By Rodney Wilson
If you have limited space but an available barn, you can get by with as little as 100 square feet per pig.
TIM BELYK/FLICKR
So you want a pig? I’d say you’ve chosen wisely. Once referred to as “mortgage lifters” to struggling farmers for their potential profitability, pigs are some impressive livestock. Today’s small farmer can raise a hog to market weight — usually about 300 pounds — without a burdensome investment of time or resources before stocking a freezer with a season’s worth of protein. But you can’t head to the local feed ’n’ seed to pick a piglet off the shelf, and knowing what to look for in a hog requires some educated planning.