The pigs are loose!
Fortunately they’re loose in the next field over. And they’re supposed to be loose in there. The pasture Mark planted in April is finally grown enough to put the Mangalitsas in to graze the greens and dig the roots. This particular group is ready for butchering at a nice 275-300 pounds. They are for sale, but most of our customers are not ready for them yet, so they’ll continue to graze and work the field for about 6 weeks. At that point, Mark will work it again and plant in a winter crop for the pigs to live on through the winter.
With forage like this available, the pigs will be happily busy for a while. The flowers in the photo on the left are field peas. Sam’s holding turnips and Mangolds on the right. Mark planted a variety so there would be food both above and below ground. Even without grains, the Mangalitsa pigs can put on good weight on browse like this. They could easily weigh another 100 pounds in a couple of months on this forage diet. Compared to a standard pig, Mangalitsas are very easy keepers that way.
Plus, it’s fun to see those wagging tails wading through the grass.