![]() ![]() If the pigs are rotated through the pasture, you can keep 50 finishing/market size pigs on 5 acres, which is 10 pigs per acre, in a good forage production area. To get started raising some pastured pigs, you need to know the basics, like how many pigs can you have on your acreage. Thanks for reading and for your continued support! We couldn't do what we do without you.The popularity of home raised pastured pork is on the rise and it’s no wonder, pigs are quick to raise and amazing to eat! Step 4: Well, you can probably figure out the rest from here. Step 3: The next day, walk the pigs onto a large livestock trailer and drive them just under 2 hours to the processor where they spend the night in a cozy barn. Step 2: Walk the sorted pigs to a central location on the farm where the permanent corral is located. Step 1: Sort out the largest pigs from the herd using sorting boards, feed and a separate electric fence chamber (pictured above). The pigs feast on grasses and other plants, berries, nuts, and grubs, as well as a high quality mix of non-GMO grains and minerals sourced from a local mill and regional grain growers.Īt the end of their wonderful piggy life, our pigs experience a relatively low-stress sorting, loading and hauling process. They are free to roam in a large "paddock," or fenced area, surrounded by electric fencing to keep the pigs in and the coyotes out. Our feeder herd gets moved to fresh pasture every 1-2 weeks, depending on the season, weather, and size of the herd. We run a herd of mixed sizes and ages, sorting out as needed the ones ready for processing. ![]() This is our herd of feeder pigs, AKA pigs we are growing out for meat. twice a year!īefore you get too sad, know that by this stage these mama's are ready to wean those piglets! After all, many of them have been nursing 10-12 piglets several times a day for the past 6+ weeks (notice in the photo they're more interested in the food than the squealing piglets.)Įach piglet is caught up into our "piglet catcher" and moved to an area near our feeder pigs to meet the herd and be trained to the electric fence. We don't assist our sows with their births (they don't need our help!) And they are incredible birthers, by the way, having upwards of 14 piglets per litter. Just as with the breeding stage, we prefer to be as hands-off as possible with the farrowing stage. We allow our sows to farrow in the pasture with these huts, fresh hay, and the protection of an electrified net surrounding them. ![]() Most sows will make a nest out of hay and grass leading up to farrowing. Our sows live on pasture and get rotated to fresh grass on a regular basis.Īs seen in the photo above, we use portable pig huts for shade as well as for farrowing - a term used for the process of a sow birthing her piglets. ![]() This means we time the sows' cycles when putting them with the boars and make sure our breeding stock stays healthy and robust in order to get the highest success rates possible.Ĭurrently, we keep 12 sows in the breeding rotation. While some farmers prefer to do artificial insemination on their animals to ensure higher success rates, we're more inclined to be involved as little as possible when it comes to this task. So let's talk about the birds and the bee.actually, let's just say we let our animals do the work when it comes to breeding! Take a look below to see what we mean! Meet our top boar, Queso So what better way to be transparent than to show you, in pictures, what we mean when we say "Pastured Pork?" Our aim at Restoration Acres is to be as transparent as possible with how we raise our animals and how we get our products from field to plate. The phrase "pastured pig" can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. We wanted to take a minute to walk you through the life of our pastured pigs (using lots of pictures, of course!) ![]()
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