Raising & Slaughtering Pigs on the Homestead: How to Raise Pigs for Food

I’ve been raising pigs for about 3 years now and don’t profess to be a pig farming expert, but I do know a heck of a lot more about pigs than I did 3 years ago.  I currently raise enough pigs for meat for my family and some close friends.  I like knowing what the pigs eat, that they are hormone free, and that they have a nice big wooded habitat versus the factory farm feed lot alternative.  In this article I want to spend just a minute or two on the raising of pigs, then focus on the “How To” part of slaughtering them for home use.
Of all the farm animals I have had the opportunity to raise, pigs, in my opinion, are the easiest to care for.  I keep my pigs (3 to 6 at any given time) in a fenced-in wooded area consisting of about ¾ of an acre.  Around this perimeter I have two electrified strands of wire 6 and 12 inches from the ground and this keeps 300 pound pigs in the contained area!  In fact, once the pigs learn the fence is “off limits” I can turn the charger off and have never had a pig get out; they grow accustomed to their new home pretty quickly and don’t seem to have any reason to want to leave.
Why do I think pigs are the easiest farm animals to raise?  Well, all I have to do is feed them once or twice a day and make sure they have access to water.  Luckily, there is a creek running directly through their fenced-in area and I don’t have to mess with hauling water.  Feed and water them and approximately 6 months later (for shoats anyway) they are ready for slaughter.  So let’s move on to the meat of the subject, if you will!
I raise Tamworth hogs and they are best slaughtered around 300 lbs. Technically, I guess that make them “hogs” since they are a bit older and over 120lbs – 150lbs, but I try not to worry much about semantics.  At 300 lbs. they are big enough for a good harvest of meat without a lot of extra fat that will stack on as they get bigger.  If you don’t have a farm scale the best way to guestimate how heavy hogs are is the string method.  Here is a description I found at Sugar Mountain Farm that has been very helpful for me:


read full article here