Feed
Feed is the essential building block of any animal. Although we are raising our pigs on pasture we still provide a complete diet for them to ensure all of their needs are met. We prepare our own feed at home using locally grown (when possible) whole grains, soyabean meal for protein and a vitamin and mineral mix. We grind the ingredients in small quantities to ensure maximum nutritional value and freshness.
Our breeding stock are fed a wheat and barley based diet for maintenance. Lactating sows’ feed is topdressed with additional vitamins and minerals to provide additional nutrients to meet the demands of the nursing sow. Our young stock receive a wheat based diet at weaning, and are finished out on a barley based diet. Fresh, clean water is provided at all times. Our pigs also have access to fresh green grass and clover in the summer and good quality hay in the winter. In the future we are planning to incorporate peas and corn into a pasture rotation program.
*We do not add any chemicals, antibiotics, animal by-products, growth promotants or hormones to our pig’s diets.
Pasture and Housing
Our pigs live outdoors year round. They have access to large paddocks during the winter. In the summer we expand our pasture area to allow them to forage and roam larger areas. Shelter is provided in the form of 3 sided shelters with deep straw bedding. The pigs fare just fine in the winter as long as they have enough straw to burrow into and a buddy to snuggle with. Our paddocks are large enough to allow for the pigs’ natural behaviours including rooting, running (yes, even our big mamas run around at times!), rolling, foraging, playing (baby pigs LOVE to play), laying in the sun, digging up a nice, mucky wallowing hole and defecating in a designated area (they are very tidy!). Wallowing (laying in a mucky hollow in the ground) is the pig’s way of regulating their body temperature. You may wonder why our pigs look so muddy in some of the pictures. We allow our pigs to lay in muddy wallows and to root (push up soil with their noses to eat the tender plant roots below). We allow a ”pig to be a pig” so on our farm, a muddy pig is a blissful pig! We find that the pasture system also allows for our pigs to run around, roam and exercise quite a bit, improving fitness, leanness and muscling.
Social Groups
It was very important to me to not only provide for the pigs’ physical well being, but for their social and mental well being as well. We run a small breeding herd and they are all closely bonded to each other. I make every effort to ensure that everyone has a “buddy” that they live with year round.
Breeding
Our sows are bred to farrow twice per year (early spring and late fall). They have the winter off. Breeding is done naturally (live cover) on pasture. Our boars are fairly docile and agreeable sorts of fellows so they run with the sows for most of the year. We observe their behaviour closely to record breeding dates but we do not intervene with the breeding process.
Farrowing
In my 4th year at the U of S I did a research project on farrowing behaviour in sows. That project left a real impression on me. Perhaps the biggest difference between our operation and a commercial hog situation are our farrowing practices. We do not employ farrowing crates on our farm. Prior to farrowing we move each sow to its own large paddock with a three-sided shelter bedded deeply with straw. Part of the natural farrowing process is for the sow to build a nest using substrate such as straw, branches, grass and leaves. This process is an important part of the farrowing process and even has an effect on the hormone levels of the sow. My project impressed upon me the importance of nest building on regulating the hormones of farrowing and the sow’s stress levels. For this reason I wanted to be sure my “girls” would have the chance to raise their babies in a natural fashion, including the crucial nest building component. Our sows farrow in their nests with no intervention. We check on the new family but do not disturb them during their first few days of life. As long as everyone is up and sucking we are happy to let them be.
Sows raise their families on pasture. It is a wonderful sight to see one of our big mamas sauntering around on pasture with a whole fleet of glossy piglets trailing her. It is a pleasure to see and hear a contented mama laying in the sun grunting softly as her piglets nurse in the sunshine.
Weaning
We wean our piglets at 7-8 weeks, based on sow condition, which is later than the industry standard. Thereason for this is twofold. Firstly, we are not pushing our sows to produce the most # of piglets/year so there is no rush to rebreed her right away. This allows her to raise her piglets for the 7 weeks and still have a break to get back into condition. Secondly, I feel that allowing the piglets to stay on their mama longer means they have a head start and are better equipped to handle the stresses of weaning. By the time we wean our piglets at 7 weeks they are eating very well. To wean we remove the sow from the pen, allowing the piglets to remain in the place they’ve come to know as “home” thereby reducing the stress of the process. We are currently weaning 8 piglets/sow which is less than the industry standard but we are pretty happy with that considering the smaller litter size of the heritage breed Berkshire and our less intensive management.
Finishing
Our piglets grow up and are finished outdoors. We finish our pigs between 225-250 pounds liveweight. We can custom finish to your desired weight upon request. Our pigs are raised right through finishing with their littermates and one other litter to try to keep the stress of mixing larger groups to a minimum.
Stress and Handling
Maintaining a low stress lifestyle for our pigs is very important. We try to provide all of the essentials for “pig happiness” – good food, fresh air, clean water, sunshine, grass, cozy beds, companionship, mud for wallowing and fertile soil for rooting. We strive to handle our pigs in a gentle and respectful manner, refrain from chasing and stressing them, and using our handling facilities to aid in moving them from one location to another. We have developed a regular feeding routine to ensure that life is predictable. We spend a little time each day for ear scratches and back rubs. Quality of life and respect for all creatures is paramount on Ravenwood Ranch. When pigs are finished and transported to slaughter we take care to minimize stress and handle them slowly and gently. We transport them ourselves to a government inspected slaughter house where they are processed quickly and humanely.
Preventative Health Care
We follow a preventative health care program with our pigs. Our breeding stock are vaccinated with Farrowsure B and dewormed with Ivomec prior to each breeding. Prior to farrowing our sows are vaccinated with Litterguard for the wellbeing of their unborn piglets. These preventative health care measures ensure our pigs will have healthy, productive lives. We do not vaccinate or treat our feeder piglets with any chemicals to ensure clean, residue free meat. This program was developed under the supervision of a veterinarian. We do not clip the piglets teeth or tails as we feel this is an unnecessary and stressful procedure, and have not noticed any problems thus far. Our piglets are castrated by a veterinarian prior to weaning. We are in the process with experimenting with leaving the boar piglets intact to determine if there is any off flavour to the meat. So far it appears that there are no ill-effects to meat quality as long as the animal is finished prior to sexual maturity. This is great news as it would be wonderful to eliminate the stress of castration from our protocol.
Biosecurity
There is a biosecurity program in place on at Ravenwood Ranch to minimize the disease risk to our animals. If you are interested in coming out to view our animals please contact us to set up an appointment and learn more about our biosecurity requirements.
Please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions about our management system.