Will they wreck my field?

[woodsie]

I have a deposit on two Berkshire/Duroc Cross piglets due to come to our farm in May. I was planning on them in my field that has not been planted for a couple years and has turned into a GIANT weed patch. The area is retangular and probably about an acre in size....planning to use electric and cross fence it into three equal sizes to move them so they can keep on top of the weeds. I thought this would be a great way of keeping the weeds undercontrol (by that I mean keeping them from going to seed and uprooting the well established giant weeds) and improving nutrients and aeration. I eventually would like to plant in a really large garden but I need to start slow and can't manage that much garden at this point but I would like to be building the soil up and reducing the weeds.

My neighbour thinks this is a terrible idea and that i will end up with more weeds and huge holes and a bunch more work....basically wrecking my field, in his mind. He is old school however, his idea was to scape the top 4" of topsoil with the bobcat dump the soil and spread out the loads of goat manure he is giving us. I love the goat manure but can't fathom scaping my topsoil off. Please tell me he is crazy.

My husbands idea is to hose the field with round up...about the only idea worse than dumping my topsoil.

Has anyone had experience with pigs in fallow fields, I'd love to hear from someone that has actually done it before...what was your experience? How'd it turn out?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Back to Nature]

I've never done it, but I've heard of people doing it with great results. The pigs eat the plants and weeds and deposit manure onto the soil. Then they work the manure into the soil, till it, and make it nice, fluffy, and fertilized.

Don't use round up. I agree with you that it's a terrible idea, and you'd be supporting the corporations..

 

[Dino]

Our pigs do a great job working the soil and fertilizing it. Especially areas that have become oveegrown with brush.

A friend is using our boar, the girls don't root nearly as much without a boar around.

 

[Bossroo]

If it was me, and YES, I have done this with great success ! to save time , pain in the neck , and money in your pocketbook ... Hubby has a brilliant idea ! I too, would highly recomend the use of generic Roundup ( a great tool to manage weeds) to spot treat the weeds as they pop up and before they set seed, and use hair sheep or goats to eat any weeds/ unwanted grasses. Pigs will bury any weed seeds, as they root around in search of food ( moonscape the pasture that is very expensive to level with machinery ... one of my neighbors tried the use of pig method) ,that will last for many ears and will constantly be popping up. I would spread out as much goat, sheep, rabbit, horse, cow manure on the land as I could get ( I put on about 6" ( of horse manure ) thick 3 years in a row wich would feed the worms and soil organisms and at the same time the worms will mix the manure and soil to create more black topsoil as well as increase tilth and moisture holding capacity ( why would anyone remove productive top soil ?) . Then, when the great majority of weeds are gone, will be the best time to turn the land into a productive garden. Currently, I have 5 neighbors bring their lawn grass clippings every week to spread onto all of my flower , blueberry and rhubarb beds as green mulch to smother any weeds, conserve soil moisture, and feed the worms which manufacture free furtilizer for these plants.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I've never done it, but I've heard of people doing it with great results. The pigs eat the plants and weeds and deposit manure onto the soil. Then they work the manure into the soil, till it, and make it nice, fluffy, and fertilized.

Don't use round up. I agree with you that it's a terrible idea, and you'd be supporting the corporations..

X2.

It also depends on the breed of pig.

Goats are also a good idea- eat weeds but don't tear up the pasture.

DO NOT remove the topsoil!!!

And I wouldn't spray round-up either.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Please do not use Roundup! Yuk! NOR would I remove your top soil! Let's face it, weeds are a part of life & we might as well get used to them.

It does depend on the breed of pig as to whether they will root up your pasture & I really don't know anything about Duroc or Berkshires so can't help you there.

Goats & sheep are another good option. One of our pastures was terribly weedy - our St Croix have eaten it down to nothing. Interesting to see what will grow there in the spring. Of course if we do not plant any grass seed then weeds will probably come up again!

Whatever animal you use rotate them frequently.

Liz

 

[woodsie]

Some really good suggestions and things to think about...didn't consider the weed seeds they would be rooting into the ground....may be counter productive. Do you think I could burn the weed seeds first, and then put the pigs in? Does a burning destroy weed seeds?

I wanted the pigs so dig out the giant 8 foot thistles and mustard weed roots. We do have a bobcat/skid steer on site so if I do have huge wallows I could level it out but I'd rather avoid the compaction of driving a bobcat on the field.

Well I think there is no perfect answer and the pigs have to go somewhere so I will probably still give it a go in at least part of the field...whatever I can't cover with enough manure and mulch. We are having a bunch of trees cut down so I am hoping to use woodchips as mulch to smother weeds in the garden.

I did have 2 goats and 4 hairsheep (St Croix and St Croix/Dorper) last summer but they seemed to be very picky and avoided the weed patch until they ate all the grass down to nothing. I guess if I fenced them in the weed field they probably would eat the weeds but given their choice (we let them out of the pen to free range a bit) they went for the apples, alfafa and rose bushes....not exactly the weeds I was hoping they would devour. They always seem to have their own opinions on where they should go. My next pasture I am fencing was a big patch of burdock...hoping the goats will tear into that.

Thanks for the encouragement and the suggestions.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Been thinking more about this & wanted to add a couple extra comments. Here in MO we have a weed called Arkansas Dog Fennel - it has very pretty yellow flowers but the sheep, pigs, cows, chickens etc do not touch it. We have to brush hog it! We do not have goats so maybe if we did they would eat it!

In Montana we used to have Sage Brush. I was so excited to put the pigs in a pasture with a load of it thinking they would root it up! WRONG! They just ate around it & once again we had to mow it down.

Liz

 

[jhm47]

I know many of you will suggest that I be lynched/drawn and quartered for this---but in my opinion, Roundup is one of the safest and most benign of herbicides on the market. It is used in this area to keep the millions of acres of fields clear of weeds with virtually no ill effects. If those of you who hate Roundup could have seen the incredibly toxic chemicals we used to use, you'd more than likely change your minds. Roundup still gives excellent control of most weeds, and there is virtually NO carryover in subsequent crops. In fact, it is practically gone within hours of application. Granted, there is the possibility of herbicide "drift", but if applied by responsible people, it is very safe.

Now---there are many websites out on the internet that tout horror stories about it, but like most anything else, exaggeration and outright falsehoods are believed by people who have no experience with herbicides.

OK everyone---pour out your hatred on me! I'm ready!

 

[Dino]

Nothing against roundup... other than one application is not the end of it. I use pigs, they turn it, mix it and add nutrients to it. Then you run a disc over it and plant it how you want. Weeds are a part of life deal with it.