Just getting into pigs

Any good advice out there for a 1st time 4H(er), who wants to keep pigs? He will be 9 this coming school year. Thanks.

first off make sure that they are sound! other than that i am not sure what your wanting to know

Well we bought him 2 barrows to grow out and sell. The money he will get from that sale will go towards two gilts. I guess what we are looking for is advice on how to go about to pick out a sound pig for him to show. The barrows I just let our son go in the pen with the owner and he picked out the biggest (because he's all white) and the runt (because he was "blue butt"). They are 4 mths old now. Gilbert is the biggest (weight 135 lb now ) and Spot the runt just inched over the 100 lb mark.

We got a 1st aid list together and purchased the supplies.

Another problem is understanding the food needs and trying to find the correct food where we live.

He wants 2 gilts this go around to grow, breed and sell the babies. Vaccinations for them is another problem, do you know where I can go to get a schedule for that.

I called out Ag Department and they sent us to the LSU Swine Unit, which we toured and my child got grander ideals then our pocket book can handle right now.

More questions to come.

Sorry about all the background info.

New 2 Pigs ,
I can see that you are taking the right approach. Pigs are animals that can take a lot . At this point, just make sure and give them some fresh feed that is 18% protein or higher , deworm them every month and a half or so and that is pretty much it. It doesnt take to much to raise a hog. Good Luck , If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask

yes i agree with g5. Dr. Hendrickson 765-468-6099 is who i use. he will send you his vac sheet on what age and when the pigs gets there shots. i follow this to the t and NEVER have had any troubles. and dont worry lol i just raised my first litter now. they was born march 3rd. also he sells his vacs by the dose which is good for like me and you (people that dont have alot of sows) i only have 3 sows right now and 2 gilts held back to show and breed later.

if you want to know what a sound pig looks like you can look at my video on here of a boar i use to own called Power Tripp he was a sounds pig.

Well we just received a box of fresh field corn, can we give it to the boys whole? Or do we need to take the leaves and silks off 1st?

Our son has found out that they like ice so we've been taken two metal bowls dividing an apple, squash and zunccina (sp?) between the two with some water and freezing them. You should see how they cut up when they see the frozen treats in their bowls. The most action we see out of these VERY laid back 4 mth old barrows.

I'll take a look of the video, still getting use to navaigating around here.

Thanks for the number, I'll give him a call now.

well they will probably gain weight faster to beable to sel them on an 18% or more feed. i know around here, i can get a feed that is 16% for just 10.00 a bag. and our mill has a 18% feed for 7.60 a bag

Well the feed store down the road (4 miles) only has 14% by Nutrena (sp?) (hog ration) and then the co-op close to my work is the same way at 14% (by another mill) unless I get a special mix, but we only have 2 right now and the special mix I dare not buy because I have nothing that can handle a ton of feed at the moment.

lol i kow how that is. me i have 3 sows 1 full grown boar and 4 showpigs on feed. and feeidng show pigs cost more than feeding jsut breeding stock. i only feed my big pigs 5-7 lbs a day and my boar i feed 7-8 lbs a day but my baby pigs they are eating a bag everyother day and when the get older then will be eating 10lbs plus a day in show feed.

Are we under feeding???? Our 2 only get 10lbs a day, 5 lb(s) each in am/pm, along with the fresh garden scraps.

not if they are not being showed. when your feeding a show pigs around my area they like them to look like a barrel lol. but i have my litter on full feed. i have them on moormans 1824 and it is 18.25 a bag here. the baby pig feed is 20.00 a bag here.

We've started to look for pig starter and it's been a NO from all the feed stores around here. So what can we do?

what i do is lmao. my pigs was eating the sow feed when they where little. so when they was weaned i out them on the essential starter, and now i am on the moormans 1824 which is good. but if they dont have a starter feed then try to find the highest protein show pig feed you can get. is what i would do. the essential that i was feeding was 22% protein i think. and then showrite has a good feed it is for pigs 40-90 lbs and that puts a goot bloom on them aswell. Somebody else maybe beable to help you more on that than i can has i have 4 diffrent store around my area. and then most main feed stor guy if he dont have he will order it for me and try to keep it on hand even if it is just a few bags at a time

Well we have time to beg and plead our future case. Right now he has 2 barrows that we need to sell by June 15th. So we have a good mth before his 3/4 red wattle, 1/4 hampshire gilts come to the place.

Tell me if this is okay OR do I need to change something.

Once Gilbert and Spot leave, I want to buy some lime and hand sew it out over the ground. Wait a week and see if we get a rain, if not take the hose and lightly mist the lime. Give it another week and bleach out the shelter, panels and gates. That "should" leave close to 2 weeks with nothing being done with the pen. Then at the end of July go and get our son's 2 gilts and bring home and start to grow them out.

sounds like a plan to me