Raising Hogs on the Homestead

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Learn about raising hogs on the homestead.

Purchasing and raising hogs takes talent and an eye for choosing good breeding stock for the homestead.

Raising Hogs: How to Select Good Breeding Stock

Back in the days when the rangy, mongrel razorback was all the hog a farmer had to work with, folks didn’t worry too much about things like backfat thickness, muscling, or finishing. A pig was a pig was a pig, and that was all anyone needed to know.

Well, times — and pigs — have changed. Today’s pork producer must be able to evaluate his or her live animals with more than just a keen eye for good pig flesh . . . nowadays, the selection of profitable breeding stock demands good judgment tempered by an appreciation of consumer demands and a well-rounded knowledge of hog husbandry. I can’t give you all that here . . . but I can suggest a few practical tips and hints designed to keep you from making major mistakes in the selection of breeding stock.

A logical place to begin our discussion of how to select good stock is with stress, and the harmful role it can play in a pig’s reproductive life. Obviously, good physical conformation is desirable in an animal . . . but a hog that can’t breed ( or breeds only with difficulty) because of stress-related problems is a liability to the homesteader no matter how perfect the animal’s features are. Let’s take a look, then, at the three most important stress factors affecting hogs: Porcine Stress Syndrome, environmental stress, and breeding stress.

  • Published on Jul 1, 1977
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