South Field Section One Clover
Time to change paddocks again. The pigs had eaten down section two of the south field so today I moved them down along the road to section one where the clover is tall and lush. They were very enthusiastic. Clover is one of their (many) favorite forages. One of the way to tell what they really like and what they don’t appreciate is to look at what is left over in a paddock as they graze vs what appears only in the margins between fence lines. The latter are favorites that are inaccessible. Examples are clover, thistles, burdock, jewel weed, etc. On the other hand, they tend to leave bitter cherry alone, only nibbling at it a little.
Pigs in Clover
That is no small sow – although looking at this photo I see she’s a little nursed down. Time to wean her. To give you an idea of how big she is, the grasses are up to my shoulders. She looks small in this photo but her back is about even with my waist. Further back you can see Speckles, one of our younger boars who is now about a year old. Beyond him are pigs up in section two that are looking on with jealous eyes at the pigs in the new clover. Moments later they figured out to come around to the lane and down to section one. Notice the height of the fence post (~36″) uphill of Speckles near the sow looking at me relative to the pigs and grasses.
We do managed intensive rotational grazing with our pigs and sheep. The chickens, ducks and geese just free range where ever. When moving the bigger animals from paddock to paddock the simplest thing is to just open the new paddock like I did today. They enthusiastically move in to get the new forage. Then I close off access to the old paddock once it is empty. Occasionally someone will get back in the previous grazing area – not a big deal. By setting the gates slightly open outward they’ll come out and join the others soon enough.
Outdoors: 70째F/38째F Sunny
Tiny Cottage: 76째F/69째F
My but that is some lush looking clover Walter. Our fields were too dry this year.
Gives new meaning to the phrase, "Three Little Pigs," doesn't it?
Hey Walter,
Okay, I'm a believer. Picked up some feeder pigs recently, and would like to try pasturing. I have about 4.5 acres, 2 of which is grass/clover pasture. I have a 1/4 acre fenced in with livestock fencing. Any chance I can keep one pig on that 1/4 acre? I was thinking I'd put up a strand of hot wire about ear height inside the stock fence to discourage rooting around the edges…
Thanks!
Beautiful.
Ended up here because we just put an offer on a little house with a bit of land and I can't sleep with all the excitement. And we want to try raising a couple pigs. And reading through your posts, I discovered you homeschool as well, so I just had to say "Hi!"
Walter,
Can you add more info on pigs per acre here? size of paddock etc.
I assume you don't reseed teh paddock they left…
Hi Walter,
I have been soaking up your blog now for a few weeks…seem to find something new every time. I really appreciate all of the information!
We have about 9 acres and currently have what we consider a small-ish hobby farm (our main business is a small, green design-build company–www.commongroundconstruction.net)
We raise Naragansett turkeys, romney sheep, laying hens and pigs. We have a couple of standard (yorkshire cross) sows and recently added a mulefoot sow and boar. We currently sell our pork by the half or whole but recently we have been talking with some local restaurants about purchasing pork. We are moving toward having less of a hobby farm and more of a second business.
I have a few questions that I'm sure you have answered somewhere but there is such a wealth of information, I've had a hard time finding the answers:-) If you can indulge us with some answers it would be so helpful…we are somewhat new to pasturing animals…we both grew up raising animals through 4-H and FFA and really only learned confinement-ish practices (my husband Scott raised pigs…they were all outdoors but grain fed…I raised sheep that had access to pasture but were mainly hay and grain fed).
1. Can you tell me roughly how many pigs & other animals you keep on what size pasture and how long they are typically on that pasture before they have eaten it down? If I understand correctly, you typically pasture all of your animals together so maybe you can tell me your typical "animal ratios". We intend to do the same…pigs, sheep, turkeys and chickens. I know it will take some experimentation but I'd like to have a general starting point so we can plan the layout of our pastures…right now it's a bit hodge podge.
2. Do you typically pay for the outside foods you feed your pigs? i.e. whey, cheese, etc. If so, what is a reasonable amount (we are in northwest washington so I'm sure dollar amounts vary…but again, a general frame of reference will help).
3. Do you seed your pastures and if so how? If not, would you if you could? Right now we are only using half of our land and that was pretty torn up by a horse before we got the other animals so we have a fair amount of mud right now since it's been raining nonstop. Our land is split down the middle but a seasonal stream/ditch. The other side is overgrown pasture interspersed with alder trees that grow like weeds. We are debating whether to plow and seed or just turn them all loose over there. Any thoughts?
4. We have a small pond on the other side…would you recommend fencing it off or will the animals stay out of it?
5. What do you think is a good ratio of sows to boars?
6. Some people think we are crazy already but we love our animals and farming. How much time to you and your family spend per day caring for your animals (and how many total animals)? I'm trying to determine a reasonable amount of growth considering that we have a young child and we both have "day jobs" with our construction company.
I realize this blog probably takes a massive amount of your time… I greatly appreciate any help you can offer us!
Thanks,
Cheryl
Wow, Cheryl, lots of questions. What you ask covers many entire posts and even categories. Rather than trying to answer the questions here I'll refer you to past posts that cover these topics. Use this search pattern:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:sugarmtnfarm.com+TERM
and replace the 'TERM' with what you would like to look for such as 'boars' or 'pigs per acre' or 'fencing' or 'water'.
You can also access the articles by categories here.
Cheers,
-Walter