So I was reading Hobby Farms magazine two days ago and came across an ad for 'Idaho Pastured Pigs'. At first I just assumed it was a farm saying that they had pastured pigs for sale. On calling the owner, Shelly, she advised me that it is an actual breed that they have developed over the years to be grazing pigs that do well in our climate. The breed is a mix of Duroc, Berkshire, and Kunekune. We are raising pigs with two other friends (GroverClanAcres on Youtube is one of them) but our pig choked on a rock and died after we had her for only 2 weeks.
Our first year raising pigs we lost a pig to choking on a peach pig or rock so this is the second time this has happened. Due to this series of unfortunate events we will now always put lots of 'play food' in with our pigs. Play food is anything that takes them a long time to eat and they can move it around a lot. Pumpkins, whole cabbages, old bread, hay, and squash.
We will be picking our new pig up in two weeks when it has had a chance to recover from being weaned as well as acclimating to the change in weather (it is now well below freezing most nights). With colder temperatures I haul hot food and boiling water three times a day so that their calories go to making them bigger rather than keeping them warm. At least once a week I will ad a bale of straw to their calf hutch to burrow in at night and I will add as much variety to their diet as possible so that if they every feel snacky there is always some thing to entice them. Our local farmer has fields of pumpkins that he sells at $25 a pickup load once Halloween is over so we can get those for cheap, let them freeze solid, and then feed them to the pigs all winter.
Why do I like to raise winter pigs you might ask? Because in the winter I don't have as much time out of doors and it gives me an excuse to go play in the snow. Also, in winter pigs hunker down and don't try to get out of fences like they do in the spring and summer...it is just to cold. So all they do is eat and sleep during the winter so I just get to feed them and listen to their cute little noises while we wait for them to be big enough to go in the deep-freeze.
This batch we are hoping to have finished off by the end of December. If they don't quite make it we will see how much longer it takes and if I am willing to haul boiling water for 4 pigs in -25F weather. If you like the idea of keeping pigs, and particularly of keeping pastured pigs go look up Sugar Mountain Faarm. They have amazing information and only feed their pigs grazing in the spring and summer, and only feed them hay in the winter. Their pigs are amazing and continue to have litters of piglets all winter long in -45F temperatures without any problems because he deep-litter beds them. I love their site!
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/
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