When Ben and I were first discussing how we wanted to raise pigs, of course, we talked about how we could do it and not contribute to the glaring problems in our state.
Here in Iowa, it’s a recurring news headline in mid summer that our water has dangerously high levels of nitrates, bacteria, and other pollutants. Even the most advanced water treatment equipment has a hard time keeping our water safe to drink.
According to the National Agricultural Statistics Services, as of March 2025, there are about 24.3 million hogs living on Iowa farms. Most of those farms are conventionally managed - meaning those pigs live 100% of their life indoors in confinement.
Those pigs produce manure - a LOT of it. The way this is managed is by hosing the poo through slatted floors with water into a large concrete pit where it mixes with urine and wasted feed. This becomes a high nutrient slurry that will sit there for about 6-12 months before being pumped out to then be spread on crop fields.
This may seem like a great way to reuse waste products. However, the problem is that this fertilizer is in liquid form, which leaches very easily through soil. Especially soil that has been repeatedly tilled, lacks organic matter (therefore water holding capacity), and fields that were previously natural wetlands are lined with drain tile to allow water to flow quickly and directly into our waterways.
Because of these reasons, the hog manure now becomes toxic in the environment and flows abundantly in our drinking water sources.
While I could go on about water quality in Iowa, that is actually not the point of this post. My real point goes back to the discussions my husband and I had when deciding how we could go against the norm to raise pork for our family and community without contributing to the notorious problems caused by conventional pork production.
We didn’t have a large barn to raise pigs in. But we did have about 25 acres of oak woodland and savanna, and open prairie, all of which was degraded from years of lack of management before we took over the farm. Between invasive plant species and erosion, that is the unfortunate reality of most all land that is left without direct stewardship.
So we thought, “How can we avoid contributing to the water quality problem, while also solving a problem here on the farm?” Pasture raising our hogs was the answer.
When pigs are raised outdoors on pasture, they root through the dirt. This action is destructive, but if managed correctly can work to our advantage. We use the pigs for invasive plant species removal and to prepare seed beds for winter sowing native seed.
Another benefit of their presence on the land is that they introduce microbiology to the soil either directly in their saliva and manure, or indirectly by attracting and feeding microbes that are already present. The increased microbial activity in the soil helps plants to thrive, and therefore pastures and native ecosystems improve over time.
The biggest benefit to pasture raising our hogs and rotating them to new areas is that their manure does not accumulate and run off into the environment like conventional hog manure because it is not in liquid form. It mostly breaks down where it falls and becomes organic matter, which then increases the water holding capacity and microbial activity of that soil.
When water moves more slowly through the soil, it is filtered of contaminants before reaching moving waterways that we use for drinking sources.
Pastured animals move freely and develop excellent marbling, compared to conventional hogs that cannot move freely and are fed a high calorie diet that prioritizes fast weight gain in the form of fat, not muscle.
We don’t produce for quantity, but quality. Our hogs eat feed produced at a local mill. We only raise them in the portion of the year when pastures are green and abundant with forage. We time it so that they finish on acorns from our old growth oak trees.
It takes much work and thought to move them around the farm, but the end result is happier pigs, cleaner water, healthier soil and ecosystems, and better tasting meat.
Regenerative farming isn’t something new. It’s really just doing things the way humans and nature handled it before we decided to treat meat production like a factory.
Small, diversified farms owned by the people stewarding it can play a huge role in restoring damaged land, but we have to care enough to do it.
Consumers can support by purchasing products from local farmers that share similar ideas about how food should be raised, rather than from the global supply chain at the grocery store.