pig numbers

How many pigs should you be feeding? It's really a question of how much pig feed you have.

Late summer we're overflowing with pig food from the garden, pasture, and dairy, so we need plenty of pigs -- either a couple of big ones, or several smaller ones. The fall is premium pig-food time, with orchard overflows, garden clean-up, more canning and cheese-making, and so on.

But when fall is over the inflow of pig calories slows to pretty much a crawl until spring, and it's time to assess what you've got stored and mend your pig numbers to match your calories.

Right now their are four porkers of about 125 lb. each in the pig pen in the big barn, and there are maybe 4000 lb. of mangels stored, several hundred pounds of squash, maybe 1000 lb. of jerusalem artichokes, plus the house and dairy surpluses, barn cleanings, and hay. Plenty of food for months to come, we think. But as these pigs grow, so will their food needs. What feeds four now, will feed only three in a couple of months. Wait a couple of months more and it will only feed two.

Solution? Sell or harvest. Pigs taste good at every size, and we have a big wedding coming up in 2022, so this year we'll celebrate New Year's Eve with a pig roast so we can perfect our pig rub before May.