| Re: Pigs and Grass
I didn't rake the ground when at my mom's house where there were no trees and my stepad insisted on keeping a yard completely free of anything but grass. Here the yard has been allowed to run wild for many years and there are trees everywhere. Most leaves are toxic. So now I go over the ground with a leaf rake and this spring I used a garden rake to really scrape the grass and pull away any dead material so I could inspect the area for dangerous plants.
If your dealing with tall, fresh, spring grass that they haven't eaten any of in weeks-months I'd probably start with 10-15mins of outside time. Pick at least a few handfuls of grass for them on days they can't go outside and you can start increasing that time by 5-10mins every 4-5days. This is a very rough estimate based on my pigs, Iowa grass, and how we handle turning horses out on new grass. You should watch your own pigs for signs of diarhea and cut back on the grass if their droppings start to get soft. If you live somewhere drier or that doesn't kill all the grass off in winter then the spring grass won't be as rich and you won't have to be as careful adjusting them to it.  |