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Pigs as rotavators...

  • 11-05-2014 10:48am
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭


    Came across a nice photo on Twitter of pigs that had dug up a piece of ground. Was thinking this might be an idea for me in the future for the worst (steeper rocky) land on the farm to reseed.

    Take an acre for example, how long and how many pigs would it take to wreck it :D to the point the grass and thatch would be churned up. Could move them then to the next plot in the plan.

    Just thinking out loud. I know they are difficult to fence in from other threads.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,563 ✭✭✭mayota


    I heard one strand of electric fence would keep them in.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    mayota wrote: »
    I heard one strand of electric fence would keep them in.

    I see two strands on the twitter pic. But I heard before they're good at shorting the fence by digging up ground so it comes in contact with the fence. I've never kept them before so only going on what I read/heard really.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    Came across a nice photo on Twitter of pigs that had dug up a piece of ground. Was thinking this might be an idea for me in the future for the worst (steeper rocky) land on the farm to reseed.

    Take an acre for example, how long and how many pigs would it take to wreck it :D to the point the grass and thatch would be churned up. Could move them then to the next plot in the plan.

    Just thinking out loud. I know they are difficult to fence in from other threads.

    No idea but a long term plan of mine in wood, it's their natural environment.

    If you do id nearly drive to west for bacon, some pigs blood and a lamb!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,115 ✭✭✭monkeynuz


    They can short out electric fences, however, if you keep the strands slightly higher than normal then you should be ok, we used to use it in conjunction with a bit of stock fence behind the elctric.

    They are great animals, very clever and full of character, we used to have one little pig that would stay in the field after all the others had escaped into the neighbouring jerusalem artichokes and start making a noise when she saw us as if to say they have all escaped but I have been good and stayed!

    Not sure about rough rocky ground for them though, they aren't built as climbers but will turn ground over.

    If you have a water course or watery area on the land you intend keeping them then don't forget to fence across the water, they are great swimmers! God to allow them access to the water though but just don't allow them an escape route!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    As an aside, pigs are regarded as dirty animals.

    In their natural environment, they don't lie in their own sh1te, only in confined spaces. Rolling in muck is how they protect themselves from the sun.

    Jewish & Muslim faiths won't eat pig for being "dirty". In all likelihood the real reason for this cultural/historic avoidance is the same as why firemen to a large degree avoid roast pork.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,115 ✭✭✭monkeynuz


    very true about them being clean, i.e not rolling in their own poo, and they regularly keep their bedding clean by moving it aroud and getting any smelly bits out of the way.

    However, someone told me an interesting thing once, they won't eat "the flesh of the pig" because "it doesn't sweat so is therefore dirty" might be something in it, I don't really care though lol


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,457 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    Tamworths would be ideal for your purpose as they are naturaly more agile than most pigs as they are one of the only breeds that do not have Asian pig bloodlines.
    They are also very hardy and our only native breed http://www.tamworthbreedersclub.co.uk/

    It would take two adult pigs a few months to clear an acre of scrub. You could get 4 weaners and they would do the same job. In my experience most traditional breeds lay on fat much quicker than the commercial breeds like Large White and Landrace and therefore need to be slaughterd at lighter weights.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,701 ✭✭✭moy83


    A mate of mine has tamworths out in rushes with and old trailer for them sleep in . He has one strand of mains wire and when he takes it down he has a job to get them to cross where it was !
    They root it up fairly well but you would want to keep them in small areas for them to give it all a good going over .


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,326 ✭✭✭Farmer Pudsey


    Con is there much soil under the grass. The reason I ask is that a small disc harrow may be you answer. Have you any tractor. A small 50ish HP tractor would be ideal unless land is very steep. When reseeding land that gets very heavy It can be a time consuming job. You have to have the right conditions. I would not be inclined to wait for the end of the year. This type of land gets too cold too fast. Grass need to be well established before winter on it as the roots will spend most of the winter water logged.

    Another choice might be to buy or borrow a small track machine to turn it over. Pigs will be too slow IMO unless you can handle 8-10 all year around. TBH I thinks quads and Chain harrows are a waste of time. You need a tractor to pull a decent size one. You will also need to roll seed bed. If you can disc it even thought it will not be great but it will allow you to till with a chain harrow.

    The one thing that will surprise you about this type of land is that if you reseed in the summer how fast grass will establish.

    Somthing like this
    http://www.donedeal.ie/harrows-for-sale/mf-8ft-disc-harrow/6910737


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,115 ✭✭✭monkeynuz


    Base price wrote: »
    Tamworths would be ideal for your purpose as they are naturaly more agile than most pigs as they are one of the only breeds that do not have Asian pig bloodlines.
    They are also very hardy and our only native breed http://www.tamworthbreedersclub.co.uk/

    It would take two adult pigs a few months to clear an acre of scrub. You could get 4 weaners and they would do the same job. In my experience most traditional breeds lay on fat much quicker than the commercial breeds like Large White and Landrace and therefore need to be slaughterd at lighter weights.

    Used to be the rule of thumb that you wouldn't kill a pig until it had at least 2 inches of fat on it's back


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 194 ✭✭saltandpepper10


    Absolute classic post best ive seen in a while describes my thoughts perfectly


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Con is there much soil under the grass. The reason I ask is that a small disc harrow may be you answer. Have you any tractor. A small 50ish HP tractor would be ideal unless land is very steep. When reseeding land that gets very heavy It can be a time consuming job. You have to have the right conditions. I would not be inclined to wait for the end of the year. This type of land gets too cold too fast. Grass need to be well established before winter on it as the roots will spend most of the winter water logged.

    Another choice might be to buy or borrow a small track machine to turn it over. Pigs will be too slow IMO unless you can handle 8-10 all year around. TBH I thinks quads and Chain harrows are a waste of time. You need a tractor to pull a decent size one. You will also need to roll seed bed. If you can disc it even thought it will not be great but it will allow you to till with a chain harrow.

    The one thing that will surprise you about this type of land is that if you reseed in the summer how fast grass will establish.

    Somthing like this
    http://www.donedeal.ie/harrows-for-sale/mf-8ft-disc-harrow/6910737

    There's no consistency to soil depth in my area. You can go from bottomless bog to bedrock protruding through the surface. My issue with a tractor is as well as avoiding those two obstacles there are boulders, stone walls (all over the shop), "moots" (spoil from back to back drains), and the land itself is steep in places and there's no fair play - as in if you're on a hill it's not a flat surfaces slope? There'd be a lot of minor bumps and hollows. It can be fairly crazy stuff.

    The idea with the quad &harrow is it's smaller and more maneuverable than a tractor, while being less hardship than a two wheel tractor with a rotovator attachment - though it might come to that yet! Also, and importantly, I've seen that mf35 stuck in a few places, in the smallest bits of difficulty. A 4wd tractor wouldn't have that problem but then I don't have a 4wd tractor so...... :pac: I haven't tried it yet so it might be a waste of time but if other methods aren't suitable what do ya do, have to start trying something sometime or just put up with the old grass.

    I can get a roller for behind the quad, not so worried about that tbh.

    The other idea was a small rotavator for behind the tractor, but again we're back to the trafficability issues and also the mixing of rock and rotavator.

    Not sure about disc harrow, would you not have to have a bit of fair play to get up a little speed for them to work, with the tiny field layouts that wouldn't be possible in the most part.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,326 ✭✭✭Farmer Pudsey


    There's no consistency to soil depth in my area. You can go from bottomless bog to bedrock protruding through the surface. My issue with a tractor is as well as avoiding those two obstacles there are boulders, stone walls (all over the shop), "moots" (spoil from back to back drains), and the land itself is steep in places and there's no fair play - as in if you're on a hill it's not a flat surfaces slope? There'd be a lot of minor bumps and hollows. It can be fairly crazy stuff.

    The idea with the quad &harrow is it's smaller and more maneuverable than a tractor, while being less hardship than a two wheel tractor with a rotovator attachment - though it might come to that yet! Also, and importantly, I've seen that mf35 stuck in a few places, in the smallest bits of difficulty. A 4wd tractor wouldn't have that problem but then I don't have a 4wd tractor so...... :pac: I haven't tried it yet so it might be a waste of time but if other methods aren't suitable what do ya do, have to start trying something sometime or just put up with the old grass.

    I can get a roller for behind the quad, not so worried about that tbh.

    The other idea was a small rotavator for behind the tractor, but again we're back to the trafficability issues and also the mixing of rock and rotavator.

    Not sure about disc harrow, would you not have to have a bit of fair play to get up a little speed for them to work, with the tiny field layouts that wouldn't be possible in the most part.

    The reason I suggested the disc harrow is that it will cut into the ground 1''-2''. After 2-3 runs slightly offset it will allow you to knock up a soil tilt with a chain harrow. Maybe a small tractor with double wheels at the back yes ideally to till with a disc harrow you need speed however if you can cut it for the chain harrow to work speed is not essential with the disc. . I think your quad is too small if that is the only size chain harrow it will pull. Some of the bigger quads would pull an 2 metre chain harrow. THe other thing is to have a look around locally for a triple k harrow or anything that might break the top of the ground for the chain harrow.



    If the fields are small I be spraying off one that is 1-2 acres and getting going.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Seems pigs will take too long judging by the answers here and elsewhere so will leave them in the fridge until the really impossible places :D

    Attached some photos of the area I intend to reseed. Obviously it's from early in the year was identifying areas needing open drains. Gives an indication of the problem though.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Some photos taken today of the "better" quality land, but trafficability issues just as problematic.

    Greener, better weather, less surface water, going to look a lot better than the last set!

    The slopes look a lot more gentle in the photos than in real life.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,457 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    Pigs will make pure dung of those walls if they get near them as they love to scratch :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Base price wrote: »
    Pigs will make pure dung of those walls if they get near them as they love to scratch :rolleyes:

    Figured as much because any animal in the place already has, would have electric fence between pigs & walls :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 713 ✭✭✭eire23


    Would it be possible in some of the fields to get a machine in to lift rocks or level out some of the moots into some hollows to make it more workable for a tractor?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    eire23 wrote: »
    Would it be possible in some of the fields to get a machine in to lift rocks or level out some of the moots into some hollows to make it more workable for a tractor?

    That's not within my budget at the moment :o But it's something on my mind for the future yes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,457 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    Looking at the photos and just wondering, what type of grass seed would you use to reseed. I am only asking as I presume that the grass that is growing there is regional specific and has survived/thrived in the unique conditions.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,980 ✭✭✭Genghis Cant


    Base price wrote: »
    Looking at the photos and just wondering, what type of grass seed would you use to reseed. I am only asking as I presume that the grass that is growing there is regional specific and has survived/thrived in the unique conditions.

    A quick call to NASA should answer that for you :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Base price wrote: »
    Looking at the photos and just wondering, what type of grass seed would you use to reseed. I am only asking as I presume that the grass that is growing there is regional specific and has survived/thrived in the unique conditions.

    I have bought Glenveigh, Soriento, Piccadilly, Timothy, and some Crusader white clover.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 128 ✭✭cristeoir


    This may be a stupid idea for your ground but if you were able to fence a few acres at a time and out winter some light weanlings on it would they not cut it up enough so that a few runs of the harrow would give you a good seed bed. I'd say its not easy land to farm CM , fair play to you - you are definitely a good tryer!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,326 ✭✭✭Farmer Pudsey


    Con you are fighting against nature, a small track machine maybe, not sure about the weanling idea as you need to put condition on them as well. Maybe a few AA however no GLAS or Reps in that idea. Really a track small machine (6-8Ton) if you can come across handy.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,718 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    Con we keep a few pigs and I'm not sure it will work for you.
    If you had two weaners on half acre I think it would take them maybe three or four months to root it over.
    They, while fence trained will root the clay up to the fence and short it.

    From a handiness angle you might get someone who keeps pigs out who might be willing to stock a few pigs in it.
    Then they would be responsible for fencing. For your acre if you could get 8-10 mid sized (40kg) weaners in then two months would do a lot.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 752 ✭✭✭micraX


    Well I for one wouldn't depend on a pig to prepare ground for parsnips and the likes..


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,701 ✭✭✭moy83


    micraX wrote: »
    Well I for one wouldn't depend on a pig to prepare ground for parsnips and the likes..

    Maybe not parsnips but lads would have grown rhubarb on land like that for the market years ago


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,718 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    micraX wrote: »
    Well I for one wouldn't depend on a pig to prepare ground for parsnips and the likes..

    I'm fairly sure Con just wants to reseed grass...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 752 ✭✭✭micraX


    _Brian wrote: »
    I'm fairly sure Con just wants to reseed grass...

    well i was just saying pigs might not be a good rotavator


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,326 ✭✭✭Farmer Pudsey


    micraX wrote: »
    well i was just saying pigs might not be a good rotavator


    With grass you do not need a deep seed bed. As long as grass seed has contact with soil it will root in when germinated. When grass seed is deeper than 1/4'' you start to have seed loss at germination. I think it is as high as 20% at 1''( not 100% sure). The reason some farmers plough, power garrow etc is to get rid of trash etc. However it is not totally necessary and nowadys there are other methods/supply's that allow mintill grass establishment.

    In Con's case he is looking for a min till method to establish new grass on old rough pasture. TBH he is fighting against nature, the most effective would be a track machine however he is looking for other options to allow hime to prepare a mintill seedbed. Pigs or fencing in cattle to break up ground are idea's however each have there disadvantages time being one of the criteria. However in this sort of ground ever option is worth consideration. If he had time on his side and use pigs to roughen it 1-2 acre at the time and he had a market for the pork/bacon it might well be an option.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,264 ✭✭✭Cran


    Not sure how well they'd work, tend to clump stuff together see the before and after pics. Wife got 2 last year after asking if she could use the 1/3 acre plot beside the house, were only 8/9 weeks old when got and did this in about 3/4 weeks. This was also during the dry summer which slowed them up a bit I think.

    Plus side great craic to keep, fantastic meat and reasonably easy to mind as well, electric fence worked well until they got older then they just walked through it at will. Downside bar the state of the paddock and its still in that state none really...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,061 ✭✭✭Neddyusa


    Base price wrote: »
    Looking at the photos and just wondering, what type of grass seed would you use to reseed. I am only asking as I presume that the grass that is growing there is regional specific and has survived/thrived in the unique conditions.


    Fully agree with this. Don't want to knock what you are doing Con, but sowing ryegrass in that type of land would be a step backwards IMO.

    The vast majority of perennial ryegrass seeds on the market are bred to grow in deep, well drained, fertile and high pH soils. They would be unlikely to survive one wet winter in most of Conamara.

    In fact, most of those grasses would struggle to survive in some of the wetter land of the Golden Vale even!

    The existing species of grass in your fields on the other hand have been selected naturally (combined with management) over hundreds of years to adapt to your local weather and soil conditions. It is highly unlikely that any purchased perennial rye-grass will perform any better than the native grass in your conditions. Think of it as equivalent to buying in a flock of soft Suffolk ewes and letting them off on the hill...
    Certainly not enough of an improvement to be worth the time, money and effort required to till and reseed it.

    I know if you have your heart set on redeeding that ground my advice may not be welcome...but if it was my ground I would concentrate on tackling the rushes, improving drainage (I see you are at this anyway!) fencing, breeding etc....will give you a much better return than reseeding rocky hill or bog!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    All well meaning advice is welcome, even constructive criticism which can be very useful :)

    I said from day one that this was an experiment. It started out of thinking of white clover, progressed to how to manage the natural white clover, strayed then into introduced white clover by overseeding, and progressed on to where I am at the moment.

    For the record, there are reseeded swards already operating in Connemara ;) I take the point, and indeed live it every day, that we are disadvantaged in the land quality available. When it's the only land available, then that's what I must work with.

    Also, in previous threads it was suggested I should reseed the best of my land. I took those points and do understand them. However, I hedged my betting here by compromising and choosing the two acres of what I consider "middling" quality ground (quality being a relative term here). I did this precisely because I had failure at the back of my mind. With little enough of my good land as it is I didn't want to go destroying it, that policy has been agreed with locally too.

    At the end of the day, how I try to avoid using that phrase, the farm has several glaring issues. One is the weather which I can't change. Another is soil fertility which I can change, but in the medium not short term. Another is the grass and trying to introduce new grass which combined with future lime applications will hopefully respond better and earlier to fertiliser applications. Another is grassland management which I am also hoping to start address with rotational grazing. The latter two I can make a stab at this year.

    If all that sounds like a rant it isn't meant to :) It's how my thoughts come out some times and some of the topics to the forefront of my mind. I notice I've left out breeding completely.................................. Breeding isn't where my head is this week lol.

    Another reason to hopefully successfully introduce new grass is to use less concentrate :)

    My own belief at the moment is a two wheel tractor with power harrow will be brought in for a week. But, I have the harrow now, can spray off when conditions allow, so I will push on with that plan and if it fails I am one step closer to success :D

    Or the correct quote which I just looked up:

    “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
    ― Thomas Edison


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,061 ✭✭✭Neddyusa


    Fair play Con...no-one could accuse you of not considering all options anway!..Am always amazed how the landscape brings out the resourcefullness in ye lads back west;)

    My other advice would be to try it out on an acre or two in the first year and you'll have your own list of To-do's and Not-to-do's for the next few acres in year two if it works out. And aim to sow during the summer so it has the best chance to get established before autumn.

    All well meaning advice is welcome, even constructive criticism which can be very useful :)

    I said from day one that this was an experiment. It started out of thinking of white clover, progressed to how to manage the natural white clover, strayed then into introduced white clover by overseeding, and progressed on to where I am at the moment.

    For the record, there are reseeded swards already operating in Connemara ;) I take the point, and indeed live it every day, that we are disadvantaged in the land quality available. When it's the only land available, then that's what I must work with.

    Also, in previous threads it was suggested I should reseed the best of my land. I took those points and do understand them. However, I hedged my betting here by compromising and choosing the two acres of what I consider "middling" quality ground (quality being a relative term here). I did this precisely because I had failure at the back of my mind. With little enough of my good land as it is I didn't want to go destroying it, that policy has been agreed with locally too.

    At the end of the day, how I try to avoid using that phrase, the farm has several glaring issues. One is the weather which I can't change. Another is soil fertility which I can change, but in the medium not short term. Another is the grass and trying to introduce new grass which combined with future lime applications will hopefully respond better and earlier to fertiliser applications. Another is grassland management which I am also hoping to start address with rotational grazing. The latter two I can make a stab at this year.

    If all that sounds like a rant it isn't meant to :) It's how my thoughts come out some times and some of the topics to the forefront of my mind. I notice I've left out breeding completely.................................. Breeding isn't where my head is this week lol.

    Another reason to hopefully successfully introduce new grass is to use less concentrate :)

    My own belief at the moment is a two wheel tractor with power harrow will be brought in for a week. But, I have the harrow now, can spray off when conditions allow, so I will push on with that plan and if it fails I am one step closer to success :D

    Or the correct quote which I just looked up:

    “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
    ― Thomas Edison


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,326 ✭✭✭Farmer Pudsey


    Too true Con the man who never made a mistake never did nothing. If for every 2-3 mistakes you get one thing right you are still ahead.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,580 ✭✭✭Mad4simmental


    Better to regret the things you done than the things you never done. Chip away


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭monseiur


    From your photos I would guess that you are trying to farm on what is reclaimed land. Before the great famine with the population over 8 million and rising, with large families on small holdings some members of these families had to move out, and to survive, reclaimed pockets of commonage land on the sides of mountains etc. used the stone that they cleared to build wall around the gardens/fields etc.
    After the famine with no one left to till this land, the majority of this land returned to it's natural state - nature took over.
    Some plots, like yours, continued to be worked the traditional way by basic had tools, spade, scyth, sickle, etc. The fields were drained over winter, stone wall topped etc. ready for potatoes, oats, & hay the following season - crop rotation was standard practice. It was basic subsistence hand to mouth existence.
    Gradually in the last century when farming methods throughout the rest of the country became more mechanised and the horse was made redundant those unfortunate to be farming on plots of land like yours were still tilling the land with the same hand tools as their fore fathers three or four hundred years before and for a reason
    So you have a choice, continue to farm as generations before you with the spade, scyth etc. or consider selling up and buy land suitable for the farming methods of the 21st. century.

    M


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    monseiur wrote: »
    From your photos I would guess that you are trying to farm on what is reclaimed land. Before the great famine with the population over 8 million and rising, with large families on small holdings some members of these families had to move out, and to survive, reclaimed pockets of commonage land on the sides of mountains etc. used the stone that they cleared to build wall around the gardens/fields etc.
    After the famine with no one left to till this land, the majority of this land returned to it's natural state - nature took over.
    Some plots, like yours, continued to be worked the traditional way by basic had tools, spade, scyth, sickle, etc. The fields were drained over winter, stone wall topped etc. ready for potatoes, oats, & hay the following season - crop rotation was standard practice. It was basic subsistence hand to mouth existence.
    Gradually in the last century when farming methods throughout the rest of the country became more mechanised and the horse was made redundant those unfortunate to be farming on plots of land like yours were still tilling the land with the same hand tools as their fore fathers three or four hundred years before and for a reason
    So you have a choice, continue to farm as generations before you with the spade, scyth etc. or consider selling up and buy land suitable for the farming methods of the 21st. century.

    M

    Sure, most land will return to scrub if it isn't farmed. When I was up in Meath I saw plenty of it. I have seen dairy farms operate on reclaimed bog in North Kerry near Listowel. I'd say there's plenty of farms in the midlands reclaimed bog. Bad land often makes better farmers.

    There are a lot of 21st century implements that could work my land, but this particular country operates on the impression that anything that isn't a 100hp 4wd tractor isn't worth thinking about. So, the particular implements aren't readily available to me in this country. Unless I pay about $1,000 for transatlantic shipping, plus the price of the implements themselves.

    It would be a quiet and empty rural Ireland if everyone was to give up due to adverse land conditions.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Con

    If you still want to give pigs a try I would suggest fencing a small area
    and giving couple of hardy pig x breeds a try. I have done this in the past in an area that was heavily overgrown with briars, rock etc etc and it worked well. I was able to 'borrow' young pigs from a neighbour and had them over the summer. They successfully brought back an otherwise uncultivated area which I then levelled and harrowed and reseeded. Haven't look back since.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,718 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    monseiur wrote: »
    From your photos I would guess that you are trying to farm on what is reclaimed land. Before the great famine with the population over 8 million and rising, with large families on small holdings some members of these families had to move out, and to survive, reclaimed pockets of commonage land on the sides of mountains etc. used the stone that they cleared to build wall around the gardens/fields etc.
    After the famine with no one left to till this land, the majority of this land returned to it's natural state - nature took over.
    Some plots, like yours, continued to be worked the traditional way by basic had tools, spade, scyth, sickle, etc. The fields were drained over winter, stone wall topped etc. ready for potatoes, oats, & hay the following season - crop rotation was standard practice. It was basic subsistence hand to mouth existence.
    Gradually in the last century when farming methods throughout the rest of the country became more mechanised and the horse was made redundant those unfortunate to be farming on plots of land like yours were still tilling the land with the same hand tools as their fore fathers three or four hundred years before and for a reason
    So you have a choice, continue to farm as generations before you with the spade, scyth etc. or consider selling up and buy land suitable for the farming methods of the 21st. century.

    M

    I don't think Con nor anyone else here needs a history lesson on the Famine and general farming practices of our ancestors.

    The post above reeks of lads flying round on large JD's with two or three flashing beakons laughing at any lad with less than 150HP and a stack of shiny machinery from the bank when most wouldn't have hands to wipe their arsess.

    There's no shame in working on a small scale or trying things a little different. Lads seem to have forgotten that there was a lot of silage made with modest outfits and great stock reared before a 4WD tractor was heard of.

    The ignorance of telling a man to either use a scythe and spade or sell his land !!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    gozunda wrote: »
    Con

    If you still want to give pigs a try I would suggest fencing a small area
    and giving couple of hardy pig x breeds a try. I have done this in the past in an area that was heavily overgrown with briars, rock etc etc and it worked well. I was able to 'borrow' young pigs from a neighbour and had them over the summer. They successfully brought back an otherwise uncultivated area which I then levelled and harrowed and reseeded. Haven't look back since.

    I reckon I won't try them now at this stage. They'll take too long and probably work out expensive. Though the results I've seen do look good :) Maybe in one of the really difficult areas, but in those I'd be wary of land slip with lack of vegetation.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,537 ✭✭✭J.O. Farmer


    _Brian wrote: »
    I don't think Con nor anyone else here needs a history lesson on the Famine and general farming practices of our ancestors.

    The post above reeks of lads flying round on large JD's with two or three flashing beakons laughing at any lad with less than 150HP and a stack of shiny machinery from the bank when most wouldn't have hands to wipe their arsess.

    There's no shame in working on a small scale or trying things a little different. Lads seem to have forgotten that there was a lot of silage made with modest outfits and great stock reared before a 4WD tractor was heard of.

    The ignorance of telling a man to either use a scythe and spade or sell his land !!


    I'll say one thing for Con and that is that the man is a tryer with a great respect for his land. He doesn't cry about how tough he has it but tries new things and seeks advice on ideas. He's probably the best farmer on here in that sense. I fully agree that telling him to use a scythe and spade or sell his land is ignorance.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 114 ✭✭Sunhill


    Con
    Those photos you took could hardly be bettered for clarity, composition, depth and lighting. The resolution you uploaded them at is also pretty well ideal. I know nothing about pigs or reseeding but you could follow a nice sideline with your camera.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Sunhill wrote: »
    Con
    Those photos you took could hardly be bettered for clarity, composition, depth and lighting. The resolution you uploaded them at is also pretty well ideal. I know nothing about pigs or reseeding but you could follow a nice sideline with your camera.

    Thank you :) I would like to learn to use my camera a little better, something I will have to both find the time for, and develop the patience to do properly :o The photography forum on here has some spectacular images.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,326 ✭✭✭Farmer Pudsey


    How are you getting on at the reseeding Con.


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