Spring Hill Farms

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The carcass is leaning more to the Large Black side but I'm thinking they will get some width as they get closer to finishing.

We will be monitoring these pigs very closely to see just how well they grow as compared to our Tamworth pigs on pasture.

In theory they should do as well or better due to the heterosis or hybrid vigor.

If you're not familiar with the Large Black here's an excerpt from the okistate website: "In the early part of this century the Large Black were used for the production of pork in outdoor operations. Its coat color makes it tolerant of many sun born illnesses and its hardiness and grazing ability make it an efficient meat producer. Large Blacks are also known for their mothering ability, milk capacity and prolificacy."

These pigs are listed as critically endangered on ALBC website.

We will be offering F-1 cross gilts in the Spring of 2013. These will be excellent pigs to inject some heritage breed traits as well as strong grazing genetics Spring Hill is known for into your pigs.

Stay tuned!

 

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Michigan is pushing a new act to allow the government to decide by simply looking at your stock and decide if it is a prohibited species.

I know that sounds crazy but small farmers are being told they need to be sure they are compliant before the law is passed. When asked how to know if their pigs are prohibited they are being told to send in a picture! 

The Invasive Species Act gives DNR the discretion to add or delete from a list of species whose possession is prohibited. In addition, if either DNR or the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDA) determines that certain requirements are met for a particular species, then it is mandatory that an ISO be issued prohibiting that species. DNR has not made it clear whether the ISO for swine was discretionary or mandatory.

In my opinion, this another move to use gestapo like tactics all in the name of protecting Big Ag.

The Farm to Consumer Legal Fund (FTCLDF) has reported recently on what is going on in Michigan. If you are not a member of the FTCLDF you should consider it. They are the organization that is out front in the battle to save small farm's rights to produce and market wholesome foods and milk.

While this issue deals with swine, it's possibly the seeds of regulating small farms out of business. What if some type of government official could come to your farm and tell you your produce doesn't look good enough to sell. Or impose mandatory testing for e coli or other contamination.

You may think it sounds crazy but who would have thought fifty years ago you could go to jail for selling raw milk.

To read the full story as told by the Farm to Consumer Legal defense Fund click here.

 

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After several years of contemplating and researching old heritage breed pigs I have purchased a Large Black boar piglet to cross breed with some of our Tamworth pigs.

I first became interested in these pigs after hearing several farmers experiences with the meat quality of this particular cross.

The Tamworth is a very good heritage breed for meat taste and quality. The Large Black is also known for its delicious pork.

Several producers are crossing Large Black boars with Tamworth sows and they all say the meat is better than either the Tamworth or Large Black as a pure breed.

Large Black can get a bit fat and Tamworth pigs lack marbling in the meat.

By crossing the two you get a leaner hog than the Large Black with the excellent marbling qualities lacking in the Tamworth.

The Large Black is listed as "critical" on the ALBC list. This means there are fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000. registered each year.

We will have piglets in the Spring of 2012.

I'll keep you updated on how things are going with this great addition to Spring Hill Farms.

Until next time...

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A question I always get from farmers who are considering raising hogs on pasture is, "how much will they root?"

What they are really asking is how much damage are they going to inflict on my pastures?

That's a good question with no correct answer "except that depends."

It depends on how wet or dry the ground might be. What type of soil you're dealing with is another factor. The type and quality of forage available, coupled with how much or how little grain you are supplementing the pigs.

And last but not least, is the breed and age of hog you have running on the pasture.

I have read and spoke to farmers who say Tamworth hogs root more than other hogs they have had in the past. Sometimes they have other heritage breed pigs along with Tamworth and they say they root more.
Tamworth pigs are very active compared to other breeds of swine I have raised. That probably has something to do with it. A hog laying around more probably won't root as much.

I'm not completely convinced they root more but one thing I am convinced of...all hogs root to some degree.

Then add to it that as they increase in weight they are walking around on four pretty small feet! If it's wet they are going to tear up your pasture!

My experience is they root more when it's wet so you're getting a double whammy! Walking around cuts up the sod and then they all have their noses buried about six inches deep!

One conclusion I've come to is you will be reseeding some parts of your pasture from time to time.

The best way to minimize pasture damage is to have a lot or two that you can move them to if it begins to rain long enough to saturate the pasture for a period of time.

Another thing to remember is that you  must keep an eye on forage conditions in the pasture. Move them to new grass before they decide there is more to eat below the ground than above it! 

A group of pigs on limited feed can take down a significant amount of forage in just a few days so it's critical to be ready to move when necessary. Don't wait to build more fence when they need moved. By the time you get it completed your pigs may have plowed the pasture they are in.

The key to successful pig pasturing is not to run more pigs on your farm than the grass can handle. How many pigs can an acre handle? Well that depends....

Maybe we'll talk about that sometime!

Until next time...

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Tilling Pasture

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If you look in this picture we are actually going behind my father-in-laws house because he likes to mow about as much as I do!

It is critical that we manage these lots so as to not offend anyone with sites or smells.

Most people who drive by our farm have no idea the number of pigs running around. Many don't know we even have pigs!

 

Compare that the old pre-1950's model of running pigs outside where everyone knew it because they could smell them a mile away. People are amazed when they come to visit at how they can't smell the pigs.

How do you accomplish this?

1) Move your pigs often to new grass.

2) Don't try to raise more pigs than your land can support.

I'll be talking about this more in future blogs. I have a lot of people who want to see how we manage these pigs here at the farm. I plan to video and blog some of this through the summer.

This ground was horrible when we first started running hogs and poultry over it. Slow but sure it just keeps getting better as we allow the pigs and chickens to fertilize it.

Until next time...

 

Watch a video of this while I ramble.

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When I first started raising Tamworth pigs they were listed with The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy as "critical." Since then they have been moved to the "threatened" list.

While there are many ways to promote a breed, one of the best ways and especially in the case of heritage breed pigs is to eat them! That is where I have focused ever since I bought my first Tamworth breeding stock. I was just foolish enough to believe that if enough people found out how fabulous the pork was I could create a demand for a pig that was on the verge of extinction.

If enough people eat the pork and want more, I've got a reason to enlarge my herd and help increase the population.

How has that worked? Pretty good! I have increased my business every year and my pig population. As more and more people have experienced the pork they want more.

I now have other farmer's (who couldn't figure out why I went 500 miles "to get pigs" when I first started) that are helping me raise them to feed all the hungry customers.

As the word has spread about these old bacon hogs I have been forced to increase my herd size to cover the demand for breeding stock.

Tamworth swine are the perfect fit for small farms. They are active foragers and very prolific. I have focused my breeding program on breeding pigs that can forage as much as possible and still put on weight. This is an added bonus with corn tripling in price since I started.

So the bottom line....

If you're looking for some of the best pork you can find try an old heritage breed pig. If you're in the central Ohio area, look us up!

If you're a small farmer looking for a good pig to fit your farm. Find a farmer raising an old heritage breed pig. I love Tamworth, but they're not the only one for sure.

If you're a farmer who would like to know how to help these heritage breeds or increase your sales no matter what you sell, here's the best fast-start resource you'll find.

Until next time...

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Tamworth Sow and Piglets

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Pigs are easily to keep in with electric fence. But training them to respect it is critical.

When we start new piglets out here on the farm. We always take them through a training process.

Without training them you will end up with pigs that get out constantly. That's never a good way to keep your neighbors happy about you having pigs.

Electric fence is a mental barrier verses a physical barrier. A physical barrier is something like a hog panel. They physically can't get through it.

Two little wires would never keep a pig in, but once they fear and respect it they will stay right where you want them.

Every once in a great while you get a pig who runs through the fence and then figures out how to slip the wire. If you don't put a stop to it immediately they will get out anytime they want.

The only choice is to re-train them or they will teach the rest and then you're in for a long chase and possibly upset neighbors. Not to mention they could get out and get onto a road or tear the heck out of someone's yard or flower beds.

By slipping the wire I mean putting their head down and slipping under the wire. They usually get right up to the fence and drop down and squeal as they keep right on going!

These are the pigs you hope you never get. But usually they learn this by not having a good fence charger or the fence wire isn't positioned properly e.g. not enough strands or too high off the ground.

I would never keep a pig that slips the wire for breeding stock. Around here if you don't stay where you belong, you become food! That's the main reason my boys always tell me before they go anywhere. (just kiddin)

So how do you train a pig to electric fence?

You fix a pen for them in the barn or outside and have it so there is plenty of chances for them to get into the hot wire.

The critical part is have the pig get into the wire but never be able to  get past or go through the wire.

A good example would be a a pen made out of hog panels with a couple hot wires around the inside at the proper height, which is nose height for pigs.

If a pig get shocked in front of the eyes, 99 times out of 100 he'll back up. But if he gets "hit" behind the eyes, say top of the ears, he will lounge forward.

If all you had was a wire with no physical barrier behind it, he is out the first time he gets shocked and your fence is torn down. If he repeats that a few times forget ever keeping him in with just electric fence wire.

But if you train in the pen with a hot wire and a physical barrier even if he lounges forward all he gets is more shock!

I've had some pigs that weren't too smart and they would get into the wire and run down the fence for 15 or 20 feet determined to get through it. It didn't take them too long to figure out they were in a losing battle!

Tie flags on the fence every three feet or so. Pigs will learn to associate the flags with the shock and avoid them. That way when you put them out on pasture and use the same flags they won't even try the fence because they "know" they can't get past it.

I have found a good flagging material is the tape that surveyors use. It's bright orange or pink and you can get it by the roll at most any home improvement store. It lasts for a long time and the colorful tape keeps you from running into it with equipment or your bare leg!

The only time I have pigs get out of a new pasture is not enough flags and they can't see it.

When visitors come you can quickly point out to the little kids that the flags will bite and do not get near them.

I love using fiberglass post with insulators that you can slide up or down to adjust the height as the pigs grow.

That way you can keep it at nose height no matter what size they are. The bigger they get the easier it is to hold them in. Little pigs can slip through a wire very easily.

There are a million chargers on the market but a good rule of thumb is use one at least twice as big as what you think you'll need. You usually end up running way more fence than you ever planned to in the beginning anyway so get a charger once and be done with it.

Look for a charger that is low impedance and at least 3 joules.

I currently use a 15 joule charger and even my old sows do not fool with the fence. It can stand heavy weed pressure or even have a deer run through it and be on the ground and pigs stay put.

We use two strands for almost everything and with sows many times only a single strand.

It comes down to training them right the first time and and having the right equipment and no worries.

Until next time....

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Purebred Tamworth Barrow

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I suppose there are all kinds of theories that could be discussed such as perhaps maybe some Gloucestershire Old Spot blood was mixed in long, long, ago while improving the breed and it surfaced by breeding this pair.

Another theory, which is the one I ascribe to, is this is what some Tamworth looked like (as far as coloring) when the breed was first improved.

I have read some old texts indicated some very early Tamworth swine had a sandy color with black spots.

Whatever the case we bred that particular pair of Tamworth five times and every time she had one and only one that looked like that.

Anybody else ever see a Tamworth pig with this coloring?

 

 

Tamworth Pigs

I came across this old account of hogging off corn recently. Since I was already thinking this might be a good idea as I blogged about a couple of months ago it seemed a good addition to my previous post.

HOGGING OFF CORN FIELDS - J.M. MILLIKIN, in the National Live Stock Journal 1897

"I am aware that the people who reside in the East, where grain is high, will be greatly shocked to think that any one would presume to say anything in behalf of such a 'lazy, wasteful, and untidy' mode of using a crop of corn. Indeed western men can be found who will denounce the unfarmer-like proceeding in unmeasurable terms. But let us see if something cannot be said in support of what some may regard as a very objectionable practice.

"In managing our farming operations, there are two things that should not be lost sight of:

"First - We should aim to so manage our affairs as to realize a good profit on our labors and investment; and
"Secondly - To so cultivate our land as to maintain, if not to increase, its productiveness.

"If you have a field of corn of a size suited to the number of hogs you intend to fatten, supplied with water, there is no plan you can adopt of feeding said corn to your hogs that will produce better results than by turning your hogs into the filed, where they can eat at their pleasure. As a rule, the weather is generally good in September and October. If so, there will be no loss of grain, while the saccharine juice of the stalks will contribute somewhat to the improvement of the hogs. The expense of gathering the corn, and in giving constant attention in feeding, is quite an important item to any man who has other pressing work to perform. Besides hogs turned into a field for fifty or sixty days are likely to do better than they will do under any other ordinary circumstances.

" There is no plan of using the products of a corn field better calculated to maintain its fertility than the hogging off process. Everything produced off the ground is returned to it; and if the proper mode is adopted of plowing everything under in the fall, the soil will be improved rather than impoverished. This is my theory upon the subject, which is sustained by  my experience and observation, and which I have occasionally urged on the attention of others.

"A very few days since I was in conversation with some farmers upon this subject, when a very reliable, careful, and excellent farmer gave this account of his own experience, which I give, with the remark that his statements are entitled to the fullest confidence. He said: 'I have cultivated one field eleven successive years in corn, and every fall turned in my fattening hogs, and fed it off. My crops of corn rather increased than diminished. In the spring, after feeding off the corn for eleven years, I sowed the field in spring barley. I had a crop of forty bushels per acre. I plowed the stubble under, and sowed the same field in wheat. The next harvest I had a crop of wheat of forty-two and a half bushels per acre'

"Thus you have the theory, the practice, and the result, of the hogging off process." 

MY COMMENTS

A couple of Mr. Milikin's points stand out to me. He brings up the fact that if the pigs are hogging off corn the farmer doesn't have to concern himself with harvesting the crop or the daily chore of feeding the hogs. That almost convinces me right there!

He also points out the value of manure as fertilizer. This is one of the factors almost never taken into account in modern agriculture.   

With both fuel and fertilizer prices on the rise it looks like a "no brainer" to me!

Until next time...

 

 

If you've read many of my posts you know I love old books on farming and especially pigs. I have a pretty good collection dating back as far as 1883.

I've bid on books on some auction sites older than that but they end up being too rich for my blood!

This document is dated 1925 but is revised so it probably was from an earlier work. It is titled Swine Feeding.

It covers quite a bit of topics such as: [More]

In my last post I discussed why we don't use chemical wormers. In case you missed it, you can read it here.

So naturally the question arises so what do you use to combat parasite loads in your livestock?

For us at Spring Hill Farms it is a three pronged approach.

1. We use several natural wormers.
2. We practice rotational grazing.
3. We breed for parasite resistance.

Let's talk about breeding for parasite resistance. In my opinion much of the livestock in America has been genetically developed for many traits but few of them have anything to do with sustainable farming.

For instance a major trait in pork production has been to reduce the fat content and a campaign was started to market pork as "the other white meat."

The show circuit for pigs focuses on fitting them to please the latest whims of the judges. The same for goats, dairy cows, beef cows etc.

The sustainable farmer has an entirely different set of goals. We look for several traits in our stock that are necessary for a profitable operation. One of them being all around low maintenance. Or as I like to say 'we breed tough animals.'

That doesn't mean we abuse them, it means we look for stock that has a lot of good old fashion instincts that animals should have.

Breeding for resistance to parasites means keeping a close eye on your stock and employing every method you know to use to keep them healthy without resorting to chemical wormers.

When you find animals that can't cut it you cull them. Or alternatively, you assist them as little as possible with chemical inputs with the goal of weaning them off.

Pigs are much easier than other types of livestock because of the amount of animals you can work with. Ten or so pigs in a litter and two litters per year can give you a lot animals to work with.

As one fellow says breed the best and eat the rest. The goal is to produce offspring that need less help and doing this each generation will eventually get you some tough parasite resistant animals.

It's took us about five years before we really saw good positive results with pigs. I think with goats unless you have a large herd it will take much longer.

My experience with dairy goats are they can be fragile animals. Which I think is in some part their nature, and in some part breeders who have never really bred for traits that the low input, sustainable, natural farmer finds important.

We went with Purebred Oberhasli because I felt they fit our farm model. Now can we breed the traits we want? Time will tell.

One of the positives we have found Hoeggers goat supply has an all natural wormer that is working well.

From Hoegger website: The original, all natural, herbal wormer is compounded especially for goats. This wormer contains no artificial chemicals and is non-toxic and non-sickening. Safe for kids & pregnant does. No milk dumping or withdrawal time for slaughter. 200 doses in every pound of wormer.

Dosage for mature goats is 1-1/2 tsp. weekly.

Ingredients: Worm Wood, Gentian, Fennel, Psyllium, & Quassia

Another area we focus heavily on is rotating pasture. We try to keep pigs on a pasture no longer than three weeks and two and a half is better. Once we move them off we run pastured poultry across the field and then let it rest for five to six weeks.

Sunshine and time is the best way to break parasite cycles on your farm. If you are constantly exposing your stock to parasites it will be tough to keep them from becoming over loaded and in need of treatment.

For goats that means keep them from grazing off the ground. Have plenty of high weeds and browse for them to eat up and away from parasites. Never feed hay on the ground or use feed bowls that sit on the ground.

A product we have used with great success is Perma Guard, which is a brand name for Diatomaceous Earth. While there are those who swear by Diatomaceous Earth  and those who say it's total bunk, we have found it a good piece of the puzzle in our fight against parasites.

The key is to use it constantly. We mix it in our feed for pigs and a couple table spoons a day in the goat's feed when they are on the milk stand.

Another product we use on pigs is garlic. Besides being a natural wormer, garlic is also a good broad base anti-viral. This something we will use on breeding stock rather than growing pigs.

There is a product on the market that is called garlic barrier which is for sheep and possibly goats but I wonder about off tasting milk in dairy animals.

Crystal Creek also sells a wormer we have used for pigs with good results. Another I have not tried but have heard some good comments is Verm-X.

The bottom line is we have many choices other than conventional chemical wormers.

Folks have said they think that some of these natural products are too expensive. I say looking for the cheapest way to raise livestock is one reason agriculture is in it's current state.. You can't shortcut quality.

As with all forms of natural or organic farming, it takes more management than inputs to keep the farm healthy, happy, and profitable.

Till next time...

 

Impress your family and friends with a holiday ham from Spring Hill Farms. Our hams are smoked and cured to perfection straight to your table from our farm  These half hams weigh 7-8 pounds and serve 6-12 people. Your guests will rave about these hams after just one taste. Each ham comes bone-in, which makes it more tender, succulent and elegant on the serving platter. These hams are truly a one of a kind eating experience. You can pick them up at the farm or have it delivered.

Free Delivery to all the Columbus Metro area until December 15th.

More information and online ordering here. 

 

 

I have long been a collector of old agriculture books, pamphlets and documents. You can find so many good ideas that were used in days gone by.

Many of the experiments that were done at agricultural test stations across the United States are still around with tons of valuable information for the sustainable farmer.

This particular document was published in 1922 and is a study on fattening hogs for market using Alfalfa as a forage.

Something to realize about these old documents...[more]

 

The practice of letting pigs eat the corn from the stalks is a good alternative way of finishing pigs. It is a great labor saving practice because instead of having to pick the corn the pigs do the picking! It was a popular method in the early 1900's as corn harvesting was much more labor intensive than it is now.

It works well today if you don't have all the equipment to harvest the corn and store it. (which I don't)  You basically turn the hogs into the corn when it's ready to pick. The corn can be higher moisture than it would be if storing so there is also the savings of drying the corn.

 Another advantage is the hogs are distributing the manure through out the field so there is no cleaning the barn. This is something we do year around as I hate cleaning barns. All our pigs are on pasture Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

It is best if the fertilizer is spread by the animals verses having to do it with equipment. With fuel costs on the rise constantly, I figure why go that route when the pigs can do it themselves.

 Some disadvantages to this type of feeding is you will have some waste. The best way seems to be allow the pigs access to small sections of the field at a time so they don't wander around knocking corn down and not eating it.  This is easily accomplished by using electric fencing.

 Chickens help clean up so a few laying hens running around are a good way to keep waste to a minimum. They will also add to the manure and they have a higher nitrogen content to their manure so it helps in that way as well.

Another disadvantage is the pigs should have some size to them when you turn them in as corn alone is good as a finisher. The last eight weeks or so of the pigs life before slaughter is best so timing is an issue.

I plan to plant open pollinated corn this Spring and seed dwarf essex rape or maybe field peas or perhaps both in the corn. Both of these are high in protein whereas the corn isn't so this should help balance the ration. I hope that this will enable me to run the pigs at a slightly younger age for a longer time period. Maybe run some smaller pigs to help clean up after the bigger ones? I found a open pollinated seed corn that does well in Ohio. You can visit their website here.

 Plus we will be feeding fresh goats milk so the pigs should do quite well.

One of many reasons why we like pigs here at Spring Hill Farms, they are so versatile.

 

Until next time!

 

 

Did you know? The Tamworth is one of the great ‘dual purpose’ pigs producing stunningly good pork as well as equally tremendous bacon. In the mid 1990’s the Tamworth came top in a taste test carried out by Bristol University using both commercial and rare breed pigs in a scientifically controlled experiment. It was later suggested that further investigation should take place to establish just what it was that gave the Tamworth meat such a distinctive taste putting it way above all the other breeds.

This is a good video showing the primal cuts of a half hog. Chef Johns comments on the quality of the bacon on the Tamworth side he is cutting.

 

 

 

 

 

Along with the fact that I'm convinced raw goats milk is an excellent health food for my family, I'm also using the goat's milk to supplement the pigs diet.

Ruminant animals are excellent converters of grass into healthy meat and milk. According to Paris Reidhead in an article titled CLA's and Omega 3's: Pastured Health Benefits Passed Transferred to Humans.


Milk from grass-fed cows has hidden benefits
Until recently, all of the experiments demonstrating the cancer-fighting properties of CLA have used synthetic CLA. To see whether the CLA that occurs naturally in cow’s milk has similar cancer-fighting properties, researchers recently compared the two. They fed one group of rats butter that was high in CLA and fed another group of rats an equivalent amount of synthetic CLA. As one would expect, the natural CLA proved to be just as effective in blocking tumor growth as the man-made variety. (In both cases, cancer yield was reduced by about 50 percent.)

However, the rats eating the butter accumulated even more CLA in their tissues than the rats fed an equivalent amount of synthetic CLA. Researchers believe that the rats were converting another “good” fat found in the butter, trans-vaccenic acid or TVA, into CLA, providing a second helping of this cancer- fighting fat.

So along with raising our pigs on pasture we also are giving them raw, grass fed goats milk which is rich in CLA's and Omega 3's.

Pork raised in this way stands alone from most other pork on the market in terms of nutritional value.

My goal is to build up the goat herd enough that we can practically eliminate all grain from our pigs diet by feeding only pasture and raw goats milk. 

Some of the tastiest, healthy pork you can get comes from Spring Hill Farms

 

Until next time...