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12/23/11, 12:30 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Maine
Posts: 222
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Working the Land
Hey all,
How would you all go about changing the 'landscape' of your property. My current land is a sort of wetland woods. Many trees - poplar, pines, birch etc... The ground is soft and damp. Lots of roots, fallen trees from when they did some clearing in order to present it for selling. That was 7 years go and it has grown in quite a bit. Lots of low to mid height brush in between the trees.
What I would like to do is convert some of this to more 'pasturey' sort of land. I have noticed that on the floor of where we have created some nice wide paths through the woods, it tends to grow back in nicely as grass-ish.
I'm planing to just clear some areas with good 'ole manual labor ie. chainsaw & clippers and go from there. I will be putting some Guinea Hogs into one area hoping they can clean up a lot of the little stuff and them move them to a new area once they have done their job.
What else can I do? Has anyone else dealt with land such as this? I'd really like to ultimately have a very small farm, but right now all I have is lots of wooded/grown in land. No major pastures, but a couple of small ones might be nice.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Steve
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12/23/11, 02:15 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 4,443
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Goats are great for clearing off land. Build a fence around where you want cleared off and run goats in it for 2 or 3 years. During the summer time after goats have most all underbrush ate up, start cutting down any trees you want to get rid of. The goats will eat the leaves off the tree tops and any sprouts that grow up near the tree stump will quickly get snipped off, killing the tree stump.
I cleared off a peice of land by buying young goat kids at the auction barn in early spring and let them eat all the underbrush they wanted. When the underbrush was about all gone I started cutting down unwanted trees. The goats would eat all the leaves off the tree tops and eat any new sproutes that came up on the tree stumps. Killing the stumps. Then toward the middle of fall when things aren't growing anymore, I would take the goats back to the auction barn and by this time the young goats have doubled in size and they would sell for double of what I paid for them. After a couple of years of running goats on the place it was a very nice looking peice of land and pasture grass was growing instead of underbrush and weeds.
Therefore the goats done all the hard work of clearing off the land for me, and then doubled my money that I had invested in them. A win/win situation!
__________________
r.h. in oklahoma
Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy. 
Last edited by Oldcountryboy; 12/23/11 at 02:18 PM.
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12/23/11, 02:15 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: B.C.
Posts: 694
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A few thoughts:
-you likely want stumps out so consider a skid steer or other equipment. They like the tree or high cut stump for leverage.
-tag shade/fruit bearing/etc trees to be left up
-leave good swaths of bird and frog etc habitat to help keep bugs down
-wet ground can be great pasture but it is seasonal, and you want animals rotated rather fast as to not damage the fragile root systems.
-research permaculture and hugelculture(sp), check out permies.com for plenty of more ideas
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12/23/11, 05:32 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: WNC.
Posts: 2,315
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It has been eye opening how well our three goats do clearing the brush.
Here we have brambles,thorny vines,honeysuckle,and little pines trees.
They do well eating almost all of it.We fence little sections(mainly due to cost of fencing-we use cattle panels and T-posts) under 100'x100'.
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12/23/11, 07:15 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Maine
Posts: 222
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Thanks for all of the input - Will Guinea Hogs accomplish the same sort of clearing as goats?
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12/23/11, 08:18 PM
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greenheart
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Ky
Posts: 1,672
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hogs root the ground up, goats eat all the leaves and eat brambles and honeysuckle down to the nub. I like goats better. We had two pigs and they made a big mess, the goats have cleared all the underbrush.
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12/23/11, 08:19 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Hoosier transplant to cheese country
Posts: 6,437
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no. hogs are ground scavengers. goats eat up. big difference. goats will also eat thorny brush. hogs won't.
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12/23/11, 10:55 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Maine
Posts: 222
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So then hogs would turn the soil in essence, right? Allowing me to move them and plant some seed if wanted - yes?
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12/24/11, 07:49 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: ohio
Posts: 1,068
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If it's wet, the hogs are likely to make a muddy rutted mess. If it has any slope, they will also cause erosion.
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12/24/11, 08:28 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Hoosier transplant to cheese country
Posts: 6,437
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The hogs would tear up some ground, but it wont work as well as you think. We have done this. The smaller the pen, the more dirt they will turn, however, what they do turn will become hard pack. also, if you are feeding them whole grains, guess what will be growing there next year?
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12/24/11, 08:44 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 736
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl
The hogs would tear up some ground, but it wont work as well as you think. We have done this. The smaller the pen, the more dirt they will turn, however, what they do turn will become hard pack. also, if you are feeding them whole grains, guess what will be growing there next year?
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Listen to this advice. Wet ground that is rooted by hogs will be compacted to the point where it is not much good for growing anything. It ruins the structure of the soil.
You may not be into the goat idea, but I agree with the other posters that they are the way to go. They don't compact the soil like a hog and will clear a lot of brush. I'd eat them when they are done with their job, unless you really want to sell them.
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12/24/11, 08:53 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: WNC.
Posts: 2,315
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If you moved the hogs before the ground became compacted it should work shouldn't it?
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12/24/11, 09:48 AM
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More dharma, less drama.
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas Coastal Bend/S. Missouri
Posts: 30,490
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It would help to know what kind of soil is there.....sandy, clay? What?
But, in general......
NO. If you don't leave them long enough, they won't root it up completely. If you do leave them long enough, the clumpy clods dry and then you have a different mess.
Goats. We keep saying goats. There's a reason.
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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus
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12/24/11, 01:52 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: B.C.
Posts: 694
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Goats can also be monsters, so consider that as well.
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12/24/11, 03:34 PM
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doll maker/ ND goats
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Northern Maine
Posts: 482
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Not my goats! They are sweethearts!
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12/24/11, 03:50 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Hoosier transplant to cheese country
Posts: 6,437
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goats? monsters? really?
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12/24/11, 03:56 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Frederick, MD
Posts: 1,495
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In a really wet area I'd avoid hogs for any period of time (if at all). Even if you manage to time it perfect so they root the ground up, but don't completely compact it down, you are going to have to disc harrow it down in order to reseed.... which makes getting a tractor and harrow through there even more tricky if it is wet....
I'd go w/ the goats, or consider moving a massive amount of earth into that area...
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12/24/11, 05:05 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Dawsonville. ga
Posts: 402
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since you are living in maine i would recommend goats.
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12/24/11, 05:10 PM
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Too Complicated For Cable
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Washington
Posts: 10,120
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I like goats followed by hogs followed by chickens, turkeys. I think it depends on what you're trying to do though. If all you want is to clear out the under brush then stick to just goats.
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Know why the middle class is screwed? 3 classes, 2 parties...
To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself. ~ Einstein
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12/25/11, 09:45 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 4,443
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl
goats? monsters? really?
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Aint never had no problems with goats being monsters either! Except of you got a big ole buck in the group that's a little teritorial. But since I only had small goats and would sell them at the end of summer, I never had to worry about bucks.
Now eggso, only mentioned Guinnea hogs! Is that the same as Guinnea pigs? I don't have any experience with guinnea pigs or guinnea hogs, so I can't really comment on them.
__________________
r.h. in oklahoma
Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.
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