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Here at Fail Better Farms we raise our hogs like we raise our kids. We give ‘em plenty of space to roam, we feed ‘em as well as we can, and we love ‘em even when they’re gross. This season is our third for raising hogs, and we finally feel like we know what we’re doing, so we figured we’d share what’s been successful.
Rotational Grazing
We practice rotational grazing. This means our pigs and chickens separately spend up to a week on a specific patch of land before moving into a new area. The documented research as well as our anecdotal evidence shows that rotational grazing provides the following benefits.
If you let pigs or chickens linger on one plot of land for too long, they’ll lay waste to it. If you keep them moving, on the other hand, they don’t pulverise any one patch of land, and the land can rest and regenerate before the next time the pigs are on it.
It creates a food cycle that benefits our chickens. After the pigs move onto literally greener pasture, the chickens follow behind them. Naturally prone to scratch everything on the ground, the chickens scratch through the pig poo, which helps to distribute this natural fertilizer AND provides a source of protein (any maggots unlucky enough to be laid on the poo) for our birds. Gross, we know.
Pigs love digging up the ground, eating bugs and roots as they go, so the regular exposure to fresh plots of land makes them happy (& healthy) as clams.
Because the pigs are contained in a small section of land, they don’t run long distances, which results in tender, tasty meat.
Balanced Diet
In order to get them up to an ideal finishing weight (about 250 pounds), we feed them a locally-milled mixture of whole grains, bruised/ugly fruit from a nearby orchard, and fallen chestnuts in the fall. As mentioned above, they also get a kick out of scouring the ground for bugs and roots.
Attention
We show affection to our pigs regularly. Our newest trio of piglets is still warming up to us, but, as soon as they’re more comfortable, we’ll be petting them and using high-pitched voices to repeatedly ask them, “Who’s da sweetest piggy on da planet?”
We know some folks think it’s weird to treat future food as pets. We’ve been asked often how we can raise an animal, grow to love it, and then send it off to the butcher. Truth? That’s exactly why we feel comfortable with eating our animals. We absolutely know they lived pleasant lives.