Hey Everybody, well it has been another crazy week here at the homestead! The push is on to get everything done as we feel fall closing in. It really is a weird September, we have had frost for the past two nights now, we were lucky to escape the snowfall they had out west,  but the cold mornings are a hurry up and get it done kick in the pants; and the forecast for tomorrow is calling for close to 2 inches of rain.

 The guys have been busy getting the garden ready, they have moved close to half a ton of rock, by hand, away from the new garden. There was an old  foundation smack dab in the middle of where the garden needs to be, the pigs did  a great job of rooting up the rocks so they were close to the surface. KillWilly in particular loves tossing rocks around. The lower bed is leveled and Gary will be taking the rototiller, aka the beast, in there within a day or two to incorporate the manure from the pig yard. Then we will be planting garlic next week. We haven't received the Siberian variety I ordered from Vesseys yet, but it should be here soon and we have our own saved seed to plant. I was hoping to be able to plant a covered crop of buckwheat in the garden that we could till under come spring, but with  the cooler weather coming early I think we are going to end up just mulching heavily with old straw or hay. This is what the pasture looked like on May 20th of this year:

Then on Labour Day weekend after the pigs had been there for a few days:

Now today, the first terrace, closest to the camera, is leveled and just waiting for the manure to be worked in.

Speaking of the pigs, Patches has been bringing her latest litter out foraging
this week. They were born on the first, so she is keeping to the same schedule
she always has. They are starting to eat from the creep feeder, but had a great
time running around and pushing up dirt with their snouts! There is nothing that
is as hysterical to watch as a little piglet trying to catch a grasshopper. I
could watch them all day!

The doorframe for the new basement door arrived yesterday, so we should get that in next week. Then we can start closing up the basement at the back of the
house. That is going to make a huge difference in the amount of wood we burn
this winter, it is also going to make it easier to keep the basement at a steady
temperature for sprout production. After a year of experimenting Gari is producing well over 100 pounds of fodder a day and we want to double that for the winter! I have been busy putting together a guide to growing fodder, we are producing all this feed, winter and summer, on a set up which cost less than $150.00 to put in place. And it saves us somewhere around $300 a month in feed costs!  The animals love to get their fodder everyday.

The other preoccupation around here this week is getting ready for 4H Pro-show. This is the huge provincial show for all the top qualifiers for kids from 4H  clubs all over Nova Scotia, Reiley is showing both Ivan and Pepper next weekend. He was supposed to show both animals in conformation and showmanship but there was an overlap in the schedule so he had to choose between beef and goat for showmanship and has decided to show beef. So pepper will only be shown in conformation class. Reiley is also taking one of his wood working projects, and  will be competing in the beef and goat judging classes also. It is always a  crazy busy weekend with kids running on too much sugar and caffeine with too  little sleep, (barns open at 5:30 Saturday morning) and we wouldn't miss it for the world.

So, next week is garlic planting time, I may set up a couple of cold frames in the new garden and plant some greens just to give us a bit of an extended season. The tomatoes have all succumbed to late season blight so they
need to be hauled out and burnt, the heavy frost last night has finished most of
everything else off so a clean up in the garden is necessary. It is also time to
get the bees ready for winter. I will be opening up the hive and checking on the
amount of honey they have, insulating the unused portion of the hive and the
top. I am hoping to be able to remove those two plastic frames from the original
nuc which gave us such a headache in July. I don't anticipate harvesting any
more honey this fall. I would rather leave the honey there for winter stores
than have to start feeding them in March.  I am also going to be testing the soil in the new garden beds and  figuring out what amendments need to be done. It is easiest to do these in the fall and  I will  have a post next week about this topic.

 So the final full week of September, chores in the garden as we take most of the last of the harvest from the garden, there is still a lot of canning and preserves to put up, apples to can for applesauce and pie filling, pumpkin and some squash the rutabagas will need to be canned and I need to put up some more blueberry. On the herbal side I am drying sage, thyme and basil. I will be
potting up the cuttings I have for the herb "window" in the kitchen; rosemary,
basil and chives. The mint, lemon balm and othe tea ingredients are drying nicely. I will be attending the Christmas Craft Sale at the Digby Elementary School the last weekend in November. I will have a wide assortment of soaps and herbal products there as well as some of my silver wirework jewelry. Lots of fiddley things to get ready for a craft show.
I am also in charge of decorating the rental hall for Digby County 4H awards night on the 17th of October, (how do I get myself into these things?). I want to join the Exhibition Committee so the first meeting there is October 1st and I have just started working to try and resurrect the Digby Farmers Market for next year. On top of that Reiley needs to start schoolwork, There is painting to be done inside, the pantry and 1/2 bath to gut and build new, the regular 4h meeting schedule to start up again..... I think I need to lie down now.

I have always been uber organized, you have to be with five kids all going in different directions. This past year being here with just Gary and Reiley I have kind of let things slide, time to pull up my socks and get things running again. Honestly the busier I am, the more I can get done. Firstly I have to get the house running on it's schedule again. If you have a set schedule for your house, monthly meal plans, who cleans what and when; it frees up so much time. It was how I went back to school with four kids aged 4 - 10yrs. Not only went back to school full time, but  took a part time job as tutor and lab instructor in the nursing program, maintained a 3.95 GPA and kept the kids going to Girl Guides, gymnastics, karate, soccer and public school all while Gary was working 70+ hours a week and managed to meet the target of family meals at the table a minimum of 5 days a week. Yes I had a lot of support from Gary but the organization I had built into our routine made it possible. I have let it slide, time to get it back! Have a great day everybody! ( Remember to breathe!!)

Patches delivered 13 piglets late on September first, I have heard back from most of the people on our waiting list and we have 2 piglets still available. I just love little pigs they are just so adorable!

It occurred to me today that while I have spoken often of parts of our plan for Hand-Forged Farm I have never really laid out the entire plan for you. Today you get the full vision!

We first and foremost are a working homestead / farm. We will continue to produce fresh healthy food for ourselves and the community. The structure for the market garden is being put in place this fall, so that we will begin selling produce starting in the spring of 2015. The first greenhouse will be completed late this fall. We will be offering a limited amount of CSA memberships next year and expanding as we bring the garden to full size the following year.

The garden also serves as a valuable teaching tool for those who want to learn the skills required to produce their own food. From WOOFER,s who stay for the season, or part of the season; to workshop participants who come for a weekend to learn a specific set of skills. There a few more plans that will revolve around the garden, but those details will need to wait for now.

The barn will grow also, to start with Gary wants to run 2 sows and a boar. We are on the hunt for a Tamworth gilt, he might also consider a Duroc. The pigs will continue to feed our family and local community. We will continue to sell weaner pigs but will also be raising more of our pork for sale. Gary is finally happy with the system he has worked out for growing sprouts as fodder and is now producing well over 100 lbs a day summer and winter. The animals are all doing very well on them and we are ready to expand. Keeping more pigs will also allow more hands on experience for those who want to work with pigs.

I want to build up the goat herd to six milking does, This will provide enough milk for our family's needs and my soap making. Again, the expansion will allow for more hands on workshops and teaching opportunities.

There are no concrete plans for cattle at the moment, but I have a feeling one or more of the boys may have plans in that area. This would be at least 3 years out right now.

Herbs are also an integral part of the plans. There is going to be a large herb garden which I will use for our medicinal herbs. I plan to use our homestead as a venue for herb walks and wellness retreats and workshops. We plan to bring in other teachers and leaders to give workshops; herbal weekends are a great place to start.

A new orchard of apples, pears, peaches and cherries is going to be planted next spring. Between the garden and the orchard, we will need a few more bee hives. I am planning at least 1 workshop next year for introductory beekeeping.

We have a food forest planned for an area close to the ridge line on the property, and I am working hard to bring a permaculture design course here in late next year or early the following year. Accommodations for WOOFERs round out the plans on the drawing board for now.

Whew!  When I write it all out it sounds almost impossible; but when I look back at what we have done in the past year I know we will bring it all together. It is what we have always wanted to do. We could just build up our property and become almost self sufficient, but we have always wanted to share our knowledge as well as learn from others. For us that is the only way to really become self sufficient... by being part of a self sufficient community.

Humans were not meant to function in isolation, a strong community of people with varying skills and abilities is the basis of any healthy society. We have, for the most part, lost sight of that fact. It is our intention to work with as many like minded people as possible to change that. The oft quoted "be the change you want to see", message is alive and well here at Hand - Forged Farm, and thank you for being along for the journey.

Wow, Friday of labour day weekend already!! It has been such a busy summer here at the homestead. Our first full summer, trying to get everything done at once. So I thought this would be a perfect time for an update on the summer's main projects.

Gary's big goal for this summer was to get the first section of road  that will give us access to the back of the property. The first section being from the driveway to the pig yard. So at the end of May the area looked like this

The first week in July the pigs were working their magic

Today the 'road' looks like this.

The change is even more dramatic down by the house where the diveway is being extended to meet up with the 'road'. The changes in the landscape all around the house even suprised us when we started looking at what had been accomplished this summer. Back in May the place looked like a nuclear test area, remember how cold May was?

It is much nicer now. The goats fence has been moved back towards their shelter. The large rocks where the pigs are playing are the start of the rock we will be using to make terraces for the vegetable garden. The guys are currently rebuilding the pig yard at the top of the hill. They are getting a new yard and Patches and KW are getting new shelters. (More pics on that next week.) The pig yard has been highest priority for this weekend as patches is due to farrow a week from today. The wood stacked on the pallet is from the large branch we lost from the apple tree during Arthur. Gary has been saving to use in the smoker when we graduate Wart in a couple of weeks.

My priorities were getting the bee hive up and running, putting in medicinal more herbs and just getting the immediate space around the  house cleaned up. I have put in 2 elderberries, a witch hazel, lavender, and lots of  comfrey and calendula. The back yard has gone from this

To this...

The pit to the basement entry is only half filled in. The new door we ordered to go in the other side of the house will be here in a week or so. Once we have that in we can fill in the current door with cement block, lay the tile drain and back fill the hole. Finally the new freanch door will go in the back wall of the house. I am hoping the doors will be in by my birthday the first week of October. (hint hint)
We also managed to have one rotation of meat birds. They will be starting to graduate soon, and I have 8 laying birds growing in the chicken area. The chickens have actually ended up doing really well in their little sun-dappled area at the bend in the "road". I am thinking of just beefing up the defenses of this hut and adding a few nest boxes to keep the layers in this winter.

We have also thinned out the small coppices of trees in the back of the house, and added a swale to deal with water issues above and in front of the bee hive. We have had a couple of so-so rains and it has worked well. We shall see with the rains fall ususally delivers. Gary has the three soild sides up on his wood storage shed and he and Reiley have been working to fill it. As mentioned the new pig yard and huts should be finished tomorrow. There is still about 1/3rd of the truck full of 2X4's to get started on the new permanent  goat shed.

Moving the basement door is going to be the real game changer. Once that wall is blocked up Gary can expand the sprouts operation and we will notice a real difference in the power usage this yaer as the old door funneled cold wind directly onto the hot water tank.

There is also going to be time for one larger infrastructure project this fall. We are going to be talking workshops this weekend and I will let you know what we decide on. The infrastructure project will be directly related to which workshops we decide to have next year...so stay tuned.

It has been a busy summer, and will continue to be so until freeze up. But when winter finally hits this year we will be much more secure and settled and ready to take great leaps forward in our plan to teach others the skills we have and in doing so learn from them.

It is not always easy, but is is possible. You have the dream, start taking action that will bring the dream closer. Piece by piece it comes together, but you need to start. Small steps everyday and suddenly you are miles fromwhere you started. IT IS POSSIBLE! Start living your dream today.

I'll be back Monday, have a great weekend everyone!

This year Gary has decided that instead of just picking up the crab apple falls from our trees and giving them to the pigs he is going to make cider. He doesn't want to make hard cider, but fresh sweet cider. We drink a lot of mulled cider in the fall and winter and Gary uses it in the brine before he smokes the hams and bacon from our pigs.

He has spent the better part of the last two weeks picking the falls from the many wild apple trees we have on the property, and using the juicer to experiment with. The first attempts were filled with sediment and had to be put through the juicer  a couple of times.

He has been experimenting with various straining methods while Reiley and I have been off doing exhibition and the crafter's guild work.  This seems to be his final version:

A simple wood frame which holds the cheese cloth bag from my cheese
making supplies and drains into a pot.  A full bag takes the better part of a
day to drain. While he washes the apples before grinding them, they still seem
to be full of yeast. At least to my nose there seems to be a lot of yeasty odour
to his cider. The first attempts are in the freezer now to stop the fermentation
process that started naturally from the first batches.


The more recent batches are much clearer and look more like traditional fresh cider; but they are very ..... tart. Sort of make your eyes screw shut kind of tart.

A new plan has been developed. Gary will continue to refine the process and  freeze the results. The first of the 2014 apple harvest should be getting underway in the valley soon, and we will spend a day picking apples for our preserves. We will pick extra this year and he can experiment with different
blends.


Of course the pigs are having a great time as they are the beneficiaries of all the pulp, and Wart is getting most of it as we are preparing to graduate her to the freezer next month. I need to find a day when Jason can come down as it is all hands on deck for pig day. With Graham still working out west it is going to be even more crazy this time. The plan is to try and butcher her shortly after patches has her litter on or about the 5th.


What I don't know, and haven't had time to research with the cider is how to keep the it once Gary has the blend right. I know I can freeze it but we are back to the fact that I am really trying to cut back on the freezer dependency.  We can our applesauce and apple pie filling using the pressure cooker so I think we should be able to do that with cider but I need to find out if that process will stop the fermentation. If anyone has any experience with this please share!

Speaking of sharing, we are up to several hundred views a day, I find this very humbling. I know there are many people who want to live a simpler life and just down shift from the craziness. I hope you are finding the information I post useful. If there is something you would like to see here please let me know.

 I would also like your feedback on workshops. I am going to sit down with Matt and Gary this weekend and  start. planning our workshops for next year.  I would like to know what topics you would like covered in the workshops. Even if you would never be able to come and take a workshop with us, please let me know what topics you are interested in.

We are going to be building infrastructure here in the next 6 weeks and having a solid idea of which workshops we will be hosting will help us decide which projects have priority.

 That's all I have for today. Today was my last day working at the crafter's guild at Upper Clements Park, the park shuts down after this weekend. So apart from a large fundraiser for 4H and pro-show next month the calendar is open to get on with homesteading again. Yay!

I have been doing some behind the scenes work on the site and some planning for the blog and some writing projects also. Starting tomorrow  Thursday's will be, for the most part, featuring different herbs and how to 
incorporate them into your homesteading life. Or alternatives to the chemicals
we dump into our houses and bodies on a daily basis.  More on that tomorrow.
Have a great day everyone.

I thought it was time for a little update on this summer's projects. Remember these guys?

Well, they have grown a little...

Aren't they just too cute?  They are quite settled in on their little piece of the farm.

As I posted about 6 weeks ago, one of the major projects here this summer is building a road to allow us access to the back half of the property where our wood lot is. The guys have been hard at work moving fences and shifting things around so the pigs can start the "plowing" of the road. They finally finished and they moved the pigs onto the new road four days ago.
So back on June 24th, the area looked like this:

After four days of very happy rooting by the porcine division, our soon to be road looks like this:

Speaking of the pigs, Patches is due in less than a month, September 5th to be exact. She is in really good shape and having a grand old time rooting around in her new space...

As long as those three strands of barbed wire hold up we'll be in great shape.

The goats are also enjoying their digs this summer. Between playing on the stump and the rock and peering in to watch the chickens, days are very full indeed.

The knotweed battle has taken a decided turn in our favour. Gary has a new toy!

He has hit the big patch of knotweed a couple of times now and it seems to be working; apart from an awful smell and a patch of landscape that looks like a scene from Apocalypse Now. Anything has to be better than knotweed.

Everything else on the farm is incredibly green. Even though we thinned out a huge amount of weak, smaller trees There is still a great amount of shade cover and as predicted the undergrowth has grown up with the increase in sun.

The blue is the roof of the chicken hut, it is approximately 100 feet from the back of the house. The new road runs up just to the left of the hut.
We are about half way through the working season, aka summer. We are slightly behind where we thought we would be at this point, but all in all we are happy with how things are progressing. This comming week will be all hands to the wheel as Reiley and I will be away from the farm all the following week, August19th through the 23rd for the Digby County Exhibition.

Reiley is showing Ivan and Pepper on Tuesday afternoon / evening. Also, hopefully, on Wednesday for the championship classes. I will be judging the crafts and sewing categories for 4H on Wednesday, and Digby county 4H has hired me to be the barn manager for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So if you are in the area please come down to the exhibition and see us and everything else. It is the 135th anniversary of this exhibition and we are looking forward to showing there. 

Have a great day everyone! Enjoy the super moon tonight, hopefully cloud won't hide it from us.

Most of us who raise pasture pork do so because we want to know that the food we eat and give to our families is healthy. Some people also have concerns about industrial agriculture and others about the ethics of animal husbandry or the distance food travels. However the bottom line for everyone is we want to raise healthy food.

To raise healthy pork is easy, to raise healthy pork efficiently requires some knowledge. We have been raising pigs for close to 20 years; both on a commercial scale and now on a very small scale. We have found a formula that works with the natural tendency and physiology of pigs. We hope it will help you.

As with all livestock ventures, the quality of the weaner pig you purchase will have direct bearing on the cost to raise that animal, the amount of time required to raise that animal and ultimately the quality of meat from that animal. So with that in mind what should you look for in a weaner pig?

First the healthy fully weaned pig should resemble a plump football or cask shape, depending upon the breed. They should be alert and quick on their feet, and scream bloody murder when you pick them up.  Evidence of diarrhea or dehydration, a pot belly or patchy coat should all raise red flags. If you are going to raise your pork on pasture, your ideal piglet will have had at least some access to the outside. Ask questions of the seller. How old are the piglets, have they been fully weaned, by the sow or by the farmer? What are they eating now, how much and how often? Do they drink from water nipples or from a bucket / tub? These are all important, and things you should expect direct answers to. The seller should know how much each piglets is eating. When we have piglets, Gary can tell you how much each individual piglet is eating, their personality traits and in what situation they should flourish in. He can do this with one litter of 5 piglets or ten litters of 12 piglets on the go. Be wary of evasive answers.

So you have found some healthy piglets and brought them home. How do you feed  them to be healthy and happy without breaking the bank? There are many ways,  pigs are omnivores and they have very few dietary limitations. The requirements are simple but they do need a balanced of minerals, fats, carbohydrates, fibre and lots of protein. As I have stated in previous posts they cannot survive on  pasture alone. Please don't try.

The first rule we have is,  feed wet. This could be as simple as adding water to your  feed just before you feed it, to soaking feed over night or having it soak until fermentation occurs.  A pigs normal diet should be acidic. Their gut works  better on an acidic diet.  Weaner pigs can suffer from scours when they
transition off a sows milk diet to commercial feed. This can be minimized or
avoided altogether by feeding wet, and specifically by feeding wet fermented
food.

Fermenting feed is not difficult it does require planning. To start  fermenting feed add hot water to three or four days of feed, place in a bucket or barrel large enough to hold. Stir the mixture a couple of times per day. When it starts to bubble, and you get a slight yeasty smell it is ready to feed. Remove the amount of feed for a feeding, then add the equivalent amount of feed soaked in hot water, stir thoroughly. Continue to remove and add feed in this manner and you are feeding fermented feed. It is similar to sourdough bread, you always add more mix after removing some. Your mix should stay acidic enough that  you will not have a mold issue. If you do see mold, do not feed! Never feed anything with mold to pigs. Mold gives off toxins in the gut. This toxin can and will kill pigs.
 
By fermenting the feed you are increasing the digestibility of the feed. Normal pig rations are only about 80% digestible. Anything you can do to increase the digestibility will decrease the amount of feed required to gain. The fermentation breaks down the starches into sugars, which are easier to digest; and makes other nutrients more readily available to the digestive tract.

You can also stretch your feed dollars by supplementing your basic ration with a variety of foods. Food scraps, milk,  excess vegetables, apples, brewers grain and stale bread are all viable candidates. A couple of caveats, milk in moderation as it  turns the meat white.  Turnips and potatoes need to be heat treated. Raw they have an enzyme that inhibits vitamin k absorption.
They do not need to be cooked as we would cook a potato. More of a  heat
treating. Covering your cut up potatoes or turnip with boiling water and 
letting them sit until the water cools will be sufficient. Feeding young pigs a 
diet of strictly vegetables is not a good idea. Pigs have a digestive system
that is very close to humans, if something will put weight on you it will put
weight on a pig. Remember that we are looking for marbled meat.... cakes and
cookies will not give you healthy meat.

We  supplement our ration with fodder. Specifically sprouted barley. We feed this to all of our farm animals from the steer to the  boar.  Right now our bred sow and boar are eating 25 lbs of fodder every day. You will find commercial fodder systems available that will probably bankrupt  your homesteading venture, you do not need to have a high tech system to produce  fodder. We produce close to 100 lbs of fodder / day, summer and winter in our basement on a footprint of 3' X 7'. The entire system cost approximately $300.  Fodder gives our pigs a higher digestible protein. Barley has a digestible protein in the range of 60% for pigs. By sprouting the barley, the digestibility  raises to 85-90%. This is due to the conversion of starch to sugar. It also  provides a higher digestible fibre and it contains many digestible micronutrients. It is a viable alternative to grass feeding. However, as with grass, pigs cannot grow on fodder alone.

No matter how you feed your pigs, they require clean fresh water at all times.
Pigs will gain better if fed smaller portions more often. Three times a day is
what we have settled on. Our pigs get fermented grower morning and evening, with  their fodder at lunch time. If this does not work for your schedule that's fine. maybe feed morning, late afternoon, and  evening. Consistency is the important factor. 

Remember that pigs will build frame until they reach 180- 200 lbs. This is when they have the highest nutritional requirements. From 200lbs and up you should limit feed them. They will put on mostly fat from this point. The breed you are working with will determine where and how heavy the fat is. Feed fed during this period will also have a greater influence on the flavour of the meat.
 Fat = flavour. There is a fine line to walk here as this is the cheapest weight you will put on the pig. More bang for your buck sort of speak. So you want to
exploit this, but you need to work within the characteristics of the breed, if
you go much over 250lbs with commercial breed pigs you will have greasy fatty
pork. Slaughter weight is a crucial consideration. We slaughter or Berkshire
Tamworth crosses at 300lbs. This means our average production feed costs are  just slightly over $ 2.00/ pound of meat in the freezer, (not hanging
weight).

If you want to forgo commercial feed  mixes and try to formulate your own, make sure that you don't use whole grains as pigs cannot digest whole grains, and your ration must be balanced to 16% digestible protein.

As always, I hope this has given you some ideas and insights. Please feel free to ask questions if you have them! Have a great day everyone.

The past few weeks the guys have been working on widening out the path that we have started to give us access to the back of the property. Last fall the path
was cleared to just past the pig's shelter. Now that good weather is finally
here we are getting ready to shift things around and open up more areas to the
pigs.

As I mentioned before, the front half of this property was harvested about 8 -
10 years ago, this has left us with essentially coppiced maple, ash and beech.  Unfortunately, the silveculture was not maintained and the understory grew out of control with alders. this has left underdeveloped weak coppices that have grown laterally in search of light.
We have spent a lot of time this spring going through the front ten acres of this property selecting which trees to leave and which will need to be thinned. The plan has always been to use the front 10 acres for gardens, pasture and housing. The back 10 acres will be left as a managed woodlot for fuel and lumber for building projects around the farm.
We have to build the road stable enough to be able to drive the truck back to the barn area for unloading hay and such. After the barns we just need it developed enough to haul wood out. Gary and Reiley have plans to build a "woods buggy",
I am going on the long term horse or oxen route. Our son Jason is an experienced horse logger. I grew up with horses so I feel comfortable with this route.

So starting next week, we will open up the pigs area and allow them to do
what pigs do. They are great for clearing out underbrush, removing small stumps, dis-lodging medium to large rocks and adding fertility.. So we will expand the pig yard and move up the lower edge of the fence. We will leave the area that is now the lower edge of the pig yard, where they share a fence line with the  goats, to sit fallow for a couple of weeks. Then we will move the goat yard up  to allow them to have the space vacated by the pigs.
Eventually most of the area that is now the goat yard will be garden space.
(When I say eventually, I mean next year). Gary has already started moving some of the larger rock to make terraces for the garden.

So, that is the focus of work for the next few days. Looks like we are in for a deluge tomorrow so I will probably be bringing home a bee nuc. We will keep our fingers crossed! Have a great day everyone!

You don't necessarily need to spend a fortune to raise pigs on pasture. While the ideal is a barn with access to pasture. It is possible to raise feeder pigs on pasture without a barn.

Before we talk about housing the pastured pig, please allow me to once again dispell the myth that you can turn a couple of pigs out into a field and expect that they will grow big and strong and then you can kill them for meat in 4 - 6 months.
This is not true. Your pigs will starve or at least fail to gain. Pigs cannot feed themselves on pasture alone. They need feed, specifically protein. Fully grown pigs on a maintenance diet can maintain on pasture with little supplemental feeding . Growing pigs cannot. Before commercial feeds were available, farmers supplemented their feeder pigs diets with turnips, potatoes, sugar beets etc. They also turned them into the grain fields after the harvest. Feeder pigs were born in late winter, raised through the summer and slaughtered in the late fall. The pigs were selected to grow on this routine. Todays pigs are not. Please see pasture pigs part 1 for an explannation.

If you are considering raising feeders on pasture you will need to provide a shelter, minimum of 4 X 8 feet for two pigs . For summer this should face east / north east or where it will catch the prevailing winds, providing this is not south. If there is no natural shade available you need to double the size of the shelter. The structure itself needs to be solid. Pigs will chew wood. Do not go out and
build or buy something that looks like a cover shoot from better farms and
gardens.  DO NOT use pressure treated wood.
The shelter should  be heavy enough that it can be moved when necessary, but bear in mind that if they set their mind to it, two feeder pigs approaching kill weight can move damn near anything they set their mind to.  The shelter must be water tight and draft free. It also needs good ventilation. It does not need to have cathedral ceilings. Especially if you will not be in and out of the shelter on a daily basis. Our shelters are four feet high. Patches and KW have dug out the interior of their shelters during the winter both excavated below ground level. As most pigs will do this to some extent drainage should be considered when deciding where to place the shelter.

Ideally there should be access to a wet area where they can wallow, but they need dry bedding and cannot have their feet wet all the time. Pigs lose a lot of body heat through their feet, like us if their feet are cold, they are cold. If a pig is constantly cold, they will burn calories at a higher rate and will not gain weight. 
Bedding can take many forms, shavings, sawdust, straw and sand to name a
few. We bed our pigs with a good layer of sawdust in the pen and then they are
given hay, mostly hay that the goats have picked through, but some fresh in
addition. This is adequate bedding, especially for feeder pigs. Our sow does get
a bale of fresh hay a few days before farrowing so she can build her 'nest'. No
matter what you choose as bedding it must be dry, free from mold and cleaned of foreign material such as sharp sticks and nails. ( Check your sawdust. It
happens).

Your pigs must have access to clean water.  Water intake can be better regulated if you wet feed your pigs. Wet feeding is what we recommend. It allows you to know that they are getting water, they digest the feed better and it is easier to combine feeds if you choose to do so. ( I will elaborate on this more in the next post on feed). Supplying pigs with water from a bucket, barrel or trough is unreliable as they are apt to  turn it over looking for bugs and worms or just use it as a toy when bored. They will move what ever you think they can't.

 Despite their press pigs are clean animals, they will not manure where they sleep. If housed inside a pig will choose a corner of the pen, usually in a drafty or dead air spot, to use for manure and they will keep the rest clean. Pasture pigs will go outside, please consider runoff when choosing your site.Do not put your pigs on the best pasture you have. They will tear it up. If you
have some lovely alfalfa pasture, you can turn them out for a couple of hours
and they will graze a bit. Watch them!  It will not take long for them to decide
that they could find some good stuff under that green. Also, do not turn them
onto any good pasture in the spring or after a long wet period. If the ground is
easy to turn over they will. Please keep in mind pigs like to play with trees.
Our beef calf likes to hang out by the pig yard when KW is out as KW will pull
trees over and Ivan eats the leaves off if they come across the fence.

With regard to fencing, two strand electric fence will keep them in. It is what we use it is what we have always used. If you purchase weaner pigs that were raised in a barn or pens with solid fencing you will need to train them regarding electric fencing. This is easily done with a training pen. The easiest way is to put a visible barrier on the outside of the electric fence. Pigs are curious animals they will touch the electric fence. What you don't want is them sticking  their head through the fence while checking out their new environment and get shocked. If there is no solid barrier they can jump ahead and go right through the fence. Once a pig figures out they can do something they will do it again. This training period does not take long. A few zaps from the fence and they will stay away from it. You must check your fence regularly. If it is grounding out you will have problems. Pigs are very intelligent animals. Ours know if we turn the fencer off for maintenance. They will learn the sound of the fencer and will test it. You also need to check the level of the fencing. If the pigs are rooting they will pile dirt up against the fence. Electric fencing is most effective if it is at eye level for the pig when their head is down.

Pigs can be put out with other animals, providing the pasture is big enough. If you utilize rotational grazing be sure your fencing is adequate. The pig will remember where the fence was yesterday. It usually will not cross. We always recommend setting up rotational grazing via a corridor. Have the animals exit the barn via the same door everyday and fence off the corridor. This is the least disruptive way for all. We have used this system effectively to graze pasture and allow access to garden leftovers at the end of season It requires a little more planning at the beginning but makes for faster turn around in day to day operations.

KW in the treed area of his pasture. Note: the three strands of wire are due to both his size and the fact that this fence separates the pig pasture from the goat pasture. The bottom strand is to deter the baby goats from entering the pigs area.

Patches and KW hanging out in the shade. If you look in the background you can see the permanent fencing around the pasture huts. These are in place so that we can isolate Patches and KW at feeding and when she has piglets.
 They are doing a very effective job of removing the stumps and small trees in this area.