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Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar about “Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale”. The 90 minutes scheduled for the on-line event (you can click the link above to watch a recording) went by faster than I could have imagined and I learned a lot along the way. There were so many great questions from Kate, the other beginning farmer, that we didn’t have much time to talk with Phil Kramer about Niman Ranch. Luckily I happen to know Phil because his farm was where we purchased our first Hereford gilt so I asked him if he would be willing to come on “The Beginning Farmer Show” to talk about raising pigs for Niman Ranch. Phil takes us through the process of bringing Niman Ranch feeder pigs to the farm all the way through taking them to the pick-up location and everything in between!
The great thing about my discussion with Phil is that regardless if you are interested in raising pigs for Niman Ranch or not he shares a lot of great information about raising hogs outdoors and without antibiotics (they do use vaccinations and wormers in the Niman program). Phil grew up on a farrow-to-finish hog farm and has been working with Niman Ranch for 11 years now so the pig business is a business that he knows through and through. I only wished we lived closer so I could pick his brain more often!
If you have any questions for Phil about Niman Ranch or just raising pigs from farrow-to-finish in general please leave a comment below and I’ll make sure Phil gets your question and answers if he is able to.
Links Relevant to This Episode
- “Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale” Farminar”
- Niman Ranch Website
- The Niman Ranch Hog Raising Protocols
- National Hereford Hog Association
As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I’m thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don’t forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!
I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with “The Beginning Farmer” and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links …
Donna left a great question over on the old blog so I thought I would post it here as well. I’d love to hear anyones thoughts on the subject and I also passed it along to Phil and if he has time to answer I’ll share it here as well …
Here is my question: Is it better to help a new sow with her piglets at birth, get them to the nipples, help clean them, make sure they are not crushed etc or is it better to let the mother sow do it all? And if she doesn’t do well you just do not rebreed her and she goes to locker. (Or maybe continue to “baby” her along with other farrowings )BUT if she does do well you keep her as the good type of stock you want to keep. I see both types of pasture raised hog farms. In the short run you lose more piglest but in the long run I believe you end up with better breeding stock with strong mothering traits. How do you both see this? THANKS
Here is Phil’s response …
I can sure give my opinion.
If you can be present during farrowing (dry of pigs, get them on a nipple, etc…) that can be very beneficial, and that is what I try to do, not necessarily sitting there watching, but stopping in to check on a farrowing sows every 15-30 mins. However you will have to monitor the attitude of the sow. Some sows become very nervous during farrowing and may be better off left alone. Occasionally if you have a sow that is very nervous during farrowing, you may need to pull the pigs out of the pen as they are born and place them into a tote or basket (with a heat lamp over it) until the sow is done farrowing an able to calm down. Like any animal there are a number of hormones that are “spiking” during farrowing and sometimes things just get out of sync. Try to keep her as comfortable as possible. And only intervene (pull pigs) if she appears to be having issues.
In regards to keeping a gilt back who does poorly with her first litter. If I have to pull pigs because she has a small pelvis then I cull her, that will normally not improve. If she does a poor job of raising pigs or is difficult to deal with, I will normally give her a second chance. Basically I run a “2 strike system”. Let me know if you would like further explanation of my “2 strike system”.
Here is another comment that came in from Head Farm Steward on the old blog …
Just wanted to drop a note that I think this was a great episode. The pork production model under discussion is not one we subscribe to but still fascinating. I had no idea there was a 2,000 sow outdoor farrowing operation in Benton. I may have to take a drive to find it (with the windows open).
I’m excited to hear part 2.
Thanks so much for listening! I too would love to see a 2,000 sow outdoor farrowing farm. Even though they are further south than I am I still would love to see their results with not using any heat lamps or other heat sources … just bedding and sows!