stop it stop it stop it stop it!!!!!
Mrs Womble didn't want me to get pigs last year because our fencing wasn't up to it, but now we've got it sorted, she doesn't want them making a mess of the nice grass (Isn't that the whole idea of a pig?).
Or, you could get some Kunekunes - they'd grow a bit slower (and cheaper
) and wouldn't do quite as much damage
But to preserve the grass over winter you'd need some hard standing or a stable/indoor shed to keep them in
Seriously though Karen, I'll try to talk her round. When would your July weaners be ready for sausaging then , and how long before the field transforms from the Somme back into a field again?
That's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' type question
We'd
expect the weaners to be ready as 'small pork' pre-christmas (maybe around 70-75Kg liveweight) but this is the first time we've used this boar on these gilts and had this cross as a result, so they could grow like stink and be bigger than this, or they could grow a bit slower - sorry not much help am I
I would expect they'd be able to go before Xmas, but keeping them through the winter til end of Jan/Feb would give you better bacon sized pigs (and pork and sausages
)
But there's no hard and fast rule about when you have to send them - only what the abbatoir dictates as a maximum size (and most
will do bigger pigs if you ask nicely - they just put them through on the cattle lines and charge a wee bit more for the kill
) so you can work it round what suits best for you.
Field regeneration......
It depends on how big the area is, how wet it is, how quick they grow and churn it up and how long you leave them in it once it's trashed - the longer they're in liquid mud the longer it takes to fix
If you could section off 2 areas (next to each other - leccy tape would do it
) and rotate them between the two it'll help. Have the arc in the centre so you don't need to keep moving it
and lay some slabs on the ground to put their feed and water on - this is the bit that gets most badly affected. But 6, 2x2 slabs laid in a rectangle will give a good sized platform for them and help loads
HTH ? But just shout if I've missed anything
Karen