Breeding Hogs, or Stuff I Done, and Know Better Now

© 2009 Albert A Rasch and
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
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Folks,
This is from about nine years ago when I actually thought I could selectively breed and raise a herd of red colored razorbacks.

My dear hog enthusiasts,
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In my never ending quest to further the fun and frolic quotient at the Three Bar Spear, I decided to start a captive breeding project. I thought I might share with you some of the things I have learned in the last few months.

Image Credit: berndkru

More Eurasian than not...

1. Pigs bite...hard.

2. Pigs will bite the hand that feeds them...repeatedly if given the opportunity.

3. Don't put your hand in their mouths in order to determine if they have teeth. You can rest assured that they do, even when they are little bitty things.

4. Pigs will eat anything, including your gasoline soaked, foot powder reeking, cow patty smeared footwear. They do not like whole oats though.

5. Do not send your children into a pen with hogs that are over 40lbs. They will eat them too. (Dads, a ten year old WILL clear a 4 foot field fence with room to spare if properly motivated.)

6. When sows are in heat, everything goes to Hell in a hand basket.

7. Boar hogs don't like anyone when the girls are, well you know, responding.

8. Field fence, with posts set 12 foot on center, is barely adequate to restrain a 120lbs hog. 8 foot on center with the addition of 2X6s for reinforcement on the outside, and two strands of barbed wire at 4" and 16" on the inside, might be better.

9. A 300lbs hog pretty much does what he wants.

10. You will love your pigs.

Image Credit: ricksege
Seriously, I have two litters on the way, due sometime in September. From those I'll start culling immediately for confirmation and aggressiveness. I've got one sow that has attitude, but lacks size. This might have been due to poor nutrition as a piglet though. What I need to capture is a good boar and a couple of more sows to fill out the breeding pool. In a couple of years I should have an adequate line going.

I'll try to keep you all posted on my endeavors!
Thanks,
Albert


Those where the days! Those first two litters, quickly turned into more than thirty head of hog! I couldn't sell them fast enough, and I even gave some away. But the real story was my father in law who despite my entreaties and appeals, could not keep himself from feeding them all the restaurant refuse he could lug home! My carefully planned diet, exercise plan, and breeding program was impossible with so much interference. The final straw was his penchant for letting them out of their pens so they could "stretch their legs" a bit more. My neighbor, seizing the opportunity, shot my big breeder boar. He shows up at my doorstep with a picture and innocently asked if maybe one of my hogs got out.

I called the local Sheriff Department and donated all the other hogs to them for their prison kitchen...

Now that is yet, another story!

Albert