Pigs pastured with cows

[sparks]

Hello I have two cows and was wondering if any one pastures pigs with cows.

[windhound]

Plenty of Amish around us do it.

[sparks]

Is they any problems with it. Will the the coyotes mess with the pigs in with cows. The cow are going to have little ones in march. These are my first cows. I also have a small pond on my other pasture that wont seal up very well. I was told to hot wire it off from the horses and put pigs in it but will the coyotes get them.

[luvrulz]

Our cows and the neighbor's cows detest the little oinkers and chase them all over the pasture..... My pigs got out and happened into the neighbor's pasture and then our pasture.

I wouldn't advise it but that's only my local cows... And especially if your cows are fixing to freshen, the pigs would eat *anything* if they're hungry enough... Including a down calf..... Not the best answer to your issue.

[Ronney]

Sparks, don't even think about it. Come March you will have more problems with your pigs than you ever will with coyotes. It is a complete no-no to run pigs of any age with calving cows, lambing ewes or indeed any animal that is about to give birth. There is also a very real risk of the pigs passing on Lepto. to your cows and, through them, possibly to you.

I can't advise you on the coyotes as we don't have them but from my reading here, pigs would probably make a good feed for them. Overall, I think you might be better confining you pigs to a pig paddock during the day and housing them at night.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[simplefarmgirl]

we run our sows with our cows.. never had a problems, switch them with the horses and cows back and forth. The pigs eat the stuff the rest dont.

[mrpink]

my concern would be the pigs eating the baby cows. pigs will eat about anything they can and a baby anything is fair game to them.

greg

[sparks]

I have 6 horses also in another 60ac pasture would the pigs do ok in with them. I would have to hot wire the fence but was thinking of doing it anyways. There is a house a couple miles from me that lets his pigs run the the whole section. Do they fight off other animals easy.

[highlands]

We pasture our pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese together without problem. I would suggest separating the cows from the pigs during birthing for the first week just as we do with our sheep. A bloody newborn lamb is too tempting to taste.

As to coyotes, get livestock guardian dogs. Our LGDs eat coyotes for breakfast, literally. After a while the coyotes learn to stay away - the ones that live that is. Our LGDs do sing at the coyotes to warn them back, this can bother some neighbors. Vocalization and other territorial marking is a critical part of how LGDs protect livestock.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[sparks]

The only nieghbor we have has a Big Gp dog that live at our house most of the time. We have only saw a coyote once but have heard them a couple of times. The land around our farm is wooded and is about 3000 ac with no roads through it a a large springs fed creek that run a 100 yards off of our farm. So I am sure they are out there along with the bobcats. Thank you for all off your help we are new to all of this and are just getting started.