How Pigs Can Give You Beautiful Pastures | Joel Salatin

Would you believe it if someone told you pigs could be a part of healing the soil and bringing about national park-like grasslands? Joel Salatin demonstrates silvopasture at Polyface Farms and how he has utilized pigs and rotational grazing to bring about lush and beautiful fields you have to see to believe.
Considering starting your own farm or homestead? Learn more about Joel Salatin's "Farm Like a Lunatic" course on Pastured Pigs as well as other courses here 👉 www.farmlikeal...
The "Pastured Pigs" course includes:
•17 video sessions
•3+ hours of video
•Downloadable PDF transcripts for each video lesson
•Homework PDFs for each lesson that guide you through the essential steps
•Expert insight from an award-winning farmer
The course will teach you benefits and the fundamentals of raising broiler chickens for meat on pasture for your family and for your community and includes the following subjects:
•Pig Breeds
•Infrastructure
•Herding & Handling
•Sorting
•Pasture Design
•Feeds
& More!
Enroll in the course now: www.farmlikeal...
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[@matthewghardy]

Joel's presence on KZbin is like a breath of fresh air. No flashy intro, no sales pitch, no fluff. He's a gift to this generation, and those yet to come.

[@davidcarruth1317]

I run The woolly pig company in Scotland and we graze pigs in woodland pasture aswell except in mid upland and wetland, we are seeing some pretty outstanding results at the moment from exactly this style of rotational paddock grazing We surveyed one of our paddocks last year and found over 120 species in the forage below the tree line and because the pasture is so diverse we don’t need to use any routine medications because the pigs self medicate with what’s available to them there in the field We’ve actually had to ditch the electric fencing and replace it with our own creation of a fence because the pasture grows so quickly after the pigs exit that it shorts out the back fence and I was needing to strim along 100s of meters of electric fence a week to keep the pigs in

[@dismayedtrinket2518]

That is interesting. What was your fix for the fence shorting out?

[@davidcarruth1317]

@@dismayedtrinket2518 a high tensile rylock fence with an additional ground wire, so we stick up every forth fence post and attach the first ground wire then knock the fence post right down onto the ground and tension it really tight then we put a second ground wire on just above that before attaching the rylock, you need really well dug in strainers to handle the tension of the wires but it’s worked a treat. Your best fencing is good grazing though I reckon, pigs are much less likely to pressure a fence if they have plenty to eat

[@markpiersall9815]

Consider installing a Screech Owl nest box. Owls eat rodents which host ticks.

[@jmc8577]

People like you and gourmet farmer Tasmania is why I ended up in pastured pigs. I love seeing them getting excited everytime they're offered a new yard

[@timmurphy334]

Nice Joel. With this one, you really let your philosophical lunacy shine.

[@savageairsoft9259]

Very good video

[@rebeccagrimsley7260]

We are retiring next year to a small farm in the Florida panhandle. I plan to grow kunekune pigs. Will your system work for sandy soil?

[@dantheman9135]

ThankQ

[@skyleen]

Would this work in Southwest Missouri? We have 13 acres that are mostly wooded.

[@mikehunte398]

Yes. These ideas will work anywhere in the world once fine tuned for your context.

[@user-kv2pt4lu9y]

@mikehunte398 well said about context. @skyleen the basic principles are the same all the world over. Your micro climate will dictate how fast your moves will need to be, how tightly/loosely the pigs will need to be in each paddock. Joel's book about the Pigness of the Pigs may be helpful to you.

[@markpiersall9815]

Consider installing a Screech Owl nest box. Owls eat rodents which host ticks.

[@wallacewimmer5191]

😊

[@benh2587]

What is the pig per acre ratio you found to be the "sweet spot"?

[@MFaith777]

Yeah I’m curious about how many pigs per acre too! And how long etc

[@jmc8577]

So many variables. How many pigs? How old? What is your local area growth rate, which varies pending time of year and weather? My current 16 between 4-5 months is weekly at present but it's cooler season (Australia).

[@MFaith777]

@@jmc8577 well, I guess the question then would be, how do you know it’s time to rotate them?

[@jmc8577]

@@MFaith777 for us. When they've "dug it up" but there is still some grass left behind as such. Don't let it go to complete dirt (for Australia at least this just brings bad weeds). And we're now seeding straight after a move as "top up" in a fight against bad weeds. Their food eating area will always go to dirt as such and also their water bathing unfortunately Edit to add. We've also borrowed the neighbours sheep to graze garbage the pigs won't. The current yards looks amazing. Mind you we are still new at this / trial and error but the land before us wasn't used for years and was poor quality. The pigs rooting is turning it around for us. And clearing heaps of garbage (I seriously have no idea what the prior farmer's were doing based on what they're ripping up).

[@user-kv2pt4lu9y]

@MFaith777 you might get some more ideas on the Heifer youtube videos about pigs