Port-a-huts

I really love craigslist. I check the farm and garden listings for our area almost daily. Over the last couple of years, I've snagged some pretty good deals on used farm equipment through craigslist and have even utilized the site to make a few sales myself. The news media tells us all about the bad things that can happen when using craiglist--scams, rip offs or worse, but I've had nothing but good experiences. Take for example the port-a-huts that I bought yesterday. I saw the ad last Saturday and emailed the seller immediately. After settling on a fair price, I told them I would be there to get all nine that they had for sale.
 

Inspecting some of my newly purchased huts.

 Port-a-huts are small metal huts that are used for pasture pig farrowing and other small animal housing needs. They have the advantage of being relatively light weight (145 lbs according to the manufacturer) and they're very durable. Next spring, we'll put them in the pasture for the pigs to farrow (give birth) in. Today, I put two in the garden so that I could put hogs there to clear the weeds and leftover veggies this winter. The hogs will eat the vegetation and root up the soil making next spring's garden prep work go much quicker and easier for me. My wife and daughter helped add some old hay to the huts for bedding. The pigs will have a warm, dry spot to sleep in while they do their garden clearing duties.

Adding bedding to the huts.

Two huts ready for the pigs.

Hogs Bobbing for Apples

In an earlier post I mentioned getting a load of apples from a local orchard to feed to the pigs. Jane thought it would be fun to see if the pigs would bob for apples. You know, the way they used to do at Halloween parties back in the good ol' days.

So we pitched a couple apples in the water tank and watched.

 

 

 I'm not going to try it, you go first. No, you try first.

O.K. Here goes!

Success! Or the guest of honor at a luau party.

As you can see, pigs are pretty good at bobbing for apples. Who'd of thunk it.

One season of piggy salad bar pasture

Last June I wrote about what I called the "piggy salad bar" pasture mix. This was my first attempt at planting pig pasture. After reading all I could find on the subject on the internet, I planted about 1 acre of land to a mix of dwarf essex rape, oats and cow peas. Recently, I've been asked to write a little about the results of this summer's grazing. The pasture mix was grazed by our red wattle sows and gilts. I divided the pasture into three sections and the hogs were rotated to fresh pasture as the patch they were in was grazed down. All of the pigs did well and the gilts continue to grow at a good pace.As a group they ate about 25% of their normal feed ration. This made for a substantial savings on the feed bill. I have to say that overall, I was very happy with the planted pasture. I think the pigs were happy too. While I think it is fair to say that my pasture mix was a success, there are a couple of things that I will try to do differently next year. 

• First, I will plant more ground to an annual grazing mix with staggered planting dates. This way I can rotate the hogs into fresh pasture that is not overly mature. By the time I put them on the last bit, the oats were getting a little bit tough and the cow pea pods were drying up. 
• Second, I will try to expand the variety of things I plant. Maybe some turnips or beets for fall grazing. Or some corn to hog down. This fall, we were fortunate enough to get a couple of truck loads of pumpkins given to us. I may plant my own patch next year and let the hogs harvest them, thus eliminating all the heavy lifting!

Trailer load of pumpkins, gourds and squash for the pigs.

Guinea Hogs enjoying a couple pumpkins.

 
The vast majority of pigs today are raised in confinement buildings and fed a ration of corn and soybeans with low levels of antibiotics added to promote good heath and faster growth. This produces a fast growing hog that is profitable for the farmer and inexpensive for the consumer, but pretty much tasteless. The kind of pork you find in most supermarkets today! I firmly believe that the way to raise the best tasting pork it to raise healthy, happy hogs who get fresh air and a diet that consists of more than just corn and beans. After all, you are what your food eats!