permaculture

[Robyn Francis <robyn@permaculture.com.au>]

You can check out the photos on the original article I posted a link to -
there are pics of both a mobile pen and a permanent pig tractor garden and
useful information about the process and pro's and cons of the mobile unit.
Here's the link again -
http://permaculture.com.au/online/articles/piggies-at-work-%E2%80%93-feature
-article-photo-journal
Robyn

On 19/10/11 1:45 AM, "DGilsen@aol.com" <DGilsen@aol.com> wrote:

> So a pig tractor is just a movable enclosure????  What does it look  like?
>  
>  
> In a message dated 10/18/2011 6:35:46 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
> cory8570@yahoo.com writes:
> 
> Wow,  sounds complicated! The pig at our Pine Ridge project kept breaking
> out of her  pen because there was zero stimulation for her back there. So we
> made a pig  tractor out of a temporary corral (forged steel panels linked
> together, no way  for her to break out of that), and moved her from spot to
> spot where she could  dig and root and be near the horses and people, etc.
> Ideally, the design would  incorporate a place where the pigs could free 
> range
> (a la Sepp Holzer), but  that takes some good barriers if you have a kitchen
> garden you want to keep  around, etc.
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From:  "DGilsen@aol.com" <DGilsen@aol.com>
> To:  permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 4:11  PM
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] PIGS AT WORK
> 
> Can you tell me what  exactly is a  pig tractor?  Is it just a  pen, or is
> it a  contraption?  I heard of a contraption that looked like a  large
> hamster 
> wheel a tin can on its side that had the bars welded about  one  foot apart
> on the sides. The pigs rooted through the bars on the  ground and as  they
> leaned on the bars of the "hamster wheel" to get  to other goodies the
> wheel  
> would roll to greener pastures and the  pigs learned to corroperate to go
> in a 
> desired direction.  the pigs  entered in the end of the "wheel. The thing
> was about six or seven  feet tall I believe.  This was made out of steel
> wagon type  wheels on the ends with the bars welded from one end of the
> wheel to 
> the  other.  one end had a door for the critters to enter and  exit.
> 
> 
> In a message dated 10/11/2011 7:49:51 P.M. US Mountain  Standard Time,
> rollens@fidnet.com writes:
> 
> Just be   cautious because when the cute little darling gets physically
> mature and  comes  in heat, she may tear the pen completely apart, electric
> wire  
> and all, and goo  visiting, or worse, on a feeding binge!  Guess  how I
> know???
> 
> Lisa
> 
> 
> On Oct 10, 2011, at 11:57 PM,  Cory Brennan  wrote:
> 
>> We set up a pig tractor this summer at  Pine Ridge  reservation, and it
> worked great. The pig ate all the  weeds except vervain,  tilled the soil,
> and 
> replanted squash seeds  and curly dock for us - when we  noticed that, we
> started feeding her  stuff we wanted planted and that worked  pretty good
> too. 
> We planted  cover crops where she dug, and that worked good  too, tho it
> started  getting too hot and dry, and with no irrigation, the  pioneers we
> didn't  
> want (like goathead) were coming back in so we moved her  back to a
> permanent pen. But I would do that again in an instant to clear a   field
> rather than 
> manually doing it. She worked really fast too - in only  a  few days, her
> pen area would be cleared. We were using her to  clear a fairly  large
> space 
> for a food forest, but only got a small  portion of it done. What I  will
> do 
> next spring if we still have  access to her is put some composted  manure
> and 
> straw in the pen, let  her dig that in while she eats the weeds  (she
>> doesn't leave  enough manure herself in the few days it takes her  to eat
> stuff,  though there is some), then plant cover crop and nitro fixers as
> soon as we move her. It would be a relatively labor free way of turning
> the  
> compacted clay pioneer soil into food forest material...
>>  
>> Cory  
>> 
>> 
>>   ________________________________
> 
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-- 
Permaculture College Australia inc
Pathways to sustainability through
Accredited Permaculture Training
Certificates III & IV and Diploma of Permaculture
PDC and short courses

Robyn Francis 
International permaculture design and
sustainability consultant, educator & facilitator

Djanbung Gardens 
Permaculture Education Centre & Demonstration Farm
PO Box 379 Nimbin NSW 2480
02-6689 1755  /  0429 147 138
www.permaculture.com.au