Pig Pie

By Ben DiMeolo

Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? All the while incredibly fun to plan and make.  And you don’t have to be a great cook or budding chef, all you need is a desire and the drive to raise the best and healthiest pigs you possibly can.

Got you wondering now, huh?  Well, let me clarify just a bit.

We’re not talking about a dish or secret family recipe; we’re talking about the latest development in the pastured pig enterprise here on Four Corners Farm.  After several weeks of training near and around the barn in which the newest batch of 15 piglets have become accustomed to electric fencing, we have moved them on to greener pastures.  (Check out the YouTube video)

Down in the lower pasture, we chose a central location to park a mobile home for the pigs, a little hoop house of sorts, as well as a water source, as a home base.  We then, in the basic shape of a pie, sectioned off 7 separate paddocks, all at least an acre apiece, in which the pigs will be rotated every few weeks or so.  This is done to provide fresh forage on a regular basis, and to keep the pigs happy as the greatly enjoy new territory, being naturally curious creatures.  They love their new area – watch YouTube Video of the happy piggies.

Each paddock encompasses a portion of wooded area, adding to the comfort of the pigs as they find a cool spot in the shade during the heat of the day.  Not only is this approach to raising pigs beneficial to the pigs, but also to the pasture and woods the pigs will be in.  They will knock down briars, and trample out thistles, forage on saplings, root through the woods, and graze through the pasture.   What we are going for is a “gentle disturbance” of the area, just long enough to promote a vigorous re-growth of the area.  It will be fun to watch these pigs grow and enjoy the land they are on, and to see the improvement to the quality of the woods and the pasture they so happily inhabit!