I read in one of the Joel Salatin books about using pigs to root up old pastures, woods, etc. Have any of you tried this, and if you have how did it work?? I am considering splitting my 1 1/2 acre pasture into thirds and having the pigs root up a section each summer. Then I will level and reseed with a pasture grass blend. Any words of wisdom before I begin?? Thanks!

-- Lynn Royal (CAVEWOMAN48@hotmail.com), February 25, 2000

Answers

Lynn, We watched a farmer do this same thing this fall. He usually always grows stuff year round in this 10 acre field, only this year, he grew pigs instead!! He hot wired inside of his fence line about 2 feet off the ground, threw in some feeder pigs (apprx. a dozen) and there you go!! In a short few months, these piggies rooted every square inch of that field, fertilized it, and grew into real porkers! It was a truly amazing thing for me to watch! He took the pigs to market by the way, and has now replanted again.

-- sissy sylvester (jerreleene@hotmail.com), February 26, 2000.

Hi Lynn, Now here's one I can really help you with! We've done this twice and I would do it again in a minute but we've got too many things going on this year to start something slse. Next year! We built a fence out of pallets about 30' x 30' to start and put 3 young pigs in it. Lots of tall weeds, staghorn sumac and young "popple" trees. That's not enough room for 3 large pigs so we trained them to one strand of electric fence wire. (If you want to know how we did that just let me know. They DO have to be trained to wire because they can't back up, so if they hit the wire they just push through. If they realize they can get through you will never be able to keep them in. Ours never once got out.) We moved the elec. fence around as they dug up the ground. They completely tilled the entire area, eating all the weeds, tossing trees,sumac and ROCKS and leaving them on top for easy pick-up. We only kept them from April to October but we would grow them out a little longer next time. The soil they left behind was unbelievablly rich. The next year we planted potatoes with raspberries between the rows. The potatoes were beautiful, large and no blemishes. When they came out, of course the raspberries stayed. This method WORKS! They are the easiest animals we have ever had. We also built a feeder that would hold 600# of food at a time so feeding was easy and the weeds and roots they ate really saved on the feed bill. I already have just the place for the next batch of pigs.

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), February 26, 2000.

Peg's method does work! Be careful about the pigs you get though. You need pigs that haven't been raised in confinement for generations- to stupid. We also use a pig to root up the sheep barn after the sheep spend the winter packing down about a foot and a half of manure. She can do a great job of a 20X40 in less than a day. Then we come in with a loader and the manure is all broken up and scoops up real nice. When we raised chickens this meathod worked also.

-- BROOM MAKER (elmjem@aeroinc.net), February 26, 2000.

I've been doing some reading and apparently pigs CAN back up- we just had ones that absolutely wouldn't. Everything else is correct though and worth a try. Peg

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), February 26, 2000.

Thank-you for all the helpful and first-hand advice. Sure makes me feel a lot more confident having all of your input! I'll let you all know how it went in the fall!:)

-- Lynn Royal (cavewoman48@hotmail.com), February 26, 2000.

Lynn ,I had 3 pigs in an over grown pasture and it did not take them long to dig it up !I have 2 pigs left"1's in the freezer" I will be moving them soon and plan to put in a garden were they were.They took down all types of weeds , nettles ,burs , you name it .I used 2 strands of electric fence and a solar charger .I would start with young pigs .Enjoy!

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), February 27, 2000.

Outside of evil toxins or nuclear explosives, pigs are the ONLY way I know of to get rid of bamboo. And they will back up! It is one of the easiest ways to get them to go where you want. Put a bucket over it's head, and it will try to back out of it, since they really hate to be unable to see what's going on. Keep the bucket pushing, and a helper can "steer" the back end to get it to go where you want! Good Luck!

Brad

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), February 28, 2000.

My family raises pastured poultry using Joel Salatin's method and is thinking about doing pork this year. If the pigs do as well as our chickens did then it will be well worth it!! We dug an old chicken, (coop raised), out of the freezer and had it for supper. We all agreed that the pastured poultry was by far better!! I hope everything works out! ~Abigail~

-- Abigail (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), March 02, 2000.