[SafeHaven]

We have three Berkshire pigs, approx. 5 months old, in a large outdoor enclosure.  But the rain is unrelenting and the ground is beyond muddy... it's fairly well draining soil and will improve when there are decent periods without rain.  But the rain this year is unrelenting, resulting in slurry like mud, standing water, deep pits full of water... it's horrendous.  And can't be good for the pigs.  Is there anything I can put down to soak up some of the water and stop it being so squelchy and wet?  Straw?  Hemp bedding?  I can't spend a fortune, but will happily buy what I need to help the pigs have a better environment.  The area they are on is a long stretch of vegetable garden, so paving is not an option - they would just dig it all out anyway.  Whatever I put down needs to leave the soil suitable for planting this summer.

Bringing them indoors isn't an option.  Any suggestions?

[SallyintNorth]

Most of us have been there    Free range pigs sounds wonderful until you realise that outdoor pigs on wet cold mud up to their bellies are not happy pigs.  And indeed, the welfare codes disallow it; there is provision in all the free range regs, including organic standards, for pigs to be housed indoors on straw when such conditions prevail.

But as I said, most of us have to learn this the way you are!  So after the winter, think about whether you will have pigs over winter again, and if so, make other arrangements.

For this year, the first thing is to make sure their beds are dry.  Don't assume, get your hands onto the straw and feel it.  Straw bedding gets soaked, and stays wet and cold, very quickly in these conditions.  With just two adult pigs in similar conditions, I was putting three or four slices of straw (from a small bale) into the ark every day.  My routine was to, each day, fork out the wet, cold stuff from the entrance and use it to build up a mat outside the entrance, which gradually became sufficient to help dry off their legs and bellies as they went back to the ark.  Then throw in the fresh slices for them to use as they wished.  They'd build a windbreak wall inside the entrance and make their bed behind that.

If I had a reshy bale of hay or any other similar waste, I'd add that to the apron too. 

My two quickly realised what I was doing, and its benefits, and took over putting out the wet straw onto the apron

When they are wet and cold they won't spend much time rootling as long as they have plenty to eat.  So feed them well, add a little warm water to their drinking water if it's frosty, and as long as their beds are warm and dry they will probably spend most of their time in there, apart from when they are eating. 

If the mud is higher than their knees, and definitely if it's up to their bellies, you would really prefer that they don't have to spend a lot of time in it.  So feed them as near to the ark as is practical, and maybe make another straw-y apron where you feed them and put a thick, heavy rubber stable mat on top of that, under their troughs, so they can stand on dry rubber to eat.  Yes they would rootle all that away in no time if they felt so inclined, but they won't want to be out in the wet cold mud up to their bellies longer than they have to, so if they are given plenty to eat (and the food doesn't get into the mud or straw), they will probably not rootle at all.

You may find they start to poo and pee nearer to the ark, or if the ark is very large, even in the ark.  If they mess in the ark, that's telling you they are very, very uncomfortable outside.  Help them stay clean by making another straw-y path to their toilet area.

I expect you could use bark chips or anything of that type along with straw and waste hay etc to make a few drier areas.  Personally I would not do more than the ark entrance, and if necessary, routes to and from toilet, feed area and drinking area, and under a mat in the feeding area.

[SallyintNorth]

Another approach I've seen, which may work in your spot, is to suspend a tarp above as much of the area as possible to reduce the amount of water falling on the ground.  It's surprisingly effective. Of course, if the spot is exposed and windswept, it may not be practical, but if it's sheltered and there are suitable trees to secure the tarp to, it can be a big help.

[SafeHaven]

Thank you... that is just the advice I was looking for.    I did throw waste hay/straw from where we swept out the hay barn a couple weeks ago, and they had a ball snouting through it, but that is long gone now.

Last year I got my weaners in January, and they did OK but the area they were in was a bit rockier... well, shale more than rocks, we have a lot of it here. 

This lot I got in November and they are on the vegetable beds, so the soil has been worked a lot more, and softer... which probably isn't helping at all!! 

[SallyintNorth]

Newly weaned pigs weigh very little, and get heavier by the week!  The more they weigh, the more they sink through the mud...  So getting them in late winter sounds like the better plan for another year, and getting them away before the winter wets.

We have similar issues here, and now get our weaners in early March.  Porkers off Sept if required, remainder as baconers Oct, all fits in well

[Maysie]

Our two sows have an acre of woodland and they have trashed the lot, some areas (most) are as you describe, so it is not just you, it really has been a very wet winter this year. 
Lesson learnt, we will split the area and rest/rotate next winter so that each has an opportunity to recover a bit. 

Great tips from SitN. 

[westcoastcroft]

Others have dealt with the pig well being -  but what about your veg beds? I would get them moved asap to protect the soil structure and biology.

I had pigs through winter a few years ago - the ground is still recovering and doesn't drain as well as it used to Not only do they destroy the existing capacity of the land to drain but they also destroy all the biology in the soil that creates permeability, decent soil structure, fertility and health. I had them on a bit of rough pasture and seeing the effects on that would never let pigs any where near a garden in winter. TBH with all the science and understanding of soil health that is being built up  my feeling would be that although 'disturbance' can be very useful in a larger setting (i.e. woodland or rewilding) in a garden the damage they are going to do to the structure, health and carbon of the soil is going to massively outweigh any benefits you ight get though a bit of weeding etc.

Do you have an area of hard standing you could put the ark on and just use some elctric wire to fence them in - sounds like they might be happier on the dry hard standing even if it does prevent rooteling.

good luck

[dw123]

Likelihood is, with pigs on the soil as well as a lot of water there's probably a pan starting to form, you can google this but when our enclosures get like this we take the pigs off of it, take a metal stake and drive it into the ground as far as possible and pull it backwards and forwards a few times, it creates a rut and the excess water will run off it over a few days.
Do this lots of times and the water will drain into the soil further down- obviously as other people have said as long as they can get in on nice dry straw the pigs will be ok! if you can get hold of any woodchip that thickens it up a bit so they aren't quite so up to their tummies!- good luck!
 

[Hogwarts]

We've been lucky with dry weather the last two winters and so this one is making up for it, I too am hoping the rain relents soon as well.

We used to get big round  linseed bales from a local farm in previous years and we found that if rolled out on wet ground made a brilliant dry path that stays dry even on wet muddy ground. So if you can get hold of a few big round linseed bales from your local area and roll them out in the high traffic areas of your pigs I think that could help. Indeed I may do the same for my pig paddock if the rain doesn't let up.