Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within pigs Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
Gardening playing cards kickstarter berm shed movie Free heat movie permaculture bootcamp design green living book
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
Gardening playing cards kickstarter permaculture bootcamp sketch of boots Permaculture design course and appropriate technology course video permaculture playing cards Green Living Book
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Devaka Cooray
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • Nancy Reading
  • Timothy Norton
  • r ranson
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Pearl Sutton
  • paul wheaton
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • M Ljin
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Eino Kenttä
  • Jeremy VanGelder

Moving Day 2019

 
thomas rubino
master rocket scientist
Posts: 6892
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3846
I like...
cat pig rocket stoves
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Big day for the piggys today!   I opened up the first rotational pen for them!    
Green stuff and lots of it !   Piggy heaven for sure... at least for a day or two.
I did not get the pens replanted last fall. So its all volunteer growth, but the piggy's don't seem to mind!  
Two days and it will look like the main pen, with the only green left standing , being behind fences.
DSCN0346.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0346.JPG]
What's this ?
DSCN0349.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0349.JPG]
Wow piggy heaven for sure
DSCN0352.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0352.JPG]
Check this out
DSCN0355.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0355.JPG]
No over here, eat this one!
DSCN0348.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0348.JPG]
Thoroughly happy piggy's

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
Kate Downham
gardener & author
Posts: 3567
Location: Tasmania
2129
8
I like...
homeschooling goat forest garden fungi foraging trees cooking food preservation pig wood heat homestead
posted 6 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Looks great! Happy and healthy pigs.

Do you have a pig yard, with different rotational yards coming off it to easily move them about? Or a different strategy?

I am trying to figure out a system for easily rotating a breeding sow or two around without having to move them over long distances.

Sourdough Without Fail Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen Backyard Dairy Goats My website @NourishingPermaculture @KateDownham

 
thomas rubino
master rocket scientist
Posts: 6892
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3846
I like...
cat pig rocket stoves
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi Kate;   Thank you!   I'm very pleased with this years piggy's.
Yes , I have four pens that connect to their "house" pen.   I only raise three piglets each season, no breeders. So my pens are smaller. But the piggys are SO happy each time they get a new spot to eat.
Each paddock can be opened without letting them into the others.   The last pen has the old apple tree so they get to feast on mcantosh apples for their last month or so.

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
Kate Downham
gardener & author
Posts: 3567
Location: Tasmania
2129
8
I like...
homeschooling goat forest garden fungi foraging trees cooking food preservation pig wood heat homestead
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Sounds like a good system.

I am dreaming of a system where the pigs plough up each yard, I grow some crops for us and then sow it with pig food, for them to return to and eat later on, with fruit trees around the edges. There was a good design for something like this in one of Bill Mollison's books, but I don't think I can do a central pig pen like his because bits of flat-ish land here are not very wide. I might make a long strawyard, with gates coming off it every so often to open out into the yards.

How big are the rotational yards that you have for your 3 piglets?

Sourdough Without Fail Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen Backyard Dairy Goats My website @NourishingPermaculture @KateDownham

 
thomas rubino
master rocket scientist
Posts: 6892
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3846
I like...
cat pig rocket stoves
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi All;  
Its Been one week that the piggys have been in the first pen.  Work is almost completed!  Unlike other's, these piggys are keeping a nice level tilled area.  Some years it looks like the surface of the moon with huge holes to nap in and large piles of dirt that have been excavated.

First two pens are maybe 50'x50'  (I did not measure),  other two pens are more like 50' x 100'.  From each rotational pen they have access to the main pen and the water hole.  The two larger pens have shade available from the apple tree and a nice three sides shed I call the summer palace.
DSCN0357.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0357.JPG]
Pen #1
DSCN0358.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0358.JPG]
just a little left to finish
DSCN0359.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0359.JPG]
The comfrey is just out of reach

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
thomas rubino
master rocket scientist
Posts: 6892
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3846
I like...
cat pig rocket stoves
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Just got off the phone with the butcher shop.
The Piggy's have their reservation in place.
September 11th is their big truck ride to meet the butcher!


An important thing to remember. Is make their reservation  early !
Fall is a very busy time for them. With county fairs and the 4H animals coming in. Hunting season is generally open at the same time. Butchering slots are hard to come by.
One year I was forced to wait until December to get my pigs in...  They were way overgrown and it cost much more to keep feeding them!  I won't make that mistake again !  

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
thomas rubino
master rocket scientist
Posts: 6892
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3846
I like...
cat pig rocket stoves
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Work is done in pen #1.  At least all the work they are allowed to do....
Seems miss Paprika, managed to root her way right under the small fence and in with the comfrey plants!  Bad piggy!
She didn't do any damage to the young apple tree, but ate every leaf of comfrey there was! And then, I had to lift her over the fence, as she was to scared to find her way out on her own!
They were banned from pen #1 two days ago. They have been moping ever since!
Today I opened pen #2...
Happy piggys again!
DSCN0368.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0368.JPG]
pen #1 with savaged comfrey plants
DSCN0363.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0363.JPG]
pen #2
DSCN0366.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0366.JPG]
check it out
DSCN0367.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0367.JPG]
ahh starting in on a new job

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
Michael Cox
pollinator
Posts: 3930
Location: Kent, UK - Zone 8
733
I like...
books composting toilet bee rocket stoves wood heat homestead
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Great system, and great pictures - thanks!

How long did they have in that pen? About 8 days?

Do you get much regrowth before they cycle back round?

Moderator, Treatment Free Beekeepers group on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/treatmentfreebeekeepers/

 
thomas rubino
master rocket scientist
Posts: 6892
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3846
I like...
cat pig rocket stoves
posted 6 years ago
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi All;
Been out of state working lately , haven't taken time to post any updates on the piggys. They are definitely growing fast!
They finished work in pen #2 and were moved into pen#3 "the summer palace". They have quickly decimated that as well.
Pen #1 has greened back up nicely but... before I can let them back in. I need to dig in some horizontal metal roofing to protect the comfrey and the young apple tree, from miss Paprika!
Meanwhile in pen #4 there is a bumper crop of Macintosh apples coming on. They just are not quite ready for the piggys yet.
Luckily, the combo pond / porta potty is full and muddy and the grain bin is full  ....AHHH  piggy heaven!
So for the next week they will be in the summer palace until I can get back in town and repair Paprika's tunnel under the fence.
DSCN0405.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0405.JPG]
The pool
DSCN0403.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0403.JPG]
fighting over the pool
DSCN0407.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0407.JPG]
Pen #1 greening up
DSCN0408.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0408.JPG]
Pen #2 barely greening
DSCN0413.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0413.JPG]
Pen #3 not much left
DSCN0410.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0410.JPG]
The summer palace
DSCN0409.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0409.JPG]
Play time
DSCN0415.JPG
[Thumbnail for DSCN0415.JPG]
Bumper crop of apples

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes; art is knowing which ones to keep. Keep this tiny ad:
Support permies and give beautiful gifts to gardeners: permaculture playing cards.
https://gardener-gift.com/
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...