Pigs

Weaners for the finishing pen, gilts for the farrowing house:

settle first what the pig is for. Weaners, piglets just taken off the sow, are grown out and finished, and a pen of them should be even in size and come from as few litters as possible, because pigs from different farms mixed in one pen fight and share whatever each of them carries. A gilt is a young female kept to breed. She matters as a mother rather than as meat, so her teats, her legs and the sow she came from count for more than her weight. A sow that has already farrowed comes with a record, and a boar needs a pen of his own and a handler who respects his size.

Landrace, Yorkshire and the Duroc cross:

the long white Landrace and Yorkshire are the mothering breeds, with big litters and the milk to raise them. The red Duroc and the belted Hampshire are used mostly as sires, for a leaner, quicker-growing pig. In a backyard pen a cross does well: a white sow served by a Duroc boar gives hardy weaners that grow fast. Whatever the breed, ask what the pigs eat now and keep them on the same feed for the first weeks, changing over gradually.

Farrowing crates, hopper feeders and nipple drinkers:

all wear out in predictable places. On a crate, look low down: urine and wash water eat the steel where the bars meet the floor, and a rusted foot or a cracked weld gives way the first time a sow leans on it. Galvanised crates outlast painted ones by a long way. A hopper feeder needs a gate that still slides, so feed flows without spilling onto the floor, and a trough with no rust holes. Turn the water on and press every nipple drinker: one that drips soaks the bedding, one that is blocked leaves pigs thirsty. Heat lamps for newborn piglets need their guard and a sound cord, because a lamp that drops into the bedding can start a fire.

A tubular biodigester behind the pens:

low-cost bag biodigesters are a familiar sight on small Costa Rican pig farms. The pen is washed down into a long plastic tube, the manure ferments, the gas runs to a kitchen burner and the liquid that comes out goes onto pasture or crops. The bag is the part that ages. Sun hardens and cracks unprotected plastic, so ask whether it sat under a roof or shade cloth, and look for patches along the top where the gas collects. Check the hose, the valve and the water trap, and whether the burner goes with it.

Teats, feet and breathing in the pig itself:

on a gilt, count the teats on both sides: they should be evenly spaced, well formed and pointing out, and blind or inverted ones mean fewer piglets raised. Watch her walk on a hard floor and look for straight legs, even toes and no swelling at the joints, because a sow that goes lame stops breeding. In a pen of weaners, look at the floor and the tails as closely as the pigs: loose, pasty droppings, bitten tails, a cough or flanks heaving at rest all tell you how the litter is doing. A boar should be keen, sound on his back legs and even in both testicles. Ask for farrowing dates and litter sizes on any sow, and keep newcomers apart from your own pigs for a while.

A pig leaving its shed in the cool of the morning:

pigs barely sweat, so plan the move for first light, with shade over the pickup bed or the livestock trailer, damp bedding and no big feed just before the trip. In the listing, give age, sex, breed or cross and what each pig eats, plus farrowing dates for a sow; one photo from the side and one of the teat line say more than a paragraph. A good handover sends a sack of the feed they know along with them and keeps littermates in one pen at the other end.