Thank you, Ralph! They are beautiful! Happy babies! Happy mama! Nature knows best...

When I redid very old fences on my place some 20 years ago, I removed remnants of old fence from an entire lane and pasture where there was welded fence topped by 2 strands of barbed PLUS a strand of barbed buried 8 inches underground. Later I found out that one of the renters of the farm had raised piggies in the '60s and that was the only way he could keep them in. How do YOU keep your piggies within their designated areas?


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

some people can get by with a electric fence about 12-18" high. when I had hogs I used a woven wire 36-48" high and a electric fence and some times still couldn't keep them in.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

My hogs are a bit spoiled. There are just three sows and a boar in a four acre pasture. They have access to a couple of wet wallows, an intermittent stream, a section of woods and about three acres of white clover based pasture. They get a daily grain ration and water. I think they don't bother my woven wire fence because they are very content.
If I had more animals or a smaller area, like KC says, I would use an electric wire about a foot off the ground. I would be mindful not to run the hot wire where the gate is, because once they get "nipped" crossing that wire or where it used to be is a very hard job.
The mothers teach their babies too. They moms stay in, walk down the farm lane to the barn, so the babies just do what mom does. The daughters I keep, just keep doing it and so the process continues. I have been raising this same line of pigs since 1986, keeping females based upon mothering, rate of gain, size and temperment. So far, it has been working very well for me.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

How lovely, Ralph! They are truly in pig heaven! I've had the same lines of cattle here on pasture every summer for the last 20 years and can identify the great-great-granddaughters by behavior as well as looks. Cows teach their heifers, too, and behavior passes on down through the generations. I rotate the girls through the pastures and do it with minimum fuss. They know where everything is and look forward to the special features in each pasture... pond and cool woods in one, apple trees in another, and so forth. So often we forget that our animals have families that bond them, too.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Mike, I'm all for releasing a few wild pigs along the roadways if, indeed, they eat those nasty wild parsnips :). I just harvested my garlic as well. Not quite as many as you have but enough for me and a few others. Planted a few soft necks this year, too, but for some reason they didn't all make it through the winter. The hard necks did fine, as usual. We're in northern Richland County, but with a Hillsboro address. Have friends in the New Glarus/Mt. Horeb/Monroe area.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum