# Using Pigs to clear for pasture



## Wollett (Jan 21, 2013)

We have had fair pigs and put them in small lots and they have cleaned it out with in a week. Has anyone ever used them to clean areas that have been logged. We had about five acres logged and they took all the tops so it's just leftovers to clean up. Getting to the question of can you use hogs to clean up land and move them around and plant seed behind them after they have rooted up an area? Thanks in advance


----------



## redgate (Sep 18, 2008)

We use our pigs to clear our woodlands. I guess it depends on what you are looking for exactly. The longer you leave them in an area, the more they trample it down. However, there are so many variables. Too much space or too few pigs means less trampling, too little space or too many pigs means they root and then pug the area to death--literally making it hard as concrete. 

We let ours run in a temp-fenced area just long enough to root/till a bit, eat everything down (from about their back height down), and then move them on. This means the saplings are still standing, but I can get in there easier to manually remove and burn what's left. In addition, because the trampling is light, it means the leaf litter is gently turned under, but the soil is still soft and loose enough that it can take seed easily. 

On the other hand, we had one area we were going to be using as a foundational base for another project. We needed it solid. So, we left him (we were down to a single large hog at this point) long enough that he trampled and ate everything down. All the dead stuff he trampled and scooted around. I'm not even sure what happened to some of it. Just disappeared. He probably obliterated it in his quest for bugs living in the dead wood. It is now a hard-packed, totally bare area now. Very impressive. It will make a great base for our purposes, but I wouldn't want to try planting seed in it! I've heard of folks doing the latter to seal up leaky ponds as well. 

So, yes, I think pigs are a great asset for clearing land, and it will convert into some AMAZING pork! You just have to get a feel for how much area and how many pigs at a time, in order to get the level of soil disturbance you desire.


----------



## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

redgate, how many would you put on, say, an area that's about 48x48 of mostly saplings (up to about 2" in diameter) and scrub (it's not dense, I can easily walk through it), and a LOT of honeysuckle, smilax, and other close-to-the-ground growth?


----------



## linnell (Aug 14, 2014)

We have used our pigs for clearing. When we bought our property it was hilly horse pasture that had been unattended for 2+ years which meant lots of brush and scrub. We have been using batches of 4-12 feeder pigs in temporary electric fenced paddocks across our property for clearing. We also have put them on wooded hillsides. They do a great job of eating fallen rotting trees and turning the leaf litter. 

Check out Joel Salatin's "Pigs in Glens". "This video combines the most ancient hog production techniques with the best of modern technology, using pigs to massage the ecological landscape in exercise."

We move our pigs frequently and try to keep about 3/4 acre per pig in our paddocks. Less on hillside and more on really scrubby areas. The only thing they have not defeated is wild rose bushes, we're just going to have to yank those out with the tractor. I have found that if the brush is too high and the pigs have too much space, they will just make pathways thru the brush and stay on those. We will purposely feed them in areas we want to clear. You just have to experiment with what works for your pigs and your land. I don't think there's a perfect formula. We just watch them and move them when they've done enough destruction. Good luck!


----------



## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Wollett said:


> We have had fair pigs and put them in small lots and they have cleaned it out with in a week. Has anyone ever used them to clean areas that have been logged. We had about five acres logged and they took all the tops so it's just leftovers to clean up. Getting to the question of can you use hogs to clean up land and move them around and plant seed behind them after they have rooted up an area? Thanks in advance


Yes. We cleared about 70 acres in two cuttings over a span of about a decade between cuttings. It takes a lot of pigs to do brush clearing and pasture improvement. Pigs have a mythical reputation for brush clearing but they are as effective as that. It takes mob grazing. I found I needed to figure 100 pigs for five acres to do the mob grazing.

What we did was log the trees cutting the stumps low to leave them in the soil. This was done in two cuttings a decade apart for a total of 70 acres. Half of a tree is in the soil. Not bulldozing saved money and kept those nutrients in the soil as well as not breaking up the soil and avoiding runoff problems.

Immediately post clearing we storm and frost seeded. Our land is too rough to machine work so we did this all by hand broadcasting. We did some test strips and double seeding so the total area we seeded was actually about 130 acres which took about two weeks.

The following year we let most of that area simply take root. The new seed needed time to get set before grazing but we were able to graze it the following late part of the year.

Our pastures do not look like lawn but rather are savannah style. This fits with our needs. This is not hay field but forage pasture with a mix of ground cover, regen, brush and trees. That's ideal pig and sheep habitat. It works very well for what we do: pasturing pigs. The rotational grazing is key to making it work.

These articles may be of help:
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2009/08/02/field-clearing-grapple-skidder/
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2010/09/15/frost-seeding/
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2013/09/25/south-weaning-paddock/
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/pigs

Cheers,

-Walter


----------



## Wollett (Jan 21, 2013)

highlands said:


> Yes. We cleared about 70 acres in two cuttings over a span of about a decade between cuttings. It takes a lot of pigs to do brush clearing and pasture improvement. Pigs have a mythical reputation for brush clearing but they are as effective as that. It takes mob grazing. I found I needed to figure 100 pigs for five acres to do the mob grazing.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thank you we have a small flock of sheep and that was the main purpose of clearing the acres. We don't have the income for farm equipment yet, so my thought with prior experience from 4h hogs and bushy lots was to move them every so often. We have a hilly property with flats every so often. I'm excited for the challenge. They finished logging in fall and I threw out rye seed hoping some would burrow over the winter to help when the spring rains come. Thanks all for your help, Hembree Hollow Farm


----------



## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

I plant a 5 mix seed of grasses in some of my woods where the pigs visit. I continue to do this ever so often. It works well. Lots of mix trees like oak and others that produce acorns etc. Good to plant and replant in the areas where pigs have worked an area. Some times in the spring and early summer i will spent about a week in parts of the woods where i have lots of different heavy brush using a chain saw to cut down some of the bigger brush.
Cutting it off close to the ground. The pigs love this as they can get to the tender leaves.


----------



## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

I find that sheep and pigs cograze very nicely. Chickens, ducks and geese also graze here with the pigs fine. I tend towards the patient end of doing it as the high speed method of clearing costs a lot of money.

-Walter


----------



## redgate (Sep 18, 2008)

hippygirl,

That depends on how much work you want done on the land. For a week, I'd probably put up to 4 in that area. You could do more for less time or fewer for more time. As I said, there are a lot of variables. MANY farmers would put quite a few in a pen that size, but they are going to wind up with a pugged, mucky, smelly, parasite-filled mess of a pen. The whole beauty of the rotational system is to "massage" and disturb the land as needed, then move on, give it a rest, and let it recover before returning to it. We only return to an area a max of once a year (with pigs), but then, we have plenty of acreage. If conditions are right, you could return to it after a few weeks. We do have goats on the same paddock once or twice a year as well, as they disturb it differently than pigs and don't pug it up the same way. Hope that all makes sense. Walter (highlands) is definitely the expert here!


----------



## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

redgate said:


> hippygirl,
> 
> That depends on how much work you want done on the land. For a week, I'd probably put up to 4 in that area. You could do more for less time or fewer for more time. As I said, there are a lot of variables. MANY farmers would put quite a few in a pen that size, but they are going to wind up with a pugged, mucky, smelly, parasite-filled mess of a pen. The whole beauty of the rotational system is to "massage" and disturb the land as needed, then move on, give it a rest, and let it recover before returning to it. We only return to an area a max of once a year (with pigs), but then, we have plenty of acreage. If conditions are right, you could return to it after a few weeks. We do have goats on the same paddock once or twice a year as well, as they disturb it differently than pigs and don't pug it up the same way. Hope that all makes sense. Walter (highlands) is definitely the expert here!


Thanks, redgate.

We have the land and have been clearing for pasture, but as it's just the two of us with assorted saws, axes, and other hand tools, it has been slow going. My thoughts are that if we get the big(er) stuff out of the way, we could turn a few pigs onto it (the number of which to be controlled so that we DON'T end up with a mess), section by section, as we proceed.


----------



## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

hippygirl said:


> Thanks, redgate.
> 
> We have the land and have been clearing for pasture, but as it's just the two of us with assorted saws, axes, and other hand tools, it has been slow going. My thoughts are that if we get the big(er) stuff out of the way, we could turn a few pigs onto it (the number of which to be controlled so that we DON'T end up with a mess), section by section, as we proceed.


An area i make for just pig pasture i cut any big brush down with chain saw and bush hog. This is before turning the hogs in on it. After the hogs are on it for a short time they will rub on the larger bushes and there is no way to saw them bushes down with mud all over them. That's why i clear all the big stuff out before letting the hog at it.


----------



## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

Keep a crow bar handy. Use it to punch holes around larger stumps and rocks then pack the holes with cracked and whole corn. It gives a little extra incentive especially when the weather gets cold. Don't be shy, if bugs start getting it all the better protein.


----------



## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

I've read about the drilling in corn and molasses so I tried it a couple of years ago and found it made little difference. I had expected that since our pigs get little other than pasture/whey that this would be very appetitive but they showed little interest. I did a sample of ten random stumps in an area with each plus a control ten. Perhaps other pigs that have had more exposure to corn would be more interested as it would be a familiar tasty scent.

-Walter


----------



## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

highlands said:


> I've read about the drilling in corn and molasses so I tried it a couple of years ago and found it made little difference. I had expected that since our pigs get little other than pasture/whey that this would be very appetitive but they showed little interest. I did a sample of ten random stumps in an area with each plus a control ten. Perhaps other pigs that have had more exposure to corn would be more interested as it would be a familiar tasty scent.
> 
> -Walter


I have a lot of woods and quite a few tree stumps, Pine,oak etc. There are a lot of acorns and other things that pigs love to go far under the leaves in the winter. I cut all my trees down as close to the ground as possible . I do a lot of logging. The only things my pigs every eat is the acorns and fresh leaves. My hogs just don't care for stumps, to many other things for them to root for.


----------



## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

That is what I've seen too. Once the stumps get really rotten and grub filled is when they go at them, generally from the downhill side. That takes years. Perhaps the pasture forages are simply more interesting.

-Walter


----------



## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

Absolutely true. Hogs aren't interested in stumps or rocks. What those areas harbor is all they are interested in. Some hogs are far more adept at rooting than others. Some say it is all breeding, some say it is individuals. I believe that is being overly simplistic.


----------

