5 Reasons to Get Pigs This Year!

5 Reasons to Get Pigs This Year

Folks – it is piggie time and this is one of my favorite times of year.

If you haven’t met me yet, or haven’t been hanging around farmfreshforlife.com long enough, you may not know that I love pigs.

Seriously.  Adore.  Piggies.

And not the stuffed or ceramic ones that people collect and sit all over their houses.  I don’t want that kind.  I want the kind that waller, dig, snort, oink and let me scratch them behind their floppy ears.

I raise pigs every year.  I get my feeder piglets in spring and send them off to the butcher in fall.  They reside here for about 4 short months and then I eat smoked pork butts, fresh bacon, MSG free sausage, and nitrate free hams ALL YEAR LONG.

Did I mention the lard?

I don’t know how people survive without lard.  I cook pretty much everything I eat in lard.  It’s full of vitamin D.  It’s high in good cholesterol.  It’s low in bad cholesterol.  It’s won’t clog your arteries.  Real lard from pigs living outdoors in the sunshine is one of the healthiest fats you can eat.

I first learned this from Alton Brown.  Love that guy, by the way.

Since my jump into self-raised foods I’ve continued to hear more and more about the greatness of pastured (organic) lard.  It’s amazing stuff y’all.

So!!!!!!  Today I am here to convince you (and the rest of the world) that this is the year you should get a pig 2 pigs.

Why You Should Get Pigs This Year:

#1 Reason You Should Get Pigs This Year: Easy

They are the easiest animal to raise.  I have raised plenty of livestock.  By far, pigs are the easiest.  They need a little shelter.  They need food.  They need water.  That’s about it.

You won’t be doing pig chores all summer.  You won’t need to call the vet (probably).  You won’t be milking them.  You won’t have to let them out in the morning.  You won’t have to shut them in at night.  You won’t have to collect eggs.  You won’t have to worry about predators eating them, killing them, flying away with them or hurting them (probably).  Pigs just play, eat and grow into giant pork chops.

#2 Reason You Should Get Pigs This Year: Small Spaces

I love this about pigs.  They need enough space so they can root, waller and live happy lives.  BUT they don’t need an acre of pasture.  They don’t even need 1/4 of an acre.  We raise our pigs in a nice, grassy, fencend area.  It is not huge, but it’s not tiny either.  They have sunshine and plenty of mature trees to provide shade for them.

No matter how much land I give my pigs, they destroy it.  When you are choosing your area to raise pigs, pick a place you want to be transformed into a dirt lot.  This is what pigs do.

It’s not that they are trying to kill everything, they are looking for some good stuff to eat.  Roots, shrubs, brambles and grubs living underground are all tasty things for pigs.  In order to properly consume every bit of life in your pig area – your pigs will till up the ground and leave no stone unturned.

Putting pigs on a future garden spot is genius.  I did this and had the most successful tomato harvest of my life.  Pigs are good at land clearing & fertilizing.  To see my pigs helping me garden go here.

#3  Reason You Should Get Pigs This Year: 4 months

If you live in a climate like mine (Kentucky) where there is spring, summer and fall you can raise you pigs while it’s nice out.

Not only can you grow bacon when the sun shines – it only takes 4 MONTHS.  This is nothing.

I can do just about anything for 4 months.  Even hard things (like eat only foods from my own hands).  But raising pigs isn’t hard – I think you’ll enjoy it.

#4  Reason You Should Get Pigs This Year: Health

By far, the best reason to raise your own pigs is the healthy food you will receive from your labor.

I think of all the unhealthy supermarket sold meats, pork is probably the unhealthiest of all.

The nitrates & nitrites they put in the bacon & ham.  Nitrates & Nitrites are found naturally in many fresh foods (fresh veggies especially) and are actually very good for you.  It’s when these two compounds are added to processed foods that they become a problem.  When they are added to foods (as preservatives) they increase your chances of cancer.  source

The MSG they add to the sausage.

The preservatives, additives they mix in the bratwursts, sausages and picnic meats.

So so so so so bad for you.

On top of all these additives, you have to consider that commercially raised pigs win the trophy for “foods that will kill you.”

#5 Reason to Get Pigs This Year:  FUN!

I love having pigs.  It is always something I look forward to.

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XO,

Candi