No matter how much hate you get for these meat-related videos, you still keep on going! Awesome. Your perseverance is admirable. :-) Thanks for the information.
As much as it bummed me to see that pig in the trailer to meet his last hour, I wish more people handled getting meat in this way. I feel like if we took more responsibility (myself included!) for this part of our diet we would have a lot less animals suffering in factory farm settings. A LOT less waste as well. Good for you Becky for taking responsibility! Very informative video.
There's nothing better than a hog that's been raised on dirt/sand . A lot of folks don't know that they can buy a hog directly from a farmer and have it butchered . The flavor of the meat is so much better. I used to raise and sell hogs back in the early 1980's and i used to ship /sell a pot semi trailer of hogs every week.For any body worried about getting too attached to their hog.. Just wait till you have to chase that bugger through a corn field on a 99 degree morning with 98% humidity for 2 hours. That pig will taste fantastic .I guarantee it.
Is it easy to find people to buy half or whole hogs if you get processed for them? I'd like to raise a few for me to eat but sell the difference to make it worth my while on feed and setup.
+Andrew Krause I have chickens. I feel like I have given the chickens a heavenly chicken life and they might just have one bad day out of a hundred good ones when they get slaughtered. I imagine the same for the hog. he probably had a great life with Becky and just one second of pain.
+Andrew Krause I agree with you Andrew, I understand that we eat hogs and eat chicken and things like that. Myself also if I raise a chicken alright raise a hog and feed it and look into the hogs eyes for rabbit and Then decide to kill it Call me a tender heart as type of person but I guess that's what I am. I can see help not understanding how person won't even blink an eye to have it slaughtered. Take care. Carrie
We have eyes in the front of our head like every other land-dwelling predator. We have canines for holding onto our prey, and incisors for mincing and tearing flesh. Our digestive tract includes organs that secrete enzyemes specifically targeted at animal proteins. Our physiology is dependent on vitamins and minerals that we cannot synthesize and which are not found in plants. Our very evolution is directly tied to our consumption of protein and fat - cranial growth of early homonids is strongly correlated to our development, use and proliferation of hunting implements from hand axes to spears. I read plenty, and the vegan propaganda doesn't impress me. No serious individual honestly believes that we are herbivores by biology.
+Andrew Krause excellent answer! I grow weary trying to explain this fact to people who have no common sense. Thank you for putting it plain and simple.
The consumption of meat among early hominids began as scavenging the kills of other predators. We know this because we see the exact same behavior in primates today. We developed hand axes in order to allow us to bash open bone and get to the marrow, and then refined them into cleaving tools for butchering. We developed the ability to walk upright precisely because it allowed us to chase town sick or wounded animals over long distances. We developed spears as defensive weapons so we didn't have to get close to them to deliver kill shots. That led to throwing spears, the atalata, arrows and bows. This is all well documented with fossil evidence, and anthropologists have defended these theories for more then a century. The science is settled. Thank you, and have a nice day.
We have done this in the past but haven't done it for quite a few years. I live in a different state now & don't know any processors around here. Sure want to do this again. It was so much better than the store. Thanks for your cost breakdown.
Great information Becky!!! For all the people that say this is sad, this is the circle of life!!! I love animals just like the next person but for those of us that eat meat, yummy!!!
i really want to consider raising my own meat humanely but i know for a fact (ESPECIALLY if i get them as a piglet) that i'll be really attached to them... do you have any trouble being attached to an animal that's to go to slaughter? if so, how do you go about overcoming that?
+starrywishy (Wishy) I'm not attached at all because male hogs don't get attached to you. All he wants from me is food. They never want love or to be petted, just food. I want to make him happy and comfortable but that's not love or affection. ❤️🐝☀️🐔🐷
+starrywishy (Wishy) that is a very good question . i have known people who have raised a pig and a cow for slaughter and they called the butcher to take care of it . they couldnt eat the meat . every time they looked at the meat in the freezer they cried ... i know for me i could not do it however i do hunt and butcher my own game . a farm animal i get to attached to
+Becky's Homestead You might want to check your facts before you post things like 'male hogs are not affectionate' Ask anyone from Farm Sanctuary or The Gentle Barn and they will show you many many examples of belly rub loving, cuddle seeking affectionate male hogs. I like the bulk of your videos, but I feel you are giving the wrong impression to people looking to you for advice. Saying that they aren't affectionate makes it easier to slaughter them, I realize, but the truth is that hogs are intelligent, affectionate beings.
We just got a large guard dog that we are training to an in-ground fence surrounding our 4 acres. As soon as we are confident he will stay within the boundaries, we can start getting our animals without worrying about coyotes. Pigs are the first animals on our list. We are super excited! We will also be getting meat chickens, cows (also for meat) and I'm hoping to get ducks as well. With a large family, we go through A LOT of food. I am hoping to trade some of our meat for fresh eggs and milk. We may eventually get some laying hens too. Thanks for sharing!
Great video - thanks for the detail. I grew up on a farm and am not aagainst eating meat. I just get too attached to anything I've raised and can't get mind over matter when it comes to eating or cooking something that was out back just a week earlier. How do you doal with this.
+djlemmyb actually they are neither. Farmers know when they do this that their animals have a purpose. If you keep that in mind then you know what you are dealing with. You don't have to hate animals to be able to eat animals. I have a farm we raise our own animals and while yes they are cute and they are given lots of love and attention, they are there for a reason. We give our pigs names like bacon and porkchop, that way my kids have no confusion as to what they are meant for. It was hard for them the first time but they didn't cry and I didn't hide anything, they didn't actually see the killing and skinning but they knew what they were eating. We killed them here and skinned them and then took them to be cut up. It doesn't take a mean or heartless person to be able to raise an animal for food. Don't perpetuate a myth. You just have to know that it's intended purpose is that. We aren't vicious people. But I won't stand by and let someone talk bad about my way of life either.
Actually I hide nothing from my "poor children". All five of my children hunt. They clean what they kill and they eat what they clean. And yes you are perpetrating a myth by telling others that we as meat eaters do not have a heart and do not value the lives of our animals. That is a myth. My kids are raised to know that their animals needs come before their own, so everything is fed and watered before you sit down to eat. If something is wrong with one of our animals and I can not fix it with the knowledge that I have gained through experience and college then we call the vet. Our animals are well cared for and are loved while they are with us. My children and I both love animals but we all know that in the end they are here for a reason. And whether other people like it or not, these animals will feed my kids. My kids will not go hungry. My chickens and rabbits and cows also provide fertilizer for my garden where we get fresh veggies. And the waste from the veggies goes back into feeding my animals. Circle of life. We all fulfill our part of it. Just because you don't like the way I fulfill my part doesn't give you the right to judge me. You stay in your lane and I will stay in mine. What a wonderful place the world would be without people like you that want to hold judgment over others. You don't have the right! You are not good enough to hold judgment over anyone else. That makes you less of a person, not the others.
My Aunt Carol had the same problem and what she did to help her deal was name them Pork Chop, Hamburger, Lamb Chop, Sir Loin and so on. She said it helped.
Becky I love, love , love your videos. My husband and I are trying to get out of the rat race ourselves. We are in our 50's but it is never too late. Thank You!
What is in the processed meat? I know your hog is free from msg's, antibiotics and such, but what does the processer use to make the bacon, sausage, etc.?
your videos are just great. Thank you for sharing information with us. I've read about lowline cattle, do you know any homesteaders that grow their own? that could be a great collaboration video.
Love your videos.... and thats impressive on the amount of meat you obtained from you hog. You must not have arthritis. Pork is not good for people with inflammation. But you have inspired me maybe to raise other meat animals which is remarkable since I have been a vegetarian for many years. Thanks for you time and commitment to making videos. =) I am right down the road from you so its fun to see your place...
We are raising small pigs (half potbelly and half american guinea hog) and hope to butcher them ourselves next fall when the weather is cool enough. Also hoping for a litter or two of piggies as well. We only have 3 pigs right now, so next fall, if piggies are born, we should have at least a couple for the canner and some to sell to help offset the feed cost. Thanks for sharing this breakdown of how it worked out for you!
I'm working on building my "Taj Mahog pen" now, I work 12 to 14 hours a day 4 days a week with 2.5 hours of drive time, so I need a pen my pork won't be able to get out of. A lot of the materials were given to me so that has reduced the cost, although I figured out how to spend what I didn't pay for. In my case I will be breeding, so I needed separate pens for "Fred" and "Wilma" and a third for the kids after they are weened. So it started out as 12'X24' with three12'X8' pens, then I realized they need a area for exercise so I added a 20'X24' area that with be their yard, I just figured out that if I bury a small swimming pool I can make a permanent mud hole for them. The yard area will also give them a place to breed that will still be enclosed, and when I clean the pens I can let them out in the yard so they won't be under foot. This is just the first of quite a few projects that I have to raise livestock as I will be adding beef, rabbits, chickens and later fish and a year round garden with a Aquaphonics system. I will be making some videos of the progress and posting on my channel, I'm still clearing the area right now so once the actual construction begins I will start making videos. In rough estimates I figure I will probably have about a grand in it by time it's done, not counting the materials that were given to me; Even "Fred" was free
great video. you know another way to bring down the feed cost is to regularly check farmers markets for produce they can't sell ( imperfect, over ripe or just plain left overs) telling them you would take it away for free. same goes for grocery stores on their spoiled produce and expired bread, restaurants that have salad bars or serve salads, bakeries with expired bread. all of this would end up in the trash and landfills anyways. of course include your kitchen scraps.
This is a great idea! I live any farming and agricultural community so the local stores here send their expired or damaged food to the local pig farm(s)
Mam You are Awesome! been watching you for a couple of years now, keep up the good work! you are an inspiration to those of us who are still stuck in the city!
Yes. She separates her chicks from the larger hens until the chicks are larger. I think she has a couple videos out there about it that might give you some more insight on her process.
+Wayne Hester no I don't pull out baby chicks If my mama hen hatches chicks in my coop they are fine. If I buy baby chicks and bring them home, never, never put those babies in the coop ❤️🐝🐔🐷☀️
+Becky's Homestead oh that's right. I should have clarified that. I was remembering your video where you bought baby chicks and didn't think about the momma hatching them. In that case it's the momma's job to protect them and they usually do a good job. Thanks for clarifying. I'd hate for someone to take the chicks from the momma hen when there would be no need too.
You have totally inspired me to want to have my own homestead. i thank you for all that you share. I wanted to ask, did you get all of that meat from one pig???
We recently slaughtered our hog. She weighed 300lbs exact and rendered us 245lbs of meat exact. We keep everything (except the guts). Just her hams alone weighed 65lbs. We ended up with 6, 6lb ham roasts, 10 pks of sliced breakfast ham & 6 hocks. We got 22lbs of bacon...all of that just from hams and belly. Our freezer is full! Do you make souse? Render your own lard?
HI Becky, I was going to buy 1/2 a hog from a friend, but she said that the slaughter house does not make bacon for her, I would have to do that myself. How long did it take you to get all of your meat back? Especially the sausages and bacon. Thanks so much! Love your channel!
before anyone mentions it, of course you be selective where you get these items just as you would with the commercial feed. as little chemicals and such going into them as you would yourself. also, maybe raise some fodder sheets (like the same process you would do for sprouts or microgreens.)
to me the point besides organics, chemical free is that the animals won't suffer by the time when are going be slaughtered, Becky I hope you will have a video about no suffer by the time they are going be slaughtered, thanks
What a great price for your pork! Little ones cost about $75 here but I'm still thinking about raising 1 or 2 of them. You probably said it already but how long did you keep the hog around? 1 year, 2 years? I'd LOVE to get my hands on some home grown ribs ...
Just bought by first hog! Watched all your chicken videos before I bought them, now watching your pig videos. Is there a particular breed you prefer? I bought an american guinea hog. He'll be processed in October. When should I get the new hog? How old should it be?
Can you please make a video on the prices of a mule because I'm trying to convince my parents to give me permission for one and I want to show that they actually aren't too expensive after tack
If you have a pig that is outdoors a lot, wormor is not a bad thing to consider as long as you don't give to much. I raise hogs for a total of 4 to 5 months and usually by then they are around 250 pounds. During this time, i feed the hogs wormor only 2 different times. The wormor doesn't hurt the hog what so ever, you just need to manage how much wormor you are giving.
All I️ ever see is chickens and hogs on the farm for slaughtering. Do no other animals get raised for slaughtering? I’d like to see which other animals. Also, what else are pigs good for? I️, myself do not eat pork. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for sharing.
Rabbits, goats, sheep, ducks, and quail are also raised for meat on small homesteads. Chickens, ducks, and quail are usually dual purpose animals because you get eggs and meat! There’s a wonderful book called: “The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!” Great details, breaks down the cost of every animal, etc.
I was raised on a ranch in the 70's. There's a lot being left out in the calculations of, "What I have in these here pigs 🐖" Our butcher pigs where raised on self cleaning pens that this kid had to clean the sump out. Special birthing pens to help protect the piglets from getting stepped on by mom. Shots, castration, de-worming, and time. Weather isn't always the best but, you feed them no matter what. Your life is married to farming and a lot of the work falls on the family when dad has a job that has monster overtime. People don't want the commitment of the work that it takes to farm or the work of raising kids that can actually work a farm.
Hi Becky my name is Hayley and I was just wanting to tell you that you are such an inspiration to me and my family because of you I've got my chickens worm free and convinced my parents to get me meat hogs I just wanted you to know that you are doing and amazing job with your videos
Hello Becky im a Tattooed Californian and I would like to thank you for your videos and vass information..you my friend are a badass...take care..love from So. Cali Peace n Puff.
We eat a lot of pork...between my husband I our 2 daughters....and we have our oldest daughter with her son......our grandson .....we could use a pig....maybe two! I might be willing to give this a go!
Hi Becky! Love your channel and personality. I am wondering what brand of pig feed and what they need at what stage. I'm having a hard time finding organic feed. Did you supplement much? Were they ever checked by a vet. Did you have to trim nails or anything? Thank you so much for all your hard work and sharing!
You and Stony Ridge Farmer have given me so much awesome information! After me & the Missus finally finish rebuilding from Irma, we're selling and moving on to off the grid living!
Great video Becky. Very inspiring. Are you able to give more detailed information about exactly what the food cost? Did you only feed the pig that bagged feed, or did you supplement that with other things? How long did it take for the pig to gain all that weight, and what was the total food cost to do so?
We raise and butcher 1 hog a year, you said half the meat was in the freezer already and that 1 half was on the table. That's the most meat I've see from a 260lb hog. and that's half of the meat you said lol. I'm thinking my butcher is ripping me off if that's half the meat....
+Homesteading With Dutch You might want to talk to your butcher about that. Unless you are paying them by giving them some cuts of the meat? You can always find another butcher, especially if you aren't getting a ton of product back or consider doing it yourself if you have the time for that. It doesn't take a lot. Also, what breed pig are you getting? Some have more body fat than others. I mean there could be tons of factors involved in why you aren't getting more meat from your hog.
I am taking a 2 hogs to the butcher in September, I will make a video on the meat I get. I don't think the butcher was ripping me off lol, I think Becky was a little excited and miss informed us, I doubt half her pig was already in the freezer lol. I enjoyed the video though.
nice to see you did a vid on the reality of the cost and the value for money that you get, It shows its worth doing , not just financially but for some of the other reasons you mentioned . Was this in response to some of the questions i was asking you in previous videos ?? ; )
Thanks Becky! I wish more people promoted self efficiency and distancing themselves from having their food supply controlled by mega corporations. They don't care about consumers, their families, the environment or the animals. As long as it sells. Annnd before someone posts about how inhumane it is to raise your own food, lemme ask you, how humane is it to obtain food that was from forests cleared to grow mono crops, sprayed with pesticides, brought to your grocery store by burning countless gallons of oil and gas? The millions of animals that die as a result of pesticide poisoning so you can have bananas whenever you want?
I had a farm raised hog and it had a game taste to it, how do you not get that gamey taste. I would like to try this but hate to kill a hog and the meat taste bad and be thrown away. The store bought stuff is bad for you but it taste not gamey.
Evidently they weren't feeding it right because farm raised pork should never have a gamey taste to it. Either that or it wasn't left to hang and bleed out first, before being processed.
+r7mart Sometimes if you let the animal get excited or scared before you kill it the adrenaline leaves a funny taste, it happened with our uncles and grandparents pigs and once a cow.
Thanks for the cost break down. Just one question. Did the butcher put sodium Nitrite or Sodium Nitrate into the pork when preserving it ? A recent article from Mike Adams the Health Ranger-- www.naturalnews.com/007024.html Since you have a deep freezer, it's not needed. It only gives the meat a "pink" color and would be of no preservative value for you. Just thought you'd like to know so you can eat even healthier !
Thanks for this breakdown. How in the world are you feeding a hog 2 bags of feed a mouth? Ours were eating over a bag a weeks each for a while and have been eating almost 2 bags each a week for the last few weeks.
That's to much waist. Did you save the pork skins for homemade pork rinds? Also, did you save the extra fat to render the pure lard from for soaps and preserving?? Run the bones through a bone grinder and use for fertilizer in your gardens as well if your so inclined. I don't do the bones, but, my butcher does. No waist. Every part can be used, even if it's just as fertilizer.
+Margaret Freeman Essentially its the same way you don't get someone else's clothes when you drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners ;) The animal is tagged when you bring it in for processing and that tag stays with it throughout the process from kill to chill.
you look great! you look healthy, you can tell you have lost alot of weight. i thank you for sharing your experience with homesteading. looking forward on more videos.
It's given a number. If there are not a lot in front of her then it is usually harvested right away and hung in the freezer for a day. Then it is processed and smoked. It usually takes about a week to get meat back from our butcher.
Thanks for sharing the total costs to raise a pig and also the cost of the butchering and feed. It takes some work but its more than worth it considering if one was to pay for a hormone free pig and organic it the prices would be astronomical.
Dear Becky, Have you ever thought about breeding hogs so you don't have to buy a pig? It would make more sense to breed them than to buy one-- at least in my mind. Thanks!
I realize this is an old comment, but I'll add anyway. I thought so too, but the thing is you can't just put female + male together and piglets will come out of nowhere. It costs time and money to care for those two breeder pigs ALL YEAR ROUND. And it's not even sure the female will get pregnant (she's empty this season? No pork next year), or that the boar is interested in breeding! That means at LEAST 2 sows + 2 boars to be somewhat sure you'll have piglets. Aaand baby animals often die or are born dead. When you buy piglets, you get them two months old, feed and care for them for six months, then they go to the butcher, and you have your freezer full of pork with NO pigs to care for, for the next six months. If you have breeder pigs, like I said, you have to go out to them every day, year round, to care for them. So it's really not a good choice for a little homesteaders. Only pig breeders who specialize in it. See Homesteady's video on this, he visited his pig breeder and talked about it.
do you feed your pig/animals organic non gmo feed? and non gmo corn? because I was thinking if people don't feed their animals organic non gmo feed then, it kinda defeats the purpose of raising your own pig, chicken eggs . etc..
No it doesn't. There are plenty of other reasons she could be raising her own food. Maybe she does it because she enjoys raising them, or because she wants to know what they get(even if she's not against GMO's, there's still stuff like antibiotics and growth hormones to worry about), or she could be raising them so she knows they were treated humanely instead of in a massive factory farm etc...
Unless you raise your own organic gmo free grain you can never be sure it is. The government is a poor watchdog over its organic program. This is why all these fake loads of cheaper imported "organic" grains are putting American farmers at an extreme disadvantage to produce them. www.anh-usa.org/fake-organics-are-flooding-the-us-market/
crazy808ish Growth hormones have been ILLEGAL for use on chickens and pigs since the 1950's. . First of all, hormone use in livestock production only occurs in beef cattle not pork or chicken. And in fact USDA has outlawed hormone use in both pork & poultry production. There are many reasons for this ranging from the chickens and hogs are much more efficient at converting feed than cattle, to the time required to inject each and every chicken is not worth the end result. chicolockersausage.com/2013/03/20/are-there-hormones-in-meat/
I’m more of a beef person. No matter how “well” you raise a pig they are just dirty animals in general. No sweat glands, other things that you can look into that just makes them filthy. So how much work is it to raise a cow?
Um everything has a liver and kidneys to filter their bodies. Pigs are actually clean. I have raised both and cows are gross. More flies, gross poo and lots of it. Plus a cow eats way more and takes way longer to mature.☀️❤️☀️
How fascinating! I'm in Florida too (palm beach county) - how did you find your butcher? And where did you look to buy piglets? Are these things just word of mouth or can you find online? ...also I wonder if you would ever raise meat chickens for food in addition to egg layers. Thanks!
Berky.hi I like you idea.ilike to have a pieces land, and have animal. special my fresh eggs.If you don't. mind told me.where are you location. Thank you so much.Bless days
I don't think she has a lack of empathy, she is homesteading to live cheaper and grow/raise her own food. If you get yourself into a position of falling in love with your animals you won't be able to butcher them, which defeats the purpose of her homesteading to raise her own food.
we're all gonna need a lot more than a video on dressed pigs. you need to be somewhere where the local folks do it themselves in their backyards...... because urban areas may look resilient. but they ain't. Co2. then methane. more sure than how a cellphone works.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
No matter how much hate you get for these meat-related videos, you still keep on going! Awesome. Your perseverance is admirable. :-) Thanks for the information.
crazy808ish, That was a GREAT comment :)
As much as it bummed me to see that pig in the trailer to meet his last hour, I wish more people handled getting meat in this way. I feel like if we took more responsibility (myself included!) for this part of our diet we would have a lot less animals suffering in factory farm settings. A LOT less waste as well. Good for you Becky for taking responsibility! Very informative video.
+bestmekimb better life then living on a commercial hog farm
bestmekimb ‘
L
There's nothing better than a hog that's been raised on dirt/sand . A lot of folks don't know that they can buy a hog directly from a farmer and have it butchered . The flavor of the meat is so much better. I used to raise and sell hogs back in the early 1980's and i used to ship /sell a pot semi trailer of hogs every week.For any body worried about getting too attached to their hog.. Just wait till you have to chase that bugger through a corn field on a 99 degree morning with 98% humidity for 2 hours. That pig will taste fantastic .I guarantee it.
Dennis B., We gotta get you a gun! :)
Hehehe in the brush almost in the woods. Lol
Is it easy to find people to buy half or whole hogs if you get processed for them? I'd like to raise a few for me to eat but sell the difference to make it worth my while on feed and setup.
My only problem is that I worry I might grow attached to my hog. it's hard to eat a friend. even if they are made of bacon.
+Andrew Krause I have chickens. I feel like I have given the chickens a heavenly chicken life and they might just have one bad day out of a hundred good ones when they get slaughtered. I imagine the same for the hog. he probably had a great life with Becky and just one second of pain.
+Andrew Krause I agree with you Andrew, I understand that we eat hogs and eat chicken and things like that. Myself also if I raise a chicken alright raise a hog and feed it and look into the hogs eyes for rabbit and Then decide to kill it Call me a tender heart as type of person but I guess that's what I am. I can see help not understanding how person won't even blink an eye to have it slaughtered. Take care. Carrie
We have eyes in the front of our head like every other land-dwelling predator. We have canines for holding onto our prey, and incisors for mincing and tearing flesh. Our digestive tract includes organs that secrete enzyemes specifically targeted at animal proteins. Our physiology is dependent on vitamins and minerals that we cannot synthesize and which are not found in plants. Our very evolution is directly tied to our consumption of protein and fat - cranial growth of early homonids is strongly correlated to our development, use and proliferation of hunting implements from hand axes to spears. I read plenty, and the vegan propaganda doesn't impress me. No serious individual honestly believes that we are herbivores by biology.
+Andrew Krause excellent answer! I grow weary trying to explain this fact to people who have no common sense. Thank you for putting it plain and simple.
The consumption of meat among early hominids began as scavenging the kills of other predators. We know this because we see the exact same behavior in primates today. We developed hand axes in order to allow us to bash open bone and get to the marrow, and then refined them into cleaving tools for butchering. We developed the ability to walk upright precisely because it allowed us to chase town sick or wounded animals over long distances. We developed spears as defensive weapons so we didn't have to get close to them to deliver kill shots. That led to throwing spears, the atalata, arrows and bows. This is all well documented with fossil evidence, and anthropologists have defended these theories for more then a century. The science is settled.
Thank you, and have a nice day.
Can't beat home grown anything. Nice video. Thank you Becky.
We have done this in the past but haven't done it for quite a few years. I live in a different state now & don't know any processors around here. Sure want to do this again. It was so much better than the store. Thanks for your cost breakdown.
Great information Becky!!!
For all the people that say this is sad, this is the circle of life!!! I love animals just like the next person but for those of us that eat meat, yummy!!!
i really want to consider raising my own meat humanely but i know for a fact (ESPECIALLY if i get them as a piglet) that i'll be really attached to them... do you have any trouble being attached to an animal that's to go to slaughter? if so, how do you go about overcoming that?
Agreed that's my question as well , showing the animal love and care then slaughtering it
+starrywishy (Wishy) I'm not attached at all because male hogs don't get attached to you. All he wants from me is food. They never want love or to be petted, just food. I want to make him happy and comfortable but that's not love or affection. ❤️🐝☀️🐔🐷
thank you for your response!
+starrywishy (Wishy) that is a very good question . i have known people who have raised a pig and a cow for slaughter and they called the butcher to take care of it . they couldnt eat the meat . every time they looked at the meat in the freezer they cried ... i know for me i could not do it however i do hunt and butcher my own game . a farm animal i get to attached to
+Becky's Homestead You might want to check your facts before you post things like 'male hogs are not affectionate' Ask anyone from Farm Sanctuary or The Gentle Barn and they will show you many many examples of belly rub loving, cuddle seeking affectionate male hogs. I like the bulk of your videos, but I feel you are giving the wrong impression to people looking to you for advice. Saying that they aren't affectionate makes it easier to slaughter them, I realize, but the truth is that hogs are intelligent, affectionate beings.
We just got a large guard dog that we are training to an in-ground fence surrounding our 4 acres. As soon as we are confident he will stay within the boundaries, we can start getting our animals without worrying about coyotes.
Pigs are the first animals on our list. We are super excited! We will also be getting meat chickens, cows (also for meat) and I'm hoping to get ducks as well. With a large family, we go through A LOT of food. I am hoping to trade some of our meat for fresh eggs and milk. We may eventually get some laying hens too. Thanks for sharing!
Great video - thanks for the detail. I grew up on a farm and am not aagainst eating meat. I just get too attached to anything I've raised and can't get mind over matter when it comes to eating or cooking something that was out back just a week earlier. How do you doal with this.
+djlemmyb actually they are neither. Farmers know when they do this that their animals have a purpose. If you keep that in mind then you know what you are dealing with. You don't have to hate animals to be able to eat animals. I have a farm we raise our own animals and while yes they are cute and they are given lots of love and attention, they are there for a reason. We give our pigs names like bacon and porkchop, that way my kids have no confusion as to what they are meant for. It was hard for them the first time but they didn't cry and I didn't hide anything, they didn't actually see the killing and skinning but they knew what they were eating. We killed them here and skinned them and then took them to be cut up. It doesn't take a mean or heartless person to be able to raise an animal for food. Don't perpetuate a myth. You just have to know that it's intended purpose is that. We aren't vicious people. But I won't stand by and let someone talk bad about my way of life either.
Actually I hide nothing from my "poor children". All five of my children hunt. They clean what they kill and they eat what they clean. And yes you are perpetrating a myth by telling others that we as meat eaters do not have a heart and do not value the lives of our animals. That is a myth. My kids are raised to know that their animals needs come before their own, so everything is fed and watered before you sit down to eat. If something is wrong with one of our animals and I can not fix it with the knowledge that I have gained through experience and college then we call the vet. Our animals are well cared for and are loved while they are with us. My children and I both love animals but we all know that in the end they are here for a reason. And whether other people like it or not, these animals will feed my kids. My kids will not go hungry. My chickens and rabbits and cows also provide fertilizer for my garden where we get fresh veggies. And the waste from the veggies goes back into feeding my animals. Circle of life. We all fulfill our part of it. Just because you don't like the way I fulfill my part doesn't give you the right to judge me. You stay in your lane and I will stay in mine. What a wonderful place the world would be without people like you that want to hold judgment over others. You don't have the right! You are not good enough to hold judgment over anyone else. That makes you less of a person, not the others.
i bet if you were skipping meals you would get over that attachment really fast.
Agreed! I'll be raising my children the same.
My Aunt Carol had the same problem and what she did to help her deal was
name them Pork Chop, Hamburger, Lamb Chop, Sir Loin and so on. She said
it helped.
Becky I love, love , love your videos. My husband and I are trying to get out of the rat race ourselves. We are in our 50's but it is never too late. Thank You!
What is in the processed meat? I know your hog is free from msg's, antibiotics and such, but what does the processer use to make the bacon, sausage, etc.?
I love pigs but I also am grateful for their sacrifice.
your videos are just great. Thank you for sharing information with us. I've read about lowline cattle, do you know any homesteaders that grow their own? that could be a great collaboration video.
Love your videos.... and thats impressive on the amount of meat you obtained from you hog. You must not have arthritis. Pork is not good for people with inflammation. But you have inspired me maybe to raise other meat animals which is remarkable since I have been a vegetarian for many years. Thanks for you time and commitment to making videos. =) I am right down the road from you so its fun to see your place...
How do you know you're getting your pig back how do you know if they're putting another pig inside of your meat portions?
We are raising small pigs (half potbelly and half american guinea hog) and hope to butcher them ourselves next fall when the weather is cool enough. Also hoping for a litter or two of piggies as well. We only have 3 pigs right now, so next fall, if piggies are born, we should have at least a couple for the canner and some to sell to help offset the feed cost. Thanks for sharing this breakdown of how it worked out for you!
I'm working on building my "Taj Mahog pen" now, I work 12 to 14 hours a day 4 days a week with 2.5 hours of drive time, so I need a pen my pork won't be able to get out of.
A lot of the materials were given to me so that has reduced the cost, although I figured out how to spend what I didn't pay for. In my case I will be breeding, so I needed separate pens for "Fred" and "Wilma" and a third for the kids after they are weened. So it started out as 12'X24' with three12'X8' pens, then I realized they need a area for exercise so I added a 20'X24' area that with be their yard, I just figured out that if I bury a small swimming pool I can make a permanent mud hole for them. The yard area will also give them a place to breed that will still be enclosed, and when I clean the pens I can let them out in the yard so they won't be under foot. This is just the first of quite a few projects that I have to raise livestock as I will be adding beef, rabbits, chickens and later fish and a year round garden with a Aquaphonics system. I will be making some videos of the progress and posting on my channel, I'm still clearing the area right now so once the actual construction begins I will start making videos. In rough estimates I figure I will probably have about a grand in it by time it's done, not counting the materials that were given to me; Even "Fred" was free
great video. you know another way to bring down the feed cost is to regularly check farmers markets for produce they can't sell ( imperfect, over ripe or just plain left overs) telling them you would take it away for free. same goes for grocery stores on their spoiled produce and expired bread, restaurants that have salad bars or serve salads, bakeries with expired bread. all of this would end up in the trash and landfills anyways. of course include your kitchen scraps.
This is a great idea! I live any farming and agricultural community so the local stores here send their expired or damaged food to the local pig farm(s)
I can't believe how much meat you got from one hog.
Ik it's awesome
Adriana Carrelli me too
Did Adrianna get married or something?
That meat on the table plus whatever more is in the freezer is larger than a 256 # hog. Must of come from more then one hog in my opinion.
Robin L it looks like a lot because its been seperated. When it's all intact and there aren't any gaps in between it looks like less.
Do you ever get attached to the hog? If so how do you force yourself to slaughter it?
Mam You are Awesome! been watching you for a couple of years now, keep up the good work! you are an inspiration to those of us who are still stuck in the city!
Hi Becky do you have to move your roosters and other chicken when your chickens chicks get out of the egg
Yes. She separates her chicks from the larger hens until the chicks are larger. I think she has a couple videos out there about it that might give you some more insight on her process.
+Wayne Hester Oh ok thanks :)
+Wayne Hester no I don't pull out baby chicks If my mama hen hatches chicks in my coop they are fine. If I buy baby chicks and bring them home, never, never put those babies in the coop ❤️🐝🐔🐷☀️
+Becky's Homestead oh that's right. I should have clarified that. I was remembering your video where you bought baby chicks and didn't think about the momma hatching them. In that case it's the momma's job to protect them and they usually do a good job. Thanks for clarifying. I'd hate for someone to take the chicks from the momma hen when there would be no need too.
I must say your choice of practice is much better than any factory farm.
But how long can you preserve the meat of a whole hog? Would you not need multiple ones to have fresh meat throughout the year?
+Shlomayo you freeze it and it's good for along time
TJ N Freezing still degrades the mineral value of food over time, doesn't it?
+Shlomayo vacume seal for freezing is best . best to use meat in 1 year not harmful if longer
You have totally inspired me to want to have my own homestead. i thank you for all that you share. I wanted to ask, did you get all of that meat from one pig???
+Carla Sings yes it's all from one hog
+Becky's Homestead Hi, have you ever thought of raising bees its meant to be great fun and very beneficial for the people who keep them
Becky's Homestead
Amazing thanks!
We recently slaughtered our hog. She weighed 300lbs exact and rendered us 245lbs of meat exact. We keep everything (except the guts). Just her hams alone weighed 65lbs. We ended up with 6, 6lb ham roasts, 10 pks of sliced breakfast ham & 6 hocks. We got 22lbs of bacon...all of that just from hams and belly. Our freezer is full! Do you make souse? Render your own lard?
wish I could raise my own food but alas circumstances only allow for veggies and fruits.
HI Becky,
I was going to buy 1/2 a hog from a friend, but she said that the slaughter house does not make bacon for her, I would have to do that myself. How long did it take you to get all of your meat back? Especially the sausages and bacon. Thanks so much! Love your channel!
what kind of feed did you give it and what breed do you recommend. What breed was yours?
before anyone mentions it, of course you be selective where you get these items just as you would with the commercial feed. as little chemicals and such going into them as you would yourself. also, maybe raise some fodder sheets (like the same process you would do for sprouts or microgreens.)
Where do you keep all that meat? That can’t fit in a regular sized refrigerator.
to me the point besides organics, chemical free is that the animals won't suffer by the time when are going be slaughtered, Becky I hope you will have a video about no suffer by the time they are going be slaughtered, thanks
What a great price for your pork! Little ones cost about $75 here but I'm still thinking about raising 1 or 2 of them. You probably said it already but how long did you keep the hog around? 1 year, 2 years? I'd LOVE to get my hands on some home grown ribs ...
This one was 6-7 months before she took it for butcher.
Debra Santillan Thanks!
+Debra Santillan it was just baby...
Is this from one pig ? & how much dig your pigs weigh if you don’t mind me asking
Just bought by first hog! Watched all your chicken videos before I bought them, now watching your pig videos.
Is there a particular breed you prefer? I bought an american guinea hog. He'll be processed in October. When should I get the new hog? How old should it be?
Can you please make a video on the prices of a mule because I'm trying to convince my parents to give me permission for one and I want to show that they actually aren't too expensive after tack
If you have a pig that is outdoors a lot, wormor is not a bad thing to consider as long as you don't give to much. I raise hogs for a total of 4 to 5 months and usually by then they are around 250 pounds. During this time, i feed the hogs wormor only 2 different times. The wormor doesn't hurt the hog what so ever, you just need to manage how much wormor you are giving.
wtf is a wormor?
A medication that prevents worms.
Do you tell them what kind of meat you want or do they just do one big setup kind of thing
Your the best Becky!!!
All I️ ever see is chickens and hogs on the farm for slaughtering. Do no other animals get raised for slaughtering? I’d like to see which other animals. Also, what else are pigs good for? I️, myself do not eat pork. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for sharing.
Kiana Archer I do not eat pork either..it never seemed good to me...Leviticus proved why :)
Rabbits, goats, sheep, ducks, and quail are also raised for meat on small homesteads.
Chickens, ducks, and quail are usually dual purpose animals because you get eggs and meat!
There’s a wonderful book called: “The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!” Great details, breaks down the cost of every animal, etc.
I was raised on a ranch in the 70's. There's a lot being left out in the calculations of, "What I have in these here pigs 🐖" Our butcher pigs where raised on self cleaning pens that this kid had to clean the sump out. Special birthing pens to help protect the piglets from getting stepped on by mom. Shots, castration, de-worming, and time. Weather isn't always the best but, you feed them no matter what. Your life is married to farming and a lot of the work falls on the family when dad has a job that has monster overtime. People don't want the commitment of the work that it takes to farm or the work of raising kids that can actually work a farm.
Hi Becky my name is Hayley and I was just wanting to tell you that you are such an inspiration to me and my family because of you I've got my chickens worm free and convinced my parents to get me meat hogs I just wanted you to know that you are doing and amazing job with your videos
How much would it be per pound if you take out the butchering and processing cost? My butcher wants to do it all for free. He's my uncle btw.
Becky, love your videos! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Just curious, what do you feed your pigs? Is their medications in the feed?
+Linda Justice I never use medicated feed for any if my animals. I get my hog feed directly from a local feed mill.
What do you feed a hog?
+Michael Roberts food lol
Did you worm your pigs?
Hello Becky im a Tattooed Californian and I would like to thank you for your videos and vass information..you my friend are a badass...take care..love from So. Cali
Peace n Puff.
We eat a lot of pork...between my husband I our 2 daughters....and we have our oldest daughter with her son......our grandson .....we could use a pig....maybe two! I might be willing to give this a go!
As you were listing the cuts of meat....I started salivating!!! LOL
Hi Becky! Love your channel and personality. I am wondering what brand of pig feed and what they need at what stage. I'm having a hard time finding organic feed. Did you supplement much? Were they ever checked by a vet. Did you have to trim nails or anything? Thank you so much for all your hard work and sharing!
I love u Becky your amazing and inspire me so much!!!
Lol, I couldn't do it. I already know I'd be attached.
How many lbs. You take home ?!
You and Stony Ridge Farmer have given me so much awesome information! After me & the Missus finally finish rebuilding from Irma, we're selling and moving on to off the grid living!
How much meat (in comparison to what you have there) would my dog produce? He's a golden retriever
Another person trying to start another argument. Go somewhere else with that crap.
+Darian Meet Do it and find out. I am not being serious, but really? why would you even ask that?
Great video Becky. Very inspiring. Are you able to give more detailed information about exactly what the food cost? Did you only feed the pig that bagged feed, or did you supplement that with other things? How long did it take for the pig to gain all that weight, and what was the total food cost to do so?
We raise and butcher 1 hog a year, you said half the meat was in the freezer already and that 1 half was on the table. That's the most meat I've see from a 260lb hog. and that's half of the meat you said lol. I'm thinking my butcher is ripping me off if that's half the meat....
+Homesteading With Dutch You might want to talk to your butcher about that. Unless you are paying them by giving them some cuts of the meat? You can always find another butcher, especially if you aren't getting a ton of product back or consider doing it yourself if you have the time for that. It doesn't take a lot. Also, what breed pig are you getting? Some have more body fat than others. I mean there could be tons of factors involved in why you aren't getting more meat from your hog.
I am taking a 2 hogs to the butcher in September, I will make a video on the meat I get. I don't think the butcher was ripping me off lol, I think Becky was a little excited and miss informed us, I doubt half her pig was already in the freezer lol. I enjoyed the video though.
nice to see you did a vid on the reality of the cost and the value for money that you get, It shows its worth doing , not just financially but for some of the other reasons you mentioned . Was this in response to some of the questions i was asking you in previous videos ?? ; )
Thanks Becky! I wish more people promoted self efficiency and distancing themselves from having their food supply controlled by mega corporations. They don't care about consumers, their families, the environment or the animals. As long as it sells. Annnd before someone posts about how inhumane it is to raise your own food, lemme ask you, how humane is it to obtain food that was from forests cleared to grow mono crops, sprayed with pesticides, brought to your grocery store by burning countless gallons of oil and gas? The millions of animals that die as a result of pesticide poisoning so you can have bananas whenever you want?
Thank you so much Becky for your help I really appreciate you you just don't know how much God bless you in every way Becky
I just took a 193lb pig to the butcher. Got half fresh n half smoked. Cost $210.
I had a farm raised hog and it had a game taste to it, how do you not get that gamey taste. I would like to try this but hate to kill a hog and the meat taste bad and be thrown away. The store bought stuff is bad for you but it taste not gamey.
What were you feeding it because a farm raised hog shouldn't taste gamey.
It wasn't our hog, it was someone else's. I'm not sure what they were feeding it, but I didn't think it was going to taste like that.
Evidently they weren't feeding it right because farm raised pork should never have a gamey taste to it. Either that or it wasn't left to hang and bleed out first, before being processed.
+r7mart Sometimes if you let the animal get excited or scared before you kill it the adrenaline leaves a funny taste, it happened with our uncles and grandparents pigs and once a cow.
hey great post Becky , really enjoyed your breakdown of costs , dont comment much but watch all your posts ......Harry
How do you know that was YOUR hog?
Thanks for the cost break down. Just one question. Did the butcher put sodium Nitrite or Sodium Nitrate into the pork when preserving it ? A recent article from Mike Adams the Health Ranger-- www.naturalnews.com/007024.html
Since you have a deep freezer, it's not needed. It only gives the meat a "pink" color and would be of no preservative value for you. Just thought you'd like to know so you can eat even healthier !
first and great video it really helped
I thought just the table full of meat was a *lot*! I can't believe there's more. O.o
also remember Chitlins , Cracklins ( pork rinds ) , Snout , Pork feet , lard . not much goes to waste
Thanks for this breakdown. How in the world are you feeding a hog 2 bags of feed a mouth? Ours were eating over a bag a weeks each for a while and have been eating almost 2 bags each a week for the last few weeks.
That's to much waist. Did you save the pork skins for homemade pork rinds? Also, did you save the extra fat to render the pure lard from for soaps and preserving?? Run the bones through a bone grinder and use for fertilizer in your gardens as well if your so inclined. I don't do the bones, but, my butcher does. No waist. Every part can be used, even if it's just as fertilizer.
How do you know it was your hog and not some other pig they had already?
+Margaret Freeman ive wondered that my self
+Margaret Freeman Essentially its the same way you don't get someone else's clothes when you drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners ;) The animal is tagged when you bring it in for processing and that tag stays with it throughout the process from kill to chill.
or maybe they put chems in while there butchering it :O
what would be the point? chemicals cost money, a butcher wants to make money not spend money
Salts are added, but AFAIK that's about it (and of course seasonings for the sausages).
Thanks so much sharing! Always learn a lot from you
Great video! Do you buy another little hog right away or do you wait for a special time of year? Thanks :-)
you look great! you look healthy, you can tell you have lost alot of weight. i thank you for sharing your experience with homesteading. looking forward on more videos.
What do you feed your pigs? Commercial mix or your own mix?
I couldnt do it. Too hard for me. I get too attached but good for you.
that's what I thought when she was loading him on the trailer :'(
How long was your meat at the butcher?
+Mackenzie Wittmer probably a day or two
Thanks.. I was just wondering how long it took them to butcher and smoke it. It seems like it would be a long time
Mackenzie Wittmer they probably butcher it in under an hour and have a commercial smoker so it wouldn't take long.
Ahh okay thank you!
It's given a number. If there are not a lot in front of her then it is usually harvested right away and hung in the freezer for a day. Then it is processed and smoked. It usually takes about a week to get meat back from our butcher.
we just got a 1/2 hog and it came to 1.89lb.
Thanks for sharing the total costs to raise a pig and also the cost of the butchering and feed. It takes some work but its more than worth it considering if one was to pay for a hormone free pig and organic it the prices would be astronomical.
Dear Becky,
Have you ever thought about breeding hogs so you don't have to buy a pig? It would make more sense to breed them than to buy one-- at least in my mind.
Thanks!
I realize this is an old comment, but I'll add anyway. I thought so too, but the thing is you can't just put female + male together and piglets will come out of nowhere. It costs time and money to care for those two breeder pigs ALL YEAR ROUND. And it's not even sure the female will get pregnant (she's empty this season? No pork next year), or that the boar is interested in breeding!
That means at LEAST 2 sows + 2 boars to be somewhat sure you'll have piglets. Aaand baby animals often die or are born dead.
When you buy piglets, you get them two months old, feed and care for them for six months, then they go to the butcher, and you have your freezer full of pork with NO pigs to care for, for the next six months.
If you have breeder pigs, like I said, you have to go out to them every day, year round, to care for them.
So it's really not a good choice for a little homesteaders. Only pig breeders who specialize in it.
See Homesteady's video on this, he visited his pig breeder and talked about it.
I would definitely raise a pig if we had a processing farm nearby. I like the cost breakdown. Well done video. Thanks for sharing.
She’s got it figured out perfectly I’d love to have a set up like hers
0:39 "I am sick of eating the garbage food.." GET SOME GRAINS, FRUIT AND VEGETABLES!
Thank you so much for this informative video I love giving us all of the numbers to that helps considerably
Hello, how long does it take to raise a hog? Thank you for your video.
Becky, do you have any recommendations for non-medicated hog feed?
do you feed your pig/animals organic non gmo feed? and non gmo corn?
because I was thinking if people don't feed their animals organic non gmo feed then, it kinda defeats the purpose of raising your own pig, chicken eggs . etc..
No it doesn't. There are plenty of other reasons she could be raising her own food. Maybe she does it because she enjoys raising them, or because she wants to know what they get(even if she's not against GMO's, there's still stuff like antibiotics and growth hormones to worry about), or she could be raising them so she knows they were treated humanely instead of in a massive factory farm etc...
Unless you raise your own organic gmo free grain you can never be sure it is. The government is a poor watchdog over its organic program. This is why all these fake loads of cheaper imported "organic" grains are putting American farmers at an extreme disadvantage to produce them.
www.anh-usa.org/fake-organics-are-flooding-the-us-market/
crazy808ish Growth hormones have been ILLEGAL for use on chickens and pigs since the 1950's. .
First of all, hormone use in livestock production only occurs in beef cattle not pork or chicken. And in fact USDA has outlawed hormone use in both pork & poultry production. There are many reasons for this ranging from the chickens and hogs are much more efficient at converting feed than cattle, to the time required to inject each and every chicken is not worth the end result.
chicolockersausage.com/2013/03/20/are-there-hormones-in-meat/
I’m more of a beef person. No matter how “well” you raise a pig they are just dirty animals in general. No sweat glands, other things that you can look into that just makes them filthy. So how much work is it to raise a cow?
Um everything has a liver and kidneys to filter their bodies. Pigs are actually clean. I have raised both and cows are gross. More flies, gross poo and lots of it. Plus a cow eats way more and takes way longer to mature.☀️❤️☀️
How fascinating! I'm in Florida too (palm beach county) - how did you find your butcher? And where did you look to buy piglets? Are these things just word of mouth or can you find online? ...also I wonder if you would ever raise meat chickens for food in addition to egg layers. Thanks!
Berky.hi I like you idea.ilike to have a pieces land, and have animal. special my fresh eggs.If you don't. mind told me.where are you location. Thank you so much.Bless days
I don't think she has a lack of empathy, she is homesteading to live cheaper and grow/raise her own food. If you get yourself into a position of falling in love with your animals you won't be able to butcher them, which defeats the purpose of her homesteading to raise her own food.
+J Pittman The problem is, people put too much value on empathy for animals, and too little for humans.
You are right about that.
The pigs she raises are given a much better life than most pigs that are raised for food in America.
Do you eat all of that meat yourself or do you share it with other people or your cats/dogs?
Great video, thanks for all the information!
Does your bacon taste like store bought?
Great job! I can't wait to see all the yummy pork dishes your going to make.
we're all gonna need a lot more than a video on dressed pigs. you need to be somewhere where the local folks do it themselves in their backyards...... because urban areas may look resilient. but they ain't. Co2. then methane. more sure than how a cellphone works.
Raised hogs many years never heard of growth hormones for hogs. They grow fast enough on their own.
Was it hard to say goodbye to the pig you raised????
I love you outfit at the end 😊