My Progress Gleying a Pond With Pigs

Michael Newby wrote:

Victor Johanson wrote:I'd love to see others do more start-to-finish documentation of creating a pond with pigs, it's funny how many people can't wrap their head around it when I try to explain what I've been doing.

People's minds don't invest for projects they don't really care about. The more people are actually interested, like the folks who read this thread, the more their thought processes will deepen.

I too have enjoyed this thread and I'm only at the end of page 1.

Michael Cox wrote:Our glueing project. Pigs have been in for a month, and it is starting to show signs of working. Held water for 3 days since last rain. We have no surface flows here, as we are on chalk, so this is a very promising start.

Julia Winter wrote:Yes, my scientific background messes me up with this:  what does "Type 1 error" mean in terms of permaculture?

(Ooops, sorry to sidetrack.  I think this pond project is awesome.  Thanks so much for posting the photos!  I can see it in the future surrounded by trees and loveliness, all from the hard work of some pigs (and people). . .

Jay Angler wrote:Hi Michael,

Are you around to post an update? I'd love to know how it looks after two years. I really need to make some pocket ponds on parts of our property. Even if they don't hold water all year, if they help to slow storm run-off, it will be worth it.

Has anyone had experience of using geese or Muscovy to get the same effect?  Would their splashing make the pond too aerobic? Ours certainly seem capable of introducing small fine particles to a bucket of water!!

Thanks

Andrea Locke wrote:Jay, did you ever try this with the geese? We are definitely going to give it a go here. We need some ponds and I was wondering how we were going to seal them on the loamy sand without buying a lot of clay.
And you are right, we have six geese and I have never met critters who could make such a mucky mess in a bucket or wading pool!

Joe Hallmark wrote:crawfish burrow down about 6inches or so. as far as them causing a leaking pond its pretty unlikely as they burrow pretty much right off the bank. i guess if this is a very small pond and only had a thin layer of clay over sand or something its possible because they will continue to move their burrows as water line drops. i dont see how they could possibly aid in sealing one though.

i do know cows work. the guy who built my fence had a pond that wouldnt hold and he put his hay ring in the dry pond for about a year and it sealed up. he was starting in an area that had some clay though so it was not totally built up by the cows. my brother is about to try this method but i wont have anything to report for at least a year

id be interested to hear the thought process on how crawfish could work though for sure

also he had a fairly large herd so i would imagine it taking alot longer using that method unless you were to build a temporary fence around the area to keep them in it all the time using just a few animals.

im no expert in this so just my opinion. i was lucky enough to have clay when i built my pond.

Laurel said, "We have basically 100% clay soil so I'm frankly astounded that it leaks at all,