We have raised a few different breeds of Swine to help us figure out what personality traits we prefer & what body types we prefer. First, we had to decide if we wanted Bacon Pigs or Lard Pigs. Bacon Pigs are long, lean, & get big fast. They give you a lot of meat & great bacon. But…big pigs are more dangerous than small pigs & Bacon Pigs tend to get aggressive as they get older. Lard Pigs are generally small, very round, & have way more lard than Bacon Pigs. In our experience, they are also sweeter & more docile. So no breed is perfect & you have to live & learn. In the picture above: the black pig is named Keven Bacon (we name all of our male pigs that). He is an American Guinea Hog, which is a Lard Pig. The 2 tan looking pigs are Gladys & Tammy. They are Gloucester Old Spot - Tamworth pigs, which are 2 different breeds of Bacon Pig. We were hoping they would be able to cross breed & make us babies somewhere in between their sizes & temperaments. Sadly, that didn't work out. We have had some Oassabaw Island Hogs & Mulefoot Pigs at other times. Mulefoot has been our favorite so far.
The Oinks in this picture are a cross between Yorkshire & Ossabaws. The orange one was Kevin Bacon, Black was the black one, Runty was the pink & gray one, & Pink was the pink & orange one. This was our first ever round of pigs. It was a lot of fun watching them grow, getting to know their personalities, & spoiling them with treats.
We move our pigs to fresh grass after they rip up the weeds & air rate the ground for us. After they are moved to a fresh spot, we throw grass seed down to help make things tasty for the cows that will come along later. NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, & Potassium) are the main 3 things needed for healthy plant growth. Pig poop is high in Phosphorus so they help our soil health in more than one way.
