G Baker

The pig could have worms, it is coughing because the worms are moving from airways to stomach as part of its life cycle. If prolonged period of sporadic coughing with no major deterioration in condition consider worms. Easy to treat with antibiotics, either through medicated feed, water or a shot. If it is worms and it goes untreated it can build up the worm egg population in the soil, like I said before do some more reading/research about it.

I would be interested in a report and or pics of how things went th is year. Did you get a garden established? What strategies did you use on the wees?

I define permaculture more as a set of guiding principles, rather then a list of specific design items. So I am operating a market garden, selling at two local farmers markets (southern Michigan, USA), I raise chickens for eggs and for meat and raise pigs, next year I will add cattle for better grass management. I expect that over the next few years I will add 4-5% more organic matter to the pasture soil, while raising lots of meat and eggs to sell. I track all my costs and make sure I am selling everything at a price that creates a profit for the farm. Market garden includes permanent beds and woodchip mulched paths, perennial flowering plants for pollinators, and varius woody hedgerows and windbreaks. With everything I do my goal is to put in place systems that can operate on a 100 year timeframe, that is that they only maintain or improve the soil and farm ecosystem, rather then degrading it.

But it is a farm and I do intend to make a living doing this. My veg is running a deficit so far this year because of lots of startup and one-time expenses, the pigs make money ( I will go through 11 this year and at least 15 next. Eggs and meat chickens are about breakeven this year but will make money in the future. I believe you can make money by working permaculture ideas and principles into a farm/garden business.

Hey All,

Today I discovered that one of of our hogs has been injured by some kind of wild animal. Her hindquarters are in pretty bad shape, but she does not seem to be actively bleeding (we were out of town all weekend so I can't be too sure exactly when it happened), and she is still able to get up and move about a bit and get food and water. I don't think she is going to die immediately, but think it is almost certain that infection will set in, and anyways she won't have much quality of life at this point

My main question is this: Can I butcher her and eat the meat? Obviously not from around the wounds, but what about the other 3/4ths of her? Any ideas? I have done searching on here and the wider web, and will continue to do so but any thoughts are much appreciated.

Thanks

Hi

I have a group off seven Tamworth hogs,  born late July,  that I am overwintering. This week one of them has gone lame.  Monday/ Tuesday she seemed to be favoring one hind leg,  I felt around and did not find anything unusual,  except that her leg muscle felt softer them the others.  Now she has progressed to where both rear legs seem bad,  she can't walk just scoots around on her rear. Her feet seem slightly swollen but otherwise there is no obvious cause.  I realize now that weeks ago she was moving around fine,  but would quickly sit whenever she got to where she was going. I can poke around at her without any obvious signs of discomfort.

Any ideas?

So I am in sw Michigan,  a bit South of Kalamazoo.  Take a look at the work of jean-Martin Fortier,  he lives in southern Quebec,  but he is in a zone 5 climate like we are.  I second the opinion earlier of starting with lots of mulch on the area this winter to start suppressing existing plants.  If all that root mass is grass/pasture, then killing the topgrowth will cause the roots to decompose in place in the soil. After putting down mulch I would cover the whole area with a tarp, this will further suppress any existing perennials and help the mulch to be decomposed into you soil faster.

I am getting ready to do this same thing on the first 1/4 acre I am converting to a market garden from an existing grass pasture. My plan is to lay down 1-2 feet of mostly old hay as mulch then put a silage tarp over that until spring.  Muy goal is to create a series of permanent beds 30" wide with walkways abbot 18" wide between then.  Depending on what I am plantinng in each bed,  I can just pull the mulch back and add compost or simply plant in through whatever mulch is left.  

One reason not to till or disturb the soil is that there are millions and millions of annual seeds in there,  just waiting for a chance to sprout.

Thanks all for your replies. I have no intention of doing any further breeding using any of these pigs, these were only supposed to be freezer stock anyway.

First forum post here, have been reading on the forums for quite a while.

Last fall I got a set of 5 piglets from a nearby farm, I thought I was getting 5 girls, but after 2 months realized one of them was a boy, and her was obviously intact since we did not realize he was a boy. The short story is that I got rid of the boy in March (clearly not soon enough) and just this week I realized that one of the girls is pregnant. As her brother is the only male they have ever been near I have to assume he got her pregnant.

What do you think I should expect from the pregnancy, in terms of what shape the piglets will be in when they come out? I am new to breeding and birthing animals. I know there is often a certain amount of inbreeding in some breeding setups, but am not sure what to expect in this situation.

Thanks