Best books for starting with pasture-raised pigs/beef?

[farm_mom]

check out www.acresusa.com they have a huge array of agricultural literature geared toward the small farmer and pasture raised animals. Good Luck!

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
Absolutely not grain for beef is needed in Oregon. The grass never dies so we need to only supplement through the winter with hay/forage.

Of course the pigs need grain throughout their life. how much they need depends on how much garden matter, kitchen scraps and pasture you can get to them.

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
Best advice I've seen regarding cattle on here in a long time. The only thing is that I vaccinate everything. Vaccinate > Medicate

I've also had some steer ready at the end of their second summer, 18 months. So, it doesn't have to be 2 full years, even grass fed/grass finished. But, more commonly it's the flush in their 3rd spring I run them through.

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
My western washington hay is plenty good for the cows and llamas. The sheep would rather not eat it, but they can get by through the winter here even on the slow growing grass. IOf course the problem with making hay on our side of the mountains is that you can't even take your baler out of the barn until July. So, I have to mow in early spring to get the timing correct. Your cows will need 35 lbs dry matter per day through the winter.

Pigs and cows can share a pasture. If it's high quality grass which you have seeded, though, they will root up a fair ammount and kill it. So, I like to put my pigs in odd spaces where I can't get the tractor to mow, or is ditches, or too steep. They plow it up for me saving me hard work, and to them it's just playing.

Grass Fed: 90% of their diet must be grass, milk or forage. Depending on how old the animal is, you can squeeze in some grain fattening at the end if you feel you must. But, it defeats the whole point and the 90% rule may become 100% soon.

Grass Fed/Grass Finished: 90% gras, milk, forage and no grain fattening. It's what we raise and sell.

 

[greyfields]

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The USDA definition is pretty clear, see post above.

Grass fed animals can be ran through feed lots as long as it's for less than 10% of their feed as measured through their lifetime.

 

[Isisranch]

Quote:
The USDA definition is pretty clear, see post above.

Grass fed animals can be ran through feed lots as long as it's for less than 10% of their feed as measured through their lifetime.

Wow, thanks for the info, I guess i never looked. I imagine our redneck slang probably does differ from the USDA. That is a really good thing to know when looking for beef that has not been raised in inhumane conditions. I always would have assumed that grass fed meant no feedlot. Thanks

 

[greyfields]

Yeah, it's sad that grassfed can still be sold to a feedlot to fatten for like 30 days prior to sale. The point of grassfed is to give the beef a different taste profile, correct omega fatty acid balance, and lower saturated fat. When you corn finish, you just screw up all the good work you did raisng the animals.

Regarding the 90%, I'm not sure if it's based on # of days or pounds of food eaten. I also know there is a push to make it 100% and it may happen soon.

Also, what qualifies as forage I'm not 100% clear on. I have my cows bucket trained, which means if I need to work them they'll come to me if I'm holding a bucket of alfalfa pellets. It nowhere constitutes 10% of their diet, but more likely 0.01% over their lifetime. But, is alfalfa forage if I grow a pasture of it for them? Is it forage if I cut it as hay and feed it to them?

I think it's OK. But to be sure, I come nowhere close to 10% of their diet. I'm also growing fodder beets and turnips for them this year. I assume that is considered forage fit hey're digging them up and eating them themselves. At least I think.

 

[hcammack]

Joel Slatin a viginia farmer has lots of great ideas about pasture raising stuff. He has allot of books Salad Bar Beef is the one you probably want he might have one about pork also he uses his pigs to reforest his land and also reclaim some pasture. He also uses them to mix his compost and in a two tier model with rabbits.
I want to do something with beef and dairy cows and chickens when I get older probably some sorta pasture rotation system.


Good Luck,
Henry

 

[Beekissed]

for Joel Salatin...I'm a big fan of his methods!

 

[ChevygirlBeth]

Alan Nation has a lot of good books about pasture based agriculture, as well. The other books and websites mentioned are good, as well.

Greyfields, I am almost certain that the alfalfa pellets would still be considered a forage. Alfalfa is a forage plant, so it should not matter if it is in the form of pasture, hay, or pellets as far as I can see.

The turnips I'm sure would be considered forage, too. They are part of the brassica family and I've seen them referred to as "forage brassicas." I'm not certain, but surely the fodder beets would be considered similarly.

I'm glad to see this support for rotational grazing on here! My family raises freezer beef utilizing Management intensive Grazing and it is a system that works really well for us. Ours receive very little grain (my dad insists on using a little even though I feel that it isn't needed. I gave up arguing because I'm just glad he has switched from continuous grazing to our rotation - that was a battle in itself). Ours finish out in about 18 months, too (Isisranch's 2 year timeline probably has to do with the fact that Highland cattle do typically take longer to finish out than other breeds).