Last year we fed the pigs ten truck loads of pumpkins in the space we later used as our garden for the animals. Feeding pumpkins is FREE (after Halloween), pumpkins are vitamin rich, and the seed also helps to eliminate any worms that the pigs may be carrying. Autumn is a particularly good time of year to worm so that the animals go into the winter with an uncompromised immune system. The other wonderful side benefit of feeding pumpkins is that this year we have dozens and dozens of big, beautiful pumpkins that grew out of the manure left by the pigs!
Our kids love the Easter-egg-hunt-ish feel to finding pumpkins randomly around the animals' food plot, and it was a great lesson for Huck to see the long range effects of the work we did nearly a year ago when we gathered pumpkins from our friends' pumpkin farm.
Our plan is to have many more food plots like these spread around the farm. We will plant crops with like harvest dates together, and run the pigs through them as the plants mature. For example- this year we have pumpkins, mangles (which are basically big beets grown as livestock feed), and turnips planted together. We LOVE when our animals can do the work of harvesting for themselves!
If you're in the market for pumpkins come visit us at the Downtown Pittsfield Farmer's Market in the next few weeks.
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| A very rare treat in which Huck and Tillie get a ride for about 15 feet behind the four-wheeler. |
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