Small Farm, Permaculture and Farm Store

Piglets

1/30/2017

I said goodbye to Barney today, the little black and white pot belly boar piglet. He was very small for his age, but not the runt of the litter. Barney had a very good disposition, but Wilbur, the father of the piglets, was a little iffy. When he was young, he loved to be scratched behind the ears, but as he got mature, he was quite protective of the sows and would chomp and froth at the mouth, something that boars do when they want to get into a tussle, especially around sows. I smacked his butt a couple of times pretty good, though he likely just thought that was more of a challenge. So, he went to freezer camp. Clara had complications after her last litter and passed away in her sleep. I was not aware she was having troubles, so was very surprised. The piglets were adopted by the other sows.

So Barney, Fred, Wilma and Betty hid out when the piglets were being collected to go the butcher shop. There was no way they were going! Smart little piggies. I was pretty surprised to find them camped out in the big hay bales the next morning, but had to give them credit for their brains. That saved their lives.

It was not my intention to continue raising pigs, and I originally thought Fred was a girl as Barney was always breeding him, Upon close investigation, he was a he, not a she! So, the piglets are 5 months of age and likely are already bred. Drat! I am not sure they will have successful litters though. I have tried to lock Fred up many times, but that guy finds ways to get out of places I did not think were possible. How, I am not sure!

Wilma and Betty are Ossabaw hog and Potbelly crosses, so they will be quite petite, but Fred is a Large Black/Meishan/Potbelly and who knows what size he will end up.

I baked one of the butchered piglets whole for my supper tonight. It was delicious. The piglets were still nursing so this a milk fed meat, tender and delectable. I am still not over raising animals for food. It seems so utterly barbaric, but as I do eat meat, I might as well know what goes into the critter and know they were humanely spoiled with lots of love on my farm. I think Fred will miss Barney the most. Barney went to a lovely home though. A grandpa came to pick him up for his grandson so the mommy pig and he can have baby pigs. Awe. So long Barney!

5 Comments

Lynn Powell

4/9/2017 12:10:31 pm

Hi Eileen. I was wondering about your potbelly pigs - do you have to register them anywhere? Also, do all livestock have to be registered somewhere, and where then?
Thanks!

Fluffy link

4/9/2017 12:24:37 pm

Hi Lynn,
Thanks for writing in. Pot belly piglets do not need to be registered. As a matter of fact, no animals MUST be registered. People do registrations for two reasons: because registration provides proof of pure breeding and registration allows those purchasing stock to follow the bloodlines and prevent inbreeding related stock. Now, having said that, there is no regulatory body that checks on the registrations. For example, rabbits have pedigrees and anyone can write anything they want to as their pedigree. The pedigrees do not go to any organization. Good breeder will keep pedigrees for their own purposes since rabbits multiply quickly, to keep breeding stock separated and know which rabbits to breed. Less reputable breeders who breed to sell may breed as they see fit and the results are often inbred, stunted, poor quality rabbits, but the pedigree will read differently. See?
The same goes for sheep, cattle or anything. Most registries do not require much in the way of registration. A sire and a dam and birthdate. There is nothing stopping the producer from breeding animals and writing different bloodlines on their papers. The Babydoll registry is quite strict, of all of them, and requires actual photos of the sheep with the tags in their ears prior to registry or transfer, even. So far, that is the only one that way I have come across. Still, a cross bred Babydoll that presents as a purebred could be tagged and photographed and put off as purebred and there is little to be done about it.
I hope that answers your query.
Fluffy

Lynn Powell

4/9/2017 02:28:25 pm

Hi Fluffy. Thanks for the answer. Yes it does answer my question quite well. I do have another though. I seem to recall reading about a requirement for ear tags of some sort for ownership transfer/transportation and acceptance at auction and slaughter-houses. Do you have any knowledge or information on that?

Thanks,
Lynn

Fluffy link

4/9/2017 04:56:57 pm

Hi Lynn,
In most provinces the Canadian Food Inspection Agency demands mandatory tagging. They base this on food security, but it really is food control. Control food, control people! And it is part of a large North American plan to ensure all small and large farmers are reporting to the government's. That way they know exactly what is being produced. It is now law that sheep, cows and recently swine, are tagged with a radio frequency tag in order to be transported and to be slaughtered. Thus far, goats and birds do not require tags, however; those too are in the works. A farmer must have a premise identification number so they know exactly where the farm is and feed and medications are tracked by that number too. There is no such thing as Joe Anonymous farmer producing a few critters for his family's needs unless he never purchases medication or feed, slaughters on his farm and never sells an animal. The farmers are told this is so that disease can be easily traced. The system is not fool proof though. Anyone can easily switch ear tags on animals. Say you purchased one from me and one from another farm. Honestly, since you have over 100 animals, you do not remember which is which and you need to tag them to sell, so you must use your own tags. If there was true tracking for disease, the origin of the animal is supposed to be known. If one of those two is diseased, you are the farm that will get penalized, possibly have your entire herd/flock euthanized, not the original farm. Animals lose tags all the time. They get caught in the fence or who knows and rip their ears apart too. Chickens, ducks and turkeys are supposedly going to get leg bands with radio frequency ID. The tags cost quite a bit of money too. So basically the farmer who has 1000 chickens would have to put out 1000 dollars for tags which will escalate the cost of the birds and the outcome will be translated to the cost of chicken rising in the stores. How on earth did we survive for so long without these government control interventions. I hope this answers your queries, and yes, I am definitley NOT for tagging.
Fluffy

Lynn Powell

4/9/2017 06:25:08 pm

Hi Fluffy,
Yes, that definitely answers my question. The mandatory tagging does not make much sense, especially when it is so easy to switch ear tags, or even for them to just get lost somehow. And no guarantee that it actually traces back disease. I certainly hope that the goats and poultry tagging does not go through. Poultry, especially meat birds live such short lives. It would be a real pain to tag all of them, only to send them for slaughter 8 or so weeks after getting them, and probably cannot re-use the leg bands either. Even adult birds that are kept for breeding are not usually kept for many many years. It seems like just a waste of money, time, effort, resources. Quite stupid.

I have to agree with you. I am not for tagging either. It seems to me the thing to do is buck the system when you can, conform when you have to, and fight it politically so you don't have to conform any more (hopefully)

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