Pasture Grass

Posted by razephroot on March 13, 2011 4 comments

This past year, the pigs have created several paddocks that are well fertilized, tilled, and ready to be planted to pasture.  Additionally, the cutover land needs to be seeded with a pasture grass as well.  As we consider which types of pasture plants to seed, I’ve narrowed the available options down to three.  Our three chosen options are no seed, bahiagrass, and a mix of Indian Grass and Beggarweed.

The first option is the cheapest…seed with nothing.  The areas of the farm that we have mowed to control the brush over the last several years have created a sod of grass (mostly crabgrass) which is palatable to our animals.  I’ve noticed that this sod doesn’t green up as early as other grasses in the area of our farm, and isn’t as vigorous, but is certainly simple to establish.  The animals seem to relish this option as well.  At least they relish it while green.

The second option is bahiagrass.  We have chosen Bahiagrass over Bermuda due to the ease/low cost of establishment and the tolerance for silvo systems (shade) and poorly drained ground.  Another benefit to Bahiagrass is the low cost of maintenance compared to the Bermuda grasses.  We will use the Pensacola variety of Bahia over the most recently improved varieties due to P’cola being the easiest/cheapest of even the bahia’s to maintain.  The main drawback I can see to Bahia is that it forms such a thick and persistent sod that it can be difficult to establish legumes or other grasses in a bahia field.  It is also more difficult to drill a winter oat or legume into due to the thickness.  The other drawback is that the crude protein is a % or two less than Bermuda.  On the other hand, the last and potentially most important benefit to Bahia is that the neighbor of ours that raises a commercial cow/calf herd loves to talk the benefits of Bahia over the Bermuda for the cows…

Our other choice is a combination of a few natives…Indiangrass and Beggarweed.  Indian grass is very stemmy, tall growing, excellent for wildlife habitat, low yielding, late maturing, and tolerant of drought and poor growing conditions. Indiangrass, however, is relatively easy to establish and is more vigorous and competitive than the bluestems.  Indiangrass is tolerant of other species in the field, which will allow us to incorporate a legume into the field.  We will plant beggarweed in our indiangrass field to raise the crude protein levels of the stand, to utilize nitrogen from the air, and to provide a diversity for our animals.  The concern I have with beggarweed is that it is so relished by ruminents that I have seen reports of it’s near demise due to deer grazing pressure.  Beggarweed has a crude protein level of 22% in a vegetative state…this protein level lead to the following quote in a 1907 USDA Farmer Bulletin: “when it is so abundant as to afford good grazing, it will fatten horses, mules, and cattle more quickly than any other plant”.

Next, we’ll need to post on which paddocks will get which pasture seeding, and how much seed we’ll need.  Two other pasture establishment options to consider are annual forage peas or velvet beans and Sericea Lespedeza.

1st lamb of 2011

Posted by razephroot on January 24, 2011 1 comment

While doing the sheep count to ensure all were accounted for, got a treat today with our first lamb of 2011.  Very exciting…haven’t seen a baby lamb since last spring.  The Ewe had just lambed when I got to her, so the lamb was very awkward on her feet as she suckled her first colustrum.  This is the second single lamb for this Ewe.  Not as desirable as a twin or triplet, but we’ll feel blessed nonetheless.  Since we graze multi-species, there was much excitement at the new arrival.  Every heifer had to come see and smell the new lamb.  Malcolm had to come make sure it wasn’t a threat.  Then Malcolm decided to chase everyone else around in some form of celebration.  I’m thinking we’re going to move the sheep and Malcolm to a new paddock to reduce some of the multi-species stress, but we’ll see.  Worried about the horns on the bull and heifers.  Have three more Ewes that look about ready to lamb, but some of the others may be due also, as this one today didn’t look ready to me yesterday…

Brownie with her 2011 Lamb

A most wonderful Ham Hock

Posted by razephroot on November 30, 2010 4 comments

Mulefoot Ham Hock

You know…we’ve been using ham hocks for years to season greens, beans, peas, etc.  We recently used our first Mulefoot Ham Hock from the two hogs we had processed.  Please take a look at that hock – that is the hock sitting in water with an onion.  Absolutely amazing…There is no comparison in the quality of this heritage local pork to what can be obtained from the grocery.  We used this hock to season some local turnip greens that we harvested, and after much turnip green washing and picking, a few hours of simmering, and a little added spice…woooheee!  Not even close to any we’ve made before.  Just had to share that.

Mulefoot Meat

Posted by razephroot on November 23, 2010 3 comments

A couple weeks ago we received from the processor two of our Mulefoot Hogs.  Oh my Lord…you wouldn’t believe the beauty and taste of this meat.  Here is a picture of the first porkchops we cooked.

After a few minutes and a few sprinkles of Cavender’s, these were some outstanding chops!  There is certainly a difference between this pork that was raised humanely and locally outdoors and the store bought pork that is raised indoors.  We’re very proud of these hogs.  Great Ham, chops, bacon, sausage, etc.

The economics of a Sow and her Piglets

Posted by razephroot on November 4, 2010 1 comment

A sow with five piglets.  Conventional agriculture might describe this as a unsuccessful farrowing.  However, this would be an average litter size for a Mulefoot Hog.  This farrowing represents Evergreen East’s fourth “successful” farrowing and smallest (1st three – 7, 7, 6).  I’d like to consider this in the context of sustainability and determine if this farrowing could be considered a favorable outcome.

To get to the point of this farrowing, the sow had to be raised for the last 15 months to get her to this fruitful stage of her life.  But, we have to consider that she will now farrow a litter every 6 months or so for the next four or five years.  So, each farrowing requires supporting the sow for about 7 months (6 for the heat, gestation, farrowing, and weaning and one for the first nine or so months prior to heat)  Also, for every so many sows, a boar must be raised.  We have five sows currently, so this farrowing required raising 1/5 of a boar – he was only needed about six months ago though, so 1/5 of six months. So, we would need to determine the cost of raising a boar for 6 months and a sow for 7 months.  This amount would be added to the cost of raising each pig – in this case the cost can be spread across five pigs.  This assumes all five are still with us at weaning age.  Determining these costs will have to be the subject of a future blog post…

The above is only the purely economic sustainability discussion.  We also should consider the environmental benefits to this farrowing.  An environmental benefit of the Mulefoot hog is that they are extremely hardy…these pigs can be raised outdoors with very minimal infrastructure.  The Mulefoot’s are excellent graziers, consuming pasture with vigor, and fattening on plant sources not readily available at the local corn or soybean silo.  These pigs are parasite resistant, heat and cold tolerant, and extremely docile…making them the perfect small farm pig.  They can be used to provide fertility, plow garden land, and clear pasture land.  All the while doing these things, the Mulefoot Hog is creating a most wonderful meat.  Can’t think of a better environmental reason to raise these hogs.  For now, let’ say definitely a prosperous farrowing…more to come on the economics…

Hog Raising Must Dooz and Hard Lessons

Posted by razephroot on October 30, 2010 2 comments
  1. Never run out of food.  We use these feeders from Brower.  We’ve tried several other options, but these are the only trouble free feeders we’ve used.
  2. Never run out of water.  We use the P-80 Waterers from Franklin.  Still need to figure out how to set these up with a float valve for auto-filling. 
  3. Don’t scrimp on fencing.  Must have electric with strong perimeter.  Check the fence often as the pigs will if you don’t.  We have hog and combo panels from TSC.  We have had electric off and on, and are currently learning our lesson with the electric fence. 
  4. Keep them stupid.  This one is related to #3.  If the pigs ever get out, they will continue trying to get out again unless you can make them stupid again…which takes time and strong electric fencing.

Right now, I’m out of town, and the some of the pigs have gotten out.  They got out earlier this week when we were getting some timber cut in their area.  So…we’re learning #4 again the hard way.

Persimmon Yield Update #2

Posted by razephroot on August 25, 2010 1 comment

From Chestnut Hill Tree Farm:  “Kaki Persimmons are a profitable orchard crop.  Grown commercially in California (primarily the variety Jiro, but sold as Fuyu), orchards of non-astringent varieties can produce yields of up to 10,000 lbs/acre and bring prices of $1.00/lb or more wholesale.  Persimmons are fairly easy to grow, with few major pests.  Non-astringent cultivars can be harvested while just showing color and shipped readily in standard fruit packing boxes.  Even astringent varieties, when picked still hard, will ripen completely on the shelf over several weeks, making it an easy crop to bring to market.”

From an Indian newspape article:  “…On an average, a fully-grown tree yields up to 200 kilograms of the fruit in a year,” Mahajan said.  At 2.2 pounds per kilo, that is 440 pounds a tree…at 50 trees to the acre, that works out to 22,000 pounds per acre.

From a European Study:  “The productivity of the ‘Rojo Brillante’ is higher than that of varieties grown in Italy. Pirazzoli(1998) pointed out an average yield of 17 t/ha and 26 t/ha in Emilia Romagna and Campania respectively. Although most optimists pointed to an average yield of ‘Rojo Brillante’ in the Ribera del Xúquer of 60 t/ha, we admit that it may be half (i.e. 30 t/ha).”  At 2.47 Hectare to the Acre, 17-30 Tons per hectare equals 13,600 to 24,000 pounds per acre.

Green Oats – the anchor crop for the Winter Forage Trilogy

Posted by razephroot on July 30, 2010 6 comments

When we plant oats in the fall, they quickly germinate and cover the soil with a beautiful green carpet.  The 1920 book by Charles Dawson, Success with Hogs, states that “while these plants are not over 6 or 8 inches high, they contain a higher per cent of protein than do alfalfa or clover.”    Alfalfa in the ground has between 13 and 22% crude protein, so that is some healthy protein in the green oats.  This spreadsheet shows 16% for an Oat and Pea mixture.  A great book written in 1940 by 3 University of Georgia professors, Swine Production in the South, states “On good land Oats can be grazed from November to May.  Experiments show that pigs grazing on green oats gain much more rapidly than those fed the same ration without grazing.”  Concentrates can be reduced 30 percent when pigs are afforded good oat pasture.  “An acre of oats will furnish green grazing for from 8 to 16 pigs.”  A word of caution, “In the piedmont and mountain areas of the South…oats often freeze during the winter”.  Rye and Wheat can be used instead.  Adding AWPs or Vetch to the Oat pasture will “give much better grazing and legumes are very valuable in soil building.” 

A study done by the 3 UGA professors showed that 3.9 acres of Oats and Winter Legumes in combination with self fed concentrates led to a daily gain of 1.8 pounds/day and 4787 pounds of pork from a herd of 39 fall litter pigs.  In contrast, the pigs only given the concentrates gained 1.5 pounds per day and about a 1000 pounds less pork.  Clearly the forage is not only significantly adding to the health of the pigs (and most importantly, the health of the meat), but also makes great economic sense.  The question I have is how much weight will the pigs gain per day on just the pasture with a mineral supplement?  Or will they gain?  Something for us to experiment with…and blog about in the future.

Honey Locust as Livestock Feed

Posted by razephroot on July 30, 2010 4 comments

Ever heard of a Honey Locust Tree?  Not sure that I had prior to reading Tree Crops.  Most of the quotes that you will see in this blog entry are from J. Russell Smith’s book or from this Winrock Factsheet.  I had heard of Black Locust (used for fence posts in Georgia), so if you are familiar with Black Locust, understand that they are related.  Both trees are native to the US…and the State of Georgia as well. 

Honey Locust is interesting  because of its seed pods of up to 18 inches in length.  The beans contain up to 13% protein, and the pods contain up to 42% carbohydrates.  Preliminary testing in the early 1940′s at Auburn “have shown that ground honey locust pods are equivelant in feed value to oats, pound for pound…”  5 year old trees at an Alabama Experiment Station yielded 58.3 pounds of pods per tree.  At 48 trees per acre, that’s almost 2800 pounds per acre…for five year old trees!

Another intriguing fact about the Honey Locust is that it is a Legume tree…though the Winrock article says that the roots do not fix nitrogen from the air.  It is also noted that the Honey Locust is a great tree for Silvopasture due to a canopy that permits the infiltration of light.

The planting at Auburn was planted with Sericea Lespedeza (a perennial forage we can write about in a future blog), and the following was noted…”Having a combination of honey locust and Lespedeza Sericea, the following benefits are derived over a period of years:

  1. Soil is completely protected.
  2. A concentrate and hay can be produced on the same area.
  3. A good grazing and feeding-out program can be maintained.
  4. Low seed and management costs over a period of years.
  5. Weed control.
  6. Low Labor requirement.
  7. Maximum production from the soil.

That’s enough convincing for me…I’m going to add some of these to our Hog feeding forest of Oak, Persimmon, Crabapple, and now Honey Locust.  Next step is to draw out a plan for where to plant everything we will plant this winter.

Persimmon Update – Yield Information?

Posted by razephroot on July 29, 2010 1 comment

Update – On vacation this week, so am having alot more time than usual to research obscure historical Hog feeding facts.  Did find a little more information on Persimmons though…Yield data is difficult to find on American Persimmons, but this link did list the yield at 35-75 pounds per tree.  With a planting of 100 trees to the acre, that works out to 3500 to 7500 pounds of persimmons to the acre.  Whew…seems like alot.  Another link lists the yield at 5-7 Tons/Acre.  Tree Crops lists some nutrition for Persimmons in its appendix.  The Persimmon is listed as having 35.17% Total Solids, .78 % Ash, .88% Protein, 31.74% Sugars, and 1.43% Crude Fiber.

Also found the following that was quoted out of a USDA Farmers Bulletin #686 written in 1915, “The Native Persimmon”:

“The planting plan varies with the type of tree desired.  If it seems desirable to grow low-headed trees with the expectation of producing large fruit that can be readily picked by hand, the permanent trees should be placed at least 16 or, better still, 20 feet apart each way. If, however, a large bulk of fruit is desired as stock feed to be scraped from the ground or picked up by animals, a fair degree of success may be expected if the trees are planted 10 feet apart each way.”

“Probably the persimmon can be more successfully intercropped than any other fruit tree, owing to the depth of its root system.  Blackberries, dewberries, strawberries, and vegetables thrive very well among persimmons until the shade becomes too dense. When the trees shade the ground, it is best to seed down the orchard if it is to be used as a run for chickens, calves, pigs, or other animals and the fruit used as stock feed.”

“Probably the most common use of the fruit is as feed for hogs. As a rule, the hogs are merely turned loose in lots where persimmon trees have come up naturally. Some, however, who appreciate the value of this fruit as stock feed have set out orchards in order to provide a definite supply for this purpose. If varieties are selected which ripen in a continuous sequence, the fruit will, in some sections, furnish forage for hogs from the last of August until early winter. A small area devoted to persimmons can thus be made a valuable asset for any general farm located in a persimmon district which includes hogs among its stock.”

Still need to understand how many Hogs can feed from an acre of Persimmons…have found a few clues, but nothing definitive.  Maybe can research the above nutrition information and convert to Hog feed…