Author Topic: Just how big will a hog grow?  (Read 734 times)

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Offline Sourdough

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Just how big will a hog grow?
« on: June 01, 2009, 09:36:15 AM »
After reading many stories about large hogs lately, I am curious as to just how big will a hog grow?    Just imagine a Hog the size of a Hippo.

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Offline SHOOTALL

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2009, 09:53:32 AM »
The tv program on hogzilla showed a live hog in China that was over 2000 lbs. not a wild hog but a big one .
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Offline DDZ

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2009, 10:00:37 AM »
Biggest pig I've ever seen. He must have been pretty hungry. It says they saw it eating a cow. I bet it would be about as tough as an oak board to eat.
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Offline SHOOTALL

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2009, 10:01:52 AM »
wonder if it had a WILD TASTE ?
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Offline DDZ

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2009, 11:37:25 AM »
It looks wild. I would hate to have that coming at me, and be under gunned!
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Offline mechanic

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2009, 12:11:31 PM »
My grandma used to raise some that looked about that big to me as a little boy.  She would name them, scratch their heads and feed them.  Then the first cold snap, she would hit them in the head with an axe and we would eat them.

I know we have had some go over 500# domesticated.  And I know of some that have been killed bigger than that feral. 
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Offline Skunk

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2009, 12:13:10 PM »
That's a mighty big pig. Biggest pigs I've ever seen face to face where the ones that an Amish family were growing on their farm. Of course they weren't nearly as big of pigs as the one in the above post, but they were incredibly large for a farm pig.

I must be missing something about the pig in the above post though. The article says, "the 220kg beast was eating a cow when it was first seen by workers mustering cattle in a helicopter."

220kg? Isn't 220kg only around 485 pounds? Am I converting this wrong? The pig in the picture looks like it would go more than 485lbs. Maybe a misprint in the article? A kg isn't a Kilogram? What am I missing?

Edit: had to make pig plural. ;)
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Offline LaOtto222

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2009, 01:13:29 PM »
I do not think it is unusual for a hog to get into the 800-1000 pound range if left that long. For the most part they are butchered well before they get that big. Normal butcher weight is in the 220-230 pound range rarely above 250 pounds. Breeding sows can get kind of big; sows get to be 500-600 pounds all the time. Once they get too big they are not much good for breeding either. I would not think a wild hog would get all that big, because they are always on the move looking for something to eat and it takes a lot of feed to keep a 400 pound hog going. The biggest I personally saw was a 850 pound Yorkshire at a local stock yard, it looked huge.
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Offline DDZ

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2009, 01:23:15 PM »
You are correct. 220kg is 485lbs. and yes it looks heavier then that.

Anyone ever heard the saying "sounds like a pig eating coal". My grandfather had some pigs, and my Mother said that she had seen the pigs eating coal a couple of times.  I guess there is a mineral in coal that they like. I guess pigs will eat just about anything. When I was a kid we would take food garbage and feed it to my Uncles pigs. they loved it. Once I was standing on the fence in my bare feet watching the pigs eat the garbage when one of them decided my toes looked good, and made a move to bite them. My Dad pulled me back just in time or I might have lost some toes.  
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Offline Questor

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2009, 01:35:23 PM »
The Minnesota state fair always has a largest boar contest and the winners are typically around 1200 to 1300 pounds. They are proportioned very differently from wild hogs, and don't seem like they'd be as heavy as they are when compared to other wild animals. They are not tall, but they sure are long and thick. On some of them, you'd think the testicles were half of the body weight.
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Offline slim rem 7

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2009, 01:47:44 PM »
 at the sale its not to uncommon for 6-700 lb hogs to come thru.....
 farmers don t likeum much bigger because they can start to break dn....
 some breeds worse than others.....
 i don t know if they are like big bulls or not.. a big bull can start to break you heifers dn... slim

Offline Davemuzz

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2009, 01:52:39 PM »
Pretty big:




Oh.....I'm sorry....you said HOG!!! Not ELEPHANT!!

A simple misunderstanding.

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Offline Swampman

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2009, 02:44:30 PM »
We had a 600lb sow when I was a kid.  It was big.
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Offline Sourdough

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2009, 02:58:55 PM »
While in Turkey I saw several wild hogs in the 500lb range.  Most of what we shot was in the 2 and 3 hundred pound range, and sometimes we would jump a bunch of little ones in the 45 to 50 lb range. 
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Offline kennyd

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2009, 03:24:31 PM »
A couple years ago the husband of the secretary at work shot one estimated at 1200, the scale on the ranch was only good for 1000, so they guessed the last 200. The picture looks similar to the one posted. This was on a game ranch east of Denver, so it was a free running domestic.  He used a bow and one arrow through the heart. His brother backied him with a rifle per the ranchers wishes.  His brother got one around 500 or 600.  They have the (ugly) head on the wall.  She says the chops were the size of a plate, and claims it tasted good.  I have misgivings about a huge boar tasting like anything but what it was.
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Offline powderman

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #15 on: June 01, 2009, 03:54:07 PM »
Biggest I ever saw was est at over 600 lbs by my neighbor. He had 2 sows over 400. He said that the boar broke the back of one of his best sows mounting her. He got rid of the boar after that. POWDERMAN.  :o :o
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Offline Ditchdigger

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #16 on: June 01, 2009, 05:01:06 PM »
Just look in the Guiness book of world records,the biggest hog was around 2500 pds.if my memory is correct.   Digger
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Offline rex6666

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #17 on: June 02, 2009, 06:46:32 AM »
Years ago i saw a boar at the sale barn that weighed 1100plus.
you have to remember domestic hogs are loaded with fat, wild hogs
have very little fat, more like a deer or elk very lean, they are always on the move
and will eat anything they can catch. We used to shoot hogs over bait
we used lots of rough fish from trout lines (gar, carp)
I would think that a 500lb wild hog would be the equilivant of a 800-1000lb
domestic.
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Offline oldandslow

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #18 on: June 02, 2009, 02:37:53 PM »
It has been a few years since I had anything to do with hogs but I raised them for a few years once upon a time. The conventional wisdom back then was hogs never quit growing. The only way to keep their growth rate down was to limit the amount of feed that was available for them. Of course that didn't apply to hogs raised for market which you want to grow off as quickly as possible, only for breeding stock. I once sold a Duroc sow that weighed 640# on a certified scale at the shipping pens. I kept some brood stock for a few years and none of them ever quit gaining in size.

Offline boondocker

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #19 on: June 03, 2009, 03:31:42 AM »
Here in Pa most domestic hogs usually get butchered at around 200 to 250 lb range as I see it. As far as wild hogs I have seen it depends on the enviroment as to their size. When I lived in South Fla working on the farms as a young man, and living out in no where we had wild hogs everywhere. When they got into the crops we would go catch them with the dogs and relocate them. They mostly lived on roots and the big ones averaged 80 to 90 lbs. They farther north you go the bigger they got as the food supply was better. Catching hogs with dogs is fun, I was a little learry at first but the bosses son taught me how. Dogs would get the by the ears and you grab the back legs and fling them in the cage on the back off the truck after you kick the pit bulls off their ears, they dont like to let go lol. We caught a lot of hogs with tore up ears. When I went south I took my shepard mix with me, the boss told me let him run loose as we had gators in the yard so he would have a chance. He came in at nite tho. I tied him the one time so we could get some hogs out of the field down back. Larrys dogs were working a hog and here comes a broke loose Champ right between them and into the hog unknowingly. It only took him a sec to figure he better get an ear our get a world of hurt. Them was the days, my wife wanted to move back to Pa or we would probably still be in Devils Gardens Fla.

Offline hunt-m-up

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #20 on: June 03, 2009, 05:08:48 AM »
A couple years ago the husband of the secretary at work shot one estimated at 1200, the scale on the ranch was only good for 1000, so they guessed the last 200. The picture looks similar to the one posted. This was on a game ranch east of Denver, so it was a free running domestic.  He used a bow and one arrow through the heart. His brother backied him with a rifle per the ranchers wishes.  His brother got one around 500 or 600.  They have the (ugly) head on the wall.  She says the chops were the size of a plate, and claims it tasted good.  I have misgivings about a huge boar tasting like anything but what it was.

I'd have to agree,anything gets that big and old and is still carrying his male parts,someone else can have my chop off that one. I'll take a 100lb barrow slow-cooked over coals anytime. I never saw them do it, but I understand my cousins in CA used to catch young wild pigs and castrate them then put a big earnotch in them so they knew which ones to come back and shoot. Good luck dealing with momma sow on that one.
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Offline Sheila

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #21 on: June 03, 2009, 04:00:10 PM »
I'm pretty sure there are some good sized wild hogs here in Cambria county.
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Offline mechanic

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Re: Just how big will a hog grow?
« Reply #22 on: June 03, 2009, 04:55:49 PM »
Some of the big hogs here in Ga. are those that live near a cattle feed lot.  They aren't just eating what they root, they're "'piggin" on cattle feed as well.  Most of the truly wild hogs I've seen would be lucky to go 200 pounds.
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