Pigs As Tillers

[Striver]

I have about a third of an acre plot. Here's what I'm thinking. Next spring, fence it in and get 3 or 4 pigs to fatten up for butchering in the fall. By the time they're butchered, I'd imagine they will have tilled the field. Then plant something like garlic that normally plants in the fall.

Has anybody tried this? Am I totally off base? With the amount of manure being deposited, would crop rotation be important?

[gibbsgirl]

I considered doing this but our garden fence was not put in..

I would love to know how it works out for you if you do it.

[Striver]

I'm several months away from being able to try, but I'm looking forward to it.

[oldasrocks]

Why not do it over the winter? We put some old hens in the garden over the winter to eat all the weed seeds and fertilize accordingly.

[geo in mi]

If you haven't learned anything yet about pig behavior, living habits, and so forth, you will need to do so in order to make something that won't work at cross purposes. On a third of an acre, I would think that you will be able to support only about two, by the time they are grown to slaughter size, and I say two, only because they are social creatures and one pig alone might be trouble for you and the pig....

You will obviously will need more food than your grass plot can supply, so you will need to create a feeding and watering area in this plot. You will need some form of sleeping area that will keep them warm enough

To keep cool, they will also create a wallow, or make one around their drinking water supply. Also, they will choose one spot in which to defecate--and you will have to redistribute that manure around the plot before you plant. Also, you will need very strong fencing to keep them from rooting underneath it and getting out, so they can explore and find exciting new things to eat and root up--such as your garden--or your neighbor's garden....

Also, while probably only a possibility, pigs can harbor worms that will also thrive in humans.... There is the possibility that the cyst forms of these worms can last longer than the time you want to leave the ground out of production. So, it would be up to you to take your own precautions as you work the soil while planting and so forth.

Hope this will help.

geo

[FarmboyBill]

I have always said get 3 pigs. 2 will always fight with each other for the feed. 3 give up fighting as a lost cause against the other two, and just hog in and try to do the best they can.
For years I would raise at least 3 on my small garden of 18X36. Id keep them in there for at least a month. I had kept them in there for 3 mos, but found that they pack the ground clay hard, and I had sandy soil. That is why they used to be used to pack dam faceings.
I dug holes with post hole diggers a foot deep and then filled each 1/2 full with shelled corn. They would bust out the area for round 2ft for each hole. I would do a different area each night till I had it all busted out. When that happened I took them out and put them in the hog lot. To move them from garden to lot, I had bought an old home made set of pickup stock racks. I cut off the back part that goes down over the tail gate to make it set flush on the ground. I would pull this up to the garden and turn it so that the gate opened up into the racks. Then I would only feed in there till they got used to coming in there. When they did, I shut the end gate on the racks, and SLOWLY with the tractor pulled the rack up into the hog lot. They didn't like the back of the rack hitting their legs or rump, so they kept walking. Once in the lot, id turn around, unhitch, and drive out the tractor, go in and raise the gate to the racks, and leave the pen.
By the time I took them out of the garden, they had raised to surface every small root, easy enough to move, every rock, both of which I would get in and throw out, and eat every slug they came in contact with.
Problem with the OP statement of them fertilizeing the whole garden, they ONLY rapped in the NW corner, as hogs will pick out a place for that purpose, and will only go there to do it for the most part.

[Rosepath]

The term in fencing lingo: '"hog tight" is not to be taken lightly.

[FarmboyBill]

Couldn't a said it better

[fishhead]

You could do it with chickens too but it would take quite a few.

[FarmboyBill]

AND quite a while

[sammyd]

We ran 3 porkers in what was our chicken yard and overwinter cow pen. They turned everything under and around and made quite a nice garden area out of it. We did have to run our tiller over it a bit the next spring to level things out but it is some of the mellowest soil I have ever seen.
We had field fence and ran a hot wire about a foot off the ground on long insulators. Fed them goat milk and ground corn with some soybean as well as any garden extras and even the stuff from chicken butchering day.

[Harry Chickpea]

I keep having a vision of a pig tied to the back end of a boat, and the skipper yelling "LEFT, Dang-it!"

[Rosepath]

Try tying a pig to anything, let alone giving it directional advice.

[FarmboyBill]

Yep, That's sure right

[Fishindude]

Hooves will compact the soil rather than loosen it, so I wouldn't consider this tilling.
They will make all of the vegetation go away and will leave a fair amount of their fertilizer / nitrogen behind. If you have a low spot it will become a messy wallow.

[FarmboyBill]

Hes right about pigs compacting the ground IF you leave them there too long.
Hes right about pigs making all the vegetation go away
Hes right about pigs using a low spot for a wallow
They wont leave much fertilizer anywhere but in one spot

[newfieannie]

I use to have quite a nice garden using this method also. I only ever had 2 pigs at a time though. they got along well. never had any problems. ~Georgia

[FarmboyBill]

new, did you keep feed in front of them all the time, OR gave them feed at chore time only?

[RonTgottagoat]

I did that last year but kept him confined in a 10 by 10 dog kennel. Every 3 weeks I moved it over to the next plot. I also fed as normal it worked great. After moving kennel I turned in some extra organic fertilizer and planted. It worked great he made a pretty large garden that was cleared of scrub bushes roots etc and preliminary tilled up. Good luck

[RonTgottagoat]

Trying to post a couple pics