, than the other way around. In our case, I made our electric fence 5 strands high. They have no interest in going near it ever again. If the electric fence hits their snout, they’re trained.
Pigs will use their snout to root around. My husband placed the pigs’ pen at the corner where the electric fence is the hottest to make sure the pigs would avoid it.įrom there, you only need to put electric fencing around ankle height to your knee. In this instance, the size and health of the pig at the time of purchase are your primary concerns. Keep in mind feeder pigs aren’t raised for breeding. Honestly, the central question you should ask is how large are the parents? If they are a good size, your pig should be okay. You don’t need any specific breeds, and the ‘mutts’ are usually less expensive. Which means they’ll grow into full-size hogs. You should be able to locate feeder pigs from there easily. Search any online marketplace, yard sale page, or website meant for buying or trading items. We have been able to locate feeder pigs through social media rather quickly. With my new knowledge in my hip pocket, I began searching for feeder pigs. However, through our research, I’ve learned tricks which take some of the expense and work out of it. The last time we had pigs, I swore I wouldn’t have another because they ate a great deal of food and required massive amounts of work. When my husband and I first decided to take the feeder pig route, we did a lot of research. This year, I was able to purchase 3 feeder pigs for $25 each. The prices vary greatly depending on where in the world you live in. If you choose to take the feeder pig route, be prepared to spend anywhere from $25-$100 on each pig. Realize, I do spend money on purchasing feeder pigs, but it’s worth it to me. I’ve learned many tricks to the trade since then, but I’m better with the idea of only having pigs on my property for half a year or less instead of the whole year. Truthfully, I didn’t enjoy them very much. I had a breeding pair of pigs a few years ago and raised quite a few pigs. However, if you don’t want the hassle of raising pigs year-round, you could skip the overwintering process and purchase a feeder pig (or how many pigs you need) and raise the pork for around4-6 months and call it done. Many people assume if you want to raise pork, you must have a breeding pair of pigs to start with.