The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: treven1024 on March 24, 2018, 11:15:50 am
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My three pigs are in their last few weeks. Their large run has the thick, gloopy consistency of an American chocolate shake. It's a clay soil that will eventually bake solid (if the sun every comes back).
Has anyone experience of growing vegetables immediately after pigs and is it safe to do so? I'm considering growing potatoes, broad beans and and squashes but worried that potential disease /parasites might transfer as there is so much poo? Is this possible? Seems unlikely but I thought I should check.
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If the manure is fresh there is a high chance you will burn the roots of any plants
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I would leave it for a while to rot down where it is, then turn it in with a rotavator once it's drying, but before it sets like rock. You need to keep off clay soil while it's wet, or you compact it even more than the pigs have. Having pigs on clay ground causes an impenetrable hard pan at the depth of their feet, so that needs to be broken up before you can grow crops.
For possible contamination with fluke, worms and other parasites, pigs are very close to humans as I'm sure you know, so yes, I would say there is a chance of the veg having eggs on when harvested. I wouldn't risk it this year, unless you are absolutely certain that your animals are parasite free.
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You could grow a green manure crop then turn it into the soil to improve the consistency.