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Post by deputydon on Jun 3, 2008 12:28:58 GMT -5
I was watching a show the other day about 1,000 pound plus Mega Hogs. Are they a myth or are they real. Interesting show!! There were several pictures of LARGE hogs shot by hunters mostly down south. Many were claimed to weigh over 1,000 pounds. Impressive hogs to say the least. While none were weighted on scales, always none handy, they looked huge. So what do you think, do they roam the countryside ? Or are they hoax's ? I DO know that Nebraska has no hogs running wild here... And if we did they would be running with the mountain lions we don't have or maybe from them...  |
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Post by jimiowa on Jun 3, 2008 12:52:13 GMT -5
Well on the surface I won't say it could not happen.
However if it did it would be exceptionally rare.
Since I have not seen one that big at the Iowa State Fair and they pen those domestics up and pour the feed to them to see how big they can get, I have my doubts. Bailey(my son) is a swine herder and he says they consider market weight to be in the 260-280 wt .range. Funny since in the late 60's we got docked if a hog went over 220 lbs?
Kind of like those 250 lbs + Iowa Whitetails you hear about.
They do exist but not as often as the myths portray
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Post by Jack on Jun 3, 2008 12:59:31 GMT -5
I gotta wonder....
I know there have been some pics of huge hogs floating around the internet.
One that was alleged to be a wild 1,000 pound hog was investigated by National Geographic. The hog was indeed very large, but it turned out to be a domestic of about 800 pounds that had been released into a fenced in farm to be hunted.
I guess I'm sceptical of the 1,000 pound hog, but I'm no expert, either.
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Post by deputydon on Jun 3, 2008 13:48:59 GMT -5
Well on the surface I won't say it could not happen. However if it did it would be exceptionally rare. Since I have not seen one that big at the Iowa State Fair and they pen those domestics up and pour the feed to them to see how big they can get, I have my doubts. Bailey(my son) is a swine herder and he says they consider market weight to be in the 260-280 wt .range. Funny since in the late 60's we got docked if a hog went over 220 lbs? Kind of like those 250 lbs + Iowa Whitetails you hear about. They do exist but not as often as the myths portray Your right jimiowa; we used to get docked for anything over 220-230 lbs. In this super sized world the consumer wants everything bigger!! Of course I'm no different, I butchered four home raised hogs this winter, the largest was 386 pounds on a certified scale!!! Talk about pork chops and steaks!!!Jack the show I watched had an "expert" professor study some of the skulls. One was in his opinion a "pen raised" hog. As he explained why I listened and low and below the next one (750 lber) had ALL the features he said a "wild hog" would have!!!! So he concluded it was a "wild Boar" Interesting show. |
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Jun 3, 2008 13:58:48 GMT -5
This has pretty much been proven to most people's satisfaction. These big pigs are domesticaly raised and released prior to a hunt. Even with proper genetics, there's just not enough food in the wild to create these monsters.
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bounce
Royal Member
Posts: 5,727
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Post by bounce on Jun 3, 2008 15:13:59 GMT -5
If you keep feeding them they do grow big, as a kid I saw old bores over 600# But them days are long gone around hear but probibly not around some moon shine mash?
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Post by jimiowa on Jun 3, 2008 15:21:47 GMT -5
Well on the surface I won't say it could not happen. However if it did it would be exceptionally rare. Since I have not seen one that big at the Iowa State Fair and they pen those domestics up and pour the feed to them to see how big they can get, I have my doubts. Bailey(my son) is a swine herder and he says they consider market weight to be in the 260-280 wt .range. Funny since in the late 60's we got docked if a hog went over 220 lbs? Kind of like those 250 lbs + Iowa Whitetails you hear about. They do exist but not as often as the myths portray Your right jimiowa; we used to get docked for anything over 220-230 lbs. In this super sized world the consumer wants everything bigger!! Of course I'm no different, I butchered four home raised hogs this winter, the largest was 386 pounds on a certified scale!!! Talk about pork chops and steaks!!!Jack the show I watched had an "expert" professor study some of the skulls. One was in his opinion a "pen raised" hog. As he explained why I listened and low and below the next one (750 lber) had ALL the features he said a "wild hog" would have!!!! So he concluded it was a "wild Boar" Interesting show. Your right Don those would be nice chops & steaks. Pork produced today is nothing like we produced in the 60's. You won't find 3/4" of fat on todays hogs back. And The meat is a lot leaner. My only objection to todays hogs are in some ways they are not as strong and healthy as we used to raise. By that I mean they put the weight on so fast that they are not a mature hog at market weight. They have the skeleton structure and internal organ development of a teenager and the body weight of a mature hog. Bailey says they have a couple of them go down due to stress while loading for market on each load and he averages 3-4 truckloads per week. He manages 18 Barns with 2500-4000 head in each barn (wean to finish). It's kind of like a teenage athlete on steroids? |
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Post by bullseye on Jun 3, 2008 15:31:24 GMT -5
I would guess the reason domestic hogs get to the large sizes is that the food is always under their snouts and the don't have to forage much to get it. Kind of like a couch potato!!!
On the other hand a feral hog has to cover larger areas to forage and therefore don't have the luxury of adding weight from lounging around.
I would agree with Jim, possible but not probable.
I watched a part of the show and it was interesting especially the part that the hogs let the guys get pretty close as long as they were on horses.
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Post by jimiowa on Jun 3, 2008 15:59:34 GMT -5
If you keep feeding them they do grow big, as a kid I saw old bores over 600# But them days are long gone around hear but probibly not around some moon shine mash? Yes I have seen some big ol Boars too Bounce, but Their not much good if their so heavy they break down your guilts. You want them to breed them not squash them! Most folks would get rid of the if they got much over 300-350 lbs. |
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Post by deputydon on Jun 3, 2008 17:07:29 GMT -5
Your right jimiowa; we used to get docked for anything over 220-230 lbs. In this super sized world the consumer wants everything bigger!! Of course I'm no different, I butchered four home raised hogs this winter, the largest was 386 pounds on a certified scale!!! Talk about pork chops and steaks!!!Jack the show I watched had an "expert" professor study some of the skulls. One was in his opinion a "pen raised" hog. As he explained why I listened and low and below the next one (750 lber) had ALL the features he said a "wild hog" would have!!!! So he concluded it was a "wild Boar" Interesting show. Your right Don those would be nice chops & steaks. Pork produced today is nothing like we produced in the 60's. You won't find 3/4" of fat on todays hogs back. And The meat is a lot leaner. My only objection to todays hogs are in some ways they are not as strong and healthy as we used to raise. By that I mean they put the weight on so fast that they are not a mature hog at market weight. They have the skeleton structure and internal organ development of a teenager and the body weight of a mature hog. Bailey says they have a couple of them go down due to stress while loading for market on each load and he averages 3-4 truckloads per week. He manages 18 Barns with 2500-4000 head in each barn (wean to finish). It's kind of like a teenage athlete on steroids? Mine are raised on cracked corn and afalfa hay. No chemicals at all. It takes over a well year to get them in the upper 200 lower 300 pound range. But the meat sure is good!! |
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Post by 340wby on Jun 3, 2008 18:45:28 GMT -5
IVE seen a few reasonably large hogs shot but 450 lbs would probably be at or slightly over thier live weight
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Post by jimiowa on Jun 3, 2008 22:13:31 GMT -5
That's the way to feed them Don.
We had a Gurnsey Cow that would produce more rich milk than a family with 7 children could drink.
We Hand milked her and ran the milk through a hand cranked separator The Cream was for Table use and lots of ice cream(especially in winter when we broke the ice out of the watering trough) so the cows could drink. The Milk was put in 5 gal. buckets along with several scoops of oats and table scraps and let sour. You had to be sure to be on the right side of the trough when you poured the slop, or the pig would mow you over getting to it. Slop fed hogs made good eatin let me tell you!
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