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pigs

Moving Day

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 9 years ago

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Happy day for the piggys today , moved into a new pen ! Lots of barley and rye to munch on for a few days.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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posted 9 years ago

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A few more photos

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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posted 9 years ago

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Well eight days later and the 3 little piggys have had their way with the "new" patch of barley & rye... another week or two and it will be time to move to their next pen...the one with the apple tree they don't know about yet. Meanwhile a new crop of barley & buckwheat is just starting to pop up in their old pen.

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Tracy Wandling

steward

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posted 9 years ago

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Those must be some fat, happy pigs! It's great to see the paddock shift technique in action. I hope you'll keep posting as it progresses. It will be good to see how the replanted pens do, and if there are any problems with regrowth.

Cheers
Tracy

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 9 years ago

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Moved to a new pen today. They decimated the one they were in. It has already been tilled and will get replanted this week. Barley,buckwheat ,clover and vetch all coming on good in the last pen. The rye is over their heads in the new one. The waters cold and the sky is blue... great day to be 3 (not so) little piggys. They don't know it, but the neighbor called today. To let me know, that yesterday his trail cam picked up three cougars 1/2 mile above the house! Could ruin a piggys day if they decide to come down the hill.Luckily I have small doses of lead poisoning available ... if the kittys want to "play" with the piggys.

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thomas rubino

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posted 9 years ago

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Ok, been a month since moving out of the first paddock. It has regrown to a thick lush paddock. The apple tree paddock # 3 is trampled and rooted, ready to be tilled and replanted ....The second paddock they tilled is coming up with clover and alfalfa. Soon I will move them to paddock # 4 , then back to #1 before their big truck ride to our buddy the butcher.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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posted 9 years ago

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Happy Day , Again!! Moving into paddock #4. Looks like despite having to jump 3 fences the deer got in first. Piggys don't seem to mind .... Guess all that clover was too tempting. Paddock #3 is ready to be tilled & seeded.The apple tree loves all the extra fertilizer the pigs share. I will hand pick the apples to bring them for treats as a thank you from the tree. Paddock #2 is coming up with clover and alfalfa and paddock #1 is ready and awaiting their return after they finish "working" paddock #4. As a side note, while cruising the organic forum, I spotted an old post that was bumped forward. Using spoiled raw milk as a pasture fertilizer. Lately after discovering a source of A2 milk that my wife is able to consume, I have started making cheese & butter following david ashers wonderful book (art of natural cheese making). Whey/ buttermilk are a byproduct of that and I have been feeding it to the pigs... After reading the post on raw milk/ whey I am going to try spraying any leftover dairy products as a fertilizer on my rotational paddocks and in the veggie garden, I'll still save some for the pigs.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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posted 9 years ago

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Out of paddock #4 and back into #1. Bumper crop of apples this year... piggy heaven ! Paddock #2 is filling in with alfalfa & clover . Paddock #1, 3,4 will be tilled and planted with winter wheat & rye after piggys have gone to visit the butcher.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6846

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 9 years ago

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Distressing day for the piggys.. especially whitey. Her "room" the one with the grain feeder is CLOSED !!! OMG! What is a piggy to do

However there seems to be a new path... hmm smells like there may be grain there... a fat piggy can hope ! Within 15 minutes of bringing the pickup over and putting a grain feeder in the back it appears that miss whitey is over her distress, seems that all is good in piggy world as long as the grain keeps flowing ! Curley and tender loin took it all in stride, they like roots and apples as much as grain. Whitey will sleep with her face in the feeder while her buddies are out getting hand fed thank you apples from the tree. This might explain why she is so much larger(fatter !) than her siblings. So while whitey pouted in front of her "room" curley and lonnie both checked out the truck... were unimpressed with just grain and went over by the apple tree. Smart piggys apples taste way better than boring old grain! Was wanting to take them for their "truck ride" next week on the tenth but... seems the bonner county fair has the butcher all booked up. The 24th is the next available slot... So 3 more weeks of rolling in the mud eating grain, apples, roots and grubs.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6846

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 9 years ago

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Few more pics

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6846

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 9 years ago

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The three little piggys went for a truck ride yesterday. Loading was easy ... all three just followed me into the truck. Hanging weight was #220 on whitey, #208 on curley and little lonnie was #158. They come home next thursday.... in little white packages.

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LeRoy Stracener

Posts: 1

posted 9 years ago

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thomas rubino wrote:The three little piggys went for a truck ride yesterday. Loading was easy ... all three just followed me into the truck. Hanging weight was #220 on whitey, #208 on curley and little lonnie was #158. They come home next thursday.... in little white packages.

How long did it take to get them up to this weight?

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6846

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 9 years ago

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I got them as wieners , maybe 6 weeks old, on march 11th , they went to the butcher on aug 24th. (i wanted them to go on the 10th) So apx five months with me, maybe 6 months old total.

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Laura Sweany

Posts: 319

Location: Onalaska, Lewis County, WA

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posted 8 years ago

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Nice layout! How many square feet do you allow for each pig? What is your reasoning on that?

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6846

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 8 years ago

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Hi Laura; Thank you for the compliment. I'm afraid there was no math involved with my pen sizes. The first year i raised piggys, I only had the main pen area. After decimating that in no time the piggy's proceeded to look for ways to get to all that green grass "just" over there... That started my learning curve about rooting and how an innocent piggy can start rooting and MAGICALLY end up under the fence ! Let one get out and you have a job getting it back... let all three get out !!! NO FUN AT ALL... After that first year I discovered horizontal used metal roofing. Buried a foot deep or even just a few inches it will keep young piggy's from seeing over to that green grass and older piggys are just not into that much work. After that first year I knew I needed more area and fenced off the first separate pen. Believe me when I say it only takes a day or three before it looks like a bombing range. Second year saw the second pen added. Lots of work trenching by hand to bury that roofing. Seeing how a patch could regrow in just a few weeks I decided that two more pens were needed. A little trading of car repair for backhoe work got my trenches dug deep in no time (hooray for heavy machinery) and now I have four pens plus the main area, as I only raise 3 wieners a season it is plenty of area for them. Would the piggy's like more ... I'm sure they would... will they get it

well maybe some day but not anytime soon.

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Charli Wilson

pollinator

Posts: 517

Location: Derbyshire, UK

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posted 8 years ago

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To see the pictures and progress of the regrowth is fascinating, thank you for sharing!

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