Hog Food Forest is now Complete

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Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby George Collins » Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:58 pm

This year saw us complete a massive, multi-year project. I've written about it at length already but did so piecemeal as the vision was coming together. So, this is a summation of what we've done towards attempting to establish a sustainable environment in which we intend to raise pigs.

The project started with me learning about the potential productivity of chestnut trees. The first year (2010-2011) saw Youngblood and I plant 10 Dunstan chestnuts on a hillside in a ten acre field that had been denuded of trees by Hurricaine Katrina.

Planting those first chestnuts got the wheels turning. Then I learned of permaculture and subsequently read Tree Crops by J. Russell Smith, and we took off like a rocket. I asked Youngblood if he would be amenable to me reforesting this 10-acre plot with fruit and nut bearing trees. He said, "Fill'er up."

Since that time, we've planted the following:

•11 figs
• 9 plums
• 9 peaches
• 26 pears
• 34 apples
• 2 Fuyu persimmons
• 2 mulberries
• 3 shag bark hickories
• 2 swamp chestnut oaks
• ~ 10 live oaks
• ~ 30 sawtooth oaks
• 57 American chestnuts
• 1 pecan

These are in addition to a few trees that were already there including but not limited to:
• 18 live oaks
• ~ 15 pecans
• 3 white oaks
• 1 hickory
• 5 beeches
• several water oaks
• oodles of native persimmons

The principle that guided the selection was the later a tree drops its crop, the greater the representation in the system.

The goal is to put the boar and sows together in late December/early January, farrow along about April, and wean in May. At weaning, the pigs will be thrown into this pasture where they will glean their sustenance as the trees drop starting their crop in roughly this order:
- mulberries
- peaches/plums
- figs
- pears
- apples
- chestnuts
- acorns/hickories/persimmons

Once the pigs reach a marketable weight and/or the last acorn is eaten, we will load them up and take them to the processor.

Assuming a substantial number of trees survive and come into full production, the only questions that remain are:
1. Will such a system work? And if so,
2. For how many hogs?
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
George Collins
 
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Location: South Central Mississippi, Zone 8a

Re: Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby SilverFlame819 » Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:43 pm

WOW!!! This sounds fantastic! Are the trees far enough apart that you can grow a decent grass/grain crop to feed them until the first things start falling?

Would love to see some pix of what this looks like (from now until maturity)!

I'm impressed, this sounds amazing!

Now... when will all those trees pay themselves off? Are you planning to sell any nuts/produce, or only the pork it sustains?

This sounds like a fascinating project.
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Re: Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby SilverFlame819 » Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:44 pm

Also - will pigs eat the bark off the trees?? Are you going to have to put protection around all those?
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Re: Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby George Collins » Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:13 pm

Here is the usual spacing scheme we used:
1. American chestnuts - planted on 25' centers since only 20% of them will express blight resistance.
2. Black walnuts - planted on 10' centers with the intent to thin to 25 trees/acre.
3. Fruit trees - planted at twice the recommended spacing
4. Live oaks - planted on 50' centers

So, in some areas, expanded spacing was utilized to protect grass production. In other areas, where canopy closure is desired, the space between trees was minimized to accelerate closure.

Approximately two acres of the ten are situated on hilltops and are currently being used for annual cropping. Currently, this is where my father has his garden spots. At some point, when the hogs are turned into this pasture (and when my father is no longer farming) we will have the option to use these areas for grain production.

Some of the trees should come into bearing in about four years from now. Some of the oaks/hickories might not begin bearing for 20 years. Once the fruit trees do start bearing, I'll be open to making money from them in any economically viable way. The vision, as orginally conceived, was to turn sunlight, via a three diminsional garden (thereby maximizing solar capture), into money using hogs as the seasonal harvesters, organic pest controllers and organic fertilizers.

And yes Flame, hogs will eat the bark off of trees. However, the only time I've seen them do so is when they are tightly confined in a pen that happens to included a tree. In the two incidences where that has happened on our farm, I can't help but to believe that boredom, not hunger, is what caused that to happen. The hogs are being kept out of this field though until the trees come into bearing. After releasing them into it, I will monitor the health of the trees vigilantly at first to head off any problems that might emerge. That said, and what truly made this project both hard and expensive is that because my father currently uses this pasture to sellers the his yearling heifers, every single tree we've planted had to be protected with a wire cafe wrapped in barbed wire. Once the trees are large enough to avoid being mutilated by a cow, I intend to remove the cages. If the hogs start damaging trees, I'll replace them. However, people have kept hogs in orchards for a long time because of the beneficial effect hogs provide. My guess is that hogs on pasture, as long as the stocking density isn't too great, will leave the trees completely alone.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
George Collins
 
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Location: South Central Mississippi, Zone 8a

Re: Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby matt walker » Mon Mar 17, 2014 3:41 pm

Fantastic update and wrap up George, thank you for that. I'm still just blown away by the scope of what you have accomplished. I sure hope you will take pictures and keep us posted as things grow, I'm so curious and inspired.
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Re: Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby dave brenneman » Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:58 pm

yeah, that's really neat. looking forward to hearing more as time goes by.
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Re: Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby SilverFlame819 » Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:33 pm

I'm mostly looking forward to the pictures. ;)
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Re: Hog Food Forest is now Complete

Postby George Collins » Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:16 pm

Once everything leafs out, I'll give a video tour.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
George Collins
 
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Location: South Central Mississippi, Zone 8a


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