The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: justoffthecroft on November 16, 2020, 04:44:50 pm
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Hi there folks, hope you are well out there, my firs here after years as frequent visitor. I have just taken up a croft 10 Acres about half of which is peat bog. I wondered if anyone out there is keeping pigs to any extent on a peat bog or very soft ground and if so how do you use it? I am trying to figure out wether I should be counting on these boggy areas to be able to pigs for a wee weeks or even a few months before I would need to rest the ground? Any knowledge or advice on this front would be great, many thanks!
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Hi
We are on Skye as well and keep a few pigs but not on peat bogs. Whereabouts are you?
I'd guess it depends really on what you mean by peat bog. A fair portion of our common grazing is bog and the cows wont go near it if its really wet/deep, they get their heads down and sniff it well before deciding if its safe. Obviously pigs are smaller but they may still have the same problems on peat bog as cows but without the sense to sniff/test before running on to it.
Maybe in summer it will be ok but seems to me that anytime its wet you are going to have a huge mess on your hands if you leave them on for more than a few days at a time. I'd give it a try and see but be really mindful of the fact that if you destroy the structure and living layer it will take years to come back. Also if you are planing on taking subsidy (SAF/SFP, AECS etc) there are defiantly rules about what you can and can't do with peat bogs.
Cheers
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Please don't. Peat bog is a living ecosystem and sequesters more carbon than the same acreage of growing forest. Much of the mire across the north of England is protected by global legislation. I farmed 1,000 acres of such in Northumberland and I am pretty sure that pigs would be damaging to it. Once the mire is dead, environmental harm ensues, as not only does it not sequester its annual load of carbon but it starts to give off greenhouse gases as it decays.
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Please don't. Peat bog is a living ecosystem and sequesters more carbon than the same acreage of growing forest. Much of the mire across the north of England is protected by global legislation. I farmed 1,000 acres of such in Northumberland and I am pretty sure that pigs would be damaging to it. Once the mire is dead, environmental harm ensues, as not only does it not sequester its annual load of carbon but it starts to give off greenhouse gases as it decays.
Well managed grassland sequesters more carbon than growing forest!
Peat bog is on another level!
There are few well preserved peat bogs left in the world. Even sheep would damage it if managed incorrectly. Pigs would destroy it.
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As your byline says: 'Newbie with a wee croft to bring back to life', so that means the bog too. As the others have said, pigs will destroy a wonderful habitat, living ecosystem and carbon sink. I'm sure the pigs would hate it anyway, getting stuck right up to their bellies.
I love your title - pig on the bog. To generations of public school boys, that means a pig on the toilet :D
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2020/11/13/forestry-commission-fire-allowing-trees-planted-valuable-peatland/ (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2020/11/13/forestry-commission-fire-allowing-trees-planted-valuable-peatland/)
Sadly the forestry commission is still putting trees on peat bog :-(
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Agree with all the environmental points made above. From the pigs point of view you run the risk of them getting stuck, getting a good strong fence in will be pretty impossible and as they dig up the land will puddle and you'll have a nightmare feeding etc.