Why we no longer raise Mangalitsa Pigs: November Farm Update!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- I explain the reasoning behind why we are no longer raising Mangalitsa pigs. We are moving our Genetics to include Berkshire. We recently purchased a registered Berkshire gilt and a registered Berkshire boar.
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If all goes as planned we should have another litter of Pure Tamworth Piglets in the next 2 weeks.
We are a small farm located in Central/Northern Michigan. We farm every inch of our 6 acres. We breed Registered Dairy Goats, Dexter Cattle, and Heritage Hogs.
Our goats include Nubian goats, Mini Nubians, Fainting Goats, and Nigerian Dwarf goats.
Our Heritage Hogs include: registered Berkshires, Tamworth, Kune Kune, and Hereford.
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Oh your daughter is so lucky to be growing up with this knowledge.
She is our encyclopedia 😀
I crossed my Mangalitsa sow with a Kunekune and have got some nice F1 crosses that I’m going to bred to a Berkshire for quicker grow out. I 100% raise in pasture with cows and goats with no problems.
Interesting cross. How big is your kune boar?
@@SweetBriarFarmMichigan My guess is 250 pounds he is a lot shorter then the Mangalitsa sow. I bought her at 4 months old and he bred her while she was still his size. He could not rebred her. She was bad to bite the other animals like you said so she went to the butcher great meat. The F1 pigs grow much faster then the Kunekune at one year will double the Kunekune have a shorter snout, very thick body, and are very gently like the Kunekune
I like them enough that I have sold all of my pigs except 1 Kunekune gilts that I plan to sell and 1 F1 cross that is going to the butcher soon, and the 2 F1 gilts that I’m going to bred to a Berkshire. What I have had in mine is to make my version of a Idaho pasture pig but with all lard hogs. I just retired so I have my retirement to experiment. I want a pig that can do well on pasture with cattle. I have found a lot of benefit of running them together.
That’s what the one I’m getting is. How is the temperament on the cross?
@@thekristymichelle6537 good A lot better then the Mangalitsa
I had the same idea and have produced some crosses as well. I currently have only retained one kun/mang cross gilt at present. They all tended towards a fawn color with some spots .
My Mangalitsa have never been much trouble In , about the same as Kunekunes . Just much bigger. And for forage they have one advantage , we have a lot of black walnut trees and those things love the nuts.
I have several Mangalitsas on two of my farms, and you are right. They are mean pigs. Fortunately, they are surprisingly smart and trainable. Ours love to have their heads and back scratched. So we do this regularly, beginning when they are very young. Some of our helpers even carry grooming rakes to scratch them. We hardly ever get challenges from them though sometimes they challenge each other during feedings.
To keep down on this and other bad behavior we carry riding crops and use them even before the pigs are weaned. The point is not to hurt the pigs but to signal displeasure. Mangalitsa are like elephants. They don't forget, which is both a good and bad trait. If you simply tap them as a signal, they learn fast so that you only need show the crop to get good behavior. Sometimes, at the beginning, you may need to come down hard on some of the more enterprising Mangalitsa, and I mean really hard. But after a few times of that you should see them being well-aware of what not to do. I am convinced that some of ours will misbehave (pushing others around during feeding, etc.) and then look up expecting to see us showing the crop. I know it is seems crazy, but I think that I have seen this.
But all in all, I agree that Mangalitsa are a high-maintenance breed. I am thinking of crossing mine with some kind of combination involving both Tamworth and Berkshire.
All good points and advice! We bred 2 of the 3 to our Tamworth boar. We didn’t keep any for ourselves but a repeat customer bought a group of the piglets and then bought a group of our pure Tamworths and they said no more of the Mangalitsa crosses for them lol. We have small children and so do they, so it was a safety issue with the 3 of them. For some people we know they have no issues with them.
I am sure you know any breed you can get a bad temperament our one Tamworth sows is an excellent mother to the point she comes right after you when we collect her piglets for castrating. So we have a special set up for her lol. When she doesn’t have piglets she is docile. Kelsey wants me to cull her I am still on the fence.
My Mangalitsas are only a little aggressive when they have babies, but I don’t blame them, I am too!
Yeah we have a tamworth like that. Our Mangalitsa we always beating on the other sows. I have watched your videos and know you have had good luck with them. I am not saying they are all aggressive we just didn’t have a good group of them. 👍🏼
@@SweetBriarFarmMichigan Somehow I got good ones. My Mennonite friend tried some and couldn’t get over 2 or 3 per litter. I’m not sure where his came from. I’m getting ready for cooler weather and slaughter time!
@@McGieHomesteadAdventures the Mangalitsa bacon is the best I have ever had. I will say that! Good luck with the butchering!
My first litter is only four. She was so massive I thought it was going to a large litter.
So far though they are gentle. They get excited when feeding and push.
Can pick up from first few hours, piglets and scratch my manglista sow's ears and no issues. Completely calm. They get excited now and then but no charging.
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad your experience has been positive.
Did you raise the mangalistas from piglets and they became aggressive? I’m taking one in and curious if it’s in their nature to become more aggressive.
We got them as piglets. When they got bigger they became more aggressive. They would bite at us and were aggressive to the other pigs. Some people have good luck with them. Personally we think they are neat pigs but some of the other breeds are over all better pork. Hereford for example has been our overall favorite all around pork so far.
Now we have a tamworth sow that is aggressive/very protective of her piglets so we have to be extra careful when working her piglets but 99% of the time we have no issues getting in the pens and giving the sows vaccines and what not.
It's also important to remember the rarer the breed the less temperament is considered. With pigs as common as the Berkshire you can cull for temperament at will, be very choosy with boars etc. But with high value breeds with lower numbers often people will let them "get away" with bad behavior. We used to see that a lot in the rarer breeds of chicken we kept. Mean hens that were bad mothers that were still used in lines because the cost to replace them was too high
good point
The reason they’re aggressive is mostly because they’re crossed with wild boar.
Makes sense
Wow those pigs are so large but great temperament- I don't like the look of Mangalitsas & I don't know why. Your Daughter has such great knowledge on the animals, well done. Wow I don't know whether I could live in your climate as I love the heat & extreme warm- like the beach etc in Summer, our winter sometimes gets down to around 50 degrees & I absolutely freeze, so to live where it snows is a complete NO GO ZONE for me hahaha. I do admire you guys though. Cheers Denise- Australia
It’s hard to get motivated to go outside in the winter when it is below zero🥶
Roland sure is a porker lol. I can't wait to see the new babies...piglets and kids. Your daughter seems well educated about the animals. I wonder if she plans on going into farming when she gets older.
I told the kids he needs to have his daily rations cut. He is getting too chunky. Maylee definitely loves her animals. Pretty sure she will be a crazy goat woman like her mother 😀
I came across your page by accident this morning and sure glad I did! My husband and I have thought we were crazy because you never see anyone talking about the Manga temperament! Everywhere we looked, there were the standard comments that they were gentle and good mothers etc. Well, we have many different breeds of pigs and none of them are as unpredictable, often aggressive, and reactive as the Mangalitsa. We raise Meishan, Berkshire, GOS, Hampshire and Red Wattle. When we added the Mangalitsa, we wanted the valued meat quality and their ability to withstand very long, cold winters. They do all of that great but wow, are they a handful! we thought at first we just had a bloodline issue. But! when we bought a Manga from a totally different bloodline, the same attitude issues appeared. One of our Manga gilts is SO protective of her pen and of us that she jumped a fence and took after a visitor to the ranch and meant business about the attack as well. All of our pigs and cattle are hand raised with love and attention. We stay right with all our other breeds of pigs during farrowing and there are no aggressive behaviors at all. The Mangalitsa and even some of the cross bred Mangas we raised are so blasted unpredictable. We are making the move away from them as well.
Wow that's quite the story! We have a Tamworth sow that came after us defending her piglets. Kelsey wants to get rid of her but I am not ready to send her to the grinder. She had her first litter and is 99% of the time friendly as can be. So I am not faulting her for defending her piglets. It's more our set up that I need to change. If you explore our channel you will see video of the Sow I am talking about. I am giving her another farrowing before making the final decision.
The reason they’re aggressive is mostly because they’re crossed with wild boar.
What? No they are a Hungarian heritage lard pig.