TheMangalitsais aheritage cop strain , identifiable by its wooly coat . It seems to bethepig for small farmers who want to evoke robust hogs for healthier and more succulent gist with a decent amount of fat . For Michigan homesteader and Mangalitsa cop Fannie Farmer Mark Baker , the Mangalitsa fend out as one of his pet animals to raise . Since 2008 , he has been course raising Mangalitsa squealer and has fare to make love the curly haired pig for their hardiness , forage abilities , resistance to uttermost temperature and tasty porc .
Mark was also at the vanguard of the Mangalitsa ’s uprise popularity on U.S. farms and is one of the few people in the land who has a thoroughgoing and rounded knowledge in by nature raising Mangalitsa pigs for meat and profit . He believes that , as a homestead Cartesian product , this pig is extremely good and easy to upraise .
Pig Pointers
Mangalitsa pigs are a hardy stock , best shown off during harsh winters . “ My pigs … prefer to burrow into straw or a hay bale , ” Mark says . “ Even on the coldest of night , they do n’t have any shelter . It ’s even snowed on them a few times . ” He has a video explaining how he raises pigs in the winter onhis YouTube canal .
Mark does put up hut on the eatage , as you’re able to see in the video linked above . Barbara Meyer zu Altenschildesche , cover advisor for Mangalitsa Breed Organization and Registry , commend that sodbuster provide a simple protection or pig hovel where their livestock can stay dry .
“ Even when they sometimes will prefer to sleep outside when it ’s cold but dry , they should have the possibility to go into their fond nest / hut when it is frigid and rain down , ” she say .
The opening should be turned aside from whatever direction the air current mostly comes and placed on a spot that will stay ironical when a lot of rainfall falls . Provide shuck in the colder months . “ Pigs always leave the hut to do their toilet . Even 2 - day - old piglets go out of their nest , ” she says , “ so cleanse the hut from dung wo n’t be want . ”
Mangalitsa fuzz are already furred , and their fur increases in the winter , so they ’re perfectly suited for uttermost weather . Mark has more than once seen his pigs prevail single - finger’s breadth weather , with some sows even giving healthy birth during Michigan snowstorm . A will to the strain ’s hardiness in cold climate , it ’s not uncommon for sow to bundle their litters together and watch over the piggy as a team . This increases the piglets ’ chances of survival , especially during wintertime months .
Barbara recommend that each sow be offer a army hut in which to give nascence . “ [ An A - frame ] hut work well or a army hut with a sidebar , which gives the piglets the power to get away from mum when she rolls over to eat them , ” she says .
Mangalitsa piglets do n’t need heat energy laps or such , but they ca n’t keep their torso temperature up when it ’s cold and raining .
“ You could drop off the whole bedding material in stale , wet weather without a hut , something nobody need to experience , ” Barbara allege . “ Use chaff in your hut when it ’s cold . Do n’t use hay , as the newborn wet piglet can get stuck in it . ”
On top of their hardiness , Mangalitsas have the electrical capacity to grow to 400 Egyptian pound . The expectant attractor tothe pig as a meat animal is that their body weight is made up of 60 to 70 percent fat , a meaning difference compare to the average sloven ’s 50 per centum fat . This extrafat makes the meat exceptionally crank to the melt - in - your - backtalk point , lay the Mangalitsa aside against the standard pig and even other naturally raised inheritance pigbreeds . “ The grown difference is the difference between received pork and Mangalitsa pork , ” Mark say .
Though Mangalitsas usually take about 18 month to reach their full weight , they ’re worth it because they have intermuscular avoirdupois , which means the essence is a deeper red and the fat is snow - bloodless when fake . The dark - red color indicates higher nutriment and signals a better taste . The marble increases with long time , same as the color .
Mark even says that Mangalitsa meat has such an acute flavor that some slice are like to the flavor of beef . “ There ’s still a stark difference of opinion between pork and bitch , ” he says , “ but sometimes , when you have Mangalitsa , it has such a recondite savor you would remember it was beef . ”
Movable Enclosures
Farmers raising Mangalitsas can build movable inclosure and employ a pasture rotation organization . This method acting cut down on feed costsand gives pigs the most instinctive and healthy environment in which togrow . Mangalitsas are decent sized pig , sotheir inclosure will need to be decently strong . Mark use a 100 - by-100 - human foot inclosure built with woven wire and sturdy posts .
“ We build enclosures with fence posts and stretch an [ electric ] conducting wire really tight , ” he says . The galvanizing telegram is placed 1 foot within the fence business line , grow 1 base off the ground and charged with a solar - powered energy origin . establish these enclosures in close chronological sequence to each other makes it sluttish and efficient to rotate pigs into the next enclosure . Mark hasa helpful video on fencingon his YouTube line .
If you ’re on a budget , do n’t worry . These enclosure are comparatively inexpensive to bug out . Including wire and fenceposts , Mark ’s natural enclosure can be built for around $ 500 . “ What ’s nice about that is you may add on if you ’re capable to develop a market for [ your pigs ] , ” Mark state .
Pasturing a Pig
Once the enclosures are built , it ’s meter to think how you ’ll graze your Mangalitsas . Most grunter are n’t well - known for thriving almostentirely on pasture rotation . However , Mark has developed a feeding system called “ the grow system . ” It produce a more born environment for Mangalitsas to feed and grow in and let him end up out a Sus scrofa for only $ 200 .
Average Mangalitsa farmer , not using Mark ’s grow system , will spend around $ 500 to $ 600 from parturition to finish . “ These pigs mightlook like sheep , but they wo n’t grow by eating gage and hay alone , ” Barbara suppose . “ They need a balanced respectable diet that accommodate a fuzz ’s motivation with enough protein [ 16 percent ] , carbohydrates , mineral and vitamins . The shote you will buy need a day-after-day basic ration of hogg feed to grow . ”
Mark enrich his rotation system ’s foliage by planting tight - mature vegetables in each enclosing , vegetables his pigs will scrounge for or dig up up over fourth dimension . Over the course of the summer , he can plant and give his pig multiple time with a variety of crop , such as corn , pumpkin vine and radishes .
Once the crops are constitute and grown , he ’ll move the pigs into the natural enclosure . When the hog have polish off exhaust that pasture , he ’ll move the pig to the next enclosure , which will be ripe with new veggie .
“ Say the grunter are on field two , ” Mark says . “ I could be grow on field of operation three . Then I can move the pig to field three and groom field one . ”
With a “ grow organization , ” sodbuster do n’t have to worry about pesticide because the food is n’t for human consumption . The pigs go through each section and eat the flora . Mangalitsas will raven everything — the cob , the chaff , the roots . “ It keeps them busy , and their physical structure are capable to march that pasture , ” he tell . This system leaves behind a well - furrow and fertilized plot of ground that is ready to be replanted for the next time the pigs are rotate .
A 100 - by-100 - foot pasture also makes it easy to raise a brawny group of pigs at one time . “ We start the group of pigs as a sounder , which is about up to 10 sows and one Sus scrofa , ” Mark says . “ I have them on about1⁄2 an acre , and if you ’re conversant with1⁄2 an Akko , it ’s pretty big . But it ’s plenty of room for 10 mother fuzz , each with eight babe . ”
Pasturing Mangalitsas in their raw herding state also gives the grunter beneficial social interactions . Mark has find that when he keep his pigs in a sounder , younger sows will learn from the older sows when bring up their bedding material . “ It would seem quite engorged , but it in reality is n’t , ” he says . “ And 10 sow are a really unspoilt aspect on your homestead . ”
Processing & Selling
Mangalitsas can be made profitable in many ways . If you require to go the route of betray live pigs , the average piglet sell for about $ 150 , and a feeder ( gilt or castrated male ) or breeder pig can trade for up to $ 500 each . “ A individual can get started for a sensible amount of money , and if you ’re sell 10 feeders a year , that ’s somewhat honorable money for a homestead , ” Mark says . However , prices also bet a mint on position and the current marketplace .
The end product can be profitable for homesteaders who want full kernel and fat for their own use . For Mangalitsa breeders and the great unwashed that want to raise them to keep a bit for themselves and their familyandbe able to betray the meat to the public , they ’ll involve to build the market place . That takes an norm of 5 years , according to Barbara .
“ The hole-and-corner sauce is if you may butcher it yourself , ” Mark says . Homesteaders should learn to slaughter their own meat because butchering costs have risen and because homesteaders can get more meat out of slaughter their own pigs . When it add up to squealer , many commercial butchers will often discard usable meat such as organs or head heart . This happens because pig butchering standard are set according to the health of manufacturing plant - farm pig , which are often kick upstairs in indoor environments that taint the meat .
For case , the lungs of indoor - raise pigs are discarded because they have inhaled air pollutant from long - standing manure . Because the pollutants have settle into the lung nub , the sum is no longer eatable for humankind . However , Mark can expend bull lungs as a soup substance because his pigs are raised outdoors and constantly rotated between unlike pastures to keep them in prime health . Because he naturally raises his pigs and does his own butchering , Mark also gets the most meat and profit out of his pigs , using the essence , liver , kidneys and caul fat . “ There ’s not very much of the animal we do n’t use , ” Mark say . “ This is why homesteaders really need to look at being their own processors . It gives them a vast advantage . ”
Check state regulation regarding home slaughter , as each state is different and regulationsdepend on what you ’re doing with the meat ( exhaust it yourself , give it away , selling it , etc . )
In Indiana , for example , all essence from livestock and poultry intended for human food must be butcher and processed in an brass inspected by the state board of brute wellness or the USDA ’s Food Safety and Inspection Service . However , there is a home - raise exception .
“ A person may slaughter and process his / her own livestock or poultry that he / she has get up . The owner of the animal must use the meat product exclusively in his / her household . The possessor may use them for his / her nonpaying client and employee but may not transfer ( i.e. , deal , donate , give ) any product to another person . ”
as luck would have it , with the Second Advent of the net , it is n’t hard for someone with any butcher experience to figure out how to butcher a full - sized hogg and make their Mangalitsas more profitable .
To help homesteaders wanting to become their own processors , Mark has started Homestead Hog Harvest , his own hogget - butchering class . His course begin students out with a live hog and stop off with a beautiful meat product that can be used to add on a family ’s food stores or sell . ( Learn more here . ) Another great butcher videois this one , fromBon Appetit .
“ Foster a can - do attitude , ” Mark aver . “ It ’s not brain surgery . It ’s an art . But it ’s good to be the best you may . You may not do so well , but you ’ll still have a intersection at the end . ”
The Mangalitsa can be a significantly profitable beast to have on the farm . “ They ’re unique and quite gentle , ” Mark says . “ They ’re not a scourge to my children or other children that come to my farm . I ’m not say it ’s a silver smoke , but it ’s a jolly good bullet to have on your farm . ”
More Information
Barbara Meyer zu Altenschildesche , cover advisor for Mangalitsa Breed Organization and Registry , offers some financial advice for new Mangalitsa Farmer . She says that introductory costs — such as body of water / feeding scheme , fencing , caparison and such — aren’t very different from those of raising other inheritance pig breeds . However , this strain is slower growing , learn almost double the clock time to get to slaughter weight when you want the matured marrow , which means more labor and more feed .
“ Also , costs reckon on the amount of farming someone has , the placement , soil , climate , how far they would require to drive to purchase feed , the local feed costs and how much time someone wants to put into caring for them , ” she says . “ It all add up , and to be honest it ’s mostly more than the great unwashed aim or conceive it would be . ”
The Mangalitsa Breed Organization and Registry recommends to take off small and acquire easy . Purchase two to three feeders , raise them out and compose down your cost . Slaughter them and see if this is what you anticipate and if your locale has the market to betray this niche product .
If you follow , count into buy good nurture broth . “ This is a beautiful Sus scrofa breed with rafts of awe-inspiring quality , beautiful meat and healthyfat . But it must fit in your market when you desire to make a short lucre , ” says Barbara Meyer zu Altenschildesche , the organization ’s breed advisor .
ensure you cognize the breed characteristic . Not every pig with curly haircloth is a pure Mangalitsa . Even virginal - looking ones can be crosses .
“ They ’re still beautiful pigs and dependable to feed but not pure of breed , ” she say . When you gather cover stock , ask the history of the pig bed to avoid inbreeding . “ There was only a limited phone number of significance of this stock since they came into the land in 2007 , ” Barbara say . “ Distance does not have in mind unrelated , as these slob travel often from one farm to many different states . ”
Another very important thing for new Mangalitsa James Leonard Farmer to know is what consistence condition a hog should have . It ’s not easy in the origin with this stock , as it has so much pelt that you need to analyze each pig by feeling its condition with your mitt . “ We see way too heavy sows and Sus scrofa , which can lead to sterility , ” Barbara enjoin . “ Or we see right smart too skinny Mangalitsasand piteous acquire animal , as the great unwashed just do not feed them enough . ”
Mangalitsa pigs should grade 3 to 4 in a consistence conditioning test . When you need more fertile with butchery , feed more and a 5 score would be what you are take care for . To learn more about body conditioning , check outthis video from UConn Extension .
For more information about Mangalitsas , try these resources :
Mangalitsa pig have a longsighted snout and root agency more than pigs with a shorter snout . And while they ’ll eat most anything , some weeds are highly toxic to pigs , include the following , which should be excrete from your property .
This article originally appear in the July / August issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
