El Final

With only 1 1/2 academic weeks remaining, a December 5th slaughter date and a final presentation on December 8th, the multidimensional pig project is coming to a close.

The experience has been fun, exhausting, at times delicious and always full of learning opportunities.

Come to my presentation next Thursday the 8th in the Aldo Leopold room of Sterling College's Mager Hall from 6:30-7:30 pm. There will be cookies and if I get my way, a trace of pig...

Pig Roast Post: Day 136

The pig roast was...an adventure. Above is a shot of me, looking cheery after I had changed into waterproof clothing.

Now I'm at the stage in my project where ONLY 8 scholastic weeks are left in my college career, and thus I'm on the last leg of the endeavor. What's left? A mid-term and final report, marketing of hundreds of pounds of meat, and making this project both cost effective and socially just in its marketing. Should be a blast!

Days 119-127: Weight gain!

The piglets are now feeders ("finishers", technically) I've decided.

This is due to their rapid (1.78lbs/day) weight gain, which now brings them to 175 lbs. each on average. That means they should be at least 250 lbs by their slaughter date on Dec. 5th.

The only trouble with their relatively recent confinement is the need to clean up after them. But on the Sterling farm, poop becomes compost given the time!

Up next: pictures of pig roast part II, as we battled inclement weather! I suppose the gods seemed to think we were up to the challenge after the glorious success of the last roast.

Days 105-119

Not a whole lot to report, though two weeks have passed us by.

There's another pig roast coming up this Saturday for Parents' Weekend. This time, we're digging a pit to build the fire in, and hanging the pig on a longer piece of rebar, (with a handle!) and cooking it that way.

The pigs continue to eat a ton (did you know, pigs excrete 15% of their body weight daily??), there's a new runt who continues to wimp out when it comes time to eat, and won't stand up for her food against the other pigs. Thus, we're ensuring that the food is spread out amongst 5 feed dishes, so they ideally all get a fair share.

The above photo shows the pigs in their new, escape proof home.

Days 98-104: Eventful days!

The pigs now weigh around 150 lbs. They should be eating 6.8lbs of dry feed daily, which amounts to 17lbs per feeding for the 5 remaining pigs. I'm planning to feed them 16 however, because they usually get a bucket or two (or three) of nutrient dense compost daily.

I say remaining because our on-campus slaughter and pig roast happened this Friday and Saturday!!

Dave McCoy came and slaughtered Runty and Lucky and on Saturday I roasted Runty (with much help) to feed ~45 students and faculty with leftovers for Sunday's dinner. She was delicious! Especially the parts we injected with maple syrup cut with lacto-fermented pickle juice for some salty, maple-y sweetness!

I'm butchering Lucky's carcass with some help on Tuesday, and freezing it until the 21st when we'll enjoy baked pork for the dinner following all-college workday.

Tomorrow the piglets are being moved from the tennis court (the only place we can keep them confined) to the old compost pad (where they'll be barricaded in) with lots of compost to play in. I'm excited about our new setup. More info and pictures when it's done.

Day 96 &97: Escape #_? and updated weights

Weather: Quite muggy, with passing downpours.

Yesterday we worked hard (Stuart, his friend Dan, and myself) to set up a seemingly wonderful stretch of woodlands abounding with apples and cool, moist, understory, and a pasture counterpart for them to eat grass from. 3 recalcitrant pigs who were more interested in the compost pile (a running theme) than the feed we had to offer them, were brought back to their previous enclosure, leaving 4 to be moved into the new area.

And, today, THEY ALL ESCAPED and rendezvoused at the barn! The wonderful Sierra, a fellow student/draft horse assistant manager who has her own pig and really knows how to handle them, herded them all back to their electrified enclosure in the woods/pasture. I weighed them today, curious about why they were so hungry as to all break out and head straight for the barn, discovered that they've grown 30 lbs in the last 3 weeks!! They now weigh on the upper end around 120.5 lbs, thus require more like 6lbs each of feed, meaning 20-22 lbs per feeding (rather than 16lbs). That new feeding regimen will be updated tomorrow.

Posting resumed (Day 95!)

The pigs are about 3 1/2 months old now.

I'll have weights on them soon. They're looking good though. They're almost caught up to the size of the feeders and breeders being raised by other students that have been getting more feed/individual care.

The first slaughter is one week from today. I think the biggest two will go (pictured above--the black and white one and the white one with black spots). The meat will feed the campus for one or two meals.

They'll be moving into the woods to savor the sweet juices of apple season imminently (tomorrow morning, if all goes according to plan). Today I fed them 4 buckets of slightly moldy pound cake and other goodies from a nearby bakery. Lends new meaning to the term 'hog heaven'.