What's GIGO? I've got other community guys I can split the half ton of feed with actually. That'd keep it fresher for both of us if we each split up the half ton between us.
Excellent to hear about whey and dairy! I hope to make more cheese this year, so that'll be awesome to have a solid consistent use for the whey. That'll help me stay motivated to actually make more cheese. Is it just poured over their feed or added in a separate dish as a drink?
Wouldn't a scythe need to be used on taller grass, or does it work well on the short stuff too?
I've got pumpkin seeds in the ground, beet seeds coming this weekend, I found that farmer Sam stole a bunch of sunchokes and thankfully planted them all over. How do they like their sunflowers? We've got tons coming up, do I just toss em the dried flower?
GIGO is garbage in, garbage out. Don't expect a nice outcome if you start with shit inputs.
Still, I'd argue that a home raised pig on such a diet would be immensely better than a factory farmed one. I'm just not a perfectionist, as we don't live in a perfect world.
Also, traditionally raised pigs here had no lysine supplements but they managed somehow... for a few thousand years... Sorry it's in Bulgarian, use google translate: https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D0%B7%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%8F
If you do have whey though, that's great. Our grandparents of course raised "yard pigs" and their daily food was whatever grains they had soaked with whey. Another thing was the pumpkin. Here pumpkins were not eaten by people until very recently, I'd say 60-80 years ago. They were grown as a well storing fodder crop. This kind:
Re: yard hay, mow it, dump the bucket on the front lawn and spread it around to dry. Turn in a couple of days. Has to be thoroughly dry. And you'll need a hay shed ;) YT videos of small scale haymaking would help.
Yes! Pumpkins! I'll be planting a load of winter squash shortly, likely all over the front yard and all in the sharing garden. I've planted copious amounts of summer squash already, and these kinds of foods are going to make up a lot of their diet. Squash, peas, beets, and melons.
How long did you soak their daily grains in whey? Was it an overnight fermentation, or just a daily case of fill a trough and add the whey?
BOBBY IM SO EXCITED, DID YOU SEE THAT I HAVE PIGS? I GET TO LEARN ABOUT PIGS NOW.
I'm reading every post - matter of fact I figured the Boys have already eaten you whole, with no posts in the last few days... I was beginning to pen a letter via regular post to Melissa, no other point of contact! :D :D :D
Re: whey, they just mixed it in the morning and gave it about lunch time. Usually the early food were some quickly gathered greens and late in the afternoon was scythed nettles, or a few baskets of purslane or other weeds. But I figure some overnight soaking won't hurt and might make the morning routine a bit easier.
Yessir, that's not entirely far from the truth! They tried to eat my boots today, hungry little buggers. My pants too!
I started my first batch of cheese for the year. I haven't had much to post about, but I'm working on one now.