What do you mean when you say "big/little" pigs?

 

--Little"   Well, we have been did American Guinea Hog crossed with Kune Kune for 8 years, but folks expressed an interest in a larger hog to get sent off to butcher.  It's just not cost effective to send one of our little guys off to butcher- that info is at the blue button up here at the top.

 

---"Big/Little"   What we call "big/littles" are a mix of our AGH/KK boar, with any of our Hampshire, Yorkshire, Berkshire, Duroc sows. 

 

---" Big/Little"Little "  Now in 2023, we call it "big/big/little", meaning... a "big/little" boar bred a "big" sow.  Making a predominately large offspring that does well on forage and keeps good body condition like the little guys. 

 

• We mixed "big" pig, the traditional large farm hog, with "little" pig (AGH/KK), aiming for the easy keeper genetics of the little guys, but getting more in size to make people happy when they paid for a butcher to process the piglet they grew out.  So it gets complicated when you start rattling off the breed this piglet is:  "AGH/Kune Kune X Hamp/York..."  So we just call them "big/littles" and "Little"(referring to our original little guys).  
  

 

We started this mix in 2019, adding:

 

-"Miss Piggy", added in Spring 2023 to repace Porkarena-  Hamp/Duroc/York  (possibly a small bit of Kune? We're not positive) gilt from a farm in Longview area. 

 

-"Porkarena", a Hamp/Duroc/York gilt from an organic farm here in Centralia.  

 

-"Hamella Anderson", a York/Hamp gilt from a farm in Onalaska. (Processed in 2021 for behavior issues.  My YT channel has that video)  

 

-"Rosalita", a super friendly Hamp/Duroc gilt hand raised by a 4-H family in Spokane, WA.  They are good friends of mine, and lemme tell ya' this kid raises some quality, organic pork.  Gimme a holler if you want me to hook you up with them.  And he made sure my Rosalita was such a friendly, fun little pig to work with.  She comes running when she sees us,  like a dog. 

 

So, like our other piglets, they are birthed in a stall in the barn (if I can catch those elusive mamas... they don't always cooperate), raised on Excel minimal grain, and free choice hay.  This is our second year doing this mix, and apparently there is another farm, Idaho Pastured Pigs, that is doing the same thing? Probly better at it and they know more.  This isn't a new idea. 

We've had good success with this mix in size and growing out on mostly forage.  That equals a CHEAP grain bill.  Checked grain prices lately?  Ridiculous! 

Like them, we are  shooting for the cheap feed bill and easy keeper qualities of the little pigs, but with some size of the bigger ones.  Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms also raises large pigs on pasture, as well as Sugar Mountain Farms in Vermont. I draw a lot from their information.  

 

So here in 2020, I sold off the four first piglets from Porkarena, and whatever doesn't sell goes in our freezer, as with the other guys.  This is an experiment for us, as far as size, live weight, hanging weight, feed to growth ratio, and so on. I have begun dealing with the questions "How big is the pig?" and "How big does the pig get?" in a video in my blog, link above in drop down menu.  I will continue to track these guys in weight and growth.  The video on the two I held back, male and female, I ended in Feb 2021 with them at 9 months, video above. But this is a continuing project. 

 

There's a second batch of big/littles on the ground from Rosalita weaned March 28, 2021.  I am hoping "Part 2" video to the one above tracking these, and the original two. So far what I'm seeing is that as soon as I throw them outside in the field, they go nuts in growth, and I feed them very little grain.  Probably attributed to free feed all day and they get plenty of minerals free choice.  Blog entry regarding them -

Porkarena's babies

 

 

So far, my conclusion is that the "big" piglets eat a lot of grain just like their "big" mother. They need more feed to support that faster growth.  The "big" mothers cost me an arm and a leg.  I ain't even gonna lie about that.  But the "big" piglets grow very fast.  So if you have money to burn for grain.... I sure don't.  Also, bear in mind that my goals in breed are NOT paperwork, but to make sustainable, on the cheap, dinner.  We grow pigs.  We process them here.  My butcher schedules out a year ahead of time, now, and even then they only do pigs a certain time of year.  It's hard as heck to get a butcher, and with hyper-inflation, that's more expensive too.  My goal is self sufficiency and to pass what I learn on to others.  

 

I will keep this page and the blog updated on their growth weights, with pics/video of their condition and meat.  We are keeping  some back to test for meat, and also to test for boar taint.   So far in 3 or 4 generations, we haven't had any bad tasting boars, just one sow that didn't go down well.  We figured it was adrenaline that made her taste bad.  

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WE EAT NON-CUT BOARS!  And we don't sell them cut, either.  I think I addressed that on one of my other pages.  It's gross.  I have done it.  Don't ever wanna do it again.  It hurts the piglets.  I don't wanna argue about it.  Shop elsewhere if you don't like it.  I'm not kidding. 

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We haven't detected, nor have 40 other not-related people detected boar taint in any of the "little" breed boars, so I am curious to see if the bigger mothers bring it in.  My blog has a very interesting article from Sugar Mountain Farms about the source of boar taint, and that actually only 15% of pigs carry it.  He breeds large hogs and does not castrate, like us, and has no boar taint.  He has been breeding it out for a good fifteen years. 

 

Anyways, enjoy the pics I have for now, and I will keep you posted.