Pigs Are Tractors You Can Eat (Once They’ve Finished Working)

Just over ten years ago, whilst I was studying agriculture business at university, I walked into my first commercial piggery. I remember the smell first - a rich waft of pig waste and subsequent ammonia that almost burns one’s nostrils. Then the noise. Squeals echoing off concrete. No fresh air. No soil.

The sows were locked in metal crates so narrow they couldn’t turn around. Piglets had their tails docked so they wouldn’t chew each other’s tails, caused by aggressive, crowded, or frustrated behaviour in conventional pig farming. Chains hung above the pig pens’ to distract them and give them an alternative. It was explained as necessary. Efficient - standard practice. I didn’t question it.

An example of a conventional piggery. Supermarkets don't show images for a reason.

What wasn’t explained was why pigs chew tails in the first place. They chew because they’re bored. Because they can’t root in soil. Because they can’t move properly. Because they’re not allowed to behave like pigs!

A pig’s nose is built for digging. On pasture I’ve noticed they’ll spend much of their day with their heads down rooting and foraging. On concrete, that instinct doesn’t disappear it turns sideways. Tail biting and aggressive stress induced behaviour in piggeries is the norm.

Again the problem isn’t the pig or livestock - It’s the environment.

I was educated and trained at one of Australia’s better known agricultural colleges. I spend 4 years learning how to optimise farming systems, improve efficiency and maximise profitability. What I wasn’t taught was how dependent that system is on confinement, antibiotics and old time farmers who are over the age of 56 (median age of farmers in Australia) – not willing to buck the system and do things better. It took years to unlearn this reductionist way of thinking. My real education began in South Africa, outside Stellenbosch, working with Farmer Angus at Spier. There I saw pigs outdoors, rotating behind cattle and poultry in a well-managed grazing system. The cattle grazed, the chickens followed, and the pigs came in to till and fertilise. One of my morning jobs was driving an old Italian Fendt tractor to a neighbouring dairy to collect whey - the leftover liquid from cheese production. The pigs knew the sound of that tractor. As I came up the hill, they’d run to the fence. The moment I opened the valve and the whey flowed into the trough; I was immediately their best friend. That’s when it clicked. Pigs are the most extraordinary up-cyclers and can significantly  contribute to solving our ridiculous food waste problem. (1/3 of food globally goes to waste. Here in Kenya is is predicted that < 50% of agricultural produce (fruits and vegetables go to waste).

Thobani and I learning from the pope of regenerative agriculture at Spier - circa 2017. Our good friends at Farm2Feed Kenya are doing a great job to reduce this disaster and punch climate change in the face.

  Pigs are monogastric animals, like us with a single stomach and an adaptable digestive system. They can process fruits, vegetables, grains and by-products efficiently, converting diverse food streams into growth. They’re built to turn surplus into nutritional value!

They’re also intelligent and determined. If fencing isn’t properly electrified and there’s a sow in heat nearby, they’ll find her. Managing pigs isn’t about confinement it’s about infrastructure and an ongoing engineering challenge.  We’ve learned that at Ololo. One morning I found young weaners happily excavating the lawn near the pool while guests looked on in disbelief. That was the day from when our fencing improved significantly.

Today we have around 60 pigs on the farm, and they sit at the centre of how the farm functions. One thing I discourage on the farm is the naming of our pigs.. Pigs are not pets - they are livestock and eventually, will become pork chops on your dinner plate. Albeit our Durack boar "Bolingo" sheng for big testicles, does indeed deserving of that name as we now have a consistent breeding program and cutest little piglets living their days suckling from mum and rolling in mud.

Each week our pigs convert roughly 2–3 tonnes of food waste that would otherwise go to landfill. When food decomposes anaerobically, it produces methane a greenhouse gas 22 times more potent than CO₂. Instead of contributing to that cycle, we redirect surplus food streams back into the farm.

They eat rotting avocados, mangoes, apples, pineapples, potatoes, rice, skuma wiki, tomatoes and everything that slips into the waste pandemic that is going on in Kenya every day. They also receive what remains after we tap off our beef and chicken bone broths. We supplement with Black Soldier Fly larvae - turning waste into insect protein and grow azolla as an additional feed source (more on this later).

Ololo Farm Pigs spend their days feasting on food waste, bone broth waste, black soldier fly larvae and azzola (duck weed we grow on our ponds). When they aren't eating they are sleeping in their mud baths under the acacia.

They fertilise soil. They cycle nutrients. They reduce waste. They strengthen the system and live a happy life able to behave like pigs and till the soil for us whilst providing the most delicious, nutrient dense meat in the land. Ultimately, they’re tractors you can eat once they’ve finished working - no diesel required.

Ten years ago, I thought those pig crates and the docked tails were just part of an efficient and necessary modern agriculture. Now I understand that when pigs are allowed to express their natural behaviour, they become one of the most useful animals on the farm.

Thanks for supporting our regenerative agriculture projects. George "Eating is an agricultural act" Wendell Berry

We are treating soil like DIRT

Soil or dirt? It's a substance that's often forgotten about. Right beneath our feet, but its role in regenerative agriculture and fighting climate change is immense. The UN predicts that we only have 60 harvests left at the current rate at which our topsoil is being washed or blown away! The reason for this is the unsustainable management practices being used in conventional agriculture. Overgrazing pastures with livestock, excessive tillage and plowing, which destroys the soil structure, monocropping, and heavy chemical usage is killing the living bacteria in the soil which is vital for growing food in the first place! So why is our SOIL so important? Destroying the soil is destroying humanity. Alarmingly, it is putting us at risk of increasing global hunger and malnutrition rates. Without healthy topsoil, our farmers will be unable to produce food to solve the massive nutrient deficiency problems humanity faces.

My farmers toolbox So what would I do differently as a regenerative farmer to solve this soil crisis? Well, I like to think that I have a 'toolbox' of management practices I can use to rebuild and fix the soil on my farm. My toolbox currently consists of: 1. Composting 2. Worms

3. Frass

4. Rotational grazing of poultry and dairy cows

6. Cover crops

7. Rest and Recover

Our chickens graze outside on the pasture. They have a varied diet of grains, grasses, dudus and insects. What they leave behind is their manure which feeds the soil. Regnerative Agriculture also combats climate change. As for every 1% increase in soil organic matter (Using manure from holistic livestock management) we are able to achieve an 8% increase in water infiltration into the soil. Hence, the soil carbon cycle takes off once there is rain or when we have to continue to irrigate our pastures. In Sum, healthy soil leads to healthy plants. Healthy plants = healthy animals. Healthy animals = healthy people and ecosystems! Thanks for supporting our regenerative projects! George

Black Soldier Flies: Regenerative insects for sustainable animal protein and plant nutrients

The Opener:

The Black Soldier Fly

Black Soldier Flies (BSF), scientifically known as Hermetia illucens are common flies found naturally in most countries of the world, Kenya being one of them. BSF is the opener to a successful regenerative poultry farming enterprise i.e., Zero waste to value, less footprint (less resource use), nourishing people and planet, & supports nutrient cycling/regeneration

Waste to Value

Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) is such an alternative. Recognized to be one of the efficient insects for converting macronutrients of waste into viable protein (FAO 2017) and not just protein, the residue that is left behind after the BSFL have fed on a biowaste substrate. A product that has be found to perform better than commercial organic and inorganic fertilizers (ICIPE 2020). With a life cycle of about five to six weeks from egg-larvae-pupae-adult, these insects have gained popularity in the recent years due to the ability of the BSF larvae to convert waste to value in a very short period of time i.e., between 10 to 14 days.

Less resource use (Land & Water)

BSF unlike conventional animal feed protein sources such as soy and fishmeal require less resources (Land & Water). It is estimated that one square meter of soy can produce up to 0.5kgs of feed per year while a BSF farm can produce up to 750kgs of feed using the same amount of land. Significant cubic meters of water are required to produces a 1kg of fish feed compared to what is needed to produce an equivalent BSFL meal.

Annually, Kenya imports over 100,000 metric tons of soybean meal and about 150 metric tons of soy protein concentrates, and textured soy protein from China (Global Trade Atlas), soy has also been imported from Tanzania and Zambia. This is due to the extensive resources needed to grow soya and the huge demand in the market for feed and food.

BSF stands out as a sustainable alternative compared to the conventional animal protein source.

Nourishing people and Planet

High value and sustainable plant and animal nutrients at an inexpensive cost. The insects grow on bio waste, a readily available resource in many parts of the world. Making the cost of production way low. The end product of the bio conversion supply high value protein and much needed micronutrients needed for quality growth in livestock production and increase plant production.

Figure 2: Black soldier fly larvae (animal protein)

Intern high quality and quantity of food is produced to sustainable feed a hungry and fast-growing population worldwide.

Figure 3: Nutritious chicken meat from BSFL based feed

Figure 4: Ololo Pasture raised eggs supplemented with BSFL based feeds

Regenerative

Regenerative food system = Good for people, planet & economy

The main objectives of a regenerative food system are to supply nutritious food for people, maintain a cleaner environment, reduce human-animal competition for food and enhance human-animal-plant integration, reduces waste and promote nutrient cycling, uses less resources (land and water) but increase production and last but most important save on unnecessary costs. BSF meets these objectives and more by contributing to net zero economy

Case Study at Ololo Farm

Figure 6: Ololo Farm Chicken on Pasture

Ololo Farm is proud of its regenerative farming system, farming in a way that benefits the people, planet and the economy. Unlike conventional systems whose main design is based on a linear model i.e., take-make-waste. Ololo farm’s system is designed to contribute to a more circular and net zero economy i.e., take less-make better-handle smarter. Rather than rely heavily on expensive and toxic pesticides and chemicals fertilizers to grow our plants and animals we focus on cycling nutrients on farm. Maintaining vegetation cover by growing pasture and trees, practicing rotational grazing and cropping, and composting rather than disposing our waste.

Figure 7: BSFL in the pupae stage

Introducing insects into our integrated livestock system not only adds value by contribute to our circular system but it saves us up to 40% of our production costs and increases our production significantly. Waste from our kitchens and farm is upcycled to make animal protein (BSFL) and organic manure for plants (Frass). After months of using BSFL included feeds, we have seen a significant improvement in our poultry production i.e., better growth rates, feed conversion efficiency and egg production.

Figure 8: Ololo Farm BSF Unit

Our onsite medium scale unit has enabled us to sufficiently convert our kitchen scraps (handling waste smatter) into high value Ag inputs (making better), and supported our ongoing farm trials on ultimate potential of BSF in a small-scale poultry enterprise, archiving all this with less space and water requirement (taking less).