Good Morning!
We are excited to announce that our farm was selected to participate in a research grant focused on developing small-scale silvopasture systems using pigs! The funding will come from Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NE SARE) and will be conducted over the next two years. Our goal is to take initial soil readings and a plant inventory, run the pigs through our paddock rotation allowing them to do their piggy thing in the woods, and then take follow-up soil samples and a plant inventory to gauge the effect the pigs have on the woodlot. Our hope is that the data will demonstrate the positive effects pigs have with regard to fertility (naturally spreading their manure), plant diversity and control (disadvantaging non-desirable or non-productive species), and minimal to no soil compaction. Our results will be made publicly available through a variety of outreach methods including publication on the NE SARE website, frequent updates at skylinepastures.com, an interview on the Pastured Pig Podcast (release date TBD), and workshops on our farm.
Ideally, we will be able to clearly show that farmers (or anyone interested in raising pigs) can take underutilized woody areas on their property, and with minimal infrastructure can profitably raise pork while improving their land. The potential benefits of this project are increasing the market for forest-raised pork and therefore increasing the demand for specialized pork processors and producers while sustainably benefiting the land here in Pennsylvania and anywhere else these methods are adopted. This project will also benefit animal welfare by raising pigs in their natural state rather than in barns or on concrete pads. A cursory search of the interenet will show that there are others raising pigs in a similar fashion but it’s not easy to find anyone showing the results and benefits with quantifiable data in the way we intend to present it. If you are interested in raising your own pigs, or if you want to know more about where real food comes from, then please follow our work and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about our methods, or our farm in general!
Thanks!
-CJ and Tanya
