Pastured pigs

[sportsman94]

Anyone raise pigs on pasture? Our two feeders made a mess of their pen after the last batch of rain. I’ve been acquiring all the gear to run them on electric and finally took the leap of faith today after trying to get them trained for the last several days. One busted out of the corridor I made leading to the quarter acre paddock right off the rip. Got him in with minimal fuss and they seemed to enjoy their time afield. Going to leave the corridor to the physical pen open for a few days then close it up and move food/water to the new paddock. Was just looking for any tips or ideas if anyone on here does it

 

[Milkman]

I used to raise pigs many years ago. Putting rings in their nose will keep them from rooting as bad. Without it they may eventually root up the pasture.

The rings you use special pliers to clip onto the top rim of the nose are readily available.

Good luck.

 

[sportsman94]

I’ve seen the hog rings. I think we’ve got enough land to keep these rotating through pastures for the next couple months without causing too much damage. I’m actually thinking about strategically putting them in places to root up so I can level and spread seed behind them.

 

[Big7]

Me and a buddy were in on some pure Landrace a long time ago way before we ever heard of feral pigs in Georgia, certainly this far north. We were close to Madison at the time.

They are exceedingly hard to keep in a pasture.
You might do better if you just had those two.

Between selling breeders and killing one for ourselves occasionally, we always had around 20 sows and 2 boars in two pastures. The little ones could get out easy.

We wound up building a wire pen and a feed lot to keep them in.

I'm sure there is better stuff is available now over what we had.

 

[Big7]

I used to raise pigs many years ago. Putting rings in their nose will keep them from rooting as bad. Without it they may eventually root up the pasture.

The rings you use special pliers to clip onto the top rim of the nose are readily available.

Good luck.

View attachment 1229205

Needless to say, and I didn't mention but rings are a MUST.

 

[livinoutdoors]

@sportsman94 i didnt see this thread till yesterday and i meant to post. Joel Salatin has a good breakdown on how to rotate pigs with electric. Timing etc. Probably knows as much as anybody on the topic. As far as rings go im not a fan. Pigs were meant to root and the minerals help em out.

 

[sportsman94]

@sportsman94 i didnt see this thread till yesterday and i meant to post. Joel Salatin has a good breakdown on how to rotate pigs with electric. Timing etc. Probably knows as much as anybody on the topic. As far as rings go im not a fan. Pigs were meant to root and the minerals help em out.

That’s where I’m at with the rings as well. I figure I’ll bring the tractor back over it if they make too much of a mess. I’ve had our two feeders on about a quarter acre for the last week or so. They’ve rooted where their water is, but other than that it appears to be not bad. I’ll let them stay there until it starts getting rough then move them. I’ve watched a lot of Joel’s stuff and really like what he does. That’s where I originally got the inspiration for looking into pastured pigs. I appreciate everyone’s input!

 

[Nicodemus]

If you`re using regular hog wire fence, run a strand of barb wire along with the fence wire right on the ground and pull it banjo string tight. If it`s not tight it won`t do any good, but if it`s tight they won`t root out.