Spring Hill Farms

I promised I would update you on the Little Tamworth Gilt who thinks she is a chicken.

A few weeks ago I noticed a pig running through the yard. I watched as she zipped down past the house and disappeared. I was sure she belonged to our oldest sow Droopy. But how did she get out?



Over the next few days I noticed as soon as we were all in the house she would sneak out and head for the laying hens which were being fed outside. She would charge right up and take her place at the trough!

Since the troughs have a bar that runs through the middle it was hard for her to get feed so she began upsetting it and eating the feed off the ground.

This became her daily ritual. Watch us feed the chickens and then run over and start eating. As with any bad habit (or so I'm told) it kept getting worse. Pretty soon she was waiting with the chickens when we went to feed them.

The boys would chase her back to the pasture and she would squeal as loud as she could to let them know she was not happy.

A few days of that and I caught her sneaking out of the hen house! Turns out she wasn't laying eggs she was climbing into the bottom box and eating eggs.

I resolved to fix the fence the next day and put a stop to her antics. I got up the next morning and went to the garden to check things out to find little pig had beat me to it and rooted out a bunch of sweet potatoes for her breakfast.

My next stop was the barn for some fence wire and thus ended the pig who only wanted to be a chicken because they roam around and get all kinds of goodies.

Until next time...

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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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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?

 

 

Junior cuddling his foster mom

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Taking a nap

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Favorite stuffed animal

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...

Tamworth Pigs

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Alfalfa Rack for Pigs

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Home Made Alfalfa Leaf Meal

Same way with the young pigs. I mix it in the self-feeder and it gets eaten instead of wasted. I have checked the feeders after mixing it in and it is gone, no picking around it, they eat it. So I'm thrilled to take something it used to kill me to waste and feed it, since that's what I bought it for to begin with.

We don't grind our own feed, but if we did, it would be perfect to toss in the grinder when batching feed. Alfalfa meal has been used as both pig and chicken feed in years gone by but not so much now. The old trio mixture for pigs contained alfalfa or other legume hay.

We do the same thing with the hay the goats pull out and drop on the ground around the rack. Gather it up and throw it to the hogs. Just one more reason why farms should practice multi-species grazing.

What one won't eat another will. Especially with a bit of trickery!

Until next time...

 

 

At Spring Hill Farms we try to do things as close to natural as we can. To us that means no chemical wormers.

I realize many farms do use chemical wormers. I also know small farms or organically oriented farms many times use chemical, commercial wormers.

We have used them in cases where stock was not responding to natural methods. By that I mean in the early years when we first started breeding Tamworth pigs we had some that did not do well in our type of system.

They got a parasite load that caused them to drop weight and if we would have let it go they would have been stunted or even sick enough to die from the worms. Although this only happened twice we pulled them off the pastures and chemically wormed them, got them well, and then sold them.

My experience tells me you can selectively breed for parasite resistance. But that's only one piece of the puzzle. Poor management will trump even the best genetics. You can take some of my Tamworth Hogs and put them in a small lot that eventually turns to dirt and manure and you could very likely expose them to enough of a parasite load to end up with problems.

A major drawback to killing these parasites with chemicals is that they tend to mutate very quickly in order to survive the onslaught, so new and more powerful chemicals have to be developed to kill them, and the cycle continues. If you are over using wormers it is even worse.

I recently spoke with someone about goats and they said that for round worms in goats the product SAFEGUARD is not effective in almost all of the United States because the round worms have become immune to it.

To me parasite resistance is one reason to avoid chemical wormers. I have seen research that indicates the wormers once they pass through the animal ends up in the soil. I don't want parasiticides in my soil.

Another product on the market is Ivermectin. While I certainly am not even close to an expert on any of these products natural or chemical, it just doesn't seem right to me that I can give my pigs a dose of Ivermectin and it not only kills the internal parasites, it also rids them of external parasites. I'm not sure how it does this, but it seems like the stuff actually poisons the critters through the skin. Not something I'm comfortable eating later on.

Which brings me to my next point. I'm not comfortable with the fact that my pork, beef, or chicken may have parasiticide residue in it. Now I know the research that has been done to indicate that it's is minimal and it's harmless. But I say err on the side of caution.

Scientific cleverness is what has caused many of the messes in modern agriculture. I look at it this way, if it is safe to consume or there is no residue even present by the time it gets to the table, great! All the people consuming this type of meat are at no risk.

But if it is harmful as we may find out down the road, I'm not effected nor are my customers because we don't use them.

Next time I'll talk about our approach to parasite control here at Spring Hill Farms.

 

 

 

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.

 

I shot some video of our newest piglets. These are from our oldest sow. She only had 6 this time and 2 didn't make it. Her age may be starting to show as she normally has 10+

Anyway enjoy, piglets are always fun to watch!

 

I came across some old writings recently that stated the Tamworth at one point had some "crosses of pigs having a strong infusion of Neapolitan blood...It is also said that a few breeders used a white pig that had been improved by Bakewell."

 I was surprised as everything I ever read about the Tamworth indicates no particular story of having any known infusion of other breeds.  Some have speculated that probably it did, have but no indication of what type.

 Although the writer didn't say anything with certainty, I found the account interesting.

They did start out saying "The Tamworth is probably the purest of the modern breeds of swine, it having been improved more largely by selection and care than by the introduction of the blood of other breeds."

They go on to say, "Fortunately the class of men who had undertaken the improvement of some of the other breeds, by sacrificing almost everything to an aptitude to fatten, did not undertake the Tamworth; hence the preservation of the length and prolificacy of the breed. For a number of years previous to 1870 the breed received comparatively little attention outside it's own home. About that time the bacon curers opened a campaign against the then fashionable short, fat and heavy shouldered pigs, which they found quite unsuitable for the production of streaked side meat for which the demand was constantly increasing. The Tamworth then came into prominence as an improver of some of the other breeds, in which capacity it was a decided success owing to its long established habit of converting it's food into lean meat."   

 We're thankful to those very early Tamworth breeders here at Spring Hill Farms, and once our customers try some of our old fashion hickory smoked bacon they are too!

 

Until Next time...

 

 

If I figured right we'll have piglets by the middle of March. Randy and I have been working to get the new barn ready inside for the sows to be brought in.

I'm really hoping for nice size litters. Seems like every year I end up needing more pigs than I have. I hate turning customers away! 

 My average litter size is ten pigs per sow with one having at least twelve every time. It could drop off anytime though, since as pigs get older they tend to have smaller litters. 

She is an excellent mother though and even if she does "slow down" a bit I'll keep her. I tend to keep sows until they pretty much don't get pregnant anymore. A lot of your good genetics are in those old sows.

 My oldest sow is "Droopy." She was nickmamed this as a small feeder pig because her ears drooped forward which really is not a good trait for Tamworth pigs. She is the sow you see on the top of my web page, www.springhillfarms.us.

She may spend all her days here at the farm and be laid to rest down in the bottom under a tree somewhere.

We've never done anything like that, but Ol' Droopy is a special pig.

I'll be sure and post some pictures of these new litters.

 

Until next time....

 

In the last few days I have spoke with several people wanting to start raising Tamworth pigs. They usually want to know about a couple gilts and an un-related boar. Oh how I wish we could run a couple different lines of Tams but it requires way more infrastructure than I'm capable of right now.

 Then to make matters worse, Tamworth breeders are few and far between. I end up making a 500 mile trip if I want to get new breeding stock. I try to keep "outside stock" to a minimum so as to reduce the chance of different "bugs" making mine sick.

 And so it is with Heritage breed stock. Hard to come by and many times a small genetic pool. That was why I decided to stop raising Old Spots. There is practically no one remotely close to get stock from.

 I'm hopeful this will get better in the future but we need more breeders of these rare pigs.

 

Until next time...