From Lord Howe to Hogs
IT’S been an interesting journey for farmer Peter Bond. Originally from a seafaring background, based at Lord Howe Island amongst other places, he moved to Nymboida NSW and became an organic vegetable grower for nearly 10 years. Searching for a better way to control nutgrass, he toyed with the idea of using weeder geese but ended up breeding heritage pigs!
Peter discovered that pigs did a better job, were more profitable and, as he says, he got along well with them. He also found a niche market.
Free range pork is hard to find, but organic pork is a rare thing indeed, and much appreciated by the growing number of people who will no longer eat conventional pork. Of course, organic pigs also get to live happy lives on pasture, with access to suitable shelter and supplementary feeding to ensure a rounded diet.
Self-sufficient free-ranging
Organic pig keeping is facilitated by portable shelters and certified organic land. The land must be suitable because unsatisfied pigs will dig and root enough to cause erosion and damage pastures. Even with good land, the pigs must be rotated, so there must be enough land.
Peter found that heritage breeds were much better at selfsufficient free-ranging than ‘industrial’ pigs. He currently has Tamworth, Large Black and Little Berkshire sows.
Peter says, “The fundamentals of organic pigs are portable housing and rotational grazing.” With a smile and a cock of his head he adds, “I am still working on pasture management.”
Basic husbandry skills
Which is fair enough. Free range pig production isn’t that common in Australia and there is no research. Apart from a few colleagues in the heritage pig association, each grower is an experimenter.
Because Peter feels empathy with his animals, he can be a close observer.
Basic husbandry skills are therefore critically important, and nutritional problems or disease are avoided by management decisions such as when to move the houses.
He continues, “Heritage pigs are slower growing, but they are bulletproof for an outdoor environment, don’t require vaccinations and produce a good flavour on pasture.”
Peter has recently discovered hemp husk as a high protein feed with no beta blocker problems for pigs. Because of a recent move, Peter now has only five sows but says he needs eight to be viable.
Peter was on OGA certified organic land until recently, but a necessary change of address means he is now on land that is just coming into certified conversion status with OFC, as OGA certification no longer exists.
The other major problem for small- scale livestock producers is access to a certified abattoir and butcher.
Peter says, “Finding a certified organic butcher with an understanding of what I need to produce from a carcass has proved impossible.”
Organically grown is enough
Peter also investigated other forms of certification such as Humane Choice but discovered that it ends “at the paddock gate”. Peter thinks that the ‘organically grown’ claim is adequate for his farmers’ market customers at Lismore, Armidale, Yamba and Bellingen Growers Markets in New South Wales.
Even more so because of the new round of fees payable to meat authorities (for a registered meat-carrying vehicle), local councils and markets, Peter is happy to trade on his good name and reputation as a producer and continue using a non-organic local butcher. ☐ - Tim Marshall