News

Rooting Berkshires

Blackberry root eradication with pigs

November 27, 2022

Berkshire pigs love to root out and eat blackberry roots so I’m helping them out and it’s win-win teamwork.

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Berks fattening up October 2022

What’s new for December 2022’s pork harvest

October 17, 2022

What’s new and what’s changed for the December 2022 butcher date.

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Goats just moved to front pasture

Now for something different: goats!

August 29, 2022

I’ve hired goats to get my pasture under control and one particular doe makes an ungodly, ungoatlike sound when she spots a human.

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Three new piglets, first morning

What’s new and planned for 2022

June 19, 2022

What happened to spring this year? As I write this in the latter half of June, it’s another day with rain in the forecast. I definitely prefer it to hot and dry, as much of the rest of the country is getting. The last of my yearling pigs went to the butcher on April 18,…

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Pork chops done to 150F

Berkshire pork season end leads to ruminations

May 8, 2022

My butcher dates for this year are done, so it’s my chance to reflect on my growing year. Berkshire pigs are renowned for the fat marbling in the meat, and the results of my first year of raising Berkshire pigs did not disappoint. The meat is bright pink, juicy, and tender. I worked hard to…

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Fence along road looking south to corner

Developing the new Forest Pasture

March 20, 2022

This is a small farm and there are four pastures for pigs so they can be rotationally grazed, ranging in size from 0.5-3 acres. The newest pasture was a downhill thicket of blackberry, scotch broom, poison oak, and sedge grass, half of it in tree cover. We started to work on taming this pasture a…

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Feeding ramada

Feeding just got 100% easier

December 19, 2021

Western Oregon. Rain. Cold. Mud. MUD. Some days it doesn’t stop raining and feeding the pigs becomes a real challenge. It’s not that I’m the Wicked Witch of the West, it’s that I don’t want the pigs standing out in winter weather getting soaked while they eat. So normally I watch the radar all day,…

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Pigs at 9 months

9 months old!

December 16, 2021

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. Piglets need TWO food bowls At 9…

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Piglets need TWO food bowls now

Inflection point

May 15, 2021

Until now, Pigs Can Fly Ranch has raised small heritage pigs, of the American Guinea Hog and Kune Kune variety. These little pigs took a year and a half to reach market weight, which was only 75-95 lbs. hanging weight. Faster growth with more feed meant more lard for these breeds. Like many fine things,…

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Five pigs gone to butcher

Trailer training

March 30, 2021

Pigs are not prey animals, so if you’re used to skittish horses, this ain’t that. Park trailer in pasture. Leave truck attached. Open trailer doors, put down feed at far end from door. They may or may not be hesitant but the smell of feed quickly wins out. Next feeding, shut the door for a…

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