Providing all goes well, soon a young but ready to start breeding Large Black Boar will be joining the farm (Mr. P) to have a date or two with our lovely Large Black Open Gilt Miss Piggy.
I knew that when I got her that this was a possablity, If I was postive that I wanted to eat that piglet, I would have gotten a altered male and into the freezer it would go at the right age but I had heard such good things about the large black pig breed, that I wanted the choice to consider breeding, and so I got a female piglet, and I have been most impressed with growth, temperment, however tracking down a boar of the same breed has not be that easy. I can find a typical little guy but it would greatly effect the color and flavour of the offspring, so I have taken the time to find a large black boy.
I am taking a risk doing this and I know it, being a small farm, I am hoping to get two litters per year, the average litter size is 6 to 8 but they can be bigger or smaller. Lets say that she has two litter of six, that is 12 piglets.. Now I hope to sell at least half the litter off the farm to let others grow them out, and keep half the litter to grow out myself, so that I can offer farm gate sales of pasture raised Large Black Pork along side my Lamb.
Thankfully the butcher who does my lambs for me can also do both pigs and cows, so I don’t have to find a new small local butcher, and my guy who does my hualing, has three area’s in his trailer, so I can put a pig or two in one section and lambs in another and a beef in the 3rd if I really wanted and they were all ready at the same time, not likely that everyone would be ready at the same time, but being able to double up a few pigs at the same time as the lambs, does save on the costs of getting them to the shop, as its a flat hauling rate, because I never have enough to pay for the per head price. I could get it even cheaper if I was willing to let my guys be loaded in a shared run, but to date, I have not done so and can’t see myself doing that.. my guy keeps his trailer very clean, high pressure washer between loads and with fresh bedding and that is one of the reason’s I really like him.
Now if the market is slow, I can keep it down to one breeding a year, but I still have to consider freezer space, time of year, very cheap pork available in the stores, always increasing costs of feed, and the space that will be taken up in the barn/pasture having the extra pigs. As well as the extra work that is required in the daily feeding times and the barn cleaning time etc.
The pro’s is that I do have a waiting list of regular’s for my lamb, who are already proven buyers and who are interested in getting pork from us as well. Just as word of mouth on our lamb has increased the sales, I am hoping that I will be able to do the same in regards to our coming plans for our pork. The second pro is that a few more little ones means that my piggy plows can get the job done faster working together.
My cow will come on line with a great deal of extra skim milk when I am making butter and cheese an the leftover’s will be able to go to the grow out piglets, and I have already worked out a deal from the local apple farm down the way, I can have all the windfall apples I want for a very reasonable price, so I hope to be able to finish my fall butcher pigs on apples along with their regular feed thus helping to create a “farmgal” flavour or that is the plan anyway.
I have done this before and been very pleased with the added sweetness to the pork meat that I felt I could taste and I got rave reviews from the folks that tried it.
The good thing about this plan is that I am going as Micro as possable, dipping a toe in the water to see how it works out, I can stop after doing just one litter of piglets an one cycle of grow out of a few for sale. Time will give me the answer on if it makes more sense to continue buying two grow out piglets per year or if it makes more sense to raise a litter or two a year.
The good thing about this plan is if I decide that I want to go back to just having my trained piggy plow, I can butcher out the boar, an offspring and go back to just having my one well trained pig and eat the rest over time.
So what do you think? Is adding in very limited but higher priced pasture pork for farm gate sales a good choice or one that needs a little more thinking on?
Just another Day on the Farm 
How much does a breeding quality piglet go for? I saw your first paragraph and thought “Large Black? Those are good homestead pigs!” From what I’ve read, they’re docile and pleasant, HUGE (actually enormously huge), good moms with big litters, dark so they don’t sunburn easily, AND they’re on the critical list, so you’re saving an endangered breed. I’m intrigued by those ears!
And for anyone who reads this and is horrified that she’s planning to eat an endangered animal – the best way to preserve endangered *livestock* breeds is to EAT them and SELL them and develop a market for them.
I think it’s a great idea, but that’s purely selfish of me, because it means I’ll know exactly where to get some very, very, very high quality piggies. 😀 When I get started, I want some of your piggies. I just wish you had goats! 🙂
By the way, I’d be interested in reading a post on your view of various animal “jobs” on the farm. I know you follow the theory that animals should be doing their animal “thing” – so piggies dig, chickens scratch, etc.
Hi C.D.
Well I am sure it would change depending on the area of the country etc, but right now, I have a limited number of breeds within 3 hours of my farm, and the price ranged from 200 to 500 for a young intact but unproven breeder.
While I would help if you wanted in terms of a good quality piglet, I will be very upfront, while I have raised piglets, I have not breed a pig and raised a litter before, even my mom and dad always got a fred to raise up, and they are both trying to scare the daylights out of me on the idea of having a boar around.
Had goats, didn’t fit the farm, to many health issues, and breakout artist, I will take my lovely quiet healthy sheep that even if they get out, just eat around the fence line and wait to be called back in.
I will work on a post in the future about letting the critters express themselves and their natural ability and how they can be used as critter power on the farm to help reduce work down by us.
Hey FarmGal, it sounds to me that you have put a great deal of thought into all steps, as per usual. Good luck with your burgeoning big black business (though I think the only thing you’re really going to need is more hours in the day; )
It’s a risk that is for sure, what if I can’t sell half the litter at weaning age, what if I end up wtih un-sold meat and have to end up getting another freezer to hold the meat etc What if my folks are right and the boar is not easy to work with.. only time will give me some answers, I meet Miss Piggy’s father and he was very even tempered and good to work around, I am going to trust the breeder I am getting Mr. P from and my own judgement on picking him out of the little herd of males and hope that steady even handling will give me a steady even boy, its worked well with the other intact males in the barn to date.
If not, I will be sending him to the butcher and making lots of ground meat items for our own personal use, and I will just buy a new young boy once a year for breeding and not keep him over the winter.
I can’t answer your question but i do wish you lived closer because I know I would buy pork (and many other things) from you. Maybe you should offer pig shares- like a CSA, where people pay a portion up front to cover the cost of feeding and butchering ‘their’ pig. I’m sure there would be many people eager to be part of something like that.
Hey Callie, that sounds like a REALLY good idea and I, for one, would definitely be interested in the investment! (Is this what they mean by “pork shares”? ; )
Well, I guess it can be considered to a point, if folks really want it, I could do a single trip down to the toronto area, I have to admit that I would perfer to try and build a local market but I would also love to be able to let my regulars have access to some pork/lamb if they wanted it..
Ask me again in the fall if anyone really is interested and I will see what I can do, they sometimes have course’s down that way that I have looked at before, so it would be a double purpose trip.
That’s a interesting idea, I think I would raither take the risk until they are old enough to wean and then consider offering that for the next couple months of raising. I think I will google and see if anyone is doing that locally and if so what and how they are doing it.
I have had sows and a boar, not endangered but normal breeds, I have found that buying weiner pigs to raise for my customers works better for me financially. One sow to help with delivery isn’t too bad, but I had 3 and two kids in school and sports. They would only deliver when I was going to leave the farm. Just my experience, good luck, the sows and piglets are my favorite I miss them!
Hi toni
Thanks for the impute, I hear you about the delivery, I swear that happens all the time with the lambs as well.. I am happy to hear that you enjoyed the sows and piglets, I am hoping to do the same, how did you find housing and working with your male?