Modern Pig Farming

See my posts about our farm:
We Are Pig Farmers
Our Modern Pig Barns

Hanging out at the finisher barns.

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Barrett1

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Our son enjoys the barn fun and petting the newest babies. He’s getting more comfortable around the big pigs when we take him along to the finisher barns and has had fun this spring showing the pigs around with his tiny show whip.  We love what we do and are committed to raising the best hogs we can and supporting the producers that my husband works with on a daily basis.

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Modern Production vs. Hobby

Some ask… why do some of your pigs seem like pets in your pictures?  Well, we are that unusual family that (my husband) works all day around pigs and then comes home and we do that same thing for fun too, just on a smaller scale and with select pigs we have for breeding purposes.  I ask people ‘do you have horses? a boat? a deer stand?’  Same idea, the pigs you see in some of my posts that are not involved in our modern pork production operation, but rather our small breeding program where we raise pigs for our children to show.  Of course they still end up on our dinner table.  Bottom line: our modern barns keep the food on the table for our family. The breeding pigs are our hobby, and a way for our family to spend extra time together. The breeds we enjoy are Yorkshire, Duroc, Hampshire and we do have crossbreds too.  Our daughter would love to get some Berkshires and eventually others if she can talk her Dad into it.

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She is a true stock-kid.  I’m so proud of her ways with the livestock and most of that can be attributed to her Dad who is as patient and kind as they come with any creature.

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She has grown up a lot… and b.t.w. we need to get the trailer down and haul that tractor off because it needs to be worked on!  Pardon me I need to make a phone call!

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My husband was so cute when he was little!

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More fun pictures… the other ‘Princess’ in this picture is my AUNT!!!  Hi Aunt Lori!

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My experience with showing hogs was limited to my experience with pigs that my Uncle helped out with and my friends the “Conover boys” who had Berkshire hogs and let me show with them during the Iowa State Fair.  Those were some fun times!

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Other Pig-Related Stories:

Our Modern Pig Barns: Take a tour with me in our Modern Hog Finisher barns.

Newest litters… being funny (end of March 2014): Weanin’ and Smokin’ https://foodandswine.com/2014/03/23/weanin-and-smokin/

Diamond, our York gilt out of beloved Queenie (who died after giving birth to the orphans we hand raised) had a nice litter of pigs.  They are adorable and she surprised us… overnight, totally unassisted, 10 lives 0 d’s.  Go girl. https://foodandswine.com/2014/03/12/good-girl-diamond/

Stories about Oink and her babies:

Oink’s story and photos from a past litter and news of her newest one. https://foodandswine.com/2014/02/26/good-old-oink/

Pictures of Oink’s newest litter. https://foodandswine.com/2014/02/28/sweet-babies/

Posts about Cinnamon and her babies:

Puppy dogs… I love the down eared Durocs.  https://foodandswine.com/2014/03/03/puppy-dogs/

10 days old, and a visit: https://foodandswine.com/2014/02/28/sweet-babies/

We finally get to see the little red piglets. https://foodandswine.com/2014/02/18/hello-red-babies/

Cinnamon gets to work, successfully.  Go Mama. https://foodandswine.com/2014/02/17/6-big-babies/

Here is a funny post about photographing animals: https://foodandswine.com/2014/01/26/best-intentions/

These posts are about the Christmas Pigs (4 orphan Yorkshire piglets we raised in our garage because we did not have another sow to put them with at the time.  These posts can be helpful for anyone with orphaned pigs.  This is not a typical situation.)

Most recent update end of March, and a loss.  Sad. https://foodandswine.com/2014/03/23/one-orphan-down/

Most recent update on the grown pigs: https://foodandswine.com/2014/02/16/4-little-pigs-update/

When our pig-children moved out. *tear. https://foodandswine.com/2014/01/22/4-pigs-moving-on/

They are going to make it! https://foodandswine.com/2014/01/14/4-and-gaining/

Unsure of their health status: https://foodandswine.com/2014/01/09/4-and-holding/

This is how we are nourishing their frail tiny bodies (unusual ingredients: https://foodandswine.com/2014/01/06/feeding-time/

Things are pretty sweet at this point, all good- no scours! https://foodandswine.com/2014/01/05/the-4-piglets-that-could/

The sweet little helpless pigs in our heated garage and their backstory: https://foodandswine.com/2013/12/28/christmas-pigs-part-ii/

Announcing the “Christmas Pigs” that are coming to stay at our house a while. https://foodandswine.com/2013/12/24/christmas-pigs/