Boy it's been a busy year but now we have proof of how fast our Berkshire piglets are growing. The photo on the left from our last post was taken when they were two months old, and the photo on the right shows them at almost 9 months.
In case you're wondering, those are the same feed bowls. We measured the pigs in a rather inaccurate way and can only say they are well over 200 lbs. at this point. Can't you just see those hams? These are beautiful pigs. Also mellow, sweet, and after some training, respectful of my space.
Our next butcher date is at the end of March and at this point we are working to keep excess lard off while giving them good nutrition and of course they have free pasture forage.
The pigs are also pulling their weight, as it were. We have them in a pasture with overgrown blackberry stands that we're chopping down and they LOVE the blackberry roots. We now have 2-ft-deep holes from their excavations and it's exactly what the invasive blackberries need to keep them from coming back.
Quotes and Trivia
I challenge you to go to any industrial farm. You’ll see anti-microbial shoe dips, shower in shower out, plastic suits. Whenever we get scientists visiting our farm, they invariably remark about how seemingly nonchalant we are about bio-security. The industry is paranoid about bio-security because their animals and plants are fragile. If our farm plants and animals had as dysfunctional an immune system as that found in industrial facilities, I’d be paranoid, too.
– Joel Salatin, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God’s Creation