Raising Swine

Because they produce meat and animal hide for leather.

• Male pigs are called Hogs
• Female pigs are called Sows
• Immature pigs are called Piglets

Farmers- Tending to pigs is the work of farmers. Ranchers and herders don't because pigs don't graze. General laborers lack the expertise to adequately care for and manage pigs; who demand a good deal of know how.

Butchers- Because pigs are primarily valuable for meat, having a butcher around to capitalize on your swine raising efforts is important.

Though pigs weigh about the same as humans do, they consume quite a bit more. The average Sow and Hog eats 3 units of food per month (Piglets suckle off of mother). Pigs can and will eat just about anything feed to them, though barley, oats, corn and wheat seem to be the foods most commonly used. Swine are natural foragers, though they are stubborn and aggressive and prone to wander far, making them too difficult to take to graze. This means they must be feed each and every month during all seasons.

Like all animals, Pigs require water. Because they don't graze, they have to watered year round. Because they do not sweat, and must wallow in the mud for health reasons, they require more water than you might expect for animals of their size. Every adult pig requires 15 units of water per month. Assuming you have ready access to ample water supplies, the effort to water the pigs is included in their tending calculations.

• Each adult pig needs 3 units of food per month.
• Barley, oats, corn and wheat seem to be the foods most commonly used.
• Every adult pig requires 15 units of water per month.

For the most part, pigs may be left outdoors all year round. Pigs need to be kept in a sturdy enclosure both for their own protection from predators and to prevent their escape. A pigsty at bare minimum should be at least 25 square ft per adult pig, but 50 is more appropriate. Your enclosure should be put together using the building rules. You want to build a fence or wall to completely encircle your enclosure.

• 50 square foot of enclosure per pig encircled with a sturdy fence or wall.

Tending to pigs should be done by a farmer. A Farmer can tend up to 100 pigs for every FLU (Farmer Labor Unit) dedicated to tending your herd. Attempting to raise pigs without a bona fide farmer or having more pigs than the farmer can manage will result in higher mortality rates and lower rates of reproduction.

• 100 pigs for every 1 FLU dedicated by farmers.

In the real world, pigs have an average life expectancy of about 15 years thanks to modern medical and environmental advancements. For a more medieval setting, I'm going to assume this is closer to 10 years. Assuming pigs live on average to about age ten, that means about 1 pig in 125 will die monthly of natural causes. These losses will include hogs, sows and piglets.

Piglets reach maturity at 2 years of age. When a piglet matures, there is an even chance they will grow to be Hogs or Sows. This means that each month, 1 in 25 piglets will reach maturity.

On modern farms, the average sow produces an average of around 22 viable piglets per year. Litters of piglets are quite large but have a high mortality rate. The number of piglets in the modern era that reach maturity is much higher than in years past due to medications and management care. For our rules, we are going to assume a much lower rate of about 12 viable piglets per year per sow; or one piglet per sow per month. Most breeding programs suggest that the optimal gender ratio for breeding is 1 hog per 20 sows. With a less favorable ratio of hogs, you will have fewer piglets per sow.

• 1 pig for every 125 will die per month (including hogs, sows and piglets)
• 1 in 25 piglets will mature into a sow or hog monthly.
• You need at last 1 hog per 20 sows.
• 1 piglet born per sow per month on average.

Typical adult pigs can weight between 150 and 250 pounds. Much of the animal can be butchered into meat. For every adult pig you butcher, you will get 3 units of meat. If you have a butcher of at least adept rank, you can get 4 units of meat per adult pig you butcher. Traditionally, hogs are butchered for meat and sows are kept to procreate. Piglets yield no appreciable meat when butchered. Butchering pigs also produces hide. Butchering a hog or a sow produces 4 units of animal hide. If you have a leatherworker, hunter or trapper of at least adept rank, you can get 5 units of animal hide per adult pig instead. Piglets produce only 1 unit of leather when slaughtered.

• 3 units of meat per Sow or Hog butchered (4 units of meat with a butcher)
• 4 units of animal hide per Sow or Hog butchered (5 with a Leather Worker, Hunter or Trapper)
• Butchering a piglet produces no meat and 1 unit of animal hide.