Raising pigs on pasture is a great way to decrease your overall feed cost, and create a better environment for the pigs and other farm animals. Here you’ll find how to raise pigs on pasture successfully and some factors you need to consider.
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Before raising my food, I had no idea how to raise pigs on pasture. My only experience with pigs was a stinky mud hole, and that’s something I wanted no part of.
It wasn’t until I started to research the benefits of pastured animals, that I discovered pork could indeed be raised on pasture. That was a game-changer.
Can All Pigs Be Raised On Pasture?
All pigs aren’t well suited to be raised on pasture. In my previous article, I talked about some of the more popular breeds commonly found on homesteads. You’ll see that some are better at grazing than others.
Young pigs can graze well, but will still need to be provided with a lot of supplemental feed to grow. However, adult pigs can thrive on pasture with very little supplemental gain as long as you have the right forage.
The average grain consumption for an adult pig on a well developed pasture is less than 2 pounds per pig per day. This feeder is great for providing supplemental feed, while keeping the grain dry for pasture pigs. Some breeds can thrive completely on pasture without any extra feed at all.
What makes a good pasture for pigs?
Good pasture will vary depending on the climate you live in. As a whole pigs are going to thrive on fields that are high in protein. This is best achieved with a mix of legumes, ryegrass, and clover.
White and red clover and alfalfa are some of the most common legumes planted for grazing animals. They are high in protein and easy to grow.
Alfalfa grows best in the warm season while white clover is a cool-season perennial.
The pigs can be pretty hard on both of these plants, which may necessitate more frequent replanting.
You should also consider planting perineal grasses like orchard grass or fescue. These grasses alone aren’t as beneficial as legumes for the pigs, but they also decrease the stress on the pasture. When they’re mixed with the legumes, they still provide great forage.
How to rotationally graze pigs on pasture?
Pigs are known for rooting and creating wallows in the land they inhabit. Their snouts are built for rooting the soil looking for minerals and grubs.
If you leave them in a specific area too long, they will stress your pastures, and create a field that isn’t grazable.
Moving your pigs to a fresh area every two weeks decreases the stress on the field, while also providing ample forage for your herd.
We have found that running a hot wire around 12 inches off the ground will contain the pigs. They run into the wire with their snout and quickly learn their boundaries. Move your wire to an adjacent area every two weeks and allow the previous paddock to recover for a month before grazing the pigs again.
Creating Paddocks for rotational grazing
Creating your paddocks will be influenced by the number of pigs you are grazing, and the type of forage in your pastures. 10-15 pigs per ½ acre rotational paddock is a good number to start with.
This number also depends on the size of your pigs. If you have a large sow, she will require more forage than 10 small feeder pigs. A stocking density of around 10,000 pounds per 1/2 acres is recommended. For example, if you have 15 pigs weighing 80 pounds each you’ll have a stocking density of 1,200 pounds. If you have 15 pigs weighing 600 pounds each you’ll have a stocking density of 9,000 pounds.
You can observe your pastures to see if they are being overgrazed, and make adjustments as necessary. Honestly, it’s just trial and error with observing your herd and their impact on the land.
Portable Livestock Houses For Rotational Grazing
If you’ve read my previous article on chicken tractors, you’ll see that we use portable hoop houses made from cattle panels. These work great for broiler chickens, as well as pigs. They’re lightweight and can be easily moved to a new paddock as needed.
Raising pastured pigs with chickens
Pigs can be raised with a variety of animals, but I can only speak to raising pigs with chickens.
My pigs have always shared a pasture with chickens. At times we also have turkeys and ducks being raised on the same pastures.
Pigs are not prone to the same parasites as chickens, so they can pasture well together. Chickens reduce the number of flies by eating the larvae in their manure. They’ll also eat parasites like lice off of the pigs.
The major benefit for the chickens is predator control. A lot of predators won’t mess with a full-grown pig, which helps deter them from attacking the flock.
While I’ve always raised pigs and chickens together without incident, you should watch the pig’s behavior carefully. If a pig attacks a chicken, remove the chickens from the area immediately. Once the pig kills one, it’s likely to kill more. Having a large enclosure reduces this risk.
Also, it’s important to keep the pigs away from the chicken’s food, water, and nesting boxes. I achieve this by having a small entrance into the coop, and by nailing up 2×6” boards 12 and 18 inches high in the full size entrance to prevent the pigs from entering the chicken run.
I hope this article has helped answer your questions about how to raise pigs on pasture. If you enjoyed it please share! Thanks for visiting my little farm.
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