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Superconsndar posted:Yeah, this. Boar taint is genetic and I'm selecting against it so I just cull any that show it really early. I am learning to castrate so will eventually probably keep some barrows to grow out with my gilts but I'll still cull the majority of boars just because pigs have enormous litters and I don't have the pasture to raise every single pig born to size, and only so many are good enough to sell as breeding stock. They make really nice rabbit sized whole roasters at 8 weeks or so; just salt and pepper them and throw them in a roasting pan with some aromatics. I do that with the ones that show only mild taint, and the ones where its really strong I just grind for spiced sausage. Females I'll usually keep to grow to size. I don't know nuffin about pigs but grew up on a working cattle ranch, I would imagine sheer physical size of uncastrated piglets might also become an issue? We castrate (by banding) pretty much at birth and even 2-3 months later when it's time to brand it is SUPER obvious if there's some testosterone still around. I dunno how fast piglets grow but intact bull calves are noticeably larger and more muscular than castrated steers within just a couple months. Drum posted:I love seeing pigs be pigs. They're pretty, pretty porklets. For a long time my dad just used a scalpel but eventually decided the reduced hassle from banding was worth the small failure rate. Holding down a baby calf in the snow and trying to castrate it while angry momma cow anxiously circles is not easy or fun and you run a pretty good risk of cutting yourself.
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Nov 26, 2015 22:24
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 03:12 |
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