Raising pigs using fodder trees/crops as much as possible

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by futurefarmer, Aug 8, 2012.

  1. martyn

    martyn Junior Member

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    I would expect so, provided you're in a good climatic zone with sufficent rain, your soil will improve naturally - however you would have to keep the pigs away from the trees for years othe wise they would just dig themout of the ground. Tree gaurds don't work, they need to be fenced off and electrified. Really you're building a food forest for pigs - you've also got to consider the layers and with oaks and hazelnuts you can grow truffles as well.


    Martyn
     
  2. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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  3. martyn

    martyn Junior Member

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    Markos - although there is some good info in the DPI Primefact it is way out of date. Jayce Morgan has since published a pig keeping book through CSIRO which is more up to date and better than other books on offer.

    Futurefarmer

    The most important thing you can do is select the right piece of land. No design is going to make up for buying an unsuitable block - that is in time and resources you'll waste to make it suitable. I'd be happy to talk to you off line.


    cheers


    Martyn
     
  4. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Awww, I don't even want pigs and I find this fascinating. Don't go private.

    Couldn't you, pretty please, create a new thread and lay out some things in there for the benefit of the global audience?
     
  5. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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    G'day All

    True. Morgan's book is available (at a cost) here.

    The 'model code of practice' (as referred to on p. 4 of the above linked-to NSW DPI document) is available (for free) here.

    Never a truer word spoken. Like I mentioned earlier, if anyone needs a hand acquiring any piece of land, for any intended use (from the perspective of a statutory and strategic land use planning practitioner), give us a yell.

    Cheerio, Markos
     
  6. martyn

    martyn Junior Member

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    You could come do my PDC in Canberra in September/October - I'll tell you everything. Once that's over I'll try and write an article for the PRI web site.


    Martyn
     
  7. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Well, if I wanted to learn pigs in a PDC, you would be my person.
     
  8. Tim Hewitt-Coleman

    Tim Hewitt-Coleman Junior Member

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    I am raising a few pigs in Tsitsikama. South Africa. I have lately been cutting some Port Jackson Willow (acacia saligna) branches and throwing it into their paddock. This is a really nasty invasive species in this part of the world. They wolf it down very eagerly. I have no idea though if it has any nutritional value. Does anybody know?
     
  9. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    doesnt sound too nasty to me or the pigs!
    U may have to watch the tanin levals as this may inhibit feed intake
     
  10. Tim Hewitt-Coleman

    Tim Hewitt-Coleman Junior Member

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    @Andrew. Thanks for the help. Is there a way to monitor the tannin levels or do I just keep a lookout for loss of appetite?
     
  11. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    im not sure but it wont hurt to monitor weight gain!
    good to see some PC in SA
     
  12. CandyMills

    CandyMills New Member

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    I have been trying a few things with my pig, soon to be pigs. I'm in Southern California and have been experimenting with some of our native weeds. My gilt is especially fond of our mallow (Malva parviflora), will eat horehound and our native wild sunflower. I'm not sure about your climate in central QLD, but I'm sure you could get mallow to grow there. It has a deep taproot so it grows well in compacted areas as long as it gets some water. It is considered invasive, but, as I've discovered here, will success out when you loose that compaction. This plant also works great for rabbits.

    Sounds like you know most of the commons things like nuts (great tasting pork) etc. I know mine loves bananas but I haven't tried the leaves just the fruit. She loves mangos, papaya, avocado, oranges, pears, cucumbers, squash, just about any veggie or herb. I believe you could feed carob pods, but haven't tried it yet as my trees are too young to produce any yet. I am going to try her on acacia pods, but I don't see why they wouldn't be ok.

    Hope some of these suggestions were helpful. I'd love to follow what you're doing along these lines.

    Candy
     
  13. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    We are moving into Guinea Hogs because they are pasture preferring hogs, they are considered a Lard Hog and so will finish nicely on good pasture. Ours is planted with grasses, brassicas, legumes and the pastures are surrounded by White Oaks and Hickory trees, we will also be feeding them garden surplus but no grains. Grains it turns out are not good to feed Guinea Hogs. I understand the reasoning behind the Australian regulations, at least those raising pigs or hogs or what ever will know what the right things to do are, whether they follow them or not is probably a different story but at least they can't claim ignorance.
     
  14. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    Some little pigs here have been fed sweet potatoe greens and aibika as a major part of their diet .. along with lots of bananas .
     
  15. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Yes we are going to be feeding our sweet potato greens to them as well.
     
  16. smitasam

    smitasam New Member

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    I love the idea of a large food forest in which the pigs could seasonally forage. Does such a set up have the potential to provide most of a pigs dietary needs do you think? Or will they still need to be heavily supplemented with grain/something else?
     
  17. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    It is fully possible to let a hog (pig) forage for 80% of the foods it eats. More if you have plenty of oak trees or other mast producing trees. We have both white and red oaks, which produce acorns. We have hickory trees too but they don't produce a nut that our hogs can break open, so hickory trees are our fire wood over the oaks. We are planting more and more pasture in the forest. As we thin the woods for better tree growth and remove the underbrush, we plant the pasture crops (mix of around 20 different plants) and get them well established before we allow the hogs on that land. We use a perimeter fence system with panels to separate the currently in use portion for the hogs use. It is working pretty well and by next winter we should not have to buy much hay or other feed as we are this first winter of the operation.

    We do not feed our hogs corn since all that is available is GMO corn. We don't feed GMO soy products either. We do feed a special grower pellet made to our specifications, it has old world black soybeans which never see any herbicide, insecticide or chemical fertilizer as one of the protein component., To that we add crimped oats. Next year we will start growing our own barley and oats. We are continually adding fruit trees to our orchard which allows us to use excess crop for hog food. In two years we will be producing all the foods our hogs eat.

    The pasture mix we are planting has four grasses, cereal oats, barley, rape, seven top turnip, kale, red, white, crimson, yellow clovers, brassicas, field peas and bush beans. This is sewn and allowed to grow for at least 1 full season so it becomes well established. Hogs will be on any one spot for a maximum of two weeks then moved to the next spot, we will have enough area that they will not return to any one spot before it has had 12 weeks or more to recover. When we move the hogs from an area, it is over seeded with the mix again. This practice will continue for two or three years, at that point each pasture area should be very dense in vegetation and that will help the recovery.

    I forgot, we are only planning to utilize a maximum of 0.35% of our land for all food production, the rest is to be left for the wild animals (deer are hunted for food for us, a maximum of 2 per year fills all our needs for that type of meat.)
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2015
  18. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    are turnips in there too? :) i had some this season larger than a basket ball. i like them for their flowers too... beets would also be good in the mix.

    in older times the chestnut tree was the major mast producer that fed animals and people. their loss was a major blow to the food production system that many poor people.
     
  19. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    I am using the seven top turnip variety, the one for turnip greens, since we grow rutabagas for our own use, I haven't purchased any of the purple top turnip seed so far. That is a good idea though, the hogs will eat the tops and then root up the bulb to eat. I seem to just keep adding more plant types to the pasture mix, never a bad thing to increase diversity in a working pasture. Thanks for that idea Songbird. Rape is an interesting plant, sort of like daikon In it's growing habits but with a red "carrot" root, hogs love it. Over this winter I will be getting setting up four more large pasture areas and we are buying cattle panels to use for keeping the hogs in the spot we want them working. This is going along nicely, and the cattle panels are easy to move around so we aren't spending tons of dollars on stationary fencing.
     
  20. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    rutabagas also do well up here. :) i much prefer the purple globe top for eating if i get a chance to cook some up. the animals seem to always eat the beets and carrots first. peanuts and other legumes like field peas? down there they'd seem native. :) the hogs would turn the soil well looking for those... purple top turnip seeds are sold in bulk here for a few $/lb same with daikon radish.
     

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