Forced segregation foiwollng is when you keep groups fenced apart. e.g., the cattle graze paddock A and then you move them on to paddock B. Then you put the sheep in paddock A. When you move the cattle to paddock C you put the sheep in B and move the pigs into A. Later you move the cattle to D, sheep to C, pigs to B and put the poultry in A. That is forced segregation foiwollng. That is way too much work. It is also not how the grazing herds naturally function.What we do is we manage the grazing of the larger livestock. In our case that is sheep and larger pigs, grower through breeder. I don’t even worry about the piglets as they follow the herd. They’ll creep to some other places which is good. The ducks, chickens and geese naturally follow the larger grazing animals without my needing to manage them. This is much easier and more like natural grazing patterns.Our working dogs guard and herd all the animals. I don’t have one specifically for doing just one job. They’re more powerful and flexible, have longer working lives, if they are cross trained. As they get older they do more gentle tasks such as watching piglets and poultry.In the winter we feed our poultry primarily meat something we have since the deep snows make other foods inaccessible. In the warm months they eat insects (their primary job), grubs, worms, break apart manure patties and eat plants (grass, clover, etc). I don’t have a number for you on birds per acre since we don’t operate that way. We have had as many as 400 layers in a flock fanning out about 500 to 700 feet from their central roosting spot. Some also sleep in trees. If you used a 500 diameter circle it would come to 20 acres for 400 birds or about 20 birds per acre. Hmm that does not sound right as I do not think they were ranging across that much space. So much for back of the napkin scratchings. The area they cover is not perfectly circular. Based on what I know of our field sizes I would say that they were ranging over more like seven to ten acres so about 40 birds per acre. That’s about 1,000 sq-ft per bird over the warm months and is sustainable with them co-grazing with other animals. Take that with a grain of salt or two. It will vary with your climate, soil, etc, etc.I don’t know what store bought mtl is. We do not buy grain or commercial hog feed so the answer to your question is probably yes.We have raised three sets, no, wait, it was four sets of pigs just on pasture. They grow more slowly taking around eight months to get to finisher size and are very lean. Virtually no back fat. If I had nothing else I would do this.By adding dairy to their diet they get the lysine, an amino-acid, that is low in pasture and their growth rate increases so they get to market weight in about six month which is the same as with grain fed diets. The dairy also gives a delightful sweet flavor to the meat and fat. We have a free source of dairy from a butter and cheese maker just across the mountain from us. If I did not have that I would start my own dairy just to get the milk to feed the pigs.We also now grow a lot of pumpkins, beets, turnips, sunflowers and such during the summer in the pig’s winter paddocks. This uses the wonderful nutrients the pigs have provided and turns that into food for the pigs in the late fall and winter.Sometimes we also get other things as described in the . A bit of dated bread makes a wonderful training treat since the pigs rarely get it. This helps with weekly loading of pigs for market. Look around your area for what resources are readily available. There is much that otherwise goes to waste which makes great livestock food. By feeding it to animals you can keep it out of the landfill and keep it from going down the chaos slope.
July 16, 2011 @ 12:48 am
The photographer must have had a good lense to get such a good pic, as they are very wild.
July 15, 2011 @ 11:08 pm
WHEN THEY GET BIG, GOING TO HAVE PORK CHOPS TONIGHT.JUST KIDDING AS THEY ARE SO SWEET.
July 15, 2011 @ 5:40 pm
that’s a javalina hog. lots of them here in Texas
May 31, 2014 @ 9:00 am
Forced segregation foiwollng is when you keep groups fenced apart. e.g., the cattle graze paddock A and then you move them on to paddock B. Then you put the sheep in paddock A. When you move the cattle to paddock C you put the sheep in B and move the pigs into A. Later you move the cattle to D, sheep to C, pigs to B and put the poultry in A. That is forced segregation foiwollng. That is way too much work. It is also not how the grazing herds naturally function.What we do is we manage the grazing of the larger livestock. In our case that is sheep and larger pigs, grower through breeder. I don’t even worry about the piglets as they follow the herd. They’ll creep to some other places which is good. The ducks, chickens and geese naturally follow the larger grazing animals without my needing to manage them. This is much easier and more like natural grazing patterns.Our working dogs guard and herd all the animals. I don’t have one specifically for doing just one job. They’re more powerful and flexible, have longer working lives, if they are cross trained. As they get older they do more gentle tasks such as watching piglets and poultry.In the winter we feed our poultry primarily meat something we have since the deep snows make other foods inaccessible. In the warm months they eat insects (their primary job), grubs, worms, break apart manure patties and eat plants (grass, clover, etc). I don’t have a number for you on birds per acre since we don’t operate that way. We have had as many as 400 layers in a flock fanning out about 500 to 700 feet from their central roosting spot. Some also sleep in trees. If you used a 500 diameter circle it would come to 20 acres for 400 birds or about 20 birds per acre. Hmm that does not sound right as I do not think they were ranging across that much space. So much for back of the napkin scratchings. The area they cover is not perfectly circular. Based on what I know of our field sizes I would say that they were ranging over more like seven to ten acres so about 40 birds per acre. That’s about 1,000 sq-ft per bird over the warm months and is sustainable with them co-grazing with other animals. Take that with a grain of salt or two. It will vary with your climate, soil, etc, etc.I don’t know what store bought mtl is. We do not buy grain or commercial hog feed so the answer to your question is probably yes.We have raised three sets, no, wait, it was four sets of pigs just on pasture. They grow more slowly taking around eight months to get to finisher size and are very lean. Virtually no back fat. If I had nothing else I would do this.By adding dairy to their diet they get the lysine, an amino-acid, that is low in pasture and their growth rate increases so they get to market weight in about six month which is the same as with grain fed diets. The dairy also gives a delightful sweet flavor to the meat and fat. We have a free source of dairy from a butter and cheese maker just across the mountain from us. If I did not have that I would start my own dairy just to get the milk to feed the pigs.We also now grow a lot of pumpkins, beets, turnips, sunflowers and such during the summer in the pig’s winter paddocks. This uses the wonderful nutrients the pigs have provided and turns that into food for the pigs in the late fall and winter.Sometimes we also get other things as described in the . A bit of dated bread makes a wonderful training treat since the pigs rarely get it. This helps with weekly loading of pigs for market. Look around your area for what resources are readily available. There is much that otherwise goes to waste which makes great livestock food. By feeding it to animals you can keep it out of the landfill and keep it from going down the chaos slope.
July 15, 2011 @ 2:28 pm
they are so cute..i never saw something like that…
July 15, 2011 @ 1:40 pm
They are darling…their markings are much like those of a fawn.