204 Bales of Hay on the Landing, 204 Bales of hay…
…Take one down, pass it around, 203 bales of hay on the landing…
Yes, pigs eat hay. About 100 to 150 tons a year pass through our pigs. This is one way that we import nutrients to our farm’s soil. The soil is like a bank, you need to make deposits if you are going to make withdrawals (pork). We buy in hay which lets us use our pastures for grazing during the warm seasons – ending soon. Then over the winter we feed hay to replace the pasture. Hay is pasture, saved up for winter. Fresh pasture is more nutritious and digestible than the dry hay but the hay will get use through the winter.
Some other ways that we make deposits are wood chips for deep bedding packs (which the pigs eat some of), whey, some spent barley from a local brewery, occasionally apples from a local cider mill and to a large degree the nitrogen and carbon pulled straight out of the air by legumes like clover as well as the grasses and other forages in our fields. All of these things improve the soil which feeds the pigs that feed our customers.
It’s a food cycle. Breath in, breath out.
Also see:
Feeding Hay to Pigs
Winter Hay Feeding Day
Units of Hay per Pig
Hay Composition
Winter Hay Arrival 2014
Winter Hay 2013
Hay Bale Orientation
Spiked Hay Bales
Bale Grabber
Hay Bale Chain Grab
Pigs’s Diet
Feeding
Outdoors: 59°F/36°F Sunny
Tiny Cottage: 63°F/59°F
Daily Spark: “Execution Complete.” -Said the operating system
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
Do you pay any special attention to what kind of hay you buy? Do you feel responsible for how your hay producers import nutrients?
Yes, we buy almost all of our hay from one farmer, buying all that he produces and I know how he farms in an organic manner although not certified. The other hay comes from one of two farmers, one of which is certified organic and the other is haying a mix of fields that are his and others again doing a good job.
We can grow all winter here, but I bought some big round baled oats from a dairy farm just in case. So glad I did, we had so much rain here in Sept Oct that it killed almost everything in the pasture. I know everyone would prefer to be eating turnips and kale but fermented oat hay isn’t a terrible backup.