Repairing hog damage

[JazzDad]

Thanks for all the replies.

" Have you dispatched the feral hogs, or will they come back to "help you" with the next crop?" No, you can't get rid of them all. We can only try to diminish their numbers.

I am trying to avoid putting mesh fencing all the way around our place, due to the cost. If I can repair the damage myself, with only purchasing one implement, again, I've contained costs. If I hire someone to clean up this mess, and can't keep the hogs out, it will happen again. And again. This has been the worst time, and we've lost a lot of grass.

 

[BTDT]

Good luck to how ever you decide to repair the damage. Something you might want to try that would be cheaper than fencing and continual repair, is put up a feeder or two in a corner of your place where you don't mind them being. Attract them to a spot that won't be a problem for you, and maybe your problem will be solved.

 

[Soundguy]

Not smooth dirt out? What do you think box blades do?

Angle the blade reall non agressive so it won't dig in, and then just drive with it dragging the ground.. if you find a hole.. no biggie.. the dirt pile int he box will fill it.

soundguy

The box blade would be useful for driveway work, also. I'm just concerned (not ever having used a box blade) if I could actually smooth the dirt out. Methinks the tractor's front wheels, going through the holes, would cause the blade to dip and gouge. My little CUT doesn't have drift control.

I like the idea of the landscape rake, if that would do the job; same concern about the ups and downs.

Perhaps I'm trying to do more things than one implement is capable of. The primary job is fixing this pasture damage. The cows are not happy.

 

[3RRL]

If it was me, I'd use the boxblade to sort of level all the piles and holes for a happy medium.
Then disc it to mix up the hard and soft spots to get a more even top structure.
Seed and drag/ cover up.

 

[john_bud]

I sounds like $$ are a factor too. If you get a box blade, set the scarifiers to the setting where they are only 3-5" lower than the bottom of the front blade and then set the rake (front to back tilt) neutral. Then drag it from the high spots to the low spots. You will need to time the work to when the soil is soft and will probably have to rig up something to add more weight to the box.

It will both break up the surface and move some dirt. You will have to cut the grass down as low as possible so it doesn't get in the way. (Discing it is best, but that's buying 2 attachments).

Final smoothing can be done wth a roll of chain link fence with a chain thru it. Attach the chain to the 3pt arms. Sounds goofy, works well.

jb

If I was close, I be asking for permission to bow hunt them bacons.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not a big fan of the box blade and rarely use mine for anything but storing stuff on top of it. If the damage is light, then it will work fine at smoothing things out, but for large areas, and for really rough ground, I don't think it's a very usefull tool.

I have hogs on my land and they do some damage from time to time. I have a pretty good selection of implements and tractors to use, but my favorite is my log drag. I have an 8 foot length of oak that's almot 2feet thick and has cyclone fence wraped around it. Then the fence drags behind the log. I have a chain bolted to either side of the log, and I just hook it over a tow ball on my draw bar.

The first few passes are always the toughest because of the roughness of the rootings, but then it starts to smooth out and you can pull dirt from the high spots to fill the low spots. The weight of the log will crumble the large dirt clods and the fence will break them down and make it smooth.

If it doesn't work, you're not out very much money. I found mine to be very useful at smoothing my trails and even wiping out tracks to see what's around during the night.

Here's a couple pictures of mine.

Eddie

 

[JazzDad]

I appreciate all the responses. It sounds like I need to do some experimenting to see what will work with my soil type. I like the idea of dragging around a chuck of wood (cheap) wrapped with some chain-link (always have scraps of that laying about). Maybe a railroad crosstie would be a good choice?
Oh, how I wish you could come hunt these critters, John. One night we were out in the back pasture and saw a herd of about 25, ranging from (somewhat) cute little piglets up to giant sows. Thinking about the guy who runs dogs after these hogs, I turned to my wife and said, "Watch this". I started baying like a pack of dogs, and you should have seen those pigs take off. As soon as I stopped, so did they. I let out a few more yelps, and again they were on the move. Unfortunately, I can't keep that up all night, every night. Besides, it wouldn't be long before they took me away to the State Hospital at Rusk.

 

[WTA]

I haven't seen any on our farm in over a year now thankfully! When we bought this place about 3 years ago they were coming through almost every night and tearing things up. Including the new electric boundary fence I had put up on the whole property. It shocks hard enough to knock our horses over but pigs go right through it and break the high tension wire like it's nothing. I only had to sit up a couple of nights on top of the barn to get rid of them with the help of a little pile of corn and my trusty rifle. I really hate pigs. I even took the domestics we were raising to the butcher last year because they were a pain too.

Now our stockpile of pork is getting low and I haven't even been able to go hunting yet this year really. I've been too busy getting everyone elses hunting rifles ready for deer season in the shop.
About 3 weeks ago while out riding I got a pig but the guys I was riding with cooked that one over the camp fire and it was gone by morning. That was a 500 pounder too. There were only 16 of us and I don't know where it all went.

I learned something about my horse that day. He hates pigs as much as I do. When we come across a deer or anything else on a trail ride he doesn't even pay it any attention. He smelled that sow I got about 100 yards away and got really tense with his ears going round like radar. When we were about 10 yards from it he jumped about 4 feet in the air and tried to run the other way but he stopped and turned broadside to where it was. I didn't even know what was gong on because I had no idea a pig was there. I thought it was a skunk or something so I pulled out my pistol and then the pig just walked out next to us only 10 yards away. My horse didn't even flinch at the shot. It was like he wanted me to shoot it. I'm going to have to do that more often.

We will have some free time when the kids are out for Christmas break. I can't afford hauling the horses that far but we can drive down and spend a night or two out in your field with you. Maybe we can fill both our freezers. Just let me know. Maybe you can come up here bird hunting sometime. We have been protecting the quail and pheasant for quite a while to let the populations build back up but I may hunt some this year. We have a large flock of turkey that comes through sometimes too.

As for repairing the damage they did, I have a much bigger tractor and just disc'd it all back up. I like that log drag idea though. I do something similar to smooth out the ground in our pastures every now and then. It works pretty good.

I almost forgot about this because I never see it in Texas. When I retired from the Army a few years ago in Pennsylvania we lived on a farm that was overrun with deer. Seriously we'd see 200-300 deer in one group some nights coming down out of the mountains to tear up the apple orchards around us. The man that owned the orchard next to us had a noise maker that worked really good. It was propane powered I believe. I never saw it up close but I sure saw the flash and heard it. It was LOUD! That thing had the deer running in every direction every time it went off. We even had a group of them jumping over my car one night while running from it. It fired about every 20 minutes I think and was very effective. He had crop damage permits too and allowed all us neighbors in there on full moon nights to take deer. That part was fun too. I think he was given about 500 green tags they called them every year. Then that state only had a week long general deer season. Go figure. At least pigs here are open all year.

A couple of rotweillers inside a hidden fence will do wonders on pigs too. That's what a couple of our neighbors here use.

 

[RobJ]

I just don't think a BB will work that well the way the hole is wallowed out.

But for pig control...put up a hog trap. Around the weekend place they'll catch them, it they are big enough they'll take them to the cattle yard and sell them. If smaller they'll pin then and fatten them up. The guys quickly soak the corn in diesel, this keeps the crows and deer out of it. Of course some just kill and disc up. Depending on the trap and herd, you can get several at a time. One guy came by the house once with 14 piglets in the trap. All about 15#. They were fattened up and sold.

 

[JazzDad]

We've got traps out, Rob. The acorn crop is so good this year, it's hard to get the hogs to come into the traps. Our Wildlife Management Area predator control guy (TEXAS MASON CATAHOULA TRAINING HUNTING CATAHOULA HOG DOGS) will be running his dogs soon, now that the temperatures are cooling off.