Silvopasture – Skyline Pastures

Silvopasture Pigs Project Update

May 1, 2023

by charles.lafferty Pigs Silvopasture

Hi Everyone!

The Silvopasture Pig Project is going according to plan (which is exciting and a bit surprising). We did have to make a few adjustments based on changes to the paddock-shift plan as well as getting the piglets almost a month earlier than planned but fortunately, we have a lot of flexibility built into the plan! Originally, we were going to get piglets with Duroc/Yorkshire cross genetics because of their ability to rapidly pack on the pounds (high feed conversion rate) but due to a disease that affected that farm we had to jump through hoops to find any piglets we could. Thankfully we were able to source piglets from Pig Hollow Farms in York, PA (the same place we got piglets last year) and now have 12 happy piglets making mud in Paddock 1. These pigs have primarily Large Black genetics with some Berkshire and Duroc mixed in which gives us a nice mix of brown, black and possum-colored pigs to raise. If you would like to know more about our project and NE SARE (the organization funding it) please go to https://northeast.sare.org/ and look up project FNE23-053.

Pigs in the mud — It doesn’t take long to turn grass into well-churned mud!

Over the past couple days, we have gotten a ton of rain which has made much of Paddock 1 a muddy mess. We made a short 2 minute video of Paddock 1 which you can view here. Although it looks like the pigs are damaging the landscape, we have seen this before with our previous 2 years of pigs and the land will recover and visibly improve as soon as we rotate the pigs to paddock 2. They have a couple more weeks to go in Paddock 1 and as long as we keep shifting the location of their waterers and feeder, we should leave this paddock better than we found it. Once the pigs move to the next paddock, we will heavily seed the bare spots with a seasonally and shade-level appropriate pasture seed mix and take before and after photos to add to our data. We will also take follow up soil tests of all the paddocks after the pigs are processed in October to show their effect on fertility. This year’s paddock rotation will encompass about 3 acres for 12 pigs, and we expect the data to show improvement to plant species variety and soil fertility, while showing little to no negative soil compaction.

Please continue to follow us through our project and if you know of anyone with some unused woods or pasture space that would be interested in raising their own pork, please direct them to Skyline Pastures so that they can see what we are doing and replicate or improve upon it! We intend to publish updates to our Silvopasture Pig Project every other week so that the data collection is as rich as possible. Thanks again!

-CJ and Tanya

This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number FNE23-053.

Experimenting with Biochar (the freaky s#$%)

March 5, 2023

by charles.lafferty Biochar Getting Started with the Farm Silvopasture

Spring is almost here!

On our farm we are constantly improving everything we can regarding care of our animals and care of our land, and one exciting new way we are working to do just that is through the use of biochar. Biochar is simply (or maybe not simply) charcoal that has been allowed to become filled with plant-available nutrition and bacteria. We use a retort we built from recycled materials so that we can heat wood without burning it. This process results in the wood being reduced to pure carbon (charcoal) which we then put through a composting process to allow that carbon to take up all kinds of nutrients for our soil. Once it has been composted, also referred to as inoculated, we will add it to our garden plantings, tree plantings, and areas that will benefit from increased fertility and water retention. We will publish before and after pictures as well as our retort building process so that anyone who wants to replicate our process can. The retort looks like this:

A quick Google or YouTube search will yield many useful and interesting results for making and using biochar. Here is a link that we have found particularly informative: Biochar Resources – The Survival Podcast

Biochar retort kiln — This is the kiln built from relatively easy to find materials

This site has taken the time to consolidate many (more than you likely will need) biochar resources into one easy-to-reference page. One thing to consider is that before you bother improving the soil with biochar (or any other amendments) you would do well to stop any detrimental practices you are using such as tilling, spraying herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, not gardening, etc. As was stated in a seminar we recently attended; “Get the basics down first, then you can worry about the freaky [stuff]”.

Biochar soaking to break the hydrophbic properties

Another exciting piece of news is our farm was selected to conduct a silvopasture research project by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NE SARE). Our project will consist of developing a system of pig rotation and establishing beneficial plants in our woodlot so that we are not only providing the pigs a more diverse and nutritious diet, but also improving the overall biodiversity and wellness of our woods and soils. We will publish our activities and findings frequently so that other farmers (or would-be farmers) can see what we are doing and replicate it while avoiding any mistakes we have already made. We look forward to showing you our progress as this project takes form!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

-CJ and Tanya

Big things coming this farming season!

February 7, 2023

by charles.lafferty Silvopasture

February is the month were things start to get into gear for the upcoming farming season. Our
focus this year will be to continue to transition our pig grazing area in our woodlot from thorny
underbrush to a vibrant silvopasture system. Silvopasture is essentially pastureland that incorporates
tree species for a variety of beneficial effects. First the trees provide shade and water retention that the
grasses and animals can make use of. Additionally, many of the tree species we use will be edible so
when we prune the leaves and lower branches the pigs will have additional nutrient-dense forage in
addition to all the goodies they already find in the woods. The pigs have already had a tremendous
positive effect on our woodlot by opening it up, eating or uprooting many undesirable species like wild
rose bushes, and spreading fertility throughout, and we are excited to see how far the beneficial effect
can be taken. We are also taking out many trees (most of which are standing dead Ash killed off by the
Emerald Ash Borer) to open the canopy and dramatically increase the sunlight hitting the forest floor.
This increased sun exposure will allow many grasses and legumes to bloom for the pigs to come through
and eat.

Our silvopasture system will also attract a much more diverse array of insects, birds, and other
animals into our pastures which will all have their own beneficial impacts. As the system improves it will
inevitably augment the already spectacular quality of our pork and eventually, as the grasses become
truly established and perennial, we can run cows in the woods ahead of the pigs to increase the diversity
and quality of our farm even further!

2023 will also be our first year running workshops designed to educate farmers (or would-be
farmers) on additional options for running small-scale profitable operations within their communities.
Not everyone working a traditional job thinks they can raise, process, and sell meat but that is not
necessarily true. While we do have 12 acres here on the farm, we use less than half to run our current
operation and we believe that many others could replicate what we do. If you are interested in coming
out to see how we do what we do, or if you know someone else that may be interested, please have
them email us at skylinepastures@gmail.com or give us a call and we can set up a tour.
As always, thank you for your patronage and of course thank you for reading these updates!

-CJ and Tanya