Blog Entries: Hogs
We have created this blog categorization system as a way to organize and preserve the daily blogs written about our farming life. We hope you find this categorization system helpful.
The following blog entries are all related in some way to the topic of swine. They may cover any one or more of the following topics:
ethics
husbandry
reproduction
feeding
housing
regulatory oversight
marketing
profitability
Or they may simply be essays about some aspect of keeping hogs. We hope you find something useful here, or at least some pleasant reading.
If there is some way we can improve our archiving system, please Contact Us and we'll take your recommendations into consideration.
Enjoy!
Is Michigan Really Outlawing Farm Hogs?
March 28, 2012
Preview of this blog entry:
"A few months ago, we started hearing some very odd stories about a new law in Michigan, regarding feral hog control. The first hints of this story came in the form of borderline hysterical or alarmist emails that went out to several of the different livestock and farming email groups that I subscribe to. The emails made wild accusations that the MI state government was going to start shooting hogs even if they were on farms. Other emails claimed that the state was adopting Nazi-type tactics about being able to search farms without a warrant, to find and destroy certain breeds of hog. While the Internet is fabulous at helping to disseminate information, it’s just as capable of disseminating mis-information. So when those types of emails come across my desk, without any supporting documentation or reference to an actual law or legislative bill, and particularly if they are merely quotes from some editorial commentary, I generally ignore them.
Then I started to see some of our small scale hog producers on one of the hog lists talking about the new MI policy. And this time, they provided more solid information, with references..."
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
Breeding Pigs with Artificial Insemination
June 2, 2011
Preview of this blog entry:
"This past winter, I wrote about using Artificial Insemination (AI) as a preferred method for breeding pigs. AI has several advantages over working with live boars - easier than transporting either the sow or boar, less disease risk, easier for the handler, and more bloodline choices. So we looked forward to AI’ing our two young gilts in March.
Of course, life in general and farming in particular rarely ever go strictly according to plan. Such was the case this spring for us..."
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
Romancing The Sow
January 18, 2011
Preview of this blog entry:
"Pig romance is in the air on the farm today. One of our gilts is in heat, and it’s time to find Mr. Right. But that’s not as straightforward as it might seem.
There are three basic ways a small scale farm can breed their pigs - bring a boar to the farm, take the gilts or sows to the boar, or use Artificial Insemination. As convenient and "natural" as the first two options may seem compared to the third, they don't pencil out very often..."
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
Our Successful Farming and Ranching Books
We released our very first self-published book. The Chicken Coop Manual in 2014. It is a full color guide to conventional and alternative poultry housing options, including 8 conventional stud construction plans, 12 alternative housing methods, and almost 20 different design features. This book is available on Amazon.com and as a PDF download. Please visit The Chicken Coop Manual page for more information.
Rabbit Colonies: Lessons Learned
We started with rabbits in 2002, and we've been experimenting with colony management ever since. Fast forward to 2017, when I decided to write another book, this time about colony management. The book is chock-full of practical information, and is available from both Amazon and as a PDF download. Please visit the Rabbit Colonies page for more information.
The Pastured Pig Handbook
We are currently working on our next self-published book: The Pastured Pig Handbook. This particular book addresses a profitable, popular and successful hog management approach which sadly is not yet well documented. Our handbook, will cover all the various issues involved with pastured hog management, including case studies of numerous current pastured pig operations. If you have any questions about this book, please Contact Us.
Weblog Archives
We published a farm blog between January 2011 and April 2012. We reluctantly ceased writing them due to time constraints, and we hope to begin writing them again someday. In the meantime, we offer a Weblog Archive so that readers can access past blog articles at any time.
If and when we return to writing blogs, we'll post that news here. Until then, happy reading!