Pigs on the Farm
The latest animal species to arrive at Timber Creek Farm is the pig. Three hogs arrived one day after my son decided this was the animal for him. He purchased three feeder pigs, two female and one male. He had done the prep work already and had pens ready for them to start this new life. They had baby pools, straw bedding and a large stall to stay warm and dry.
The pigs promptly made a horrible muddy mess out of their pens. Walking in to feed or clean or just play with them left you with mud halfway up your leg. The mud threatened to suck up our little piglets! There had to be a better way.
Pig Pens or Pig Pastures
Doing some research, further backed up what I had read in Forest Pritchard’s book, Gaining Ground. Pigs do better on pasture. Well, we really don’t have pastures. We have fenced in paddocks with tall overgrown weeds and ground cover. Our property was at one time, completely wooded. The areas we have cleared are sufficient and suitable for the animals we raise, but lush, green pasture will be a long time coming. It can also be like farming in a swamp. But we make it work. So the fence line was completely enclosed with electric wire, the posts reinforced, gates added, and the pigs were let “free” to roam the “pasture.”
During the late fall and winter months, the pigs were allowed to roam the abandoned vegetable garden area. They ate all the leftover produce, the stalks, the vines and tossed the ground up better than a rototiller. They ate leftover pumpkins from the local grocery store and even planted some seeds for us to find this summer.
We have more volunteer pumpkin plants producing pumpkins than ever before. Only problem is they are all over the place! The garden had the richest deepest colored earth ever this spring. Well fertilized and ready to grow our spring and summer veggies.
How is it Working out?
Fast forward one year later. The pigs are thriving in their combination living arrangement. They have shelter from the weather, but plenty of room to roam around, with electric run around different fields. They can root around and eat any vegetation they want, but we also supplement with some grain to make sure they keep their weight up. When the gilts farrowed for the first time, we had areas set up for the blessed events plus a way for momma to still have some time rooting in the fields. The babies soon learned to follow momma and I was amazed at how early they begin to imitate her behavior.
I was worried that the babies would separate from the momma pig and stray outside the fence but this appears to have been unnecessary worry. The babies keep an eye on their momma and she seems to know just where they are at all times.
Since our pigs were raised to be handled frequently, the gilts did not mind us interacting with the babies too much. They did keep a watchful eye on us but we had no incidents of aggressive behavior. We usually gave the mom some food to eat while we inspected the piglets.
There is still a fair amount of mud in our pig pens. I am not sure you can have pigs and not have mud. But having them free ranging, so to speak, cuts down considerably on the mud. The vegetation seems to be regrowing regularly and the pigs have not cleared it completely.
With the free ranging pig set up we were not sure of exact dates of mating and had to rely on other signs of impending delivery. Luckily, advice from other pig owners and research helped my son determine when the ladies were ready to go into the birthing stalls. The deliveries went off perfectly and in both cases the piglets arrived without help or human intervention.
Layla threw us off our game a bit by only having one piglet. I was sure there must be more stuck inside, but we waited and watched and that was it. One healthy perfect piglet, named Reba. Mariah made up for it by delivering nine healthy bouncing piglets two weeks later.
Our first year into natural pig keeping has been a success. Charlie missed roaming the fields with his ladies but he and Layla have been reunited now that Reba is weaned.. Almost all of the babies have been spoken for and will leave for their new homes when weaned. The circle continues, pasture raised pigs and natural pig keeping, on our family homestead.
I agree with Joel Salatin on raising pigs in a pasture environment. But I would definitely rotate the pigs to different areas to protect against disease.
Tracie, you are correct. I should have been more clear on that point. It is important to move the pigs from section to section so that they don’t over burden one area with parasites. Good point. Thanks – Janet
This was our first year raising pigs and we are just about ready to let them free range in the garden for a couple months. We bought two feeder female pigs but I think I want to try my hand at raising a babies too. That will be my next adventure. Thanks for all the great pictures I loved seeing your pig family!
thank you for sharing your pig adventures, pasture pigs are defiantly the way to go and they do a great job of getting your garden ready for planting
We have a breeding trio arriving this month and we’ve been having a hard time deciding how best to house them, despite reading a lot of ideas. At least we know we want to pasture them as much as possible; I’m just worried about to do during winter. We’re in Missouri know so the winters aren’t quite as harsh as they were for our six years in Utah (ugh, I’m a wuss about that much snow) but I’m still not sure they won’t just dig right out of our barn.
Thank you for sharing your experience! It makes me feel better to know that we’re all just trying to figure this stuff out together!
Hi Tessa I have found that most of pig raising is intuitive. They seem to be easy to keep and the hardest thing has been building pens and adding electric wire to keep them in where they belong. We had two litters farrowed during the coldest spell last winter. With plenty of straw, heat lamps and some extra vigilance most of them made it through the first week. There is always a good chance of losing the runts because they aren’t as developed or strong. We have tried to hand rear but that seems to end with a higher death rate than leaving them with momma pig. Hope you have a good experience with the new piggies. – Janet
We started this year too and we went with a heritage pig the red waddles and bred our female waddle with a black and white Hampshire and Wala we had 13 beautiful babies some solid red some solid black some red and white and some black and white but all so healthy and adorable. Wish I could find a way to send you some pics
The pig you are raising sound delightful! You can email me photos to garmanjanet@gmail.com I would love to see them – Janet
I love this article! I don’t know if I could ever talk hubby into some pigs. We’d have some more fence work to do before we’d be ready for that. But we’re getting there. But if we did, we’d raise them on our pasture. 😉
How do you end the process? Just asking because all this sounds lovely; pasture and natural way of raising pigs; factory farming should be illegal; but at the end of the day do you load them up on trucks to a far away slaughter house or is there a more humane, respectable way you do this?
Suzanne, This is an excellent point. I am so far behind in responding to comments but your question is so good, and needs to be addressed. We were very careful in choosing a butcher for any of our livestock. We visited the site and asked tons of questions. We also asked other customers of the business. While we couldn’t be there to observe the actual kill, we felt comfortable that our choices were in agreement with our thinking. Over the years we have begun doing some of this ourselves. We have a family rule we apply – One bullet. the animals are in their environment and never see it coming. They are relaxed and calm. There is no chasing or putting them in unfamiliar places. This, in my mind is best. But of course you have to have the right equipment to remove the animal from the field, hang to clean and enough space to process the carcass. With pigs, it’s not too bad. If we get cattle again in the future we will most likely use the butcher for the entire process. Look for one that makes you comfortable. Our choice had a nice grassy field for drop off. The cows were given a day to acclimate and relax before the kill shot. We asked for three week hanging period to ensure the beef was extra tender. In short, don’t be afraid to shop around for the right business for your business.
I love this! Heading over right now to read your post – Janet