Pigs: cost-effective and efficient soil improvers
Angus McIntosh, a champion of regenerative agriculture in South Africa, has applied biodynamic practices to beef, broiler and egg production since he began farming on Spier Wine Estate near Stellenbosch in 2008.
Almost from inception, his customers asked him to add pork to his offering, but it was only in 2016 that he decided to do so.
“My clients were looking for pork produced outside, in the same way as my beef, broilers and eggs,” he says.
He emphasises that he is not talking about ‘free-range’ livestock, a term which, according to him, has been grossly abused to make money and inflate prices. Instead, he carefully controls his animals’ movements to make the most of their foraging habits.
MIMICKING HERDS OF GAME
“We use high-density strip grazing, which means the animals are systematically moved over 123ha of irrigated
