I maintain and encourage offline correspondence with readers. Many of you all around the world read my blog regularly but don’t comment. Who are you in the UK, Australia, Hungary, Pakistan and the Netherlands? What about you Singapore? India? Get to know me!
Anyway, this was in with Jesse’s comments about chicken processing:
Jesse:
I also wanted to ask how many sections of electro-netting you are using for your pigs. My three pigs are in one 100ft section of the premier fencing. I am moving it once a week, which is taking me about 4 hours total since I have to clear/mow where the fencing is going, then cover seed the old paddock. I’m thinking of getting more fence and giving them two sections of that fence. I was curious how much you are using for your number of pigs.
I own 4 sections of pig quikfence. I use two at a time so I have an empty paddock set up at all times. I do tear down and set up in my free time, long before I move the pigs. I’m behind on seeding where the pigs have been but I’ll get it before the next rain. I need to haul wood chips to fill in the wallow and I need to rake the rough spots smooth. I also need to cut some brush before I seed. I’m sold on that deer food plot mix I found with rape, turnip, daikon radish, etc. Pretty cool.
Jesse later:
4 sections of pig fence, that’s exactly what i’m thinking of doing. i only have two right now, so when i set the second one up adjacent, i still have to make this awkward temporary chute out of cattle panels because the gates don’t line up. plus with only 1 100′ section and the three pigs, i’ve been moving the whole thing weekly, and i’d like to be able to let each paddock go at least 2 weeks. what is your typical rotation time? do you use a non-electric gate as a door between the paddocks? or just the break in the pig fence?
where did you find that deer plot mix? it sounds good, only with my rotation and small number of pigs, i don’t think i’ll be re-using paddocks this year, so i’ve just been seeding with rye grass. one of the guys at the farm bureau did recommend rape. man i hate that plant name. i really just don’t like ordering 10lbs of rape.
Though I like it, I don’t think I’ll buy the mix again. No promises though. It’s not difficult to come up with winter rye, cowpeas, clover, chickory, etc and make my own mix…hopefully for less money. Even planting turnips behind the pigs would be great…especially if I let the turnips grow then put my chickens over the turnip patch after frost. I’m also spreading raw aragonite behind the pigs. No, they won’t return to the same ground again but, like the turnip and chicken example, I’m creating forage opportunities for other animals (including wildlife) and establishing groundcover.
- It depends
- For his pastures, it’s time to move the pigs when they eat 2 tons of feed. Pigs can create a lot of disturbance on their way to 2 tons of feed so go back to point 1…it depends.
And from Stockman Grass Farmer:
He currently has three pig finishing pastures and another one under development. Each pasture is about two acres in size and is divided into eight smaller paddocks. These pastures are each stocked with 30 to 50 pigs.
He said it is very important to leave some trees in each paddock as pigs are very susceptible to sunburn.
Chism Heritage Farm 
The little girl you hear in the background talking about poop on her shoes at 1:50 was my daughter Maddie. That was same day that we were there. Can’t wait to go back to Polyface!
lol