Pastured Pigs Starter Kit

what you need to start small...

Pastured pigs are all the rage these days. Here’s our take on how you can start out at about about the smallest incremental unit possible to raise healthy pork for your friends and family, possibly generate a little income stream, and have fun along the way!

Our kune kune boar Milhouse enjoying a pumpkin snack in his forest bachelor pad on a crisp fall day.

A few things to note up-front…

• Described here is the setup and equipment we currently (Fall 2022) use. Our approach has evolved over the past year-and-a-half raising pigs and likely will continue to do so. Any specific products presented here are just what we use - this is not to be taken as any kind of product endorsement and we don’t receive any money from manufacturers/suppliers. It’s just to give an idea of the equipment involved.

• What’s not included in this article:

  • where to get piglets/feeder pigs instructions or advice on which breed(s) to choose, though for discussion purposes we consider our kune kunes as an example “beginner’s breed”

  • logistics for transport to/from your site - for example, trailering - and processing (whether you do-it-yourself the old fashioned way, or take them to a commercial facility)

  • any local restrictions or regulations regarding raising livestock or selling meat in your area.

With that, let’s talk about…

1. nucleating your starter herd

2. their requirements for food, water, shelter, and medicine

3. key pieces of kit to keep them where you want them and out of where you don’t want them

4. how much full- or partially- forested land you’ll need for rotational grazing

5. a rough estimate of startup and running costs involved, along with the benefits of raising your own gourmet pastured pork products!

1. Pigs: how big and how many and how much $?

Talk to anyone who raises pigs and they’ll likely have a lot to say about the advantages and disadvantages of different breeds. In keeping with the theme of “starting small,” this article is based on our experience raising kune kune pigs, a breed that is relatively small in stature compared with other breeds.

One of our kune kune mamas and her newborn piglets

The kune kune breed was developed by the Maori people of New Zealand. They’re known for being cute, friendly, and relatively easy to manage. They’re enthusiastic foragers and do really well on pasture (but as omnivores still have to be fed a nutritious high-protein diet, see below…).

They grow slower than other breeds, taking 12-16 months to reach full size. In our experience females max out at around 200-250 lbs and males 250-300 lbs.

If you’re eager to convince yourself that kune kunes are the perfect choice for your small startup pastured pig operation you can find plenty of glowing testimonies about them online: e.g., “Perfect for Small Farms” and “A Hardy Homestead Breed.”

Pigs are social animals and get lonely when they’re on their own. They also eat better in groups - they compete for food and gain weight more quickly. So “starting small” means two or three pigs (rather than just one).

In our area, weaned kune kune piglets (feeder pigs) can go for $75-$250 apiece - quite a range. For estimation purposes, then, to get started with two or three pigs could cost around $400.

Purchase (3) piglets subtotal: $400

2. Nutrition & Wellbeing: food, water, shelter, meds

Water

They’ll need a moveable water tub to drink from, along with plenty of water to make a wallow for cooling off in the hot season. Or they might just use the water tub as a mini swimming pool!

We’ve had good luck with these 50 gallon water troughs as shown below. Although they’re a little pricey, their tough and rigid and can withstand 200+ pound pigs climbing in and out and bashing them around.

I used to use stock tank float valves like this one to keep them full of water…

…but often the pigs would knock the float valves off and drain our water supply tanks. So now I just fill the pigs’ water tubs up with a hose on an as-needed basis.

You’ll also want some durable plastic tubs for feeding. So for food and water tubs, hoses, connections, valves, etc., estimated costs could be in the range $100-$150.

Water infrastructure estimated subtotal: $150

Feed

Pigs are omnivores and can’t thrive on forage alone. We feed ours a 14% protein hog pellet from our local feed mill. For young piglets and nursing moms we feed a 16% protein pellet. Nowadays feed costs are $13-$14 per 50 lb bag. Our feed ration is about 2 lbs per day per pig. Thus to raise a pig from weaning to slaughter weight (12-15 months) feed costs are $200-$250.

The pigs obviously supplement their ration by foraging for grubs, roots, and edible plants. We also supplement their diets with a variety of treats: food scraps from our kitchen, excess hardboiled eggs from our chickens and ducks, acorns collected on tarps left around oak trees in the fall and swept off of shed roofs, and harvest leftovers such as watermelons, pumpkins, and apples.

Mama and piglets enjoying a watermelon snack.

Feed subtotal: $750 ($250 per pig)

Medications

Pigs should be de-wormed once or twice per year. There are a variety of approaches to deworming pigs including type of wormer used and feeding versus injection. A full discussion of pros/cons of different methods is beyond the scope of this article. We use Dectomax injectable wormer. It is probably best if you consult with a veterinarian in your area about a deworming plan for your herd of pastured pigs. For budgeting purposes here we’ll assume a dewormer medication cost of $50/pig.

Meds subtotal: $150 ($50 per pig)

Shelter

It’s good for pigs to have a place to take shelter from the elements. In particular, they need shade and other ways to stay cool during the hot season (an advantage of raising them in forested paddocks!). We built some small hutches for our pigs to snuggle in on cold and rainy or snowy nights.

Hutches like this are great for two or three pigs, and can be constructed at low cost using mostly scrap materials if available. For cost estimation purposes I’ll assume $100 for a few pressure-treated 2x4s, fasteners, and a bit of corrugated tin roofing.

Shelter subtotal: $100

3. Containment

With proper training pigs can be kept in forested paddocks using minimal infrastructure. In many cases, a single strand of electrified poly wire or tape at snout-height will suffice to keep your herd where you want them, and away from where you don’t want them.

Chances are, when you bring home your weaned piglets they won’t be trained to an electric fence. The first step is to put them in a training pen for about one week. Once they get shocked a few times they’ll learn to steer clear of the electric tape!

Training pen constructed from wire hog panels with electrified poly tape running around the interior perimeter.

We constructed this training pen using four 16 foot x 34 inch hog panels held in place using t-posts (three per side) and fastened at the corner with zip-ties.

Inside the pen we used metal rebar step-in electric fence posts and yellow plastic insulators to attach the electric poly tape.

Metal rebar step-in electric fence post (48” x 3/8” dia.) and insulator electric poly wire/tape attachment.

Insulators usually come 25/bag and it makes sense to pair these with 25 rebar step-in posts to have enough for the training pen plus setting up a forest paddock once the pigs are trained and ready to go out and forage. Total cost for the fencing hardware (including hog panels, t-posts, step in posts, and insulators) is then about $300.

For electric fencing we use 1/2” wide Gallagher Electric Fence Poly Tape. A roll of 656 feet of poly tape (plenty for this purpose) costs about $35 on Amazon.

And for an energizer we use a Solar Intellishock 30, which is available from Premier1 for about $250.

Training pen and electric fence equipment subtotal: $585

4. Foraging Area

How much forest paddock is needed for rotational pig foraging?

We did an observational study with three of our kune kune barrows (castrated males) to determine a ballpark estimate of how long to leave them on a patch of ground and achieve a “just right” amount of tilling and rooting.

Left too long in one place, pigs can turn an area into scorched earth. We’re using our pigs as the starting phase of a process of agro-ecological succession: turning overgrown, disused land into sparsely forested savannah or park-like pasture for grazing sheep, goats, and pigs.

The following series of short video clips shows the beginning of the observational study, and weekly check-ins on the pigs’ progress doing their job as nature’s little skid-steers rooting and foraging and turning up the earth (and manuring it!).

Start of observational study

After one week

After two weeks

After three weeks

After four weeks

After one month

We found that about one month was a good amount of time for three (small breed) pigs to forage in an approximately 2,000 square foot paddock.

Of course, this will likely vary somewhat by season, breed of pig, etc. But at least for now we are working off a foraging area assumption of 500-750 square feet per pig per month.

For now, we are also assuming a minimum paddock recovery period of three months. This obviously will vary by climate and season. But for purposes of doing some scoping calculations for a “start-small” operation on a small footprint, we’ll assume paddocks are given three months to recover before pigs return to foraging.

For a starter herd of three pigs, if we set up paddocks that are about 2,250 square feet in area each (750 square feet per pig) in the simple arrangement shown here…

…the total area would be about 9,000 square feet, or about 1/5 of an acre.

So to recap: You can raise three pigs on 1/5 of an acre, rotating paddocks monthly so that each paddock has a three-month recovery period between grazings.

5. Costs & Benefits

Adding up the startup cost estimates listed above comes to $2,135. That includes the fencing equipment and other hardware you need as well as feed and supplies to grow your herd of three kune kunes (or other small breed) out to processing weight in about one year’s time.

With creativity and resourcefulness you’ll probably find many ways to save on costs. For example, you might find a good deal on piglets or get some for free as hand-me-downs. Or get a good boar and sow and breed your own!

You might have a lot of the infrastructure on-hand already: scrap materials for building shelters, t-posts, water hoses and tubs, etc.

If you’re prepared to buy your feed up-front and have a place to store it, you could save a lot of money by buying in bulk.

The benefits of pig foraging include getting to watch happy healthy animals grow and indulge in their natural pig-ness. They’re certainly gregarious animals and fun to watch!

Pigs can be a keystone component of environmentally beneficial land management and especially for marginal areas - for example, providing (free!) labor and manure in establishing and maintaining regenerative and biodiverse agro-ecosystems.

And of course: pork chops, bacon, ribs, BBQ, fatback and lard, ham roasts and Boston butts! Wonderful high quality healthy meat for your family and friends!

bacon!

If you’re interested to read more about our pastured lamb and pork operation, including how we set our prices for retail cuts, see here.

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