Michigan Farmers Need Help

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has declared many heritage breeds of pigs to be an invasive species and has ordered all farmers producing any of these breeds to destroy their herds by April 1st without compensation. It is time to write some letters and send some emails and to do it quickly as April 1st draws close. Apparently Michigan is having feral pig issues and the CAFO producers aren't happy about that nor are they happy about the competition they have from the small producers. So they are using the feral hog problem to get rid of the competition. It won't solve the feral hog problem, but it will keep anyone from raising heritage breed pigs. As if many of these breeds aren't in danger of being extinct anyway! The first travesty is that the DNR wants the herds destroyed, the second is that the farmer's will lose a lot of money. Feral hogs are a problem in many states. We have a friend that lives in Florida and works for the state Department of Natural Resources whose sole job is to hunt and kill feral hogs. Pretty cool job. This could be your state next in which the only pigs allowed to be raised are those in CAFOs. This is an attack on our rights to raise our own food and to purchase food raised the way that we want it raised. The reason that they are attacking heritage breeds is because most small producers raise breeds that forage well because they want to pasture them. Yorkshires (the standard commercial breed) don't forage well. I know, these last pigs were yorkshire/hampshire crosses that I had. They foraged some, but not well. They certainly would not have survived without food being brought to them daily ready for them to eat. From what one homesteader in Michigan has said ( haven't checked it out) is that there are 3 pages in the order listing the breeds of pigs. 3 pages....do you have any idea how many breeds of pigs can fit listed on 3 sheets of paper. Quite a number of them. Anyway, here are the 3 videos by Baker's Green Acres. By the way, Mr. Baker's video series on how to butcher a pig is probably the most valuable resource I had when learning how to process a pig. Check out the videos and then get those emails going, as this sort of thing could affect us all in the end. Blessings, Kat