raising pigs without smell and on the cheap

[paul wheaton]

Pigs are a naturally clean animal that will do their business in one corner of a bigger space. No smell. No stink. Brian says the only way pigs will stink is if you let them fester in one spot.

The pig fence is stock panels held together with caribeaners.

Brian is growing lots of stuff that the pigs will self harvest. The most important being sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes). But no matter where you move the pigs there is plenty more to eat, thus reducing the feed costs.

Pigs love to eat blackberry roots - and are a great way to control blackberry problems.

http://www.youtube.com/paulwheaton12#p/u/0/LXeZ7oVhAUg

Please forward to folks that might be interested in this sort of thing!

Many thanks!

[Redoverfarm]

Paul don't let them fool you.  They will stink any place that they are confined to a certain area.  When acclumating them to a new pen all one has to do is sprinkle water in a designated area and they will use that area to do "their buisness".  Depending on the amount of head confined will determine the extent of the stinch or the time to reach that point. I guess hog rotation would be the only sure fire way to eliminate the smell.  Have you ever noticed that of all the buildings required to farm the land the hog pen was the furthest away from the house.  There is a reason for that.

The cheapest way to raise them is to let them free roam and eat what they find.  In the older days this was done by turning them out into the woods of the farms and in the fall they were gatherecd up in the woods and brought back to a wintering lot. Only problem was gathering them up which would take several days.   Acorns is the cheapest and most beneficial food for hogs aside of bought feed.

If you need a garden spot tilled and rock free just fence it off and the hogs will take care of the rest.   They will eat every weed in sight and root up any rocks to the surface.  Pick up the rocks and you now have a weed, rock free area to plant which comes with it's own fertilyzer.  

[glenn kangiser]

One thing that can take away most of  the smell and prevent most of the flies is EM.  Various livestock solutions   -note: I do not work for them - this is not an ad - posted for your benefit.....

http://www.teraganix.com/Effective-Microorganisms-Hog-Odor-Solutions-s/133.htm

http://www.teraganix.com/Effective-Microorganisms-Dairy-Solutions-s/135.htm

http://www.teraganix.com/Effective-Microorganisms-Poultry-Solutions-s/134.htm

http://www.teraganix.com/Solutions-for-Horses-s/473.htm

http://www.teraganix.com/Effective-Microorganisms-Livestock-Solutions-s/82.htm

"In this section we are providing you with several of the most common application solutions with EM•1® Microbial Inoculant and EM•1® Waste Treatment for livestock operations including odors and problems associated with foul odors, manure management, and lagoon management.

A great benefit with EM•1® is that it is not specific to a type of animal.  If you are raising hogs, the benefits you are looking for will be slightly different than someone that is growing chickens, however, the effect on ammonia is the same and the application rate is about the same as well.  This means, if you are raising mink, sheep or goats, horses, or any number of animal, you can follow the guidelines we give you here in this section.

Please visit EMRO Japan's website, to find studies from over 100 countries using Dr. Higa's Original EM•1® products on virtually any animal that is commercially raised."

http://www.emrojapan.com/about-em/about-em.html

These are not idle claims..... Andrew and I have used the product.  I can simply walk around the corral with a garden sprayer with AEM in it spraying manure piles, feeders, building walls , ceilings, floors and problem areas.  Smell is gone nearly immediately and fly populations are reduced to next to none.  Without the smell they seem to have no interest in the manure.  I also spray the cows, their feed and water, in fact we do pretty much the same with all of our animals and in drinking water for the cats.

[glenn kangiser]

Sassy mentioned that I should let you know about the cats.

A couple tom cats apparently got into the house while we were outside for the day with the doors opened a couple days ago.

Apparently one of them sprayed because the smell was strong.  Sassy put EM on the affected area and the smell was gone within a short time.  The only other thing we found that would clean that smell in our rental was an expensive enzyme from the pet store.  EM does it, no problem.

Entire EM education thread link:

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=9956.0

[MikeC]

We've used stock panels fastened with carabiners, works great when the piggies are little.  Once they get a few months older & bigger they can lift the panels with their snouts, even with a 200 lb person standing on the panel wire/rod.  Aluminum 'biners are easily bent/snapped in half by a single pig working the panel. For a barnyard animal, pigs have serious neck strength, smarts and determination. 

T-posts or better are needed to secure the corners and mid-panel as well, IMHO, in addition to multiple substantial steel 'biners.

[Redoverfarm]

Mike we use wooden post for corners with panels stapled, T post intermediate with the T-post clips.  In addition we dig a 6" trench and sit the panel down in that.  They will root under one that is layed on the ground.

[ScottA]

I can confirm what red said. We dug a shallow trench and set the pannels in concrete. They will rip it out of the ground otherwise. I gave up on pigs a long time ago. The feed costs more than they are worth.

[muldoon]

nasty creatures.  they do taste delicious when slow smoked over mesquite tho. 

Here almost no one raises them on purposes.  The feral pigs are so out of control we just bait them with corn every now and then and shoot a half dozen at a time when we need meat. 

[texasgun]

"they do taste delicious when slow smoked over mesquite tho" .