Underbrush

[nobrabbit]

We have a wooded hillside that needs the underbrush thinned out and need opinions on which would work better - pigs or goats? The hillside has a creek at the bottom so water isn't a problem.

We've had pigs before but they were in barn/pasture area. I have no experience with goats. The hillside is pretty thick with poplars, oaks, black walnuts and lots of wild blackberries so it's pretty thorny.

[norcalfarm]

We used goats on our brushy hillside and they were very effective. Just be prepared for them to completely kill everything except for mature trees and they may even kill some of those. They will work much faster than you would think. I had 5 goats on about three acres and they killed everything but the trees in about a year. They thinned it out and then I had to come through and cut the standing dead brush out and burn it. I had originally thought that they would eat the lower branches off of everything and then I could thin to fit my plan. Instead they stripped the bark off of all of my manzanita leaving it all standing dead. Also they are very hard on fencing and are escape artists. I would recommend using them but I would check their work often and be prepared for them to quickly eat themselves out of a job.

[PlowGirl]

In my experience, pigs will root out and destroy the underbrush much faster than goats. My pigs completely cleared out buckbrush and greenbriars that the goats wouldn't even touch. The goats will browse higher first, pigs immediately start at the ground level.

[oregon woodsmok]

Goats favorite food seems to be bark stripped off of trees, so they are good brush removers if you want the trees killed too. They work best if you want the area cleared to the ground of everything.

I've never had pigs around woods, so I have no experience with using pigs to clear.

[7thswan]

We had exclusivly(at one time) Longhorn Cattle, they cleared brush very well.

[Patt]

We have used a combo here, let the goats eat all they want and then put the pigs in to root it all out.

[nobrabbit]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!

[big rockpile]

Ok Paint me Surprised but Hillside with Creek at the bottom.There is no way in Heck I would put Pigs on it,just too many problems I see.

big rockpile

[Oldcountryboy]

Originally Posted by big rockpile

Ok Paint me Surprised but Hillside with Creek at the bottom.There is no way in Heck I would put Pigs on it,just too many problems I see.

big rockpile

I agree. Also, I've heard that a creek bank is a natural fence as supposedly goats will not cross water. I have a creek nearby me but I have never tried using the creek as a fence to keep goats in.

Goats would be my choice as I've used them before. After a couple of years of being fenced in a certain area you won't have to worry about underbrush for a long time. Pigs can do some serious damage to the landscape as they will root up everything which can cause land erosion during heavy rains.

[nobrabbit]

The boundary fence is on the other side of the creek. The creek is probably not more than a foot deep; what problems are you thinking this would cause with pigs? All scenarios are so helpful as I'll be passing on the info to husband!

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by nobrabbit

The boundary fence is on the other side of the creek. The creek is probably not more than a foot deep; what problems are you thinking this would cause with pigs? All scenarios are so helpful as I'll be passing on the info to husband!

You'll have a problem with soil washing and rocks coming to the top.

big rockpile

[norcalfarm]

Not to mention that your neighbors will hate all of the filth that washes down stream. There is a place near us, the pig pen crosses over the creek. It is absolutely disgusting. It is probably a much smaller space than what you are doing but it may start to look the same.

[Fae]

If you clear a hillside won't you have a problem with erosion? I would think goats would be better but personally I would not completely clear it due to it washing away.

[nobrabbit]

No, I don't think there will be an erosion problem as we just want the underbrush cleared not the trees. The hillside to the right in the picture is part of the one that we want to clear. The rest of it wraps around to the other side of the ridge. The creek runs through the "holler" at the bottom of the hills and is a water source for cattle.

[ronbre]

remember for every single aspen you cut you will get 100 baby aspens..so think before you cut aspens

[nobrabbit]

No worries! The trees are mostly poplar, oak and black walnuts.

[oregon woodsmok]

I've had cattle in woods. They break off the lower branches of the trees, which is a good thing. They either eat the brush or break it down. You end up with woods you can walk through. If you've got cattle, just let them go up in there.

They won't touch or go through the blackberries, though.