From choosing a breed to bringing home the bacon, this approachable, authoritative guide covers every facet of raising pigs--breeding, housing, feeding, healthcare, showing, and marketing.
Raising a pig for meat is easy to do, even in a small space like a suburban backyard. In just five months, a 30-pound shoat will become a 250-pound hog and provide you with more than 100 pounds of pork, including tenderloin, ham, ribs, bacon, sausage, and more. Homegrown Pork covers everything you need to know to raise your own pig, from selecting a breed to feeding, housing, fencing, health care, and humane processing. Invite all your friends over for a healthy and succulent pork dinner!
Jill Winger, creator of the award-winning blog The Prairie Homestead, introduces her debut The Prairie Homestead Cookbook, including 100+ delicious, wholesome recipes made with fresh ingredients to bring the flavors and spirit of homestead cooking to any kitchen table. With a foreword by bestselling author Joel Salatin The Pioneer Woman Cooks meets 100 Days of Real Food, on the Wyoming prairie. While Jill produces much of her own food on her Wyoming ranch, you don’t have to grow all—or even any—of your own food to cook and eat like a homesteader. Jill teaches people how to make delicious traditional American comfort food recipes with whole ingredients and shows that you don’t have to use obscure items to enjoy this lifestyle. And as a busy mother of three, Jill knows how to make recipes easy and delicious for all ages. "Jill takes you on an insightful and delicious journey of becoming a homesteader. This book is packed with so much easy to follow, practical, hands-on information about steps you can take towards integrating homesteading into your life. It is packed full of exciting and mouth-watering recipes and heartwarming stories of her unique adventure into homesteading. These recipes are ones I know I will be using regularly in my kitchen." - Eve Kilcher These 109 recipes include her family’s favorites, with maple-glazed pork chops, butternut Alfredo pasta, and browned butter skillet corn. Jill also shares 17 bonus recipes for homemade sauces, salt rubs, sour cream, and the like—staples that many people are surprised to learn you can make yourself. Beyond these recipes, The Prairie Homestead Cookbook shares the tools and tips Jill has learned from life on the homestead, like how to churn your own butter, feed a family on a budget, and experience all the fulfilling satisfaction of a DIY lifestyle.
Stressing the importance of sustainable and environmentally friendly farming practices, farmer Kelly Klober provides expert advice on making any size hog operation more efficient and profitable in Storey’s Guide to Raising Pigs. The most comprehensive book available on the topic, this fourth edition features the most up-to-date practices, illustrated with color photography. Both beginners and experienced farmers will find all the information they need to select, house, care for, breed, and butcher pigs, along with marketing advice.
Learn how to successfully raise your own pigs. Stressing the importance of sustainable and environmentally friendly farming practices, Kelly Klober provides expert tips on making your hog operation more efficient and profitable. Storey’s Guide to Raising Pigs will give beginners the confidence they need to succeed, while inspiring experienced farmers to try new techniques and experiment with new breeds.
What does it take to raise a happy pig? Armed with experience from running the largest organic hog operation in Maine, author Alice Percy is well equipped to answer this question. Pigs are much closer to their cousin, the wild boar, than other domesticated animals. Ethically managing pigs requires an understanding of their natural mannerisms, including factors such as social grouping, mating, territory, housing, and, of course, their love of wallowing in the mud. In Happy Pigs Taste Better Percy offers a comprehensive look at raising organic, pasture-fed, gourmet meat. She advises readers on pasturing and feeding hogs organically, as well as managing the breeding herd and administering effective natural healthcare. In addition, she provides an overview of marketing and distribution for those looking to turn their hog farming operation into a lucrative business. This book is the first of its kind to offer an in-depth approach to organic, high-welfare commercial production, including information on: - Designing a hog business from the ground up - Housing pigs, including benefits and drawbacks of various housing systems - Evaluating the nutritional content of common organic feedstuffs - Butchering humanely and economically - Recordkeeping, with templates for financial tracking Whether you’re looking to convert a conventional operation to organic, grow your backyard hog operation into a viable business, or start from scratch, this comprehensive book has got you covered, nose to tail.
Among the first creatures to help humans attain the goal of having enough to eat was the pig, which provided not simply enough, but general abundance. Domesticated early and easily, herds grew at astonishing rates (only rabbits are more prolific). Then, as people spread around the globe, pigs and traditions went with them, with pigs making themselves at home wherever explorers or settlers carried them. Today, pork is the most commonly consumed meat in the world—and no one else in the world produces more pork than the American Midwest. Pigs and pork feature prominently in many cuisines and are restricted by others. In the U.S. during the early1900s, pork began to lose its preeminence to beef, but today, we are witnessing a resurgence of interest in pork, with talented chefs creating delicacies out of every part of the pig. Still, while people enjoy “pigging out,” few know much about hog history, and fewer still know of the creatures’ impact on the world, and specifically the Midwest. From brats in Wisconsin to tenderloin in Iowa, barbecue in Kansas City to porketta in the Iron Range to goetta in Cincinnati, the Midwest is almost defined by pork. Here, tracking the history of pig as pork, Cynthia Clampitt offers a fun, interesting, and tasty look at pigs as culture, calling, and cuisine.
Small-scale Outdoor Pig Breeding is a comprehensive guide to breeding and rearing pigs in natural conditions without compromising their well-being. The book provides support for novice pig-keepers hoping to breed their own pigs. Moreover, it also acts as a valuable reference for more experienced breeders and offers information about different breeds of pigs and their respective needs. Topics covered include: choosing a breed; selecting a boar; hogging and mating; gestation care; farrowing; and hand rearing. This invaluable reference guide to breeding and rearing pigs is aimed at all pig-keepers, whether novice or more experienced, and also smallholders, farmers and rare breed enthusiasts. Fully illustrated with 77 colour photographs and diagrams.
From Christian libertarian farmer Joel Salatin, a clarion call to readers to honor the animals and the land, and produce food based on spiritual principles. What on earth is The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs? It's an inspiring call to action for people of faith . . . a heartfelt plea to heed the Bible's guidance . . . . It's an important and thought-provoking explanation of how by simply appreciating the marvelous pigness of pigs, we are celebrating the Glory of God. As a man of deep faith and student of the Bible, and as a respected and successful ecological family farmer, Joel Salatin knows that God created heaven and earth and meant for all living organisms to be true to their nature and their endowed holy purpose. He intended for us to respect and care for His gift of creation, not to ravage and mistreat it for our own pleasure or wealth. The example that inspires the book's title explains what Salatin means: when huge corporate farms confine pigs in cramped and dark pens, inject them with antibiotics and feed them herbicide-saturated food simply to increase profits, they are not respecting them as a creation of God or allowing them to express even their most rudimentary uniqueness - that special role that is part of His design. Every living organism has a God-given uniqueness to its life that must be honored and respected, and too often that is not happening today. Salatin shows us the long overlooked ethics and instructions in the Bible for how to eat, how to shop, how to think about how we farm and feed the world. Through scripture and Biblical stories, he shows us why it's more vital than ever to look to the good book rather than corporate America when feeding the country and your family. Salatin makes a compelling case for Christian stewardship of the earth and how it relates to every action we take regarding our food. He also opens our eyes to a common misconception many Christians may have about environmentalism: it's not a bad thing, and definitely not just the province of secular liberals; it's really a very good thing, part of heeding God's Word. With warmth and with humor, but with no less piercing criticism of the industrial food complex, Salatin brings readers on a fascinating journey of farming, food and faith. Readers will not say grace over their plates the same way ever again.