The Power of the Snout

Since 2018, research has been conducted at the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School, located on Tsawwassen First Nation land in Delta, British Columbia. The study focused on determining best management practices for rotating grazing hogs in vegetable production. Research was conducted involving the integration of hogs and cover crops with vegetable production to determine the viability, applicability, and scalability of the system. This video lays out the research conception, design, and results.
To learn more about this project, please visit: www.kpu.ca/isfs/integrating-h...
This research was conducted in collaboration with the Naut'sa Mawt Tribal Council. The project was funded in part by the Government of Canada under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership's AgriScience Program, a federal, provincial, territorial initiative.

[@greenquilter6441]

this is an excellent demonstration of how integrated methods work!

[@tedward720]

Awesome! Nice work and thanks for making the great info so accessible and understandable. Peace.

[@snarky_user]

Unless your only goal is to restore soil for preservation, it only makes sense if you can return the land to industrial production, which defeats the purpose of restoring the soil in the first place. Your animal load was way too small to be viable as pork production. You invested considerable resources into providing food for the pigs that was never consumed because they were removed prior to consuming the roots and radishes. The extra forty percent of seed was essentially expensive pig feed that offset gazing. However, the introduction of pigs into fields with cover crops prior to production planting might make considerable sense if the grazing is intensive enough to complete the job before the planting window closes. That's a tough thing to accomplish in late winter.

[@ViliamGajdos]

I assume this system is not set for business scheme. I would gladly try and use it if I had a plot of land and wanted to have my own meat and veggie. No need to own a tractor is a nice bonus.

[@corinesingfield1317]

Scientific experiments need to be replicated many times and as such we used the minimum stocking density possible to keep things manageable. However, as mentioned, it does not make sense from a management perspective to only have 2 pigs per grazing plots. On the rest of the farm we have pigs rotating through acres of land, eating and re-seeding their own forage. And they are eating! Tons of peas, lots of big radishes and everything else which translates to big savings on feed and really healthy parasite-free pigs. The only thing is that you need to move them before they eat over graze.

[@stoamnyfarms]

"at least 100 years to form an inch of top soil" You've been reading too many old books. You can get an inch of top soil in less then 10 years easily. Much less if trees are involved.

[@Rkdawla]

Also depends upon slope, soil texture and precipitation...Dear!

[@willbass2869]

Agreed. Bad assumption. Bad science

[@ashleyalexander7388]

subscribed because of the graphics and talk through :)

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Excellent video Thankyou!

[@andrekuh3956]

THANK YOU , VERY MUCH FOR SUCH AN VERY INTERESTING OBSERVATION. SO YOU LIGHTEN UP MY VIEWS ON DIVERSE FARM/ RANCH LAND MANAGEMENT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SUCH AN INDEPH RESEACH.

[@markpennella]

Excellent research video!!

[@pablotoledo7678]

Excelente trabajo.... saludos desde Argentina...

[@Duben-ym5vi]

very well done!

[@MistressOP]

Try and wood chip manure mix to fix those. Goose manure mix with woodchips, goat or rabbit cut will all work as well

[@TheOnlySgtRock]

Great video.

[@racebiketuner]

Keep up the great job!

[@aherrns1894]

Wonderful

[@alenalen6444]

Thanks for your model.

[@neilrowe119]

This was great thanks

[@soullivankhamtun1687]

I like the promising result of the research. where can is find the result of the research in journal?

[@Mastadex]

This is a great study! Other than proteins, do the pigs get all their nutrients from the cover crops?

[@MistressOP]

If they had ducks or geese after the picks it would have worked even better letting them go after cover crop regrowth the last round

[@talkingjoseph5582]

Exactly. Especially geese

[@judylloyd7901]

Picks? 😁😁

[@Tim23522]

I think you stacked the deck. Using a disc causes compaction, that is why in construction they use it for drying and compaction. More you use it, the more it packs, more plow pan at the bottom of the tillage. That edge of the disc packs. Lot of plow pan causes a barrier of water and air movement in the soil. This happens a lot when you use it as a primary tillage, multi passes, as you seem to have rather then as a just a finish pass. I not saying the pigs won't do better, I just saying, I don't I trust the results. I think you should go with farming like regular farms. The same machines, same methods. As overseeding, maybe you should use modern planting instead of broadcast like in the middle ages. I think you might get a better stand, maybe better since all seeds are at the best depth for the seed. Maybe you should also look at the calcium and sulfer in the soil. Any soil going to compact without these two. On 100 years for 1 inch of topsoil, I would like to add, that decay of roots create topsoil, not the plant on top. Topsoil I think is mostly grass lands. I think really regenerative farming is a good idea. But your not going to get a farmer to change if you don't do a honest comparison of practice.

[@arthurdewith7608]

I have 1000 acres to work up come over and help me pull weeds by hand

[@sillydogfarms2983]

There ARE farmers who manage cover crops like the tillage plot.

[@Tim23522]

@@arthurdewith7608 Don't understand what that means or how that ties in.

[@Tim23522]

@@sillydogfarms2983 I thought you were talking regular crops, not like turnups, other heavy root crops like beans that going to break the soil. And I agree, the farmer next to me does. Not that it is right. Still say discing packs and really only works maybe 4 to 6" deep and gives a plow pan layer the plant roots don't want to go through. I think it holds back water too but not for sure.

[@ihlianthinks]

Did you feed the pigs some extra grain? Or did they just consume what was on the pasture?

[@corinesingfield1317]

Pigs need to be fed a high protein diet and they eat a lot. We did feed them grains but reduced the amount of feed while they were on pasture.

[@rhosus2787]

Born to be ham

[@homeistheearth]

What about using chickens instead of pigs? Could this do similar?

[@lost329]

No control?

[@lisanelhiebel5669]

WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR

[@benjamindejonge3624]

That’s always my question to big industry corn boys, how many earth worms per feet

[@sjk7314]

What breed of pig is that?

[@jimmydykes7961]

No way I'll turn hogs loose on my fields

[@cmbryan564]

p̷r̷o̷m̷o̷s̷m̷ 😳

[@peterclark6290]

Even for its day a 4 way cover crop is too limited. Does the brush hogging prove anything except the effects of suspending root growth and penetration? Bare soil is farming failure. Puddles are compaction central. What testing was done, compaction, SOM, etc? What conclusions re 2 day usage vs: single day or half day access? A very poor 'experiment'. Regenerative Agriculture? 100 years to grow one inch of top soil? Keep that to yourself. Farmers are earthworm-herders 1st, 2nd and 3rd and results of inches per decade are recorded on farms that use *regular compost sprays, as fast and as often as the Bioreactors* can pump out suitable material. Feed the worms with humus, bacteria and fungus and sit back.

[@jol1958]

Goats are a safer choice.

[@terrydoble1468]

If you think there’s no “data” on whether animals properly managed improve soils, your not looking very hard. Sounds like your trying to justify your job.

[@ra3dbadr]

*GOATS WOULD DO A BETTER WORK*

[@Stevenowski]

This is a biased study at the very least.

[@the_p03t92]

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