Looking for information about setting up a pastured hog farm. Info about the types of fencing, shelter, forage types, amount of head/ acre and how often to rotate, feeder types, breeds, layout of paddocks, etc.

The welfare of the animal is our highest priority.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Mike Richardson

Joel Salatin briefly touches on his attempts to raise hogs on pasture without supplemental feed in his book, "You Can Farm." Maybe he has more info on his website. Or, if you're near Virginia, you might want to consider making the trip out to visit.

I just began raising hogs after a 25 year hiatus. It is just like I remembered only it is harder to step over the gates. I have some hereford/spotted poland/duroc cross pigs from gilts. Great time to raise hogs (cheap ) and corn ( expensive ) Good Luck!

i have a friend that done this. if you email me i will give you there email to ask the questions. they lived in Illinois then moved to Arkansas. he is a organic farmer. so he went to seminars and stuff to know all about this.

A few tips I've learned from experience. Use electric fence for your pigs, 2 strands for piglets and 1 strand will suffice for sows. Don't buy cheap polywire. Pigs like to graze clovers/alfalfas. If you want to keep your pastures permanent put a humane ring in the pigs snouts. I use my growing pigs to plow the garden plot. I ring my sows and keep them on permanent pastures. To keep your pigs from getting wormy, put in some type of rotation. Mine is pigs-clover-pigs-garden. Have some type of wallow and shade available for pigs in hot weather. Whatever you use for a farrowing hut, make sure it has plenty of floor space, with 80 square feet being the minimum. As for breeds, the best outdoor pig I've found is the Large Black. They're the best grazing pig around and are excellent mothers that rarely ever lay on their pigs. I raise Spots, Large Blacks, and a cross of the two. I've raised Durocs, Berks, Tamworths, but the Large Black is the best for all outdoor production IMO.

a good book on the subject is "Dirt Hog" published by acres USA cant recall the author. talked about a lot of the stuff your interested in. good luck. i am currently running some tams on pasture. destined for the local farmers market as custom sausage and bacon.

The Large Black Hog Association website is a good place to go for information on pasture farming (www.largeblackhogs.org) Most of us raise our pigs on pasture and many of us like to talk about it. You can go to the member breeder page, and find the breeder closest to you and give them a call or you can call or email us here in Michigan - no matter where you live. We could talk pasture pigs and pigging all day :) I don't think there is a better way to raise livestock then out on the grass God made them. Good luck to you, its certainly been a blessing to our family.