Pig parade
Saturday morning I went and picked up the newest addition to the farm – two pigs of mixed Gloucestershire Old Spot and Tamworth heritage.
The more I read about using pigs as tillers, the more I realize that they need to be in a smaller space for an extended period of time in order for the process to be effective. I may start moving them around in fifty by fifty sections in the larger fenced area. This will concentrate their rooting and digging efforts.
I’m thinking that if left in the large area, they will focus on the easy spots and basically defeat the purpose of having them on pasture. They may just wait for me to come feed them, loaf off the rest of the time, occasionally digging up a worm here or there to satisfy some instinctual piece of evolutionary memory.
But maybe I’m wrong and the pigs know what they are doing. I mean, they haven’t even been with us for a week, and I can already tell where they have been working.
April 9, 2009 at 9:21 am
You are on the right track, confining them to a smaller area in order to get the desired rooting effect. A few pigs are a great addition to a small farm, nature’s garbage disposal. they will process all the kitchen scraps you can muster and turn them into porkey deliciousness and a wonderful soil amendment. I’ve even found them to be less work than broiler chickens, considering the meat supplied/hours worked ratio. I enjoy following your blog, this country needs more rural agrarian anarchists. Keep up the good fight.