Raising Bacon - Before and After

Intro: Raising Bacon - Before and After

In this Instructable, created for the "Before and After" contest, I will attempt to illustrate how to raise the world's best pork and bacon. As you can see, in the picture, we have a clear example of the before and after of pork products, including bacon. Mmmmm.

Disclaimer: No animals, or people, were hurt during the making of this Instructable.

STEP 1: Find Some Weaner Pigs

The first thing you need to do is build a suitable pen to contain the pigs. We used T posts and panels with a hot wire about 8" off the ground. Pigs will also require a shelter of sorts to help them get out of the elements. Pigs can't sweat so they will need both shade and a wallow pit where they can cool off by getting muddy.

The next step is to find young pigs. Weaner pigs are preferable as they are small enough to easily move, you can catch them and pick them up and they haven't grown up too much eating junk food. You should also look for a barrow - castrated male - as they will grow quickly and pack on the meat but won't have the issues that may come with an uncastrated male - a boar.

We picked up three males (all castrated) and two females.

STEP 2: Feed Your Pigs High Quality Food

High quality food given to your pigs will make high quality meat. We purchased a hog mix from our local grain elevator. The mix consisted of wheat, soy, corn and a hog concentrate. We didn't feed our pigs any garden scraps or slop. By strictly monitoring the food we gave our pigs we ensured that the meat was of the highest quality.

Pigs should also have free access to clean water. In another Instructable I demonstrate how I made an automatic hog waterer which made our lives much easier in that regard.

STEP 3: Deworm Your Pigs

As your pigs grow you will need to deworm them to help prevent them from developing the nasty internal parasite. Worms in pigs, like in humans, can cause a pig to lose weight and not pack on the meat that you would like. Our pigs lived with us for about five months, which made them about six months old when they were processed. We wormed them when they were about three months old. We found this to be on the edge of our ability to contain and restrain the pigs so they only received one round of dewormer medicine.

Alternatively, you can introduce the medicine into the pigs' water supply but we felt it was better to administer shots so we could ensure each animal received the proper dosage, which we could not control if the medicine was in the water supply.

The video shows the challenge in restraining a very strong animal so they can be given a shot. The shot should be given subcutaneously (beneath the skin) by pinching a fold of skin and inserting the needle into the space between the skin and the muscle. You don't want to deliver the shot into the muscle itself.

I had a friend (who owned one of the pigs) come help me deworm them. This definitely was NOT a one-man job.

STEP 4: Watch Your Animals Grow

Pigs are pretty easy animals to keep and they don't mind human interaction (except when you're trying to give them shots). Keep good food always in front of them. Pigs, unlike other animals, won't overeat and will stop eating when they're full. By keeping quality food in front of them they can eat at their leisure.

STEP 5: Processing Time

When your pigs are between 250 - 300 pounds it's time to process them. Pigs will grow over 300 pounds but after that point you add fat much more than muscle and your returns for feed costs are diminished. Pigs that are processed in the 250 - 300 range will yield between 150 - 175 pounds of meat.

We had a mobile butcher come to our property and harvest the pigs. Our two daughters (age 4 and 2) watched the animals be processed and prepared for butcher but missed the actual harvest. It is important to us that our children understand from where their food comes. They asked a lot of questions during this process and are looking forward to having pigs again in the spring time.

The butcher took away the pigs and we picked up the best meat we've ever had a short two weeks later.

Comments

[RaymondN10]

Many thanks for this tutorial (and the automatic drinker one).
Do you use electrified fences?
if not, is this fence (in your photos) enough to hold a 250 pound hog?
Thanks again

[JasonE]

Thanks for the comment!

I did run one wire of electric fence near the bottom of the fence. This was for when they were younger/smaller and could try to squeeze through some of the bigger gaps in the fence. So the hot wire encouraged them to stay away from the fence. Once they got bigger, though, it was less important.

The fence itself is enough to hold in a 250 pound hog. Just make sure to not space out the posts too far. The fence will naturally flex a bit but when attached securely to poles at about 8' intervals it will certainly hold in a hog that size.

[parisusa]

I was raised eating venison & accepted the process. The more children are exposed to the truth about "life" the more they accept. Thank you for explaining this process and including your children.

[J3tblack]

"That'll do pig.. that'll do."

[JasonE]

Haha! Nice!

[SusannePrB]

... I was expecting more hate in the comment section.

[JasonE]

I was braced for it, too. I am pleasantly surprised and I think it reflects well on the Instructables community.

[seidl8481]

High quality GMO grains are not the natural diet of a hog. You could weigh out the garden produce to ensure quality meat. And plant specific greens for them.

[JasonE]

That's a fair point. Thanks!

[AD8BC]

I teared up a little bit when I saw the picture of your freezer filled with wonderful frozen pig. That's beautiful stuff!

[JasonE]

Brings a tear to my eye, too! :)

[jmyers1]

Very clear instructible. I liked how clean and well put together your pig pen is. The method of harvest was humane and professional. Thank you for showing how raising animals should be.

[JasonE]

Thanks for your kind words!

[Wreqage]

Everything is better with bacon especially this ible nom nom....and even with the pigs parts hanging in that scary truck I think this was awesome!!! I also thinks it's pretty great you are teaching your daughters about the whole process.

[JasonE]

Thanks! The butchers were very professional and efficient and they took the time to chat with our girls and answer some of their questions. I expected a bit of squeamish-ness from the girls but they were fascinated by the whole thing. Our oldest was very excited about the prospect of getting bacon and, when we eat it, she reminds us that it came from our pigs. Success! :)

[ernter]

Directly makes me wish not to live in the city :)

Can you share some numbers on
- space recommend per pig
- food per pig per month
?

Thanks!

[JasonE]

Good questions!

Recommended space per pig will really vary depending on who you ask. I've read that a minimum of 50 square feet per pig is needed but more is preferable. You need to be careful with space because if you give them too much then they can run around and burn calories which will increase your feed costs. Our pen is about 800 square feet, which was too much for our five pigs as our feed cost was about double what we expected and I attribute that to allowing the pigs too much room to run.

In considering how much food for a pig, you should consider how much weight you want your pigs to gain. The weaners we picked up were about 30-40 pounds and we wanted them in the 250-300 range, so they needed to gain 220-270 pounds. We figure on about 3.5 pounds of food for every pound of weight gain, which would mean they would need 770-950 pounds of food over the course of their weight gain. It's difficult to predict how much food they'll eat each month as the amount of food they eat increases dramatically as they get bigger. It's easier to calculate total food consumption (using the 3.5 pounds of food per pound of weight gain) and then figure out how much you will be paying per pound of food.

I hope that's helpful!

[ernter]

Many thanks. Exactly what I was looking for.

That helped me alot to get a better understanding for such an endeavour.

[OnlyForever88]

Incredible instructables!

[JasonE]

Thanks!