feeding pigs off ground? (novice over here)

hi all,

I recently moved from piedmont NC to the Santa Cruz mountains area of California (anyone else out there?). my job was supposed to be a bit more varied but right now I'm working almost exclusively as a goat and pig farmer. the funny thing is I've never raised goats or pigs before. the reason they have become my responsibility is after I worked out my job arrangement the prior farmer on this property left rather abruptly, so stabilizing the animal situation was the greatest need. good thing I'm loving it. I've been farming to some degree since '07 but more in the kitchen garden/culinary farm capacity.

anyway, the pigs. I have a million questions, most of which I am finding answers to get me started through web searches, forums, Storey's Guide, cruising Walter's website, and of course the Permies forum. (oh, and observation. lots and lots of observation).

but here's a question to which I've so far not found an answer:
is it OK to feed pigs grain (and various scraps & compostables) straight off the ground? when I feed them their organic grain soaked in goat's milk I of course put it in a trough, but right now I don't have enough troughs/bins to match the need. so I have been putting some of the grain on the ground, and the pigs seem to devour it just fine, cleaning up every bit. I don't do this with the grower pigs or sows as I'm feeding them ad libitum and would be concerned about waste, but for the gilts and boars who are fed a few lbs 2x a day they seem to clean it up completely--little to no observable waste of the pellets.

this runs counter to everything I know about common-sense animal husbandry, and yet when I consider how the pigs root around and eat up grubs and tubers, I figure they are surely ingesting dirt or somehow negotiating it in their mouths. plus I almost wonder if feeding them off the ground might be a bit more engaging than straight out of a tub for them.

I feed mine on the ground. We tried tubs but they were always pushed out of reach at feeding time and I got tired of climbing in with hungry pigs to fetch them every feeding. They do spend their free time rooting and get their water really muddy then drink it - I can't see where eating food off the ground adds any risk. I do try to feed them on the compacted, clean parts, tho. When it rains and the ground is muddy you may need to figure out something, because they'll bury half of it while fishing out the other half.

Feeding pigs off the ground is just fine. They eat stuff they find on the ground or in the ground all the time.

Carolina to California... Quite a move.

Yes, feeding in a trough lessens "waste" but if you are feeding whole seeds, you may welcome the quality pasture that sprouts from the "wasted" or turned in seed. With planning, this can be helpful.

I have used the pigs to poop out seed balls too, since clay has been hard to find here. So yeah, picture me walking around the pasture, stopping to stare at poops, looking for clovers and kale.

I think the more you soak them, the less they leave behind. Soaked grains smell a lot more than dry ones, or at least that is an observation I have made.

Steve Hoskins wrote:So yeah, picture me walking around the pasture, stopping to stare at poops, looking for clovers and kale.

I'm slightly unsettled by the fact that this seems normal to me.

A hole in the ground seems like a good solution. They can't knock it over and they won't miss as much of it ( maybe).

thanks for the responses folks. Steve, yes indeed, pretty drastic. I like your notion of feeding your pigs what will eventually sprout to improve forage. I need to get to where I can move my pigs more frequently but that's a pretty cool thought.

How often are you able to move em?

I ask because I have created problems with compaction.

the last time they were moved was about 3.5 weeks ago. today I noticed some damage on trees above and beyond typical disturbed soil (and even disturbed soil may not be acceptable in my mind) so I know I need to move them again, and much more frequently thereafter. I know a guy further up the coast who moves his every day, not returning them for a full year!

while there are places on the property with a true coast live oak savanna with a productive understory, this area is denser and coniferous. so I'd need to move them more often and supplement more with scrap forage to keep their disturbance at a net-benefit degree. fine-tuning the stocking rate, and following through to manage that, will be a challenge for sure.

ariel greenwood wrote:...this area is denser and coniferous.

The reason why pigs are found in hardwood forests in Europe is because they ate/killed all the conifers.

Am I the only one who came here hoping for pictures of flying pigs?

Sorry.

Cj Verde wrote:

ariel greenwood wrote:...this area is denser and coniferous.

The reason why pigs are found in hardwood forests in Europe is because they ate/killed all the conifers.

yikes! alas, I believe it.

Steve Hoskins wrote:
So yeah, picture me walking around the pasture, stopping to stare at poops, looking for clovers and kale.

I don't find that weird at all (does this all go back to Paul's eco-scale theory?)

I have been told time and time again from my dad who spent a lot of time around his grandfather's pigs - Pigs poop in one place. Is this true?

Thanks!

Pigs poop in one place if the paddock is relatively small.

Cj Verde wrote:Pigs poop in one place if the paddock is relatively small.

yeah, ours make a tidy pile in the spot furthest from them when they are in an enclosed space (like a farrowing pen). out n about in the pastures and woods the manure seems a bit more dispersed, but still organized into general areas where it's clear they only venture to defecate - few signs of rooting or walking once the piles begin to appear.

I do wonder, though, about smaller enclosures moved more frequently. do mob grazed pig pastures have a more even and trodden dispersal of manure?

ariel greenwood wrote:do mob grazed pig pastures have a more even and trodden dispersal of manure?

Yes.

If you rotional graze it's less of an issue to feed on ground. I mean move every two days not leaving a pig and feeding in the same area for week or more days. I mean real movement. More so if you are also not in a "nut season" or food season when you put them into the area they are digging up. Always feed in a feed container. You can put a tire feeders for pigs and put it on a drag chain. Half cut barrel feeder sled.  Part of the reason homesteaders run into issue apose to professional rotational grazer with pigs is the feeding on the ground and dumping feed on ground. wasting of food on ground. Yes the pig will get a lot of it but some is simply wasted as well.

you want it high enough so they can't put there feet into it and low enough so only the head can go in. Line the inside of the feeder so it's easy to clean out. A lot of people make the mistake of feeding on ground and think they can gentics breed out of the problem. Sometimes you can if you are grazing and moving away from the problems most of the time you can't. Also, good to setup a feeder because you can feed out soak feed on top of dry feed cutting down water pigs. If you dryland farm.

it isn't an awful thing to do but it's kind of one of those................. not thinking it out. now I'm going to have to hope for "gentics" miracles.  Or I can spent 20 bucks using a couple of pieces of log, a free tire and lining it. and just win win win as I now have wet feed options as well.