XtraBlatt Issue 02-2020

ON-FARM
PASTURE PIGS
SWINE IN THE
OPEN AIR
Keeping pigs on grassland? East Friesland farmer Johannes
Erchinger found this an interesting business
idea. Some 25 years ago he sought a new agricultural
enterprise and found it with his Berkshire swine.
Contended pigs:
These high-welfare piglets are
grouped after weaning and then
bedded daily with plentiful straw.
hen Johannes Erchinger comes
with the feed bucket nothing
else matters. Even out on the meadows
where boar and sows produce piglets
the natural way, all is forgotten when
the farmer appears with the feed bucket.
Only seconds after he steps into the
field he’s surrounded. He makes sure
that every pig gets some of the pellets.
There’s no fighting and even the boar
that can weigh-in at up to 350 kg seems
easy-going and doesn’t push the others
aside. “Pigs kept outdoors are simply
more relaxed”, says the farmer from
Logabirum near Leer in East Friesland.
This is classic dairy farming land and pig
producers are scarce. Johannes Erchinger
also runs a dairy herd with 80 cows, and
he represents the fifth generation on this
family farm. The farmyard is right in the
middle of the village so there’s no way
of expansion and simply moving out to
build on a greenfield site never attracted
him and his family. “In the second half
of the 1990s I thought very hard about
starting a second enterprise and finally
somehow landed on the idea of pig production
outdoors on pasture,” recalls the
farmer. The pig breeding company PIC
at that time invited him to visit a farm
near Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein) that
specialised in outdoor pig production. In
just a few weeks, he had completed a
practical training course there for a
deeper insight into this type of enterprise.
Even before he’d completed the
course, Johannes Erchinger had first
calculations ready so that he could
convince his family to start off the
adventure “pasture pigs”.
INITIAL
RESISTANCE
At first, there was some resistance in
the village when his plans became
known. “Pigs are associated with unpleasant
odours, although this is con-
nected with housed animals”, explains
Johannes Erchinger, adding that pigs
kept outdoors don’t smell. This is partly
because of nature’s own ventilation, but
mainly because the animals eat mostly
grass and straw that leads to markedly
less smell from the dung, one reason
being that the dietary fibre binds odour
compounds. The initial unrest therefore
soon settled down. In fact, the pig pastures
have meantime become something
of an attraction in the neighbourhood.
The pigs are visited often by primary
school classes and Johannes Erchinger
takes the opportunity to inform the kids
more about farming.
Starting the enterprise was investment-intensive,
even without the cost
of animal housing, which is of course
not required. Firstly, the equipment
including water troughs, arks, feeding
tackle, as well as a “pig taxi” for livestock
transport, all had to be bought-in – and
the pastures suitably prepared. In De-
20 21