Raising Pastured Pigs – A Video Series for Beginning Farmers

Kingbird Farm is a diversified organic livestock, storage crop, and herb farm in New York State. Managed by Karma Glos and her husband, the 80 acre farm has about 20 acres of pasture. The couple raises about 300 broilers, 300 laying hens, 50 turkeys, a herd of Scottish Highland cattle producing 5-6 steers per year for freezer beef, 6 horses, and registered Tamworth pigs. Four production videos are available from the Cornell Small Farms Program outlining their farm practices and how they grew their farm to the success it is today.

Kingbird Farm has five to seven sows at a time, and one boar, and each sow farrows twice per year producing about eight piglets in each litter. The sows and boar are kept on pasture, and the sow is brought into the barn to farrow and raise her young to 8 weeks, and then the piglets are marketed for feeder pigs or breeding stock, and the remaining piglets and sow are returned to respective pastures. Glos and her husband finish about 10 to 15 pigs for themselves and their customers – the remaining are marketed.

Glos does ear notch all piglets as required for Registered Tamworth hogs, and the male piglets are castrated.

To learn more about Kingbird Farm and their hog production practices, please view the following videos brought to you by the Cornell Small Farms program. To learn more about the Cornell Small Farms Program, or to view other production videos, please visit their website. To learn more about Karma and Kingbird Farm, check out their website.

Breeding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpOMsnDwG1U&feature=bf_next&list=PLBF05CB0ADD8F5069

Pig Castration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2dMkPGIOUw&feature=BFa&list=PLBF05CB0ADD8F5069

Ear Notching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6elTsWbGqBs&feature=autoplay&list=PLBF05CB0ADD8F5069&playnext=1

Finishing Pigs on Pasture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNIM0oEd4OY&feature=autoplay&list=PLBF05CB0ADD8F5069&playnext=2