Raising pigs using fodder trees/crops as much as possible

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by futurefarmer, Aug 8, 2012.

  1. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    I'm definitely going to plant some of those in the pastures. We may add some beets but on our place you have to really prep the soil (lots and lots and lots of rocks in the ground) for most of the root crop veggies. I love to plant daikon and rape. Both are doing a great job of softening up our soil. The hogs love to root up the root vegetables when the grass is eaten down. We have not gotten into peanuts yet, but do have plans to plant them. We grow a lot of different legumes and brassicas, beans, squash, pumpkin, etc. As I get more woodland pasture ready for seed, I will be sewing each space four times to start with. I like to get the slow starters going then add in the faster sprouting items, gets everything off to a good start. The paddock the hogs are in now has really softened up and we have to get in there and remove around 600 rocks and stones (at least), I have already seeded some grasses where they have done their work and it is coming up nicely. Now that it has decided to be winter like, I may find that I am through planting until march, when I usually start planting since here the frosts are gone by the middle of march usually.
     
  2. geekyice

    geekyice New Member

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    hi im new here in this site does anyone here can suggest on how to start a piggery and how to raise piglets
     
  3. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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  4. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Some things to keep in mind if you plan to use moringa as a fodder plant.

    Moringa is indeed an extremely useful tree given that it can feed both animals and humans, increase the immune system viability of both and gather into itself many contaminants, it is one of natures great miracle plants. But, since it is an accumulator of contaminants, it can be not so good under the right circumstances.
    If the land it is growing on is full of heavy metals, arsenic and other really nasty things, moringa will pull these into itself and that will not only get them out of the soil but it also concentrates them in the plant. Eating things like arsenic, lead, mercury, and all the other heavy metals is not healthy. If you suspect that your land or the air over your land may contain contaminates it would be prudent to have chemical analysis performed on some samples prior to feed it to your animals or eating yourself.

    Just thought most of us would like to know. So far, around the world, there are two places where Moringa is grown and tested that have not come up with rather high concentrations of heavy metals. One is in South America and the other is in Africa. All the other countries that are growing Moringa for sale or using it as a food stuff/ fodder crop have been found to have heavy metals in the leaves, stems and roots.

    I love Moringa but since most varieties won't grow without winter kill off in my area, I so far have not tried to make it an addition to Buzzard's Roost. I am devising a way to grow it but it may be at least another year before I can give it a trial planting.
     
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  5. Brian D Smith

    Brian D Smith New Member

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    Before you start you might run some numbers:
    - How many daily calories and grams of protein does a growing pig need?
    - How many calories/grams of protein can you expect from a particular tree?
    - how much space/number of trees do you need to feed that many pigs?
    - on what time frame does each tree provide the nutrition?
     
  6. Mirrabooka

    Mirrabooka Junior Member

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    Does anyone have experience with pigs for bracken and blackberry control as part of food forest establishment?

    l?
     
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  7. Jason_H

    Jason_H Member

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    I heard recently that pigs will dig up bracken and root it out, but also that too much of it was not good for them. Maybe you could bring them back to a spot with bracken and rest elsewhere at other times.

    Blackberries; I've heard goats like to browse on them but not sure about pigs (too short?)
     

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