Farmer Focus: Dry conditions help load pigs, but cover crops need rain

What a glorious autumn we’ve had so far. Excellent for reducing straw use in the outdoor pigs thanks to the lack of rainfall.

But not so good for the growing cover crops we’re intending to graze with the sheep. We can’t have it both ways, so I mustn’t grumble.

See also: The value of the dead pig: Benefit of post-mortems

About the author

William de Feyter

William de Feyter and his wife Sarah run a 4,800-grower pig enterprise on rented grassland across three units in Norfolk. They rear five-week weaners to store weight, mainly in tents, plus 450 indoors, with up to 160 smalls taken to finishing weight, all on straw. They also have an 80-ewe flock.

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One significant advantage of it being so dry is that when we will shortly be sending pigs, from our outdoor nursery unit, we will be able to drive the lorries onto the field to load, rather than cart the pigs to the lorries with a tractor and trailer.

The time saved loading cannot be understated; it is much easier on the pigs only being loaded and unloaded once rather than twice.

But if it does rain, I will begrudgingly agree with the rest of the farming community, we really do need it.

After being hit hard by Glassers, some of the pigs we will be sending out will not be where I want them in terms of weight and uniformity, however, the vast majority have done well.

The decision to send them out slightly earlier than normal doesn’t help us in terms of average weight, but should give us a better feed conversion ratio.

It is pleasing to see that the backlog of store pigs we have experienced in recent months is easing and that we might return to sending them out at 35-40kg, rather than 50kg-plus.

We have had a few farm dispersal sales in the area recently, which have proved useful in finding new equipment for the farm in the form of a weed wiper and also some gates for the garden.

The gates were quite the bargain – unlike the weed wiper, although it should earn its keep on our (and other farms’) grassland in the spring.

While loading up my purchases, looking down across the sale ground and seeing it slowly being cleared, I couldn’t help but feel quite wistful observing a lifetime’s work being dismantled in less than a day.

Farm sales are certainly an excellent place to catch up with old friends, and make useful and sometimes not-so-useful purchases.

Yet we shouldn’t forget that it is often another farm closing its gates for the final time and disappearing as its own entity.