Southwest WI Grazing Network - Pasture Walk

“Pigs’ don’t graze” April has been grazing her heritage hogs for 8 years, and estimates that up to 50% or more of the pigs diet can come from grazing during the green season, with the remainder as a grain supplement. April acknowledges there are some ad-vantages to cross breeding but she has a focus on heritage breed preservation after starting with Large Blacks, she now has Gloucestershire Old Spots. Single strand electric polywire contains the pigs which are rotated through a series of temporary pad-docks for the season. The marbled, ruby red meat is selling well directly to consumers and restaurants. This pasture walk will look at challenges to managing pigs to prevent rooting behavior, controlling parasites and pasture impact. As part of a USDA SARE grant, April and others have been reviewing the opportunity to develop a mobile processing unit for on farm harvesting.