The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Oly on February 21, 2013, 04:11:18 pm
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I was wondering which breeds of pigs only graze and don't churn up the land?
From what I have seen I don't believe that Kune Kune pigs churn up the land, although I have seen quite a few with nose rings presumably to stop rooting...
I was just wondering as we may like to raise pigs from weaners to butchering, but not if they churn up the land.
Thanks in advance,
Oly
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All pigs root it's just the depth they go to
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Many thanks for the quick reply. Think that answer my question nicely!
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Pigs with shorter snouts will do less damage, like kunekunes, but we have 3 and they do still churn things up.
I wouldn't put a ring in their snout though, I think it's cruel.
If you had room to rotate your field, say with an electric fence, you could just put up with some damage, move them over and let the land recover.
Pigs are lovely and worth the mess!
J xxx
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Tried Guinea Pigs yet ? :excited:
seriously, I am also in a discussion with our gardener, She believes that Tamworth pigs are better diggers than our Old Spots. She said, Old Spots don't dig, they just graze. Graze - 15 inches deep, that's right.
Does anyone else know or think of any quality difference in the digging of pigs? I bought some expensive Tamworths now for her to churn up the couch grass on the garden field, But still don't believe in that what she says.
Ok, Tammys have longer snouts, but still....
Anyone with ideas?
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They're pigs. It's what they do.
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The best breeds for just grazing are called sheep :innocent:
Pigs will dig and churn up ANY land you keep them on which is great if you want to make a plant area as they are the best rotivators I know!
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The best breeds for just grazing are called sheep :innocent:
Yup, I agree - ALL pigs root at some point.
Shorter snouted breeds - Kunekunes and Middlewhites don't do as much damage and Kunekunes will graze, but only when there's good grass.
If you're looking to raise them for pork, I'd go for Middle whites - they'll finish quicker than Kunekunes and your ground can recover for the next batch the following spring.
HTH
Karen
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seriously, I am also in a discussion with our gardener, She believes that Tamworth pigs are better diggers than our Old Spots. She said, Old Spots don't dig, they just graze. ::) :innocent: Graze - 15 inches deep, that's right.
having GOS pigs too i would entirely concur that they can dig to the depth that all you can see is their backsides sticking up out of the bog hole they've created or should i say crater! :roflanim:
mandy :pig:
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Errr, i think the moral is don't believe that any pig wont dig. A few years ago, we started off with Middle Whites and despite over feeding them (it seemed an awfully cold winter that year) they dug the biggest holes out of all the rare breeds thatb we have kept! Their faces were permanently black, they looked liked the black and white minstrels from those old films!
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some friends of our wanted to keep some non digging pigs and after doing their reaserch got a pair of kk's so far they have found bricks, old farm machinery and even some old land drain pipes :roflanim: all of this is dispite having grass to graze they seem to enjoy the grass roots better.
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I've read in a few places that Saddlebacks are grazers. Dunno who dreamed up that nonsense ours are very efficient rotovators. Even giving them a large amount of space just means it'll take a bit longer but they will turn it all over in no time at all. They don't call pigs "Nature's Plough" for nothing.
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I've read in a few places that Saddlebacks are grazers. Dunno who dreamed up that nonsense ours are very efficient rotovators. Even giving them a large amount of space just means it'll take a bit longer but they will turn it all over in no time at all. They don't call pigs "Nature's Plough" for nothing.
I have never heard this saying hughesy, its lovely and so right
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My philosophy is that they are playing their part in the greater cycle of things. Cultivating the ground so that it can be regenerated. If we can use their natural behaviour to our advantage it's a win isn't it.
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Tried Guinea Pigs yet ? :excited:
seriously, I am also in a discussion with our gardener, She believes that Tamworth pigs are better diggers than our Old Spots. She said, Old Spots don't dig, they just graze. Graze - 15 inches deep, that's right.
Does anyone else know or think of any quality difference in the digging of pigs? I bought some expensive Tamworths now for her to churn up the couch grass on the garden field, But still don't believe in that what she says.
Ok, Tammys have longer snouts, but still....
Anyone with ideas?
we have kept tamworths and gos, it was our gos who did the most damage as she tended to flip the turf over in huge sods which are a devil to flatten again and def needs a tractor powered something or other, whereas the tamworths just rooted and mushed it, which more or less can be trod down again by foot.
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I've read in a few places that Saddlebacks are grazers. Dunno who dreamed up that nonsense ours are very efficient rotovators. Even giving them a large amount of space just means it'll take a bit longer but they will turn it all over in no time at all. They don't call pigs "Nature's Plough" for nothing.
Yep I can also confirm that our Saddlebacks could win a ploughing competition! Anoyingly they didnt do a thourough job though - just rooted up and turned over huge clodds of turf then moved on. Hell of an uneven result and needed a disc rotovator (? or was it a disc harrow) vefore reseeding. Now our best fiedl though ;D ;D
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We did a pair of Berkshire cross last year and they were the most destructive creatures ever, from above there park looks like mars!
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I know this is an old topic, but the info is still relevant. We've had KuneKunes for 4 1/2 years, bought has a birthday present. Only tried to breed them once & that was a disaster, but our real intention was to put them on bits of rough ground that we wanted dug up or where it wasn't a disaster if they did. It was a bit of a failure in that they didn't root at all and we ended up ploughing and cultivating to clear the ground instead. Since then they have occasionally done a bit of turf stripping on our good leys, when allowed in for a treat. But in their own pen of perfectly good grass they have kept it grazed short except where I feed them their sow rolls/windfall apples, which is churned up. As they are probably getting a bit old for breeding we were thinking of changing them for younger animals; possibly of a different breed, but would prefer they were of a similar reduced rooting disposition; hence ending up at this thread. We're not dead set against ringing any new pigs just would prefer not to. We have enough rough land eg in scrappy shelter belts that we don't need to put them in our good grass parks, but would like the option if/when necessary/convenient. I have now read through the BPA Breed Info Section and there are a couple of mentions of breeds that tend to root less than others, but I'm going to stick with KuneKunes.
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We did a pair of Berkshire cross last year and they were the most destructive creatures ever, from above there park looks like mars!
Yep! We had Berkshire crosses for the first time last year also and they did similar. We've been keeping rare breed pigs for 10+ years now and never had anything so diggy as last year's pigs. Nice natured pigs, but oh so diggy.
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Kune's are known for grazing but generally speaking all pigs dig. They are designed to dig and would dig in the wild for food so it's asking a lot to expect them not to dig. Some can be really destructive diggers but of course certain things might affect this. Fresh ground not dug before is heaven for pigs. Certain times of year are more attractive. And of course depending how much ground they have, the soil type and weather can make a difference to what your ground ends up looking like.
Ringing pigs is horrible. Take a look on you tube.