Reasons your Farm needs Miniature Horses

One of the best decisions I've made in my 10 years of having this farm was to add miniature horses to it! They have brought me unbelievable amounts of joy since the first one arrived.
After my first miniature horse, Stormy, I bought 2 mini mares, then traded for 2 more mini mares then was given a miniature horse stud on trade for a future foal.
As much as I love my riding mare I worry about how long I will be able to handle the workload and cost of keeping her. She isn't a hard keeper but she certainly eats a lot more than a miniature horse and she requires shoes because she has tender feet. She also requires much more training than the miniatures do because she doesn't learn as fast. I love her dearly but these are real concerns. There's only so many hours in the day and limited money in the bank.
If you are looking for fun and love horses but are afraid of the common reasons not to get a horse (can be dangerous, expensive to feed, the time commitment for training, high maintenance care cost) then a miniature horse for your farm might be the answer!

5 Reasons to have Miniature Horses on your Farm

1.  Driving miniature horses is one of the more expensive activities but I got into it but still for less than the cost of a good riding horse! You can read about that here Driving Miniature Horse on a Budget There are plenty of days I just do not have the energy to clean up and tack up my mare for a ride. It takes me twice as long to groom her as it does a miniature horse. Although riding is relaxing I find driving much more so relaxing! And being able to take my grandson on a cart ride is priceless! I'll never forget that big grin on his face
2. Safer than a large horse. Especially for someone with no prior equine experience. I learned the hard way that buying a 16 HH horse was not the best option because of my lack of experience with a horse like that and for many other reasons! As someone who is only 5'5 I felt awkward and intimidated working with him. He knew it too! If he got an attitude with me he could really kick out! Meanwhile, training miniature horses isn't intimidating at all! It's fun and if they kick out with some attitude and do get me (which they never have..yet) it's not likely to be life-threatening like it was with the bigger horses. I also feel much better with my grandson around the little ones too. Even a docile large horse can seriously hurt someone and not even mean too.
3. Easier to train. I find them to be extremely fast learners! What takes my miniature horses to learn in a couple of days takes my riding mare and other larger horses I've worked with weeks to learn! If ever! Which works nicely for me because I'm used to training poodles and Dobermans, which learn extremely fast. I call my minis the poodles of the horse world :-) Training a miniature horse is a blast! Here is one of my Pinterest boards on Liberty Training which they excel at! Liberty Horse Training Ideas 
4. Economical. Common sense is going to tell you they eat less than a big horse! Much less! But did you know it actually cost more to keep one of my dogs than a mini horse? They also do not need to be trimmed by a farrier as often as big horses. Honestly, if you've trimmed a goat, sheep or alpaca you can trim your miniature horses' hooves and save even more money which is what I have learned to do.  I will admit you can get a little crazy with the tiny cute tack, thank goodness for craigslist and ebay where I can usually find good deals! But it is really not necessary for my miniature horses to have purple leg boots and matching halters! or is it ;-)
5. Pasture and yard maintenance No kidding around here! My miniature horses eat weeds and browse better than my goats did! They are not picky at all! Keeps the pastures and the yard looking nicer! Yet they don't completely destroy pastures and pull roots up like sheep do!

Comanche enjoying weeds in the vineyard area that had been closed off all summer.

Miniature Horses as Farm Work Horses

Those are some logical and even fun reasons to keep miniature horses on your farm. Now here are some reasons to keep miniature horses for a more serious-minded homesteader who wants more contribution from their farm animals!

1. Using a miniature horse for farm work is a real thing! I'm currently working with one on my stockier bodied miniature horses hoping to prepare him for some hauling work with a wagon. Most people don't realize that miniature horses were once used to work coal mines! These strong little workhorses were put to work at 4 years of age and retired in their late teens. They hauled heavy coal all day, lived in the minds stables and were known as 'pit ponies'. Here is an article on  Celebrating Pit Ponies. Now obviously I'm not suggesting we work our miniature horses like this but the article shows what they were bred for and are very capable of working! For a more recent look into farmers using miniature horsepower, check out this article from small farmers journal on Mini Horse Haying
2. Mare's milk is a real thing! If you've been on my blog at all you'll know I'm a huge fan of donkey milk because it improved my health! Here are some of my posts on the subject Donkey Milk Posts. But Mare's milk has a similar nutritional profile making it a wonderful choice for an alternative for people who have digestive issues and milk allergies like me! Much like donkey milk, Mare's milk is not a new thing either Wikipedia Mare's Milk! And it's still widely used in parts of Asia and making a comeback in parts of Europe! You can read about Mare's Milk benefits in this article Milk and Health Mare's Milk. For taste and health benefits equine milk is definitely my choice for milk! I can feed a mini mare for less than a dairy goat which saves me money on a very useful medicinal food source we need.
3. Horse manure makes big gardens possible! It wasn't until I brought in the donkeys that I had enough compost to fertilize my own gardens without having to bring any in! Donkey manure breaks down faster and isn't as nutrient dense as horse manure though. Horse manure is actually slightly higher than cow manure in nutrients! And nowhere near as smelly as poultry manure! Its less likely to spread a disease to humans and properly dried makes a good fire starter! Some farmers even report it keeps deer out of gardens like in this article Mother earth News: Oh Deer not horse manure! Deer often graze with my horses so I don't think they dislike horses on my farm. But overall, Horse manure makes all my gardens possible, which is a huge part of our self-reliance and the main way out of the grocery stores!

So as you can see there are some very practical reasons to keep miniature horses (and donkeys) on a working farm!

Already have a horse or donkey? You can check out my

 Equine Training Journal

Looking for healthy ways to keep your costs down on equine check out my DIY herbal health and grooming recipes
Rain Rot Remedy
Homemade Fly Repellent

There are many other reasons the keep miniature horses on a farm, I'm sure! Especially for a horse lover who can't ride or doesn't have room or money for a big horse. They are amazing little equine and have brought huge joy to me every day I go out to the barn and see them. Their energy is contagious! It's impossible to be unhappy when one of my little guys comes up and nuzzles me for scratches. If I'm feeling a little lazy with my workouts I know I can halter up a mini horse who is always ready for a nice hike.
So, although my mare was the one who got me into fitness so I could ride better, my miniature horses actually help keep me motivated! So many reasons, my friends, so many reasons :-)
They have truly been a blessing on our farm.

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Farm Season: Spring

Elderberry trees are getting leaves and popping up everywhere telling me its time to pot some up! Irises are peaking through the dirt... Buds are forming on the blueberries and grapes...Snow peas are starting to grow more rapidly!

Farm Season: Spring

March still has some cold weather coming back this week but all the new life does brighten my outlook a lot! Makes me want to really jump start ALL those new garden projects I got rolling around in my head!

As well as get some things in the ground and many more seeds to be started inside! So exciting!!!!! But at the same time, I'm kinda lazy from the easy winter!!
To see my previous garden checklist for the months you can check them out here Garden Checklist

Spring is so busy on a farm and here in the southeast, it can be gone in a few weeks. Ok, it's not officially spring yet but when I see daffodils I call it spring! It helps get my brain back into the busy farming 'flow' after winter. Which can be really hard sometimes! Even for a gardening lover like myself. I'm very excited about all the things I have plans to do.. but actually doing them takes me some time to refocus and a few motivational tricks.

Things that help motivate me to get my farm hustle back

Motivation trick 1: Bringing out my easy low tunnels to transplant hardy vegetables in helps get me going! Normally I use simple plastic and hoops but this little fold out tunnel is so easy to set up and it works great! Less effort to set up than pvc hoops, rebar, and wrestling with plastic! I'd like to buy more of these! You can find different brands on Amazon and greenhouse shops online.

  

Motivation Trick 2: Getting excited to prep beds for early greens and peas can be hard because it's still cold but all the work I've put into my compost and topsoil helps motivate! 

Good topsoil can take years of work! Using raised beds helped me accelerate that though! Being pesticide free, chemical free helped along with good compost added every year and every season! So Finally the earthworms found my soil acceptable to call home! With every turn of the broadfork, lots of these guys were hanging out now. 

Seeing earthworms is most definitely a motivator to compost and get my beds ready!! 

Motivation Trick 3: Ordering new gardening Gloves!!!

One of my new most favorite garden tools!!! These waterproof gloves!!!! I love them.. I go through garden gloves so fast and they have never truly been waterproof but these are! In my top 5 garden must haves! I also got these at Amazon.

Motivation Trick 4: Getting out last springs garden journal and log sheets of planted seeds and amounts harvested!!

 I always keep a garden journal type book but its often a hot mess at the end of the seasons with ragged sketches and notes. It's more like a creative recording than die-hard record keeping. 

I love keeping my garden journal but I also keep more structured log sheets for quick clear references. I keep logs on how much I planted, amounts harvested and how much I canned or preserved in other ways. It works wonderfully to motivate me to get out there, cold on not and get everything ready! I seriously surprised myself when I started record keeping like that. I had no idea I harvested so much food before I kept records. Very, Very Motivating!! 

Motivation Trick 5: Livestock work! My barns by this time are a hot mess and getting piled very high! It can be very hard to get back in the routine of cleaning out barns (or coops or whatever livestock you need to clean up after) To help get me motivated to get out and clean up I start by cleaning out the feed room and going through equipment. What I don't need I put it up for sale and use it to buy new equipment I do need! That's usually the first step to getting me prepped to clean out the barns! I then start with the small stalls and work out toward the main areas. Adding to the compost pile usually helps keep me shoveling away because I like to think about all the vegetables it will grow! 

Motivation Trick 6: To help me get excited about the added livestock chores spring brings I print out a new journal! When I had poultry or goats I'd print out new brooder or new milk production/kidding record keeping pages. That always helped me get organized for new spring babies and ready the added livestock chores that come with spring. 

Now with the horses and donkeys, I print out a new training journal with health records. If I have a mare or jenny getting ready to foal I'll print out health records and milk production pages for them too. Then I place it all in a pretty binder with a pretty cover! 

If you need an equine training journal I have the one I use here. 

It has so many extras with it, like DIY herbals, essential oil and herbs for horses guide sheets, health records and more! Equine Training Journal

Picture of Bianca being long lined for her training session a couple of weeks ago. 

Above here's my donkey Rani, waiting to foal. She's my best milking donkey and always happy to let a kid hitch a ride. Donkeys are a fantastic addition to most farms! You can read my ebook if you've been thinking about getting a donkey for your farm. Its especially wrote for someone who has no donkey or equine experience too! Donkey Care Primer ebook

You can also find more posts about donkeys on my blog Donkeys on the Farm
So if you need an extra nudge to get moving after the cold winter I hope these motivational tricks help you like they help me!

So much to look forward too on a farm! Many times my head is more excited than my body after 9 years of farming so anything helps! We all need extra motivation sometimes!! 😆

You can check out my homesteading pinterest boards for even more ideas Homestead and Horses

Happy days and many blessings for your dream homestead life.
Till next time....

Just want to say, I'm not an affiliate salesman. The products I recommend are products I actually use and recommend because they have worked for me. All pictures are from my own farm, they are not purchased stock photos! 

Garden Checklist : March!

For many of us in the upper and certainly lower parts of the south March is GO TIME for the garden!
I get really excited once March rolls in and happily get out my Garden Checklist because there is so much to do!!

This is when I really start seeing life come back into the pastures and woods here in southeast TN and I am so thankful to God! It's so beautiful!

Last month some seeds were started inside, some thrived, some did not! Those that did are in the greenhouse now!
My snow peas are up but the sugar snaps are not... I should have put a blanket over them too. Oh well, it's in next years notes!
It's not too late to plant snow peas in the southeast though it's getting close! If you're in a cooler climate you may just be getting ready to plant them! You can check out my post here on some tricks I use to get good crops and the best variety out of the 6 I have grown Growing Snow peas!

Some mustard greens planted in the fall thriving under low tunnels

Keep in mind I am in zone 7. You may need to adjust if you're in a different zone.

My Garden Checklist For March

1. Fertilize all fruit and nut trees and brambles such as blackberries. This is best done right before the leaves start to come out
2. Give garlic a side dressing of compost
3. Weed and compost any beds you missed in February
4. Fertilize muscadines (or any grapes) before the buds swell
5. I can start to Propagate Blueberries, Elderberries, and muscadines this month
6. Divide mature perennial herbs such as comfrey.
7. Sow clover cover crops if needed, and grass seeds for pasture improvement.
8. Plant potatoes when daffodils are in full bloom
9. When Forsythia blooms I can plant these outsides with frost cover on hand! lettuce, green onions, fava beans, burdock, carrots, cilantro, collard greens, dandelion, dill, kale, mustard greens, spinach, 
10. Inside or greenhouse start in flats: Veggies: main crop tomatoes, sweet peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries, kohlrabi, cabbage, celery. Herbs: Arnica, oregano, sage, sorrel, thyme, valerian, and parsley.
11. Start sweet potato slips
12. I can start to Harvest stinging nettle that's rapidly making a comeback!

All that and get your garden journals out to keep notes! My saved charts and notes through the years have helped me be successful in the garden more so than anything else.

If you haven't grabbed a copy of my Givers and takers plants to help you plan your garden you can grab it here! Nutrient Needs of Vegetables, Givers, and Takers

Spring Time and other happenings on the Farm

The only ones here more excited about spring than me is the horses! They are already leaving their hay and venturing out more and more nipping on all the grass the rains have brought up! Of course, its prime time for my equine to get rain rot so I shared this Rain Rot remedy a few days ago. You can check it out here if your animals love standing in the rain as much as mine! Rain Rot Remedy Herbal recipe

Below, I snapped this pic of my 5-month-old poodle puppies and my mini mare, Freckles. They were playing and watching me start seeds by the greenhouse. 

Freckles is with foal and I couldn't be more excited or more nervous! Vets are on speed dial! She's the only horse I have bred to deliver this spring. Everyone else is due this fall or being bred to foal next spring. I love Freckles and she has great potential to be a good team partner for work. But first I'm praying for a healthy baby!! and an easy time for mom. 💓

If everything goes well I do plan to milk her just like I do my donkey jennies. If you are unfamiliar with why I would milk mare's or donkeys here are a few links

Wikipedia on Mare's Milk

Mare's Milk for health

Mare's milk and donkey milk are extremely similar. Both are great for people with food sensitivities and allergies like me! They both have incredible medicinal properties. Both can be used to make Kumis which we love! Talk about energy after just 1 little shot of it! Mare's milk being higher in milk sugars than donkey milk will make a bit better product. Here's a bit about Koumis Wikipedia Kumis

For more info on Donkey milk and what donkeys can offer a homesteader, you can check out a few other posts I've done at this link  Donkeys on the farm

Curious about donkey milk soap? You can try some here Etsy shop Donkey Milk Soap

Well, I think that's all that's going on here this week! Going to be a busy month getting everything done and I feel so blessed!

Have you have a blessed productive week of homesteading!

Rain Rot in Horses and other Livestock Free Herbal Recipe!

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https://donkeylistener.com/rain-rot-in-donkeys/

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Raising Rabbits for Meat or Fiber or Both

This is not a super happy, everything wonderful post about raising rabbits for meat or raising angora rabbits for fiber.

It is more about me trying to make something work that wouldn't and why. But they may work for you! When we started out I always found reading homestead articles about what didn't work for a fellow homesteader actually helped me better than reading about why something worked wonderfully sometimes. So here is my homesteaders' journey with rabbits. Trying to raise rabbits for meat, then raising rabbits for both and raising rabbits for fiber. 

Much like the goats, for four years we tried to make meat rabbits work out and we would have just enough success in between the failures to keep us going. Although, not enough pros for us to keep at it.

One of the major problems we had with raising meat rabbits was...well, we just didn't like them... 

The meat was good and has a pretty good nutritional profile, But it was not good enough to put up with all the trouble of raising them! Here's a look at the meat from a nutritional standpoint Nutrition in Rabbit Meat

Reasons we didn't like raising rabbits for meat

The meat rabbits breeds we tried weren't enjoyable to take care of for us. Some were downright mean and would attack my hand if I reached in the cage!

We had problems with mothers not being good mothers! A major issue since unlike a goat I can't easily bottle feed a baby rabbit with much success! We had problems with mothers killing babies.

We had problems collecting the manure... the manure is great for the garden,, but its the urine that's stinky and really makes for lots of work if you're using trays or shoveling up urine soaked manure. The urine will burn plants so it couldn't be directly added either.

Also, we felt like they ate too much for the return on investment! They really go through the pellets and good rabbit pellets aren't cheap! They have very sensitive digestive systems and can be picky eaters. Which makes foraging and growing their food tricky. Though I did go that route for a while honestly I do not have time to devote an hour a day to gathering and growing rabbit food. That didn't make sense to me. I can simply take that hour and grow or gather food to be eaten directly for us.

Slaughtering them wasn't as easy as the youtube videos make it out to be! They kick, scratch and can fight fairly hard. They scream. It was pretty terrible and made me want to be a vegetarian! 

Anyone who's says raising rabbits is easy or cheap to raise has clearly not done the numbers or maybe has no other livestock to compare them too. They are high input, though the right rabbits can also be high output if you have good breeders. Which apparently we never did!

I'm not saying they aren't useful livestock to many people!! They just were not the best choice for us and our personal needs on our homestead.

We don't give up easily and in those four years we tried 4 different breeds of meat rabbits... none lived up to the 'hype' of all we had read in those pretty glossy magazines.

Maybe if we had tried to raise them in tractors on the ground like this homesteader The Elliot Homestead that would have cut the feed cost although then I'd have to worry about moving the heavy tractors all the time so I don't know..

We tend to like animals that can be more independent like Meishan Pigs or Donkeys

New Plan for Raising Rabbits for Fiber or Both!

Then I tried Angora Rabbits! In 2013, I got into farm fiber production (raising it and spinning yarn) with the addition of the dairy sheep I tried (huge fail I might add,, but I was bitten by the fiber bug)

Fiber animals are as much work as a dairy animal and then some really!! For many many reasons, sheep didn't work out here. And neither did cashmere goats or angora goats...nor did alpacas work or llamas! I think the good Lord was trying to tell me something here ❓ Could be...

But late 2013 I got Angora Rabbits. Angora is probably my favorite fibers to crochet and wear.

After much research, I decided I would go for a dual purpose rabbit, French Angora. Raising rabbits for both meat and fiber sounded great! If this worked I wouldn't need to keep the American Blue or NZW or any of the other meat rabbits we had tried and didn't like! It would be perfect,, right!!!?? Right??? Oh... It's always so perfect in my head! 🤣

Angora Rabbits aren't really popular where I live so My very first rabbit was a French/English cross... It was love at first sight!!! I adored this guy. He was so sweet and SOFT! 

I should have just accepted his wonderfulness,, got another English cross and been done... but...

The French Angora is said to be the nicest for fiber and meat.

So when I found some I went wild and bought several! (ok,, I bought way too many!)

 however, they weren't quite as soft as my cross boy and really lacked the sweet temperament of my cross rabbit, which made harvesting the fiber not fun! You will often read how 'relaxing' people find grooming an angora rabbit is, well, it can be... if the rabbit is willing!!!! If the rabbit is not willing I promise its NOT a relaxing experience!!!

...and their ability to be 'plucked' made my life miserable with them! 

You see 'pluckable' angora is considered the 'best' because its supposed to spin easier, shed less...so it brings more $ if you're selling it raw to other spinners...sounds nice right?

Problem: when its ready to be plucked you must pluck!.. if you're not there to pluck it for the next couple of days it all falls out and ends up in the stinky urine soaked manure! Not practical for this busy farm girl that has a huge priority for the gardens and other animals to tend too!

So for me, this was NOT the best type of rabbit!

This frustration was totally un-necessary for me to deal with.

The one thing French Angoras did well was making money! Their babies sold easily for high prices, unlike the meat rabbits. Of all the animals we've raised here, they were one of the top for making a profitable cash flow. I'll add I had pedigreed French Angoras and they brought the most and sold the fastest. They are not easy to care for and very time consuming but I did average an extra $200 to $600 a month with them. Nice side homestead hustle money. There are a lot of devils in the details to how I did it but it can be done for someone who enjoys raising and grooming angora rabbits. I know breeders of English Angoras who make a lot more. Pedigreed Angoras can be very profitable on many levels.

 I also brought in German Angoras to see if they would work better They not pluckable and they give the most fiber of all the angora rabbits... they still grow fast enough to be an ok meat rabbit.. sounds perfect! Right?

Major problem... their fiber isn't as soft as the French or English Angoras, to me, it's downright itchy!

 Plus again, they lacked a sweet temperament I wanted so I can groom and harvest the fiber with minimum drama! And honestly, at well over $100 plus for a rabbit, I was going to have a hard time culling them for meat! 

So they were out... and in my disappointment and being in the middle of the overwhelming spring garden season I sold all my angoras to a nice lady in Gatlinburg. 

We tried one more stab at meat rabbits (colored NZ) then gave them all up and turned their cages into brooders for baby poultry and for raising quail which did work better for us and you can read about that here Why Raise Quail?

What doesn't work for us might still work for you!

It can be hard when something fails you've worked so hard at especially when your dream homestead is so overwhelming at first! But take heart!! We are living proof many things do work out! True, they weren't the things we thought would work out but we feel so blessed and happier with the things that have worked!

So believe me when I say, this was not meant to be a discouraging post but one to make you think about it from a different perspective. So hopefully you'll be able to make the most informed decision possible and be saved of the frustrations we had!

For us, we've had alot of success (so far!) with Meishan pigs, Donkeys (to guard and for milk), four season gardens, and working miniature horses (for work, enjoyment, and milk(soon I hope)) I'll also add that my gardens never had enough fertilizer until I brought in equine! That is a major win since gardens are my main focus here!

 If other livestock had been successful I would have never found my true love for equine or enough compost! yay! Win/Win 😄

Many other animals have actually worked here (geese, ducks, quail, which I loved) but we had to prioritize as our gardens have got more important so have my equine, and my husbands Meishan pig business took off. Homesteading simply just comes with hard choices sometimes.

Need more homesteader ideas to check out of Pinterest boards here Homestead and Horse Pinterest Boards

Like all other homestead plans, it's all, so perfect in my head.... ohhhh, and so perfect in the article where it does work out for others and in all the pretty magazines where sometimes the article is wrote by someone who doesn't even own that animal!

 Not so perfect in my real homestead farmers life...

And that's ok,,, after all this is the Homesteaders Journey! 

A Little More of our Journey

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I mentioned Meishan pigs above so for those who don't know here's a video about if they are a right fit for your farm since we have been on the subject of 'what's right for your homestead?'

The Heritage Pig Breed we had never heard of

The journey to finding the right livestock for our small farm has been a struggle. We never would have imagined a heritage breed pig we had never heard of would become such a big part of our homestead. But it changed everything! 

Dare I say, the Meishan was a game changer!

As we enter our 4th year with these amazing (game-changing!) pigs its nice to look back at how it all came about.

With our AGH Boar

Heritage Pig Breed: American Guinea Hog Years

 Pigs......Who would have figured? When we started this journey nine years ago I don't think that pigs were a major component in my wife's "master plan" (and this whole thing was her idea). I know the idea of being a hog breeder wasn't in my consciousness at the time. Flash forward to today and the homestead hog has become a pivotal part of our subsistence homestead model. Notice I said homestead hog. Not the highly muscled standard commercial breeds that fill the aisles at Kroger or even Whole Foods. Not that chicken eating, fence destroying, don't turn your back on, mega swine. These pigs aren't even your "new white meat", close to fat-free stuff most of us visualize when someone says pork chop. No for us the homestead hog is above all a red meat lard style carcass hog. It is a hog that's a good barnyard citizen that uses our land not abuses our land. For us to achieve the goal of raising, growing, gathering or hunting the highest percentage of our food possible (which has been as high as 95%) that success depends in many ways on our pigs and the fats they provide us. 

To that end, we had chosen the American Guinea Hog exclusively for those first four years of homesteading as the backbone fat and meat supplier in our model.  And it was working well. You see our subsistence model was based on feeding us first. Cost offset or even positive cash flow have been subservient to the subsistence goal. Oh, I know everyone tells you how their little homestead is going to grow all their food, make lots of money so they can quit their job, and be the Norman Rockwell nirvana they imagine. Yes, we talked like that too. Until reality set in after a few years of actually living it. Feed yourself or have a profitable farm business quickly became the choice forced by both available time and resources. So we choose to reach the goal of feed ourselves first. Phase one was complete.

Now phase two.

How do we take certain components of what we do and make them profitable? Because while we have driven cash flow off of our farm we are just offsetting costs not covering them. Oh and if you are reading this and you are in that Norman Rockwell phase let me give you some advice. Don't quit your day job.

So how do we take something we do and not lose its value to us while increasing its value to the bottom line?

Once again the pig is where we turned. Specifically one of the oldest domesticated breeds of the hog in the world. Despite hours of research on pig breeds, this was the heritage pig breed we had never heard of! 

The Meishan Pig

                                     Meishan Pigs at The USDA research center in Nebraska

The Meishan pig was once the focus of an intensive study by the USDA, Iowa State and The University of Illinois beginning in 1989. This study spanned over a decade. You see the Meishan pig is a Chinese hog breed that has been selectively bred to produce high levels of succulent fat for thousands of years. They are also unique in that they are a "hyper-productive".While most heritage hog breed have litters of 4-8 piglets and Commercial breeds target 10-13 Meishan routinely have 15-18 piglets. One Meishan in the USDA study had 28 piglets in one litter. They also enter puberty in 90-120 days as opposed to the 6-10 months of many breeds. It took years of negotiations and literally millions of dollars to bring 33 Meishan sows and some Meishan (among other) boars to the US. The pigs proved that their hyper-productivity could increase the productivity of other breeds. The problem was that Meishan is a lard carcass and the crosses had increased levels of fat. Remember in the 90's the USDA (the same people who told us Crisco was good for us) were trying to create the super lean rooting machines we have today. The poor Meishan was deemed to have outlived its research value at one of the research facilities and around 2008-2010 the Iowa State herd was dispersed.
 The Iowa State herd was scattered, some were completely lost, some watered down by other breeds. In fact, the lard carcass genetics of many breeds (AGH, Old Line Berkshire, Large Black etc) also fell into disfavor and entire breeds were almost lost. The drawing below is a representation of what Berkshire hogs USED to look like.

 The remaining herds at the University of Illinois and at the USDA Meat Animal research center remained sequestered from the average farmer until the spring of 2016 when we acquired the last of those herds.

The Return of Flavor and True Healthy Fats

Today everyone from the foodies to health awareness groups to the Paleo way of eating are the driving the resurrection of pasture-raised fat. Restaurants who want to create tasty exclusive charcuteries cry for fattier red meat pork in a world of dry white wallboard that the USDA grading systems of pork have given us. Check out this article from Weston Price about traditional fats

 Taking the fear out of fat

Those few surviving red meat lard breeds like AGH are poorly suited to American butcher cuts. Plus the slow growth and small liters make them poorly suited to many smallholder economic models for sale. If there was only a heritage pig breed that had large litters, a decent grow out rate and still give higher levels of healthy sweet and delicious fat. Being docile and having a low impact on the land was also on the list. I can't have an animal on my farm that I fear and busts through fences like so many pig breeds do.

We are happy to have found that the Meishan IS that heritage pig breed! 

                                                Angie meeting "Chiyo and Pumpkin"

It took a long time to research, locate, negotiate and obtain our first certified pure  Meishan stock traceable directly to the original USDA herd. On December 10th, 2015  our boar "Mr Wu" and 2 unrelated gilts "Chiyo" and "Pumpkin" joined the family here.

                                                                   "Mr. Wu"

Future of Small Farm Pork Producers

Now if you had told me six years ago that I would make the effort, and the investment to obtain pig genetics I might have laughed you out of the room. Alas, homestead planning rarely follows the original homesteading path. The preservation of Meishan Genetics(which are irreplaceable in the US) calls to me. Yes, I had a vision but mostly I have a gut feeling that these pigs are too important to be lost. And no I don't run a museum I run a farm. At the end of this journey, I hope and I am gambling on the idea that these pigs can play an important part in the small farm movement efforts to help people in producing their own food and be profitable if they wish to also run a small farm business. These pigs can also improve many different breeds as F1 crosses that can benefit the smallholder.
The Meishan pig has been recognized and listed as Critically Endangered by the Livestock Conservancy and you can read what they have to say about them to as they join the efforts to save the genetics Livestock Conservancy on Meishan Pigs
To avoid inbreeding depression and so breeders can make informed decisions the AMBA has been established and is helping breeders and producers across the country learn about Meishan pigs. You can read more about their efforts here A.M.B.A.

The Meishans even have their our Wikipedia info page now! Wikipedia: The Meishan Pig

So began the project. Our first leg of the Meishan herd was established. Here are two other posts about how we obtained the last of the Illinois Meishans and the last of the USDA Meishans. Neither had previously been released to the public.
Saving Heritage Pig Genetics: Meishans
and Heritage Pig Breed: Meishan

 But before you think I claim this as originally thought its already being done in different places at different levels. There are already forward-thinking breeders using Meishan(along with other lard breeds like Mangalista) to fix the pork the USDA "improved". Our efforts are a small drip in a tidal wave of a pork revolution that has already quietly begun. I hope we are good stewards of these and all of our animals. And that is part of my daily prayers to the Lord. Looking forward to keeping a log of the journey.  That's all from Gods Blessing Farm today..... just a little look back. It's nice to look back on Homestead projects. It truly is a journey, as well as a blessing!
If you would like to be on our Meishan Tales Email list to keep up with litter announcements and information on growing and caring for Meishans you can sign up on this page over at our other site
Meishan Tales Email List

 One of the original gilts from the Iowa lines.

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