Sugar Mountain has great soil for growing maple trees but terrible for gardening. Our soil is shallow, acidic, stoney and the top soil is a very thin (1/8″) organic layer over glacial gravel, sand and granite ledge in most places. It is like gardening on bare sub-soil – not terribly productive.
Years ago I got soil tests done. To follow the UVM extension service’s recommendations for adding fertilizers would have been horrendously expensive. I also didn’t want to go the chemical fertilizer route. Manure is very hard to come by in any quantity – I’m not interested in buying it by the bag at the garden store. There are fewer and fewer dairy farms or any other farms that generate any excess manure. The farmers use most of their animals’ manure on their own fields. Any extra goes to family gardens. Occasionally I’ll see a little for sale in the classifieds. Horse manure is readily available but carries tetanus.
The solution was to get our own animals who would generate manure to turn our glacial till soil into rich garden beds. That’s the theory and it works. It might seem like a very long and convoluted way to grow a tomato. The side benefit is you get a lot of tomatoes, corn, pumpkins and other veggies as well as some great pork, eggs, chicken, lamb, wool, etc along the way. And if you do it right the animals will provide free labor in your gardens.
The standard way of modern farming is you put the animal in a box, shovel the food in one end, shovel the manure out the other end, spread the manure on the field, grow crops, shovel the crops back in the other end of the box, shovel the manure out, take the animal out and sell it. That is a lot of back breaking shoveling.
A simpler method is you put the animals out to pasture, they harvest their own food, spread the manure around and then you harvest the animals. Some people refer to this pastured method as grass farming. The animals do most of the work and it is a lot easier on the back. This method is real traditional farming and not compatible with the USDA’s proposed NAIS or their other scary ideas about modern farming. The more I learn about the USDA the less I like them. But that is another topic. We’re here to talk shit.
We use this pastured model of traditional agriculture with our animals with some fine tuning for our climate and location. The animals over winter in areas that I want to turn into gardens in a year or two. This fertilizes the area. Any waste hay gets mixed into the ground. In the spring the pigs till up the garden space, mixing the hay into the soil. When pigs are mobbed into a small area, such as four to ten pigs in a 2,000 sq-ft garden, they dig in deeply and till the soil. They enjoy their work and I enjoy not having to own or run a tiller. Of course, bigger pigs till deeper and faster. More pig power.
A big trick is not to have the pigs in an area for too long. You do not want the soil to become compacted. This is easy, watch it. It is better to move them between small sections that take them a week to till up than to leave them on a big section that takes them months to work over.
After they are done fertilizing, working in the winter’s hay and turning over the soil we move the pigs out and move in the chickens for a few weeks. The chickens get any insects and plants that sprout up, smooth the soil down and leave the garden devoid of plant life. I like that because I am not overly fond of weeding. We then move the chickens out and plant immediately. Again, don’t leave the birds on the area too long or they will pack the soil.
The trick with getting the animals to do a good job is to limit the space they are in and limit the time they are there. This mobbing causes pigs to change their behavior to either root or graze. Out on the pasture with plenty of space they don’t tend to dig very much or deeply. Instead they graze. But when they are mobbed into a smaller area they dig down deep into the heart of the soil, working in organic material and digging up rocks. This all results in fertilized, tilled, leveled, virtually weed free gardens with very little effort on our part. As a side benefit you get to eat the tillers.
The other thing we do is move the pigs and then the chickens through gardens in the fall after we have finished harvesting. The animals clean up any crop residues, till the remains into the soil, fertilize the gardens and break up insect overwintering cycles. This means better gardens with fewer insects in the spring.
58째F/54째F 4″ Rain
I like to read real life bloggs. I’m in Northern Idaho in far north in panhandle of Idaho. The mountains here are form from glaciers.
We don’t have much rocks in soil. Basically are soil is clay we use a lot of water here to grow a garden.
“As a side benefit you get to eat the tillers.”
This part I think I like most of all, though the ‘less’ effort part is quite appealing as well.
~Scott
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this post! Your method is probably the most sustainable agriculture that is done in this day and age.
We are doing a similar thing as well. The geese live in the garden all winter, fertilizing and defoliating. We don’t have the facilities to over-winter pigs. Otherwise we would definitely use the pig-tiller method!
This year we aren’t cutting the grass on our (1+ acre) lawn. We are using portable electric net fencing from Premier 1, and letting the goats and sheep mow it for us. It gives the main pasture a break, and gives us a break from mowing. Plus our feed costs have been absolutely slashed. And isn’t it nice how goat and sheep manure is already pelletized and broadcast spread naturally, with no extra work!
Misty, in terms of overwintering pigs, it doesn’t take much. We have simple pallet sheds and three sided pole sheds with walls made of hay and dens dug into the hill (also see here) that are effectively three sided sheds too. This year for winter farrowing we made this ultra simple greenhouse structure out of wire and plastic sheeting. In the winter we feed hay to the pigs – that replaces the pasture. They are very hardy and deal well with the cold even here in the mountains of northern Vermont.
At first, I thought those were coyote! Phew!
Walter, thanks for the site. I raise some animal here in Florida (exotic parrots and rare bulldogs) and I am considering trying a few pigs. I stumbled on your website and just wanted to take the time to thank people like you. It never ceases to amaze me that there are good people who like to share their experiences to others.
Many people won’t share much with you and it’s hard to make a good decision without decent (or any) information.
thank you again I will be back checking things out. Great information, wish you were closer though!
George Wolf
gjwolf1@excite.com
http://www.pawsanfeathers.net
http://www.bulldogranch.com
Walter, thanks for the information. I have a Parrot Farm here in Tampa Florida and considering trying some pigs in the future. I appreciate reading about the farm and all the info you have here. I only wish you lived closer!
George Wolf
http://www.pawsandfeathers.net
http://www.bulldogranch.com
Walter,
could you please discuss your method of fencing your pigs? YOu seem to have such flexibility and are able to put your pigs where you need them for as long as you need them and then move them somewhere else.
Michele, I have several fencing articles in the works. In a nutshell, we use a combination of stone walls, high tensile permanent fencing, temporary polywire on step in posts and poultry netting. The combination gives security and flexibility. Each has its time and place. -Walter
Great article!
I plan to “till” my garden similarly next spring. I thought of over-wintering pigs in a hoop-house, but I don’t know how to provide drinking water in colder days (I do not have electricity on the site)
I am sure, you have a good DIY solution :)
Hi Walter or Any one out there
I am looking for a diagram, to build a good pasture land low crush % farrowing hut, for my 4 pregnant pigs
HELP!!!
Leta
Leta,
The designs I’ve heard of are generally arched or A-frame with the idea that the piglets have a space all around the mother below the edge of the roof wall. Some add a bar down low to increase this. Most designs I’ve seen were moveable either by hand or with a tractor. Some people also use calf huts.
We don’t provide them with houses – we learned they prefer to go out into the brush and make nests. Our sows farrow on the pasture and we don’t get crushing. They are very careful with the piglets. I think that crushing is caused by crowding and overly fat sows who are not as gentle about laying down.
Cheers,
-WalterJ
Ok, I work doing diagnostic testing at a veterinary hospital and hadn’t heard about the tetanus-in-horse-manure thing, so I couldn’t resist looking it up.
As far as I can tell, the reason I’d never heard it before is ’cause it ain’t so. (Condescending quotes from PhDs to follow!) “Horse manure has tetanus in it” is kind of like saying “Bread dough has yeast in it.” Well… true. But the yeast got there because it’s already so common in the environment that some spores are guaranteed to land there. Sourdough starter is nice but not really necessary. : ) Likewise, the ‘osses just pick it up when it’s already there in the dirt- it’s not part of their normal intestinal collection.
Bugs in the Clostridium genus (C. tetani’s the tetanus one, C. botulinum’s the botulism one, and there are others, including the one that does most of the work in retting flax) are pretty common visitors to the intestines of all critters, which is why they’re so frequently found in dirt. (They’re also one of my personal favorite pathogens. Weird, I know, but y’all got me started. : ) They’re anaerobic (aka oxygen is a poison as far as they’re concerned), so the good news is they’re usually buried pretty far down and not out to get us. The bad news is they make spores that go everywhere and hatch as soon as they find a nice anaerobic place to live, including wounds.
The kinds of wounds they like aren’t the big scary ones- in those, the tissues are all open to the air. Nay, ’tis the punctures and other wounds that don’t bleed very much that they like, because in there there’s not very much oxygen. That’s why the rusty nail is the archetypal tetanus threat- a rusty nail’s usually been lying around in the dirt picking up all kinds of lovelies, and then delivers them all deep down where there’s no open air to bother ‘em.
Anyway, here are the long-promised quotes I found on horse manure and tetanus.
“Spores of C. tetani are ubiquitous in the environment, although their frequent occurrence in horse manure appears to be a fable perpetuated for decades. Spores are concentrated in some geographic areas and are present in much lower levels in other regions, so clinical cases occur frequently on some farm and rarely on others, even with similar husbandry practices.” This source (Pathogenesis of Bacteria in Animals, Carlton L. Gyles) goes on to talk about the differences between botulism and tetanus toxins, which has ramifications in things like why feeding babies honey could make them sick for a day but probably isn’t going to kill them like everybody tells you, but that’s a research project I haven’t really finished yet so don’t quote me on it. : )
This quote is great: “Clostridium tetani was isolated from human and animal stools at the following rates [95% confidence interval (CI)]: Human, 0% (1.5-0); horse, 1% (5-0); cow in cowshed, 4% (10-1); cow in pasture, 8.3% (17-1), calf in pasture, 0% (7-0); dog, 2% (11-0) and sheep in pasture, 25% (44-14).” That’s Ebisawa, Takayanagi, and Kigawa, Japanese Journal of Experimental Medicine, December of 1988, p. 233-41. So basically, horses are actually tied with people for the LOWEST amount of tetanus bacteria in their poop, and if you’re really worried about it, watch out for them sheep. As for pigs, when it comes to intestinal flora it’s usually safe to assume that they’re about the same as people. You know, non-ruminant, omnivorous, about the same size. So probably ok.
As an aside, I don’t know how you guys feel about vaccinations but tetanus shots every 10 years are especially important for people who deal with a lot of dirt since that’s where the little guys live. I’m always rather mystified by the earthy types who talk all about “working with nature” but when a really good opportunity to do so comes along… ie giving your immune system a sneak peek at the bad guys so it’s ready should they show up for real… they’re totally against it.
“Vaccine: So much more sustainable than two weeks in the hospital.” : )
Cool! Thanks for the info and for taking the time to post it. I’m glad to now that is a rural myth as I have many times had people offer me horse manure but I’ve hesitated to take it for that reason.
As to vaccinations, we do them. We get tetanus vaccines regularly, actually a little more often, 5 years I think, and the others including annual flu shots. I don’t want to get sick. Our dogs all get the rabies and such as they are our first defense against the wild diseases coming in on sick animals.
Thanks again and Merry Christmas!
-WalterJ
Hi Walter, great blog. I’m curious, what pig breeds do you use to till your gardens? Heritage breeds I guess, since the “modern” CAFO pig probably would not do well outdoors?
I read a couple of Salatin articles where he is also using “pig tiller” power. In one article, he uses pigs to aerate cow dung into compost and says Tamworths “are the best breed for rooting.”
http://www.awionline.org/farm/compost.html
Then in another article, where he is using pigs to create pastureland from forests, Salatin likes “Berkshires, Hampshires, Yorkshires and Durocs” and says that “Tamworths are great as a follower pig with cattle because they won’t root up the pasture, but this makes them useless for turning compost and clearing land.”
So Salatin appears to be saying contradictory things about Tamworths. Just wondering if you think there is a difference in pig breeds as tillers/composters?
I’ve heard various people claim that this or that breed is superior at this or that trait. I’ve read people claiming that Tamworths are better at rooting and people claiming that Tamworths don’t root at all. I don’t have any pure bred pigs of any breed, ours are a mix, so I can’t tell you from direct experience either way.
What I can tell you from experience is that how you manage the pigs makes a huge difference in how much they root. If you confine them to a smaller area they dig deeply. If you put them out on a larger pasture they graze more and dig hardly at all. They also dig more in moist soil and less in dry soil.
Your expectations are also a key in defining how much they root. They will likely dig some. So if one is looking for a flat cropped suburban lawn sheep would be a better bet. :)
Hi Walter,
I was discussing our excavation issue with our neighbour and she mentioned using pigs as tillers while pointing me in your direction!
So here I am. I read the article you posted and am very interested but I am unsure if pigs are suitable in my particular situation.
I have approximately 2.5 acres of “treed” land that has been cut but not grubbed.
I would love to be able to use a natural method of clearing the land (as the cutters spilled gas, oil etc from their equipment) but am unsure if there is enough “pig power” out there to do it!
I want to clear this stumped land to create pasture BUT some of the stumps are fairly large and there has been new growth come up as well.
We live in New Brunswick, Canada. We are located in a clay based area but most of spring, some of summer and most of fall – the ground is nice and wet.
I would like to hear your opinions and suggestions on this.
~ Jenn
Hi Jennifer,
Yes, pigs can do the job. If you combine them with sheep or cattle (Highlands are particularly good) then it works even better. It does require patience but over a period of years the livestock can turn it into nice pasture.
Start by fencing the outer perimeter. I would suggest high tensile woven wire with a hot inner high tensile wire at nose low nose height for the pigs and a hot top high tensile wire for the sheep or cattle.
Then subdivide the pasture into six paddocks. Polywire on step in posts will work fine for this. Two or three hot wires.
Ideally the stumps were cut low to the ground. Either way they’ll eventually rot out. The advantage of low cut is there is less material to rot out and you can run a tractor with a bush hog on it over them if you ever want. It may take ten years for the stumps to decay completely. If you’re in a hurry this isn’t the method to use. The stumps will put up regen which can be good fodder for the animals.
Cheers,
-Walter
Hi Walter, thanks for the great blog. I want to start a herd of pigs and I am a complete novice on the subject.
Do you think pigs can be put to pasture only or at least as their main food? What area of pasture do you recommend for each pig?
I have acquired some nice land with some good pastures and plan to eventually start a milk herd, as I think they would complement well. The pigs would make pastures better for the cows, and dairy byproducts would be greatly appreciated by them.
I don’t have the winter problem, we are at the tropics high up above sea level so our low temps would go around 3-6 C and high 20-23 C. Do you think they will need shelter?
Any advice would be great. Thanks a lot.
Sergio
Hi Sergio,
We have raised three groups of pigs solely on pasture. They grew a bit slower and were quite lean. Pigs do better with the addition of dairy to the pasture as the fields are protein limited. Together hay/pasture and dairy make an excellent combination.
Here are some posts to look at that cover some of these topics:
Acres per pig
Fencing
Shelter
Pasture
I would suggest having some form of open shelter with a wall on the windward side and a roof to protect from rain in the wet seasons. Plenty of dry bedding is key.
Cheers,
-Walter
I’ll need to read more of your blog :-) I live in northern Idaho like peppylady but unlike her clay soil, our land sounds like yours — acidic, thin topsoil, filled with rocks. It’s hard to drive a t-post or even the electric netting spikes into the soil without hitting a rock. The only things that grow well here are pine trees and the noxious weeds hawkweed, knapweed, toadflaxes and St. John’s Wort. Thanks for the encouragement, I will try to use the pigs and chickens in my garden area this year.
you say that you plant right after the chickens leave. I have heard that if you do that their fresh manure will burn the plants. what have your expeirances been with that.
Micky,
I haven't had a problem with the chicken manure burning plants. This may be due to the fact that it is a low volume of manure and the chickens are removed just before planting so there is some time between when the manure was deposited and when the seeds sprout.
Cheers,
-Walter
I am looking at using a couple of pig on our small holding for the purpose of tilling the soil. I noticed the comment about what types of pigs are best for this purpose, the information I was searching on that bought me to your site.
I also wonder, if you know, do the pigs damage young trees if they are let into pasture that has young trees (no smaller than waist height).
All the best.
Olmec
Yes, pigs may damage small trees. If you care about the trees, fence a line so as to protect them. If you want to clear the small trees then graze chickens, pigs, sheep and goats for the best results. The combo cleans out brush very well.
Hello Mr. Jeffries!
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all these questions. I think you are one of the leaders in this ‘back to the grass’ movement.
I have a few questions. Could you please help me?
Recently I have been given the opertunity to raise some chickens, I want to do meat and layers. I would use pollynet for chickens, would I be able to put two pigs in with them? Would they try eat the eggs?
I would move them every couple of days. The pasture is pretty bad, I do have a source of raw milk, wey&skim.
Also, when should I buy weaned piglets? I can’t keep them through the winter, I’d have to slaughter end of fall.
Thank you!
Leigh~
Chickens need to be able to get away from the pigs. Keeping them in a small area means the pigs can corner them and kill them. At the very least, round the corners.
Start the weaners on your pastures as early in the spring as they are open for grazing. You should contact breeders now to reserve piglets and put down a deposit.
One more question!!!
Would pigs, if they don’t eat chickens, would they protect them from weasels?
lol! Makes me think of Piglet and the Woosels.
XD
Leigh~
Highly unlikely. Pigs are very self-involved.
Hi folks
You wrote:
> Horse manure is readily available but carries tetanus.
Horse people also figure they need to worm 9 times a year. They use Ivermectin. It takes 2 full seasons to get an earthworm to live in Ivermectin contaminated soil.
(___)
{o,o}
/)__)
-”-”———–douglas
Hi Folks
> Ideally the stumps were cut low to the ground.
I have never dealt with hardwoods, but, for pine, spruce, poplar, Dfir, a 2 foot high stump (depending on diameter) gives you something to lean on with the tractor when they start to rot. 1″ drilled holes filled with pure chicken shit and water will rot those root crowns pretty quick. I guess chicken poop contains a lot of KNO3. knock the stumps down and light a little fire over the root crown to make a little hot spot of nutrient availability.
(___)
{o,o}
/)__)
-”-”————douglas