Adventures in Pig Ranching.......Goodwife Style.....

So if you read my last post you know the Goodwife got a pair of pigs for her birthday! 

This is Ed Earl.....

Ed Earl (named after Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd of course) is a purebred Gloucestershire Old Spot boar.  He is every bit as much of a lover as Ernie Bob was and when we went to pick out pigs on my birthday, he chose us.  He stood right in front of us and just wanted to be scratched.  Not in a pushy way, just calmly stood there.  He is a little over 8 weeks old.

This is Luanne.....

Luanne is a cross-bred gilt.  She is out of a Spotted Poland China sow by a purebred Gloucestershire Old Spot boar.  She is around 6 weeks old and quite the little princess.  She was wild as a March hare when we picked her out, cuz she'd been out in the pasture with the big hogs, but in just one day she has already settled down and is as sweet and gentle as Ed Earl.

To say that Ellie is excited about becoming a hog dog would be a bit of an understatement.

She has jumped over this gate twice to get in with them, but only when I'm in there as well.

She loves the hogs and even though they like to chew on her, she just sits there all a quiver!

For now they are in a small pen off of the buck barn.  As soon as the weather breaks we will be building them a nice sized pasture over where we are going to dig the pond.  We'll be butchering a couple of their piglets each year and selling the rest as feeders.

You may be scratching your head and wondering why in the world we didn't just buy feeder pigs, why we are keeping a boar and a sow here full time?  Well.....we researched and thought and talked and researched some more and.........in short..........there is no real answer.  The biggest reason is because I wanted to eat heritage pigs.  Heritage feeder pigs are expensive and I figure, we've got the land and the know how, so why the heck not just raise our own??  We never, EVER enter into any animal proposition with the desire to make money.  We buy what we want to eat and raise and if we can sell the surplus then that's just a little extra gravy on our ham.

Stay tuned for updates on our adventures in heritage hog raising!

God Bless....................