I have tested the waters gradually in the past... and am now planning to move onto bigger things. The garden, goats and chickens are all " old hat" now *G*. What is your advise on where to go with larger meat producing animals? We have a good/cheap source of eithor young dairy bull calves that we would grow to baby beef size, or weaner or feeder size piglets. I want to start with one or the other. We have a stall free, that has a door connecting to outside, so loading/unloading etc. should be alright, pasture for a cow, goat milk for eithor, garden and canning leftovers for a pig... I am just not sure which to start with. Can some of you share your experiences? I am the one dealing with the livestock, hubby works off the farm, but pitches in with the heavy stuff ! I am a vet tech by trade, so I know all the textbook and clinical stuff, but I usually find that very lacking when it comes to day to day knowledge. Can I keep the pigs stall cleaned out? I don't mind a bit of aroma in my barn, but that is my place of solitude... and usually cleaner that my house. Will one piglet smell that much? The farmer recommends getting a 40-50 lb'er, but if I got a weaner would it get to know us better and be easier to handle? I know the dairy bulls would come pretty young. Thanks.

-- Marci Brown (daleb@kent.net), April 18, 2000

Answers

Hi Marci, I've raised both pigs and day old calves. You pig will do much better if it is not raised in a stall, and yes, because they dont stay piglets long, one raised in a stall WILL stink that much. A 200lb pig unloads ALOT of poop. They are easy to keep behind hot wire if that is an option. Also, two pigs grow faster than one because they will compete over the food and eat more.Do you really want something you're going to be eating to "get to know you better"? Pigs can become great friends, especially when they're little and cute. Do you have kids? If they take to it you might end up with it a long time. I would recommend a bigger one for the first time, if its not nice it will be alot easier to kill and they dont need handling much anyway. They take less time than calves especially if you leave feed out for them all the time. BTW, goats milk is terrific for both calves and pigs. As you know, a calf will need alot more consistant care than a pig. But if you're already outside and doing chores anyway one more thing wont make a difference. If you get a calf, its much less time consuming to teach it to nurse directly from the goat. No bottles to wash. Also, the calf won't love you like it would if you are it's food source, you won't spend so much time talking to it, petting it, getting attached. Personally, I'd go with the pig(s).They're just more fun.

-- Julie (juliecapasso@aol.com), April 18, 2000.

I like beef better than pork, but would advise a pig for your first meat animal because unless you butcher the calf way younger than the usual age of eighteen months you'll have to winter it over. The pig is a one-season job. Also, young pigs generally are purchased already weaned and have less health problems than the newborn baby bull calves. If you do get a calf, make sure it has had colostrum for as long as possible before you pick it up -- the farmer can't sell the cow's colostrum anyway, so he might as well let her baby have it. On the other side of the argument, if you are going to do your own butchering, I personally feel that a steer is easier to butcher than a pig -- definitely easier to skin. Both need to be castrated. Oh, and pigs are harder to keep fenced than a calf. (Didn't help you much, did I!?!)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 18, 2000.

I vote for the calf, if you let it graze the pasture with the goats, it will clean up the worm problems for you. A couple of ducks (don't get to many, they will foul your water) will keep the cow patties nice and spread out, especially if you feed whole grains. So you would be raising beef and duck meat with one feeding. Pigs are notorius diggers, don't get along with other farm animals, and scared the begibers out of my does. We share a fence line with a 150 acre cattle pasture, clean, pretty and well cared for animals. Thank god its not a pig factory! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 18, 2000.

I'd also vote for the dairy bull calf, if it's a Holstein. I think they're easier to handle than hogs, even when they reach full size. Easier to keep them in, unless you run a hot wire. Hogs will make short work of most fencing, other than electric, and getting them back in a fenced area after they've escaped is pretty hard. A full grown hog can be downright mean most of the time, whether you bought him as a weiner or larger, so you can't mix them with other livestock. That's not a problem with a cow. However, unlike a cow, they will consume a lot of scraps. If you do opt for the dairy bull, get a Holstein and not a Jersey if possible. Holstein bulls are a lot more docile. Jerseys can be aggresive. I would never turn my back to a Jersey bull. If all you can get is a Jersey, I'd lean more towards the pig.

-- Steve in TN (lynswim@mindspring.com), April 18, 2000.

Steve, a Jersey bull calf would be all right if castrated fairly young. We raised one and had no problems with it. Just don't leave it a bull!! :-)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 18, 2000.

I would go with the calf, they are much easier to keep fenced in than pigs, and don't smell as bad. Whichever one you choose, though, be sure to get at least 2 to keep each other company. If you try to keep a herd animal alone, you will have more trouble with them trying to break out and go find a playmate.

-- Connie (connie@lunehaven.com), April 18, 2000.

I'm sorry but I could not choose I love my pigs and cows .I haven't had any problems with either .If it were me I would get both !Pigs do have a faster turn around .Mine are kept in an electric fence .Even my boar is well mannered .I do not turn my back though .They do stink!

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), April 18, 2000.

Hmmmm...This is a hard question. You will have to buy more than one pig, like maybe..two! We keep our pigs, in a good sized open pen outside, with a small hut to keep them out of the rain. We made our fences with softwood logs and piled them up and...I can't tell you much more than that because my brother and Dad made them. We also put a strand of electrical wire around the base of the pen. Or pigs are always very clean and definately not stinky. As someone has also pointed out, pigs are cheaper and easier to raise. You don't have to keep them long, you can feed them just about anything, but they aren't as big. I really like raising calves. Thye are so cute when they're little, but they do grow up and get stubborn, at least many of ours did. We had no trouble fencing ours. We had previously set up a very large pasture fenced with 5 ft. 4x4 sq. page wire. You wouldn't need all that! We found that as long as you have a very good snap in your wire, two strands should keep a large cow on the right side of the fence. If you go that route, I would go with a holstein. Its the perfect family meat cow. They will be more expensive to feed, though. (If you're feeding the pigs scraps and leftovers from food plants and the like) Plus, you'll need a fair amount of hay to winter them. Well, I hope this has helped! Whatever you decide, I'm sure you will enjoy it, bacause it is very 'rewarding' to be able to set meat on the table, that you know is safe to eat!

-- Abigail F. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), April 19, 2000.

Kathleen,

You are correct. Castrated, a Jersey shouldn't cause too much problem. My prejudice against Jersey bulls started from an incident when I was chased by one as a kid. Ran to the fence line, jumped the fence. Got hung in the top string of barbed wire for what seemed an eternity. The bull stopped at the fence line of course but I kept running...just in case. One of my more vivid memories of being 10 years old. :-)

-- Steve in TN (lynswim@mindspring.com), April 19, 2000.

You certainly don't come up blank when you ask for opinions around here! I vote for piggies! Now to digress for a moment. If you decide on a calf, I'll say that I would PREFER a Jersey! I think they have a berret flavor. But I raise pigs every year and let my neighbor do the beef. Then we trade. Here's why: I get the piglets in the spring (Just got 5 on Monday), and they are ready for the butcher in October. Here in Maine, that's an advantage because it's a lot more bother during the winter. You would normally have the calf for about 16 to 18 months. Given the chance, pigs are very clean. I start mine in a pen where they can get used to me. After a while, say mid-May, they go outside where they have a shelter. The "corral" is large enough that they don't have to stand in their manure, and I don't have to clean it up. They will pick a spot away from their shelter and feeding area to defecate. They are very smart, thus hard to fence, but 2 electric strands work very well for me. And I'd go with the young ones - easier to train to be friendly. One last thing, get 2 piglets. They do much better with company and competition for the chow. And with pigs, you'll never have garbage. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), April 19, 2000.

Hey Kat, I don't have pasture so I decided to try pigs (my city boy husband didn't talk to me for 3 days)I only fed them commercial feed and vegetables - no meat. They did not stink. I made a four pig self- feeder and fenced in a 1/4 acer area. I quickly ran a strand of eletric on the bottom. I have a leanto for the rain. I bought 3 feeders and "trained" them with donuts. (They trailer loaded easily by following my donuts)They were fun and easy. As they got larger, they were obnotious and no longer cute so it was easy to put them in the freezer. I've done it for two years now, and will continue. good luck

-- D Tur (gdgtur@goes.com), April 21, 2000.