We’ve been raising pigs on our homestead for several years and we’ve always raised commercial feeder pigs outdoors in a permanent pig paddock. However, this spring we decided to convert our operation from commercial pigs to heritage pigs. More specifically, raising and breeding American Guinea Hogs.
American Guinea Hogs
These pigs are very different from conventionally thought of commercial pigs as they are excellent foragers that thrive rooting around in the great outdoors. They are much smaller and grow slower than commercial pigs, thus making them fall out of favor with the industrial pig farmer in need of growing a lot of pork as fast as they possibly can. A commercial pig can be ready for the butcher in less than 6 months of age at 300 lbs live weight whereas an American Guinea Hogs mature at 18 months old at 250 lbs.
Why American Guinea Hogs?
We are going to partner with our pigs to clear uninhabitable forestry and other plots of land for garden preparation. This will require us to move the pigs every 10-12 days for the health of the land and the pigs. Sometimes this move is easy going from one paddock directly to an adjoining paddock. But other moves can be a bit lengthy and if anyone has raised pigs, they’ve probably heard the saying, “You can’t herd pigs.”
How to Herd Pigs
But I’m here to tell you that you can indeed herd pigs. In fact, you can watch a video of us moving our 3 little pigs 100 yards of open space with 3 people (2 children), a bucket, and 2 sorting boards.
Daily Training
The first thing you need to do is spend a little bit of time every morning training your pigs to a feed bucket. Pigs are smart and curious critters. If you create a habit of bringing them feed every morning in a bucket they will learn to anticipate this grande event every morning.
In order to train them, simply enter their pen with your feed bucket in hand and slowly walk around. You may need to give them a sniff and maybe even a quick bite, but don’t just hastily toss them their feed. Make them follow you and “the bucket” around for :30-:60 as you slowly walk around their pen. After they’ve followed you and “the bucket” for about a minute go ahead and reward them with their feed. It will take no time (a week) and they’ll follow you over the hills and through the woods (literally) so long as you have that feed bucket in-hand.
The Move
If you’ve done a good job upfront training your pigs to “the bucket” this should be a piece of cake. It would certainly be helpful to have 3-4 people, but I honestly think you could do it flying solo. But make no mistake, it’ll go easier and you’ll be more confident if you have a couple of helpers and I’d highly recommend using sorting boards like these:
I once heard Joel Salatin talk about the fact that pigs don’t have great eyesight. Combine that with the fact that they are low to the ground and if you don’t have a solid object at their eye level, all they’ll see are your legs and they’ll just look like a couple of twigs or toothpicks and the pigs will just try to walk thru your legs. No joke…..I’ve seen it happen. So these sorting boards really help.
Conclusion
Good luck in your pig-ventures and don’t hesitate to tell us about your pig moving experiences…..good or bad! Just remember; a little training and you can indeed herd pigs. Thanks for reading and sharing!