Around the Farm

10/13/2013

It's been a busy fall so far for me. While the Thoughtful Food farm work has been ebbing, I've added a bunch more work in other areas: I'm still working at the University of Washington, teaching a class at Western Washington University, and working part-time at a local farm. I'd rather be busy than bored, so I can't complain. Now for some pictures!

Here's a picture f the field I planted with barley and clover two weeks ago (two weeks after planting).

And here's what it looked like this morning. It's hard to pick out the clover, but it's coming in quite well. A closeup below:

There's a lot more growing than just clover and barley, but I'm not surprised. My plow job wasn't perfect, plus the rhizomatous grasses and horsetails find ways. As long as I have a good clover stand next summer after a first cutting/clipping, I'll be happy.

My steer is looking good. He had been in with the pigs in the garden area for the last few weeks, but they were pretty much out of forage, so I let him into the barley/clover field. He also has access to some areas on the field edge that I didn't plow up so he should be good for another 17 days until slaughter time. He's definitely fatter than when I bought him in the spring, so I'm hopeful the meat will be good!

The grower pigs are doing fine. I've had them separated from the breeders for about three weeks now. One had developed an infected hip joint and was fairly lame for a few days, but it resolved on its own. They devoured all the unpicked carrots and potatoes within two days when I put them in the garden, but still have plenty of forage to root for. I didn't cut the boars, and so far I don't detect any musk. I'd much rather not cut than cut if I have the choice, so I'm anxious to see how these turn out.

I've fed them MUCH less than last year (when I gave free choice) and they are definitely more lean. I want to achieve a balance between old style bacon pigs and new style lean meat pigs. Right now they're getting about 35 pounds per day for the six pigs, and I'm thinking I still might be overfeeding. It will also be interesting to see how the hanging weights compare.

I got to watch my first breeding this week. That's the relatively new Berkshire pig being mounted by the boar. She didn't seem to be too excited about the prospect of breeding, but eventually relented. I don't know if her feet are still bothering her a little with all that extra weight (the hooves have grown back quite nicely, but perhaps they're a bit tender) as she wouldn't stand for the boar and he mated her while she was on the ground. The actual mating only lasted a few minutes, and I was under the impression it would last much longer. I guess I'll see in another few weeks if she's pregnant.

Last but not least, farm dog Rhody is happy as usual!

7 Comments

George

10/13/2013 08:28:46 am

What else are you feeding your steer? I'd be cautious about keeping him on that barley/clover for too long, he'll pull them up and eat roots and all, you'll end up with more bare spots and weed growth. Barley will be good to graze off in spring, and replant with a pasture mix into the clover, orchardgrass, ryegrass, bluegrass, or whatever works for your particular area. Keep in mind of warm/cool season grasses. You could also break it up into 1 acre lots and put in a variety of mixes, including sorghum sudan which will be great to eat up later in the summer as it grows tall. Do a little reading on prussic acid and foraging, particulary w/ sorghum, but also an issue w/ Johnson grass and others.

So what type of farm are you working at? Veggie? Diverse?

Pigs lookin happy, I can't comment on whether or not you're over feeding them, I'm sure Bruce will stop by sooner or later.

Jeff

10/13/2013 12:52:03 pm

I'm super cautious about making sure the steer does not do more damage than gain on the pasture. So far, so good, but I'll get him on straight hay in a smaller area if things start to look questionable.

The buckwheat I planted this summer did great broadcast onto bare patches, so I might add that in early summer. I also have some rape that I need to use before it goes bad.

I'm aware and concerned about prussic acid poisoning so I don't even want to deal with Sorghum/sudangrass.

The place I'm working at is a dairy/cheese operation down the road. Been learning a ton, but don't want to talk too much about that yet out of respect for the owners and any privacy concerns they may have.

bruce king link

10/13/2013 03:55:06 pm

When a pig is growing most of the feed goes into the growth, with any extra being put on as fat. When the growth levels out, more of the feed goes into fat. What that means is that it's hard to feed a pig too much while they're still growing. So a restricted diet will mean a leaner pig; they're all in good flesh in the picture. With pigs for resale you generally want to sell as many pounds as you can; so limiting feed has the side-effect of reducing your revenue for the pigs if it keeps weight off them. I figure it's up to the farmer to figure out how they want their animals to end up, so making choices like food amounts or types is entirely up to you. Nothing wrong with working with your pigs to get the results that you like. I do that all the time with mine.

Most farmers limit the diet of their pigs and feed once or twice a day, looking at the ration and the weight of the stock to determine how much is appropriate. I prefer a heavier pig for my table. We use the lard for one of our primary kitchen fats (baking, cooking, frying, etc) so the pigs that I eat I tend to keep longer than most farmers, to get the extra weight.

The boar taint thing is harder though. only a limited percentage of the population can smell it, but for those folks it's a very unpleasant smell. Rancid wet dog is what it smells like to me. So even if you have boar taint, you may not be able to detect it yourself. But if you can smell it, you can do so at time of slaughter. Cut off a bit of fat and use a propane torch to fry it. If it smells like fried fat, either you can't detect boar taint or boar taint isn't present -- either way life is good. if it is present you can route that animal into preparations that mask/cover the oder. Chorizo sausage, for instance. Pepperoni. That sort of thing.
The risk of selling it to customers is that if you do sell it to someone who can smell it, they get an animal that they probably won't want to eat. But you won't know it until the entire process (farm kill, cut-and-wrap, delivery) is complete, and it's a bit of a bother to unwind that transaction for a refund.
I castrate all of my pigs to eliminate this variable in my business. It's not a chore that I like, but weaner pig buyers tend to demand it, and our finished pigs are just our retained weaners.

Regarding holding up under a big boar; it's common to have different size boars for different size gilts or sows. A big boar can squish a little gilt, a small boar will enthusiastically try to mount a big sow but have a hard time. I have a couple of breeding boars of each size, as it's very important to have good coverage.

Jeff

10/13/2013 04:19:36 pm

I found that last year even three month old pigs were becoming obese with unrestricted 16% ration. Another downside is that they don't forage as much if given free choice.

I can definitely smell boar taint and it's awful. I'm super keen to at least try out not castrating once, and in my mind better to do it now when I only have two boars versus sometime down the road when/if my operation is larger.

George

10/13/2013 08:49:02 pm

Once the barley is grazed off, and you replant with rape and buckwheat... the rape might hang around but that buckwheat will be gone at first frost, and you'll be left w/ rape and clover.. I'd still consider putting in some more grasses possibly w/ some alfalfa mix too.

bruce king link

10/14/2013 08:18:29 am

Orchard grass is popular around here, or an orchard/rye mix. Tolerates high nitrate loads (manure) well, and grows well in this climate. It's also shade tolerant, but that doesn't matter for open fields.
There's a guy on craigslist selling 50% orchard 25% perennial rye and 25% annual rye for $45/bag, which is a little under a buck a pound. Seeding rate of 20 or so lbs per acre has worked for me. you could overseed it by hand or broadcast if you wanted.

Jeff

10/15/2013 10:23:13 am

I'm pretty happy with the pasture as is right now. The steer is not tearing out the barley, merely munching on it. I'll re-evaluate next year, but I'm hesitant to add perennial grasses as they are not the most optimum pig forage. I'm focusing on protein and palatability.

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