Pigs vs Pasture Questions

Murfreesboro, TN(Zone 7a)

Some day we're gonna own some land, yes, we are! And sometime after that, we're gonna want some feeder pigs! So my questions are somewhat theoretical at this point; however, perhaps it will help us estimate how much land we will need. Thanks in advance!

Assuming the following:

4-6 young pigs to be kept
until optimum slaughter weight

main food to come from pasture, with
possible garden scraps

only 1 or 2 acres of pasture available
the objective is that they will root up
this pasture and it will become my
garden the next year; the following
year we'd get some more pigs to
root up an acre for my cutting/market
flower garden

Shade to be provided by mobile "A" frame
plywood houses

Ok, now for the questions:

1. What kind of forage plants would give the growing pigs enough protien/vitamins/etc. Should I plant turnips/mangels or other crops in the field for them?

2. What kinds of suplimental feed should I use if I need it.

3. Instead of actual "pasture rotation", can the pigs be confined by electric fencing and the fence moved a little every few days? If so, how big an area should they have?

4. How many "A" frame houses should I have?

5. Does this even sound like a reasonable idea? (One of the reasons I was thinking of doing this is that we probably won't be able to aford a tracktor for a while, and thought that piggies might both plow up the field for us and also give us a little bacon and pocket money).

Thank you again. And, of course, if you have any other porcine comments, please endulge.

Karla



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