By Jacki Martinez Perkins, MOFGA’s Organic Dairy and Livestock Specialist The knowledge base for all farming endeavors needs to be extensive, but one major difference we see between livestock production and crop production is the year-round care and maintenance of a key source of revenue: the livestock themselves. Good quality feed and water keep them
By Jacki Martinez Perkins, MOFGA’s Organic Dairy and Livestock Specialist The production of pork in Maine looks very different from other parts of the country. Being geographically distant from slaughterhouses with high capacity throughput as well as grain sources requires most local producers to manage their hogs creatively. Additionally, raising livestock capable of eating a
by Diane Schivera, MAT Pigs can be valuable additions to diversified farms by providing meat and helping to clear land. Louis Bromfield wrote in his book From My Experience (1955), “To be financially successful at raising hogs primarily requires the ability to think like a hog.” This article covers the basics of keeping pigs and
Beware the Imported Pig! A reminder for those purchasing piglets: Take all precautions to avoid animals with porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Signs of PED include severe diarrhea in pigs of all ages, vomiting, and death all pre-weaned piglets. Importing pigs into Maine requires an import permit a health certificate with this mandatory statement: “… Swine
Pigs forage in the woods at the Deer Isle Hostel. Photo by Anneli Carter-Sundqvist A Tamworth pig grazes a wooded area at certified-organic Frith Farm in Scarborough, Maine. Photo courtesy of Frith Farm. By Anneli Carter-Sundqvist The end of our homesteading season has for five consecutive years been marked by the butchering of our pigs.
Grazing Pigs Vs. Plum Curculio Jim Koan, owner of the 150-acre AlMar Orchards in Clayton Township, Michigan, grazes Berkshire hogs in his organic apple orchard, obtaining almost complete control of plum curculio within a few years. Plum curculios lay eggs in fruits in the spring, and the resultant larvae later cause fruit drop. On the
These five pigs are being raised on pasture by MOFGA’s farmers-in-residence, Clayton Carter and Kendra Michaud. They turned under a lush stand of rye and hairy vetch in one week, then were moved to a spot where oats, peas and forage brassicas had been seeded several days earlier. The pigs pushed the seed into the
By Alice Percy Copyright ©2006 by the author The Problem Walk into the meat department of any natural foods store, and you’ll likely find organic beef and chicken, but rarely organic pork. Why? The conventional hog farmer – the guy with thousands of sows out in Iowa – uses some of the most noxious “agricultural”
“Biotech Perverts – Get Out of Our Genes” – Banner unfurled by the Ruckus Society at the June 2001 Biotech Industry Organization Convention in San Diego Biotechnology is “perverting agriculture, science, nature and democracy as we know it.” – Shannon Service, Biodevastation protest leader at San Diego By Jean English The strangest genetic engineering (GE)
Rufus Percy, with Lowell on board, treats sows to a cool shower on a hot July day. English photo. By Jean English Treble Ridge Farm in Whitefield is a MOFGA-certified-organic, diversified farm – and one of an increasing number of MOFGA farms to include, in various ways, multiple generations and a supportive agricultural community. Owners
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