An innovative project involving Frontier Agriculture’s environmental and specialist crops division Kings Crops is helping to retain grass cover and deliver transformational benefits on an outdoor pig breeding unit. Rob McGregor, farm manager at Norfolk-based LSB Pigs, has worked with Kings technical advisor for the Midlands, Jim Egan, to find the right grass mix for the 1,400-sow enterprise.

Improvements in sow welfare, behaviour and performance have been reported at LSB Pigs following work to create a durable grass cover for the enterprise’s outdoor breeding herd. Farm manager, Rob McGregor, says a project to retain grass cover at the pig breeding unit has brought significant benefits for both the animals and staff.

The business operates across two units in North Norfolk, running 1,400 sows on contract for pig company BQP on land leased from the Brun family’s arable operation. The system – which runs sows from mating through to farrowing, before weaning piglets at five-weeks-old at a target weight of 10kg – previously ran on stubble ground. This quickly became bare soil leading to problems with water run-off, however, the team at LSB Pigs has successfully transitioned to a grass-based system thanks to involvement in a pioneering project.

The work to move LSB Pigs away from stubble to grass was led by Anglian Water  https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/, the   Norfolk Rivers Trust  https://norfolkriverstrust.org/ and   AHDB  https://ahdb.org.uk/, supported throughout by Kings  https://www.kingscrops.co.uk/ technical advice and expertise. 

“Anglian Water and the Norfolk Rivers Trust wanted to study what was going on in outdoor pig units in terms of rainfall, where the water was ending up and what it was taking with it into watercourses,” says Rob.

“To support us AHDB is involved, and Kings came on board as the seed supplier and advisory body.”

Kings technical advisor for the Midlands, Jim Egan, says the project trialled two different grass mixes when it started in August 2019. These were the Kings Pig Grass Mix, which mainly comprises Italian ryegrasses and creeping red fescue, and the old Environmental Focus Area (EFA) Mix which included grasses, vetch, birds foot trefoil and clover.

As part of the project, Kings’ sister company and Frontier Agriculture  https://www.frontierag.co.uk/’s precision crop production division SOYL  https://www.soyl.com/ carried out soil sampling to monitor nutrient levels and assess whether the grass cover was successfully preventing run-off and leaching.

Jim says that, although the results from the project are still being finalised, it has been a huge success, with the Pig Grass Mix outperforming the old EFA Mix. He says: “The creeping red fescue and Italian ryegrasses seem to be a bit more resilient – they’ve maintained cover because of the way the roots have established.

“None of us involved in the project have seen a negative with the grass cover; we’ve been able to demonstrate that the grass mix is performing well and we’ve given ongoing advice on how to manage the crop.”

LSB Pigs operates within an arable rotation where the block of land being used for the herd is generally occupied for two years.
"We’ve been able to demonstrate that the grass mix is performing well and we’ve given ongoing advice on how to manage the crop."
It is split into different areas for different stages of the production process: a breeding area for mating, a dry sow area and farrowing paddocks. In the old system, the sows moved onto the radial system after harvest towards the end of August. However, the new system now starts towards the end of January or the beginning of February to allow the grass mixture some time to establish after being sown in August.

Rob explains, “Previously, the sows would have destroyed all the stubble and left it as bare earth within a few weeks.

“This has been the norm in the industry for decades, but in recent years there’s been a lot of concern over soil erosion. The original idea for us going onto grass was to try and reduce the amount of damage through erosion.”

He says the team has managed to retain the grass cover beyond the initial two-year period and some sows are still being kept on the block that was sown in August 2019. Rob adds: “This is testimony to the success of the grass – the ground conditions have been maintained so well.

“We’ve now got pigs on fields which previously, without grass, always suffered from rainwater gullies, flooding and sumps. The grass has stopped all of that and we are now seeing a lot of worm activity that we never used to see when it was bare earth.”

The grass cover at LSB Pigs has required minimal management, except mowing on the advice of Jim as this helps to control barley volunteers, as well as some topping in the summer. A rotational grazing system of sorts, known as ‘flipping’, has also benefitted the grass. Explaining how it works, Rob says: “When the pigs move to the dry sow areas, they’re on more of a block system and we operate a flip system here.

“A section of their rectangle of ground is fenced off to get a rest and it allows that grass to regenerate and build up a bit. When the sows on the paddock change – roughly every 8-9 weeks – we flip the paddock so the bit that’s had a rest will get the sows on it.”

Rob believes the move to a grass-based system has brought huge benefits to animal welfare, behaviour and performance – as well as boosting staff morale.

He says: “We quickly realised that grass cover on the paddocks had an enormous welfare benefit to the sows – it has been transformational to our herd.
“We quickly realised that grass cover on the paddocks had an enormous welfare benefit to the sows – it has been transformational to our herd."
“They graze the grass with absolute devotion and they are getting a lot of contentment from gut fill. They are on a cereal-based diet and previously, anything else they got to eat would have been straw bedding from their huts.

“We used to see sows spending most of their time looking for more to eat because they weren’t getting sufficient gut fill, but now they have pretty much unlimited grazing.” Other benefits cited by Rob include a reduction in straw costs due to sows eating less of their bedding, more exercise leaving them in better condition for farrowing; a reduction in behavioural problems and bullying within the herd and the sows being easier to handle.

Rob adds: “The conditions that the grass provides in the workplace are quite a morale boost for the staff too; everyone has an increased level of pride because of the appearance of our fields.”

He says the input and advice from Jim and the team at Kings has been invaluable. “It’s not a case of one grass mix for all; the mix and advice needs to be tailored for different farms.”