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When I was a kid here in Minnesota, lots of pigs were on pasture, so this is nothing new.
I imagine people are getting fed up with the "pork factory" pigs. The meat even stinks!
One of the vendors at our market raises his pigs organically on pasture.
One of the prettiest sites I ever saw was, at about age 10, I went with my dad to buy a boar pig. The man had Spotted Poland China pigs. There were about 20 sows with about 2 week old pigs pastured on a big Alfalfa field. Each sow had it's own little hut to sleep in, but all the sows & pigs were running together. It was something to see, all that green Alfalfa & the black & white pigs.
Oh, by the way. Our pigs were a cross of Yorkshire & Hampshire. With the new Spotted Poland China boar, we had lots of spotted piglets.
I haven't read your link yet but I just came across this article that at least sounds like there is hope. This is way past due and deserves action to address both health and humanitarian concerns. Maybe the "swine flu" has brought attention to the problem. I really hope it leads to change. Pastured pigs and everything else would be wonderful. Everyone says the prices would rise but I think it would be somewhat temporary as many small farmers would seize the opportunity and prices would level out. Right now, organic vegs and meats are far more expensive because it will take a while for people to adjust to the idea that they can return to market growing profitably.
I wouldn't hold my breath. There are thousands of pigs around here. If they were pastured, there wouldn't be room for people. Some of the barns have 4000 pigs each.
All you can do is support the people that are making an effort to raise they pigs, ( & other livestock, too), in a sustainable manner.
Organic is gone the way of everything else the government takes over, corrupt!
When the farmers ran the organic thing, you could depend on what they said was true. I wouldn't trust the big corporations when they are selling organic.
Great story, MsKatt! I would love to see farms like this spread. I buy my pork from an organic store that gets it locally. The pork is Berkshire pork, and it is outrageously expensive ($14 pound) and outrageously delicious! My husband just about fainted the first time I brought it home, but then he cooked it and now he calls them the "million dollar pork chops" lol. Because of the price, yes, but also because of the taste. We only buy two pork chops a month and savor that meal!
The local farm where I buy my grass-fed beef directly just this month offered pork. The beef farmer tried a few piglets this spring, and they were ready a few weeks ago. I bought a couple of chops to see how they would be. They don't look like they will be as good as the Berkshire, but we'll see. Price is about the same, but I am willing to pay for it.
Last month when we went to pick up our beef CSA for the month, the cows were right in the field next to the pick-up point. It was a gorgeous day, and it was incredible to be standing next to them, looking at them and listening to them, and watching them as they watched us, lol. It just felt right to see this system in action. Even my husband, who grumbles about the price, admitted that seeing his next month's beef allotment walking around the field was quite a sight.
Perhaps this link to EatWild's Michigan page will help you find the pastured products you seek. There may be a farmer near enough to you that you can support. http://www.eatwild.com/products/michigan.html
The number of farmers/ranchers selling pastured products at our farmers markets has almost doubled in the last year or so, especially with the factory farming realities getting more media coverage.
I have wondered how the numbers add up regarding how much land is required to feed a human being, a pig being an intermediary. Even if kept on one of the factory farms, the food each pig requires still represents a certain amount of land. Efficient use of land is good, but "efficiency" that produces unhealty meant or exceeds what is sustainable long term is not good.
I just raised a pig and it was an eye opener. I live in an area that has a lot of wetlands that are protected and the rest is full of subdivisions and urban settings. No agriculture. So when I went to the sole remaining feed and seed store looking for pig feed, all I was offered was horse feed ($15) and cracked corn ($10). The pig didn't like either one and wasn't growing much. I went online looking at what commercial feed contained. I came up with the following points that I believe are truth.
Pigs eat more when there are more than one.
Pigs eat more when there is a bit of sweet.
Pigs need a bit of fat in the diet.
Pigs need a well rounded diet for max health, similar to humans.
Pigs are smart.
A confined pig loves greenery and acorns.
Pigs are clean. They need space and like people, they will separate their toilet, food, sleep and lounge areas.
I came to respect and care for the pig since there were so many similarities with humans. I could not feed the pig from my container garden so I decided the best thing I could do is raise him as fast as I could and be done. I pulled grass and weeds for him. I cooked for him daily. He got grits, oatmeal, pancakes, corn fritters, stale bread. He got 2 eggs and powdered milk almost every day. His carbs were seasoned with left over gravy, soup, chile, broth, sugar, cinnamon and so forth. I cleaned out the cabinets and freezer of old things. I tried to provide plenty of variety so he would eat plenty, grow quickly and stay healthy. He also got a ration of dog food for extra protein. All that is not necessary or feasible but the results were very good and my conscience is clear.
It does take land and multiple crops to raise a healthy pig humanely. It is no different from organic gardening where working with nature yields a balanced sustainable result. You can't over crowd and a rotation system is essential. Pigs, crops, pigs, crops. The crops need to be a mixture, not monocrops. Pigs do quite well when able to forage.
I am convinced that the American diet of the future will necessarily mean less meat which, like everything else, will become more in line with the rest of the world.
Sounds like an expensive pig to raise, though, by the time you were done. I know people who raise pigs and get produce leftovers from supermarkets to feed them. Actually we used to do that for our rabbits when we lived in Washington State. They were happy to find a place that would take the stuff. Maybe that's changed, though.
How did you kill and process your pig? Did you take him to a butcher?
We have a lamb coming, that a friend is getting for us. He's getting one too. We really love lamb! But I would also be thrilled to have a pasture-raised pig.
I got stuck with the pig that my son brought here as a baby. All I wanted was to be done with the whole thing. Being handicapped, I couldn't pick up anything from town so it was mostly whatever I could scrounge from my property and get from my grocery order about every 3 weeks. He was huge, well over 100 lbs. I called everyone I could think of and nobody wanted him because he hadn't been neutered.
I finally asked my neighbor to dig a hole. He had told me for months that he couldn't eat him and I already knew he wouldn't shoot him. I was going to get my cousin to come deal with it. The neighbor instead called around and found someone with some experience that wanted him. I was sad but it had to be done and it was a great relief. I was told that he was very lean.
My goal was just to get finished with the whole process because I'm so ill equipped. I'm very opinionated in agricultural matters so it was a grand opportunity to observe the nature of a pig and an incentive to read about them. I haven't given up eating factory pork but I'm very conflicted about it and the way they are farmed should be a crime.
In times past, when homesteads had some land and the culture was more agrarian, all farm animals fit right in and had a symbiotic relationship, including humans. That was the ideal but most people aren't willing to return to it, me included. I do believe pastured pigs would be a fine crop for someone. In the old days people would divide a plot into 3 fenced areas and rotate pigs, fallow, garden. I can see that would work well and be sustainable.
That would work very well, and some people do that with their chickens, rotating them to one side and then the other of a closed in area.
There are a lot of places which forbid the raising of pigs because they can so easily become a nuisance. I think our town may do so; we talked about it a lot when I was chairing the planning board many years ago, but I don't know whether it was ever settled one way or another.
This video is very illustrative and I believe is a snapshot of truly pastured pork. Nothing could be more natural and appealing. I can just imagine how fertile the soil is after pigs pass through. If given enough space and a good fence, they can be very self sufficient.
My pig's pen was about 10 x 22 and there were no odors, no fly problems. Pigs only smell when they are confined and overcrowded or the pen is too small. That practice has totally ruined the reputation of an intelligent and clean creature. Some scavenging chickens would have done well to come along and pick up the crumbs. The only noise was that when he saw me out in the yard he'd start squealing for attention and get excited that it might be meal time which was twice a day. I resisted and he soon learned that there was no use to go on and on. Surely it was better than a barking dog.
His name WAS my boy, mama's boy, big boy and sweet boy in person. I always referred to him as the pig in conversation. I started to name him blaze because he had a white mark like a horse between his snout and eyes. I thought it would be a lot easier to let him go if I didn't name him at all.
I had a lot of respect for small farmers before I got into this adventure and even more now. They have to love what they do.
We have 2 pigs. We had them in a stall in the barn but we had to move and now they are temporarily housed in the horse trailer. It's not the best situation but it's the best we can do at this point in time. They are fed well. They eat whole, shelled corn, 10% horse mix, soaked beet pulp and any scraps we happen to have. When we get a moulded bale of hay fro the horses we put that in the trailer for them. They are in good shape and the altered male, Spare Rib, will be ready to process in a couple of weeks. He is plenty heavy enough now but we want to get a couple hundred pounds of corn into him to finish him out. I'm not sure what we will do with the sow. We were set up for her in the other barn and had plans to raise our own meat and sell the excess piglets to pay for feeding our sow. We are not set up for her here so we will likely have to sell her. I wish we had the room and set up to keep her on pasture. I know she would be a happy pig.
I have an orchard and we have organic pigs but dont want them. They are the wild Russian Boar. They get about 400 pounds, 7 feet long, covered with 3 inch long black fur and have giant tusks. There are about 40 that run the land and destroy everything in their path. I dont like hunting but I have trapped a few and had ribs, sausage and pork jerky sticks. Currently they are so invasive that Texas has okayed hunting them from helicopters and there is a 356 day hunting season on them. Too bad the taste is too wild for market since there are a few million roaming Texas. They are even invading some of the cities to eat from dumsters.
Either way, I have a free meat source for the rest of my life.
Back home on our farm in N. Michigan, my sister used to ride the pigs. Not me, I rode the cows and got dumped head-first in the cow do do more than once. They tend to break into a run once you get on them, they put their head down and come to a screeching halt so the idiot on their back goes flying--usually into a cement wall.
I bet you would not soon forget a ride on one of those Russian hogs!
No way. Those pigs use those tusks like knives.
Some people setup cages here and catch them and then an Asian guy comes and picks them up and they use them at Asian restaurants.
Here is a picture that one of the hunters took while they were cleaning a pig out there. I think this one was about 200 pounds. Sorry if it looks gruesome.
I really think that one acre could realistically handle about 5 pigs total. They are so destructive that they would kill all the plant life pretty quickly.
For perspective, that is a large adult hand next to the head. It looks tiny.
A regular hog is not exactly safe either. I spent most of my childhood trying to outrun Elmer - the feral hog on our property. Im still a pretty good runner even though Im pushing 70.
I attended that event at Otterbein Acres, where Paul Fisher raises the pastured pigs, that's the subject of the link. It's a pretty amazing operation. Paul says he invests about one hour every two days taking them food and fresh water and sprouted grain. They move to a new section every three weeks, approximately - he knows when it's time to move them by checking to see what they're eating. They'll start with their favorite stuff and work their way through.
It's been a wet summer here so this may not be typical, but the areas that had been pig-free for two or more months had new grass and vegetation and you really couldn't tell that anything had been there.
He did stress that the breed of pig made it possible, that you couldn't necessarily pasture any breed with the same success.
The Fishers have a stand at our market - they're wonderful people. Good to see that link here!
We had many many feral pig here...tough buggers, too! Their meat is good smoked and cooked Hawaiian style which is 'steaming' them slowly for a long long time in an underground pit. They can tear up a garden in seconds looking for worms which is a favorite of thiers...
