Customer Reviews

Living with Pigs: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Porkers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't really understand someone giving a book a bad review simply for philosophical reasons as one other reviewer did.

We have a farm where we keep dairy goats, sheep, ponies and a pet pot-bellied pig. The goats give milk, the sheep give wool, the ponies are for riding and the pot-bellied pig is a pet given to us by a neighbor.

However, we're considering acquiring a couple of pigs to put in the freezer and this book covers almost all facets of pig-keeping in an excellent manner. The only thing not covered in depth is veterinary problems one may encounter, although those are rare in properly kept pigs.

The author clearly loves and respects pigs, which is NOT inconsistent with farmers who intend to butcher. And the author provides clear guidelines not only on how to keep your pigs happy and healthy, but also how to approach butchering in a manner that is extremely considering of the animals' feelings. Pigs raised in factory farms are kept in deplorable conditions where they never see sunlight or have room to move. At slaughtering time they are loaded into chutes and butchered. The animals raised through the methods outlined in this book are far happier, and die with more dignity.

I don't expect everyone to agree with my endorsement of this book, but there is a need for this type of information, especially as more families consider raising their own organic meat.

This definitely is not a book about children and what their mothers told them about their rooms looking like a pig sty. This is a book about animal husbandry and the raising of your own porkers.

Living with Pigs is wonderfully illustrated with photographic images by Geoff Hansen showing the many different breeds of pigs and their surroundings. We all relate to 'Babe' and the exploits of this cute piglet in the barnyard. Chuck Wooster tells tales about his pigs and getting them used to his barnyard for feeding. He snorts 'hello' to them and they 'snort and grunt' return affection.

This book shows that growing up to a shoat and then to a hog is an extremely fast project. In the span of 5 months a 20 to 30 pound shoat becomes a 250 pound hog! With tongue in cheek humor, Chuck Wooster, tells in a remarkably subtle manner the foils and accomplishments he had in the raising of his pigs. One day, three of his pigs were walking across the field to the reception tent for his sister's wedding. These devils were so smart they picked the lock of their enclosure and escaped to join the party.

How to construct enclosures, fences, and where to place a pig sty are only a few explicit instructions given. Hansen goes into extreme detail on the selection process of getting that first shoat. He writes about the gregarious nature of pigs and their need to socialize with other pigs. Pigs do not like to sleep alone or be by themselves at play. They need to be in a group of at least two or more to be content.

A draw back in the past was the fear of getting trichinosis from improperly cooked pork. Raising top quality porcini, organically, partially eliminates this problem and the other tip is not to feed your animals' table scraps or garbage. The United States Department of Agriculture outlawed the feeding of garbage to pigs many years ago to stop the development of this disease. Using fresh vegetables from your garden or feed that is not medically treated are two of the tricks that Chuck employs in his organic system.

The chapter describing slaughter, rendering, and final cut-up is quite graphic, which might be a turn-off for the squeamish among you. However, that section can be skipped and the alternative is to take your hog to the butcher for finalization in your pick-up truck.

Cooking instructions, cuts of meat, and almost everything you want to know about raising your own porker are here in this book. It is one of the best books that I have read on the raising and care of animals.

Clark Isaacs
Reviewer

Here is a book that doesn't even come up on a book search "raising pigs". It should be #1 on the list. A practical guide, written in language that is easy to understand. This book is an easy and captivating read, written for the family that wants to raise good wholesome pork for themselves and perhaps a few others. It doesn't get into keeping a boar and sows and farrowing out dozens of pigs. It does cover everything you'll need to know to raise several pigs from weaning to slaughter. It even gets into the economics of it, you will save money and perhaps make money. Great photos, concise plans and descriptions, golden advice. If you are thinking of raising pigs, this is your book. Buy it.

I loved Living with Chickens and Living with Sheep, so picked up Living with Pigs to complete the series. This book is full of thoughtful facts, gorgeous photographs, and is written in a wonderful conversational style. Most books of this sort tend to be dry and lacking in personality; this book, on the other hand, is a pleasure to read. The author clearly loves and respects his animals, which is, contrary to views of the fanatical anti-meat reviewer who provided the sole negative review for this book, something we need to encourage if we are to see animals treated and eaten with respect. Great job!

We really enjoyed this book - the author has a great writing style and we referred to it constantly during our first batch of pigs. Not as in depth as I needed in the long run, but still highly recommend.

This is one of the best books I've read. All my friends wanted to read it. It was an awesome book. All my friends were fighting over reading it.