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How to Till Soil With Pigs  
HOW TO 

Tags: Till Soil, Pigs, Soil, Better Gardening, Better Landscaping

Most modern agricultural techniques require heavy tilling of the soil and dangerous chemical fertilizers. This method is expensive, leads to soil erosion, and is dangerous to the farmers, the consumer and the environment. Using swine to till and fertilize soil is a longstanding method that produces excellent planting beds and happy pigs!

1.	Select an area to make a garden. You will want to look for a level area most likely covered with grass or a previously grown crop. Two pot bellied pigs can till up a 10ft x 10ft pasture area in the summer in approximately a month.
2.	Get a pig house. You will want to have a place for the pigs to seek shelter from storms and get shade on sunny days. The house can be bottomless to allow the pigs to make a nest in the dirt below it. The house should also be light enough that you will be able to move it.
3.	Set up a fence around the soon-to-be garden. If using a permanent fence, make sure that the fence is very sturdy - pigs are strong. Cattle panels work well if they're well anchored. Pigs can push down or root under many fences. If you are planning on moving the pigs to make your garden bigger (or if you want to make sure you have a fence the pigs cannot get out of) you may want to set up an electric fence. Several strands of polytape or strong tape suspended approximately one foot off the ground can contain pigs, once they are trained to the fence.
4.	Find at least two pigs. Pigs are very social animals and like to live with at least one other pig. A pig's size depends on its breed and can range from a 150 pound pot bellied pig to a 700 pound Hampshire boar. If you do not have any experience with large livestock, your best choice is probably a smaller breed.
5.	Put your pigs in the soon-to-be garden. Make sure the pigs have access to water via a large water bowl or trough.
6.	Wait. Pigs love nothing more than rooting around in the soil, eating grass, roots, bugs and any other delicious treats they may find. While exhibiting this natural behavior, they unearth anything that is growing and leave behind tilled soil that is full of organic material and the pigs' own natural "fertilizer."
7.	Move the pigs. Once the area is turned over and most of the previous ground cover has been eaten, you have two choices: Move the fence with the pigs in it and the pig house about half way, giving the pigs a new area to till up and leaving you with the first half tilled and ready to begin planting. Or, move the pigs completely into a new area.
8.	Prepare the bed. You will probably need to even out the new bed as the pigs will have areas dug out, especially where the pig house used to be. This should also move around the "fertilizer" and get the garden ready for planting. Any other preparation (making raised beds, mulching, etc.) is up to you
9.	Plant. You will want to plant as soon as possible to give your seeds or transplants a head start against the weeds which you pigs chewed down.
10.	Reward your pigs with some fresh vegtables harvested from your new garden.

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Source: WikiHow – All text in this list shared under a Creative Commons License

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