The Beneficial Impact of Pasture-Raised Pigs

Our role, as farmers, is to steward our land. Animal impact is one of the most fundamental ways we can alter soil health. But every animal impacts land differently.

Regenerative farms often focus on the impact of grass-fed cattle. Cattle can be an important piece of a rotational grazing plan (and indeed, we are working to increase the number of cattle that we raise!).

However, pigs also have a significant and valuable impact on land. And as our current highest-volume product, our pasture-raised pork products are frequently how a customer is first introduced to our farm.

Hogs are an important tool in the toolkit for improving our soil. So, what beneficial impact do pigs have in our land management strategy?

Comparing Pigs to Other Livestock

When it comes to livestock and animal impact, hogs are in a class of their own. First, pigs are omnivores, not herbivores. We find that our pigs delight in foraging and eating grass in our pastures, but their diet also includes fruits and insects that they find in the pasture, as well as the supplemental non-GMO grains we source from local mills.

To understand what sets hog animal impact apart from the impact of ruminants like cattle or sheep, visualize for a moment: Picture a cow’s mouth, compared to a pig’s snout. How do these animals eat differently?

Ruminants graze the tops of plants. Hogs forage at a different level, disturbing the soil by rooting through.

Over time, we’ve had to create a system to move our pigs around pasture quite quickly. Without rotational grazing, pigs can forage so thoroughly that they essentially till the ground. But this powerful animal impact that disturbs the soil is the same reason pigs play an important role in regenerating pastureland.

Kickstarting Soil Regeneration

Our farm initially brought in hogs because we didn’t have enough high-quality forage in our pastures to support a large herd of grass-fed cattle. These pigs were the first line of animal impact in our fields, helping to diversify plant life, adding nutrients, and turning over the soil that we wanted to renovate with cover crops.

Our land was idle for a long period of time before we started our farm, allowing woodlands to encroach the pastures (read more about that journey here). The heavy animal impact of our hogs was incredibly helpful at these border areas, mowing down small bushes and saplings that had begun to take over productive pasture.

Finally, as we supplemented the hogs’ diet with grains, we essentially “imported” nutrients into our pastures. Hogs cycled the nutrients through their manure, adding much needed nourishment to our soils. The healthier our soils became, the more beneficial changes we noticed in our plant diversity.

Fat Apple Farm Pigs

Our hogs are a strategic part of our animal impact on our farm. For our customers, we also know that our pasture-raised pork stands out from commodity pork in a few different areas.

Diet

Our hogs’ diet includes supplemental, non-GMO grain that we source entirely from a local mill, predominantly corn and soybean products. This local grain is produced within a 20-mile radius of our farm.

Ruminant animals like cattle and sheep have a four-chambered stomach that is not meant to digest grains like corn and soybeans. However, pigs are omnivores, with a digestive system that is designed to break down grains, forage, fruits, vegetables, and even bugs. We find that a mix of high-quality corn and soybean products, in addition to pasture forage, provides a healthy, diverse diet for our hogs.

From Farrow to Finish

From farrow to finish, our farm breeds and raises all of our pigs. We sow what we produce; whatever pasture-raised pork we offer, we have reared entirely ourselves. We do not buy or import “feeder” hogs. 

By controlling the process, we are providing a high quality of life for our hogs. Our pigs stay on our farm their whole life cycle, avoiding stress from transport and biosecurity concerns from travel. 

Breeding

Just like with our cattle breeding program, we are committed to improving our farm’s pig breeding over time. Because our sows naturally farrow in the pasture, we select for great mothers who are caring with their piglets. We also select for taste and tenderness in our final product, and we are moving toward higher-yield genetics. Like with our cattle, we are continuously working to improve our breeds.

Shop Regenerative, Grass-Fed, and Pasture-Raised Meats

Our pigs are a central part of our farm’s regenerative land management. Their animal impact helps us improve our soil health, regenerating land and creating productive pastures. Your support of Fat Apple Farm is an investment in the health of our pigs, our soils, and our local community.

Our pasture-raised pork is our highest-volume product, with good reason. See our retail inventory for local and ethical meat options, from pasture-raised pork and poultry to grass-fed cattle.