Pasture Raised Pigs and other animals

[firefighter9208]

Last year we bought two Tamworth pigs (as weaners) and finished them out on pasture. Tamworths are a Heritage breed and do very well on pasture. They will "graze" and eat grass, nuts, etc... We also supplemented them with ground ear corn (that we raised) and some commercial hog finisher.

We sold 1 and 1/2 of the pigs at slaughter and kept 1/2 for our own consumption. The meat is incredible!!!! My wife won't even eat store bought sausage, but loves the sausage from our pigs. She says that the pork chops are the best. BTW: their names were Pork Chop and Bacon.

On Sunday afternoon we went and picked up six weaners from the same farm Dennis Farms that we bought the other two from last year. They are in a large "pen" for the first 2 weeks to get used to our farm. There is plenty of grass, roots, and nuts in the pen for them to eat. We are also throwing in vegetables and any pumpkins that we have that we "cull" when loading the truck. After two weeks they will be turned out on about 7 acres of pasture.

Two of the the piggies are already sold to customers and we will keep one for ourselves. The other three will be sold as soon as we find prospective buyers.

Here are some pictures of the new arrivals....

 

[Chuck52]

What kinds of nuts do they have access to? I've got some oak trees on my place that usually put out tons of acorns, but I don't know if pigs would eat those bitter nuts or not. I know the folks back home in East Tennessee used to let their hogs run in the woods and forage on chestnuts before the blight took them all. That hog meat was supposed to be particularly good because of all the sweet chestnuts the hogs fattened up on.

Chuck

 

[jinman]

I think you'll have to watch that the larger pig(s) don't dominate at the feed trough. They'll push the runts away. I hope your plan works out. You'll probably find that six pigs is not that much harder than having only two.

 

[firefighter9208]

What kinds of nuts do they have access to? I've got some oak trees on my place that usually put out tons of acorns, but I don't know if pigs would eat those bitter nuts or not. I know the folks back home in East Tennessee used to let their hogs run in the woods and forage on chestnuts before the blight took them all. That hog meat was supposed to be particularly good because of all the sweet chestnuts the hogs fattened up on.

Chuck

Hickory nuts and acorns are the most prevelant.

Chris

 

[firefighter9208]

I think you'll have to watch that the larger pig(s) don't dominate at the feed trough. They'll push the runts away. I hope your plan works out. You'll probably find that six pigs is not that much harder than having only two.

Five of the pigs are from the same litter. They are the smaller ones. The larger one is a few weeks older. I am going to place food troughs in various places to spread out the feed, that way one can't dominate the others. Also, as soon as the larger one gets big enough he's going in the freezer.

With the two last year I had to seperate their feed so one wouldn't dominate the other. One of them was almost 50# heavier at slaughter than the other anyway.

I don't think 6 will be that much of a problem.

Chris

 

[firefighter9208]

We also have chickens that we raise for the eggs. Here are some pictures of them... and their house.

Chris

 

[Larry Caldwell]

The next time you do this, buy them early enough that you can finish them about the first of November. Not only can you get the leavings of all the gardens, but you can finish them on late season apples and other fruit. You would not believe the flavor of fruit finished pork! I would just pull a pickup into an abandoned orchard and pick directly into the bed, then drive throught the pasture shovelling them out over a large area. The pigs will pick and choose their best fruit without walking them down like happens if you pile them in one area.

150 years ago somebody imported the giant French snails into this area, and they naturalized fine. The pigs found so many snails that they even quit coming to their corn. All you could hear was the sound of crunching from under the trees. I think pigs finished on escargot might have an off flavor, though.

Pigs on pasture do great.

 

[jcims]

What kind of fencing would you need to keep the porkers around? Our chickens keep getting wiped out, I'm thinking moving to a sturdier stock might help.

I like the fruit finish option, my parents have about a half acre of apples that just fall to the ground and rot (passers by will sometimes grab a few buckets for whatever purposes they wish).

 

[firefighter9208]

The next time you do this, buy them early enough that you can finish them about the first of November. Not only can you get the leavings of all the gardens, but you can finish them on late season apples and other fruit. You would not believe the flavor of fruit finished pork! I would just pull a pickup into an abandoned orchard and pick directly into the bed, then drive throught the pasture shovelling them out over a large area. The pigs will pick and choose their best fruit without walking them down like happens if you pile them in one area.

150 years ago somebody imported the giant French snails into this area, and they naturalized fine. The pigs found so many snails that they even quit coming to their corn. All you could hear was the sound of crunching from under the trees. I think pigs finished on escargot might have an off flavor, though.

Pigs on pasture do great.

I like to get them this time of year. That's when the grower has weaners and I'm about to pick my corn.

Chris

 

[firefighter9208]

What kind of fencing would you need to keep the porkers around? Our chickens keep getting wiped out, I'm thinking moving to a sturdier stock might help.

I like the fruit finish option, my parents have about a half acre of apples that just fall to the ground and rot (passers by will sometimes grab a few buckets for whatever purposes they wish).

48" field fence (we call it Hog Wire) with a very hot Southern States fence charger. I run 12 ga. galvenized electric wire about 8" off the ground all the way around inside the fence. The charger is a 6 joule (15,000 volt) beast! It kept goats in for 7 years. I use three ground rods 10 feet apart.

Chris