Well, it seems no sooner do we get rid of one set of pegs, then we pick up another.
This time we are picking up three weaned piglets of the Meishan breed, which we are interested in seeing if it will be a good fit for our farm.
The Meishan breed is a heritage breed that is considered endangered. It originated in China, was brought to the United States around the turn of the century, and its claim to fame is that it is a true pasture pig that can survive on a high grass diet with grain supplementation, and produce remarkably large litters. It is also supposed to make exceptionally good lard, and the sows are reported to be very good mothers.
Downsides of the breed are that they are a small to medium sized pig, so you don’t get as much meat off of each pig, as you would with a larger breed such as a Duroc; and they are slower to mature, taking up to nine months to reach butchering weight.
So we will give them a chance and see how they do.
For these piglets, we want to make some changes to how we keep them. We’re going to move them out of what was the old pigpen, and into the pole barn. There are a couple of reasons for this. Partially, we haven’t had time to clean out the old pig pen, so I don’t want to put piglets on it and risk them picking up parasites from the old pigs. Partially, I think we are going to transform that pig pen into a chicken coop, since it is a mirror image of the chicken coop that the chickens are in currently, and use that as a breeding station next spring.
Most importantly, since these are pasture pigs, we want them in an area where we have a much simpler time getting them onto the pasture. Since the western end of the south pasture is currently being used as a chicken yard, it makes more sense to put them in the barn where they have unrestricted access to the north pasture.
Then all I have to do is get the irrigation and fence finished on the north pasture and we’ll be in business.
First step was removing all of the old horse pads that the previous owner had installed. We are not fancy enough for such nonsense. Dirt is good enough for our pigs. Then we pulled up the layer of landscaping fabric. We discovered that the entire paddock has a layer of landscaping fabric, under 8 inches of sand and gravel. That would be too much of a pain to remove without a tractor, so we are going to leave it for now. I will never understand horse people. Stacking the horse pads next to the shop. They will eventually make a good sub floor under Daddy’s garage gym. It is likely to get cold here this coming weekend, so the piglets need a shelter within the shelter, somewhere they can snuggle into some nice warm hay for body heat. So we are making them a little pig tent. Originally it was going to have a door, but we needed that piece of cattle panel elsewhere, so the don’t have a door now, just a flap of tarp. Help! I climbed up and now I can’t figure out how to get back down!Seppi goes up and down with ease. Mostly up. He rarely comes down as long as there is any remaining “up” to go. Winnie prefers playing in the loose hay. So does Evie. Horse panels are cool, in one sense. And we are blessed to have so many of them that came with the place, but they are a bit of a pain to work with. This one was sitting about a foot off the ground. Fine for horses, not fine for piglets. Lowering it a foot and installing that one length of no-climb was the work of an entire morning. Ever since we read “the Long Winter” this summer, the girls have been obsessed with preparing for a hard winter. Evie was kind enough to twist us some knots of hay like Pa and Laura did, so we can burn them to stay warm if we have to. Again, the gate. Fine for horses, not adequate for pigs. We wrapped the bottom section in chicken wire to make it an effective piglet barrier. Another length of no-climb stretched. Seppi is such a good worker!“Help! We’re trapped! We can’t get out.” They aren’t trapped, and they were getting in and out of this transport kennel all afternoon. Mostly finished. The gate separating the two paddocks can waight for now, since we don’t have any other livestock to keep separate. Later on, when we buy a cow or some sheep or something like that, we will need to put no-climb or hog panel across the gate to keep the two halves separate.
Still need to hang two gates, get a feed trough and a water system set up today, but then, God willing, we will be ready to pick up the piglets this Saturday.
"I only remember the very first part of the book where he described the man of steel and velvet and I remember the deep chord that phrase struck. I remember the image I had of a hand of living steel wearing a velvet glove, a hand that could crush or caress, strike a killing blow or wipe away tears, lift mountains or cradle an infant. The rest of the book was an afterthought."
From an essay about Aubrey Andelin's "Man of Steel and Velvet".
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Little Farm in the Big City 