Some folks would have you recollect that bring up hogs is well-fixed . And the accuracy is , it is n’t too atrociously unmanageable once you ’ve been at it for a while .
But when you first fetch porcine farm animal onto the farm , whether it ’s a brace of feeder hog or a litter of little weaners , you ’ll face more than a few question .
In information old age , sometimes asking a motion leads to a tsunami of answers ( many of which might contradict each other ) . That can be enough to put you off the idea of mystify pigs . At the very least , it can give you pause .
So to that last , let me say that , yes , fresh pig owner have to figure a lot out , much of it on the fly . Sometimes they get it improper , and sometimes the right way present itself with inconceivable ease .
It can be frustrating as much as it is hilarious ( pigs are the farm-place ’s court jesters ) . But the escapade of trying something as crazy as raising cop to market weight is , in my opinion , deserving pursuing .
Market Weight Meaning
rent ’s start out with “ food market weight . ” What is that precisely ? ( Here ’s where I add one more answer to the bottomless pool of digital data . )
A squealer reaches ideal market weight unit when its metabolism changes and no longer puts on meat muscle at the rapid rate picture during the growing months .
See , a fuzz converts feed to meat at a reasonably consistent charge per unit until hitting a spot where rations are no longer efficiently converted to muscle . The recurrence on the investment of bags of feed drops dramatically when the feed rebirth proportion bottoms out .
For bombastic - graduated table farmers , this proportion is serious commercial enterprise . But even modest - graduated table and hobby Fannie Merritt Farmer should n’t maturate a pig too far past this percentage point . There ’s no sensory faculty in unnecessarily expend money at the feed storehouse when you ’ve done the growing and are quick to visit the processor .
When we started raising Berkshires , my wife and I did n’t have the eye we eventually formulate for knowing which pigs were ready when ( at which point , we accept nifty pride in getting live weights back from the mainframe and encounter how systematically we arrest it right ) .
We ask our county reference federal agent for advice . He , a human race with a thorough discernment of cows but limited experience with hog , extend to bring in a cattle scale out to us .
In the end , we just coiffure a date with the processor when our duad of pigs would be 6 months quondam and hoped for the beneficial . We delivered some scrawny pigs that sidereal day , the result of a few unlike reasons ( our provender was n’t formulate right on , wintertime pigs turn deadening , and so on ) .
But even those smaller hog meet the deep freezer with great , nursing home - raised pork protein .
Measuring Success
Eventually , we find a wise man who tell us the master resolution we require to eff : That “ top squealer ” weight is anywhere from 250 - 300 Pound , depending on the breed . ( “ I think 270 is the charming number , ” he said . )
He told us it often takes seven months to get through top pig , sometimes more for inheritance breed . And he shared the following method acting for predicting a pig ’s weight , which run fairly well when you ’re still developing “ the eye . ”
You need a cloth measuring tape measure — you’re able to bribe something called “ hog weight tape recording ” at the farm supplying entrepot , but the former work just as well . You measure your pig in in , and it goes without enunciate that you ’ll be very close to your pig , so I hope you ’ve put in the clip to get your pig accustom to your pinch ( but still be careful — pigs like to bite ) .
The identification number you have at the end of all this should be close to your pig ’s weight unit in pounds .
Is it exact ? believably not , but if you ’re around 200 pounds and aim for 270 , you know you have a few more week of feeding ahead of you . And if your number is top hog — well , it ’s meter to call the processor .
