# Potbelly, Kune Kune, AGH????



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Has anyone butchered any of these? Obviously the larger farm hogs are better for meat. But if space is limited? What’s the best option? What’s their meat/lard/bacon traits? We are thinking of adding a pig or two too our homestead. Not sure if we want a breeding sow or just a grow out or two. We were offered a free potbelly sow but don’t have the pen set up yet which got us to thinking of options


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## birdman1 (Oct 3, 2011)

a friend who butchered some pot bellys told me the fat was useless as bacon or lard being soft and oily , why not get regular good growing farm pigs and just butcher at a younger age . i bought some kind of pot belly or kune mixed breed pig at an auction once and found it slow growing and mean ., to the point that i sold it for less than the cost of a bag of feed to get rid of the ugly thing and make room for a good pig for my freezer .


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## knarc (Nov 15, 2018)

Have you previously raised pigs?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Pigs are the only livestock that I do not have first hand experience with. That is another reason I thought to start small (and free) but until I have the pen set up we are not in any shape to get anything. So also a good time to ask questions.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Kunes can take a bit longer to reach butcher weight but my opinion is that it is tasty meat, and yes, the fat and bacon are good quality. 
I don't consider them "commercial", though they can be quite profitable selling off the piglets. To me, they are more of a homesteading, smaller scale bit of livestock.
The ones we had did less damage, took less care and had amiable personalities.


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## knarc (Nov 15, 2018)

I started raising pigs for meat around a couple of years ago. We get 2 or 3 weaners and raise them out to a proper butcher weight depending on pig. We have raised a number of different pigs Kunekune, Kunekune X Mangalitsa, Hereford, and Duroc X Hampshire trying to figure out what we like. We prefer our pork to have some fat on them and not SUPER lean. They are typically raised in a 60ft X 80ft pen and depending on the season they could have additional 50ft X 100ft area that has a mulberry tree. I fed them free choice grain(18% to 14% protein) mash with free choice hay. I have broken up my rankings in behavior, pork taste/quality, and overall experience. These are my opinions.

Behavior(how friendly, rooting, flat out destructive, etc..)(1 being best)

Kunekune(almost no rooting, very friendly, no hot line)
Kunekune X Mangalitsa(minimal rooting, very friendly, no hot line)
Hereford(root, friendly, hot line)
Duroc X Hamplshire(tons of rooting, friendly, destructive, multiple strands of hot line)
Pork/Quality(quality, quantity)(1 being best)

 Hereford(great inter-muscular marbling, deep red pork, good quantity, great taste)
 Kunekune(good inter-muscular marbling, deep red pork, small quantity and cuts, good taste)
 Duroc X Hampshire(acceptable inter-muscular marbling, red pork, great quantity, good taste)

 Kunekune X Mangalitsa(too much lard compared to pork, great inter-muscular marbling, red pork, small quantity and cuts, good taste)
Overall Experience(1 being best)

Hereford(great feed efficiency, 7 months to butcher, well rounded experience)
Duroc X Hampshire(6 months to butcher, pros out weight the destructive nature)

Kunekune(great pet/homestead pig but left me wanting more pork, longer at 12 months to butcher)
Kunekune X Mangalitsa(good mellow pigs, really fatty but what did you expect, 11 months to butcher, better options then this one)
If your looking for a small homestead pig that takes some time and gives you some delicious pork but not a large amount the Kunekune is a great option. But maybe keep a look out for some other breeds. Also, I would recommend you grow some pigs out for meat first before getting a breeding sow. Breeding and raising piglets is a whole another endeavor. If you like growing them out and are still interested in breeding them then go get a breeding sow and boar.

If you have any other questions or would like some clarifications on anything I typed let me know.


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## markt1 (Dec 15, 2013)

We are moving to our place in WV in April and are considering getting a pair of breeding pigs for meat. The idea of tolerating a big boar hog that could hurt us isn't going to happen. So the daddy pig needs to be KuneKune. However, the Idaho Pasture Pigs look pretty tempting, selected for pasture feeding genes, more weight (300Lbs for sows), low rooting, and friendly dispositions. Although we'd get a mix, at least some of the piglets would be largish. Anyone have any Idaho Pasture Pig experience?


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