by miracolifarm » Mon Jun 10, 2013 1:19 pm
Feel free to lovingly, gently correct the newbie... ; ) ...but here's my thinking:
There does seem to be a feral pig problem. If wild pigs are thriving in the wild, it means that something is going very right: growth, fertility, and reproduction are all ticking right along. Would it then be reasonable to consider how feral pigs are thriving? And how pigs have been thriving for hundreds of years? And then maybe do that on our farm, or at least some element of it?
What is a pig eating if he's outside the farm? It's whatever he can scavenge, mostly likely roots, shoots, leaves, flowers, incidental seeds, etc. I can only guess that left to their own devices, they're not seeking out grain on a daily basis. What are the eating? My *guess* is that they're eating above and below the soil. I want to be clear that I am *not* saying that grain is bad - pigs clearly do very, very well on grain - nor that anyone should stop feeding grain. I am more asking the question, Looking at the pig's history, and his successful wild existence, is it *possible* to grow pigs on fodder?
We're learning about the nutritional requirements of the pig, and are looking at the various grains available to see if there's a fit for each component. Barley is popular and hasn't been engineered yet; there are also lentils, which are full of protein...but how's their Lysine content? Rye is lower in protein with a lot more carbs; would it be better to finish them out on that? Or to even include more Rye in their regular fodder? I have no idea. We're still exploring and learning. Grain is definitely the known quantity for reliable results, but with the drought last year, the price of grain is going to skyrocket on us all. Dry grains store beautifully for years, even decades, when stored properly. IF we can really turn a pound of grain into six pounds of food and have *equally good, reliable* results, I want to take a deeper look at it.
We'll definitely continue to share what we learn, and if we try fodder, we'll share what worked for us, as well as what didn't. Still don't know if we're going to go this way or not.