Pigs in the Woods

 

These photos were taken in mid October. The pigs are content in the fall forest. They are turning away grain in favor of apples that we're picking from our orchard, dairy (and lots of it!) and nuts falling from the trees. Colby has been strategically moving the pigs for months getting them into perfect position for their nut harvest- acorns, beech nuts, hickory nuts and a few walnuts and butternuts. The Iberico ham (grown in Southern Spain and Portugal) is widely regarded as the best ham in the world. The best of the best Iberico hams come from animals that are kept free-range in oak forests, where they consume an acorn rich diet. We are attempting to mimic the growing conditions of the best pork in the world...so that you can come to New Lebanon, NY for fantastic pork, rather than making the long journey to Spain or Portugal!

Pigs are perfectly suited for the forest.

Mulefoot Hog and Berkshire Cross Hog

Group of Mulefoot hogs- noted for their exceptional foraging capabilities and its wild game flavor.

 

Another happy day on the farm. Pumpkins!

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.

A very rare treat in which Huck and Tillie get a  ride for about 15 feet behind the four-wheeler.