After having a huge surplus of milk and wondering what to do with it, we started asking around what other people do. It seems most people either 1. give it away or 2. raise hogs. We opted for number 2. Since we are already paying for the goat feed and hay, it would be a waste of money to just give the milk away. We opted to get two American Guinea Hogs. We got a female and a castrated male (don't want to have to worry about additional piglets).
We spent Labor Day weekend getting their electric fence set up. Until now they had been in their pen, but not with electric fencing. This will not allow them to dig under the fence when they are rooting. We made them a house out of straw bales and some free corrugated roofing we got from where else but craigslist.
These hogs will eat just about anything. To raise them healthy and frugally we are trying to feed them as much veggie scraps (I am even soliciting scraps from Family Z), cooked eggs (raw eggs are bad for hogs) and goats milk. We did buy a bag of hog feed just in case one day we are running low on natural food.
We have yet to name them... any thoughts? I think it should be a food related name like Bacon or Backstrap... or something random like Petunia...
Oh dear... naming one's food is such a personal thing. I wouldn't dare suggest to you names like Fat Back Jackie and Charlie Jowls or Sausage and Baconettie. No sirree. Not even Charlotte and Wilbur or Babe and Wilbur.
ReplyDeleteStringmaker
Oh Jessica, PIGS! I remember Pigs! They ate lots of corn and I had to go into their muddy pig pen and pick up the dirty corn cobs to burn in our cook stove. I really didn't want to name any of them except UGH and Yuch! The pictures of your two little pig bring back so many memories. I watched one big sow give birth to many cute piglets. but alas, they grew up and ate corn. My daddy butchered them and smoked bacon and ham. That was good. Is that what you plan to do? Good luck.
ReplyDeleteGrrmammy