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If there is one thing that I’ve learned along the trail of my beginning farmer journey it is that I really don’t know much when it comes to farmer. That was reinforced as I began recording today’s episode and attempting to answer some listener questions! The good news though is that I’m not in this journey alone, so it is okay for me to say, “I don’t know” from time to time and the turn to others that have more experience or at least more varied experiences than I do. In part that is why I shared the questions on today’s episode … because I didn’t know the answer, but I’m sure someone listening will have some thoughts and I can’t wait to here them!
So, if you have any thoughts on …
- Fencing for pigs in the woodlot (I’m a firm believer in electric fence and shared some of my more in depth thoughts in Episode 56).
- How to improve the pasture after you move pigs off (Honestly this is not something I’ve done yet, but wanted to experiment this year. If you have any suggestions let us know … in Episode 37 I shared some research I did on this topic).
- What the typical day looks like for a beginning farmer with an in-town job (I’m confident of this … it is anything but typical. But, what do you do in that situation to accomplish as much as possible).
- The best “must have” farm outerwear choices for women (My advice … layers … lots of layers, and make sure you keep your fingers and head warm).
What do you think? Any tips, tricks, or suggestions … let us know in the comments below!
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“…How to improve the pasture after you move pigs off…
I’ve never planted anything specifically for pigs (I’ve been experimenting with cover cropping cropland and grazing cattle), but it sounds like that it might be worth it to try some cover crop cocktail sort of planting.
There’s a lot of information out there written by people like Gabe Brown, Gail Fuller, Ray Archuleta, etc. but the main idea is to plant a mixture that contains cool season grass, cool season broadleaves, warm season grass, and warm season broadleaves.
Something as simple as turnips, oats, and a perennial grass would work. Or, a mixture of millet, corn, cowpeas, sunflowers, ryegrass, oats, wheat, turnips, clover, and whatever else you can come up with. Since you have pigs, you could also throw in some pumpkin seeds, tomato seeds, etc.
Whatever you decide to plant, try to plant something that’s inexpensive since simple is usually good enough and some whiz-bang exotic seed is usually just an unneeded expense.
I’d be inclined to throw everything into a drill and no-till my cover crop mix, but it’s also possible to broadcast all the seed and then disc it in (although it will take more seed doing it that way).
Whatever sort of cover crop mix you come up with it should improve your soil and then the perennial seed bank that’s already in your soil will also start to grow (I can’t guarantee that will always happen, so don’t hold me to that claim).