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On our farm we try to keep the pigs in the woodlots and on the pasture as much of the year as possible. Generally that means we move them out to the woodlots in March or April and bring them back up to their cozy winter accommodations in December. Over the past five years we have really come to love having pigs out in the woods (and from the picture on the right you can see they love it too), but raising them out in the open like that does mean we have to do things a little differently than if we were raising them on lots up by the house. We use electric fence, portable waterers and feeders, creative loading solutions, and so much more. On today’s episode I’m going to share some of the “nuts and bolts” of our woodlot/pasture pig infrastructure.
When it comes to woodlot/pasture infrastructure for the pigs our main elements are fencing, access to water, feed, shelter, loading/sorting facilities, and of course the rotations that we do between paddocks. We haven’t quite reached the perfect set up yet, but what we have reached is a workable solution that is semi-portable … adaptable to different areas of the farm … and seems to keep the pigs healthy and happy. If you’d like to know more about our fencing projects and what products we use check out the links below …
- Crooked Gap Farm Fencing Recap
- Powerflex Fence
- Temporary Posts I use for Corners
- Temporary Line Posts
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 …
I don’t know if it’s a tip, a tool, or a mindset, but I’m always trying to figure out an easier way to do something, and I work on “big” projects little by little until they are finally finished (plus it’s also easier to modify my plans in the middle if I want to).
As an example, I also use rebar posts, t-posts, and 14 ga. wire for my semi-permanent electric fences. I got tired of carrying around a hammer to pound in those rebar posts, so I spent a few hours spread out over a week welding little 3″ pieces of rebar onto those posts to turn them into step-in posts.
You wouldn’t think that it would save that much time stepping in those posts instead of hammering them in, but I found out that I could build an electric fence more than twice as fast with a lot less work. That little bit of time saved building a fence and the lower amount of wear and tear on your body can start to add up more than you would think.
For what it’s worth, I use a t-post with a 4 foot piece of 2.5″ dia. PVC slid over it as my corner posts and gate posts. You can just wrap your wire around it (since it is non-conductive) walk to the corner post, wrap it around a few times and pull it tight, walk to the next corner post, wrap it around, etc. There’s no need to tie insulators to the corner posts, and it stays tight because the PVC kind of “rolls” on the t-post and keeps the tension. I usually only use one wire with cattle, so I don’t know how it would work with multiple wires. Again, it saves a little bit of time and makes it easier to build an electric fence. Each minute saved adds to the amount of time I have to do other things.
The same basic mindset might apply to your plans to put in a water line to the woods. It would be nice to do the entire project at once, but even if you only ran the water line to the middle of your pasture and installed a hydrant, it would save you time driving the tractor back and forth to the house to fill the water tank. Little by little, you’ll eventually get to the point that you have the waterers installed (unless you change your mind or figure out a better way to water your pigs in the meantime).