This paper examines the threat feral hogs pose to Georgia farmers, written from the first-person perspective of a pecan farmer dealing directly with the problem. The author traces the historical origins of wild pigs in North America, describes the extensive agricultural and ecological damage they cause, and explains practical control methods including corral trapping and the state's Hunters Helping Farmers program. The paper also addresses the public health risks of diseases such as brucellosis that wild hogs carry, and concludes that community cooperation and creative resource management are the most realistic paths to minimizing — though not eliminating — the damage caused by this invasive species.
When people usually think of wild hogs, they might think, "Mmm, that sounds tasty!" Indeed they are. People like me who are dealing with the problem of feral hogs on our property wish we could round them all up and fix a feast for all our friends and family. It is not that easy, though. We are pecan farmers who happen to be dealing with a pig problem, not pig farmers who happen to have a pecan problem. Setting up traps for the hogs and actually going through the hard work of slaughtering them takes up a lot of time we could be using to keep the farm in order.
The wild hogs present several problems to the local farmer, not least of which is tearing up our profits by tearing up our land. They literally tear through it, using their snouts to root through the ground around the trees. In addition to eating the pecans that have fallen and any new trees we have planted, they also threaten the safety of our farm with the diseases they spread. I would like to know where these hogs come from, as well as what local farmers can do together to minimize the damage they cause to our crops and community.
Wild pigs are not endemic to the United States. The animals were brought over from Spain in the 16th century (University of Georgia). Since then, the species has proliferated, and they can now be considered an invasive species. Any local farmer would agree that the wild hogs are literally invasive; they run through and around our property and do tremendous amounts of damage. The resulting damage is both ugly to look at and costly because the hogs eat our cash crops.
The animals will eat almost anything in sight when they invade. Trussell has it right when he calls them "eating machines." It would be convenient if they only ate weeds and cut our grass for us, but of course they eat our pecans and rummage through our vegetable gardens and flowerbeds. It is not just my family's farm they damage. Every single one of my neighbors has had a problem with wild pigs. We all have stories to share, and in retrospect many of them are funny, but a lot of the time we commiserate over our lost profits and the work of rebuilding damaged areas of our land.
Wild hogs know how to propagate their own species and protect each other by remaining in groups, screaming at high pitches when they feel threatened. These pigs have survived as long as they have in the wild for a reason: they are survivalists. Here they are in the southern United States, a continent away from where they came from, yet they continue to wreak havoc. Their territorial behaviors and their success at invading land and eating everything in sight is why it seems almost impossible to get rid of them.
According to the University of Georgia, "complete eradication of the wild pig in Georgia is improbable. The best that we can hope for is population reduction and control of this species." We have come to accept this fact, which is why farmers like me have been working hard to do our part to at least minimize the damage — by trapping as many hogs as we can and putting up barriers so that they cannot penetrate the most valuable areas of our land.
Georgia has a program partnering farmers with hunters to enhance our ability to control wild hog populations. The program is known as Hunters Helping Farmers (Fabian). I have not personally used this program yet, but my family and I have taken matters into our own hands. We set traps known as corral traps, which are loaded with bait. As Lewis, Berg, and Cathey et al. state, trapping is "a process, not an event." This means we cannot simply set up a trap and wake up the next morning to find a hog. The process is far more complicated than that, as we have learned the hard way over the years.
Of course, wild hogs have been a problem for generations, so there is a great deal of local knowledge shared by our parents and grandparents. Interestingly, much of what they did is no different from what we do now. We use traps we build ourselves, using regular mesh and panels available at any farm supply store. The bait we use is simple — corn soaked in sugar. It seems to work well, and if we unfortunately trap another animal like a deer, the trap is designed so that the deer can get out but the hog cannot.
We have a large property, so it has been easy to set up large traps, which happen to be the most effective for capturing large numbers at once (Lewis, Berg, and Cathey et al.). Because our property is large and we do see large numbers of hogs, we have found that corral traps are the best way to ensure we capture as many as possible. Learn more about wild boar biology and behavior to understand why large-scale trapping strategies are necessary.
"Butchering practices and brucellosis precautions"
"Harms to livestock, wildlife, and groundwater"
Wild hogs are truly an invasive species. They do damage to our ecosystems, to our farms, and to our health because they spread disease. Farmers like me who depend on our land for subsistence need to find creative but workable methods of culling their populations and minimizing the damage they cause. Trapping and killing the hogs is a challenging endeavor, but when we work together as a community, we are successful.
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