2014 Pig Forage

The last week was busy with getting about 3.75 acres of land prepped and planted with forage for next year. In a previous post I discussed my interest in ladino clover, and I've followed through with that plan with a few additions.

First, I plowed the soil with the Farmall Cub and its single bottom plow. It did a reasonable job.

Then I followed with my disc harrow. The Cub had inadequate power to pull the disc, so I switched over to my 4x4 F-250 which had plenty of power (I ran into problems in the spring trying to use the truck to pull the harrow because the soil was wet in places and I had inadequate traction. This time, it worked perfectly). After smoothing out the furrows, I ran a drag harrow with the cub to work up a not-too-shabby seed bed.

I decided to use up the rest of the barley I harvested (by hand) last year. Although I had lofty intentions of malting the barley and making beer, I decided to pull the plug on that project after I realized the amount of time and resources that would be required. I had about 80 pounds of barley left, and figured it would work well in combination with clover, plus it would give the pigs something to munch on next spring while the clover was establishing. I started off by spreading the barley with a pull-behind seeder I got for $35 at the local ReStore. Although I thought I got a good deal on the seeder, it was not built for work on moderately uneven ground and disintegrated within the first 30 minutes. I resorted to hand broadcasting the rest of the seed, which actually didn't take me too long.

I ran over the ground with the drag harrow again, and then Jen helped me to hand broadcast the clover. I went with 30 pounds of ladino clover, and 10 pounds of alsike clover. The ladino I broadcast over the entire field, and the alsike I broadcast in the wetter areas (it is supposed to be the best clover for wet areas). The seed cost me about $200 (plus about $50 in fuel and depreciation), and I'm hoping it returns the equivalent of a ton of grain per acre next year, which would give me a net savings of about $1700 over buying commercial feed. I also used organic seeds and am thinking seriously about certifying the pigs organic next year, which means I have the potential to save even more.

I did the a final harrowing after planting last Friday, and here's how the field looked yesterday.

There are a lot of grass clods still on the surface of the field--most were plowed up and dragged along by the harrow. Note that the pumpkins in the foreground were put there by me yesterday and did not magically grow in a few days! Here's another view. The green area behind the pumpkins is the garden areas where the pigs and steer will be moving very soon.

Close up view of emerging barley and clover seedlings. They don't take long to sprout!

And finally, a picture from one of the wet areas in the field. Here, the plow had a hard time dealing with the sedge and rush. Annoyingly, these plants are very unpalatable, but the hardest to get rid of. I planted the alsike heavily in these areas in attempt to get something that will compete with these pernicious plants. I'll also likely need to go through a couple times next year and clip these areas to try and keep the rush in check.

All in all, I'm happy with how this project has turned out. I'm hoping I planted early enough in the fall to give the plants time to establish so that I can get a nice growth spurt in the spring. With luck, my clover will persist for a few years and I'll have made this planting project an economic boon for the farm and a tasty treat for the pigs!