Have you ever rented out your pigs to clear land?

Just like the title says, have you ever rented out your pigs to clear someones land? I'm hoping there is an alternative to using a machine but I don't know if my request is actually feasible.

Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions!

Hi Sara;
Interesting Idea.
I have not rented my piggies out as rototillers.
Nor have I heard of this being done before.
I only have my pigs for 5-6 months and the plan is to fatten them up before visiting the butcher.
On raw land, this could be tough to accomplish.
Pigs are hard to contain, they need fresh water, and they need a safe place to sleep.

I know someone who started a successful small business renting out his goats to clear land. So it seems possible someone somewhere is doing it with pigs.

sarah cedar wrote:Just like the title says, have you ever rented out your pigs to clear someones land? I'm hoping there is an alternative to using a machine but I don't know if my request is actually feasible.

Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions!

I haven’t, but my pigs could probably whip a rototiller in a contest. Their rooting ability is amazing.

I don't think it would be a good idea. I had two American Guinea Hog female and one Pot Belly male. They are considered to be not rooting pigs but were so destructive. They were breaking fruit tree branches, breaking into small buildings, stealing food. I can imagine that long snout, rooting pigs would be difficult to control in a "rent-as-rototiller" setup. I'm kind of relieved that I don't have pigs any more.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:I don't think it would be a good idea. I had two American Guinea Hog female and one Pot Belly male. They are considered to be not rooting pigs but were so destructive. They were breaking fruit tree branches, breaking into small buildings, stealing food. I can imagine that long snout, rooting pigs would be difficult to control in a "rent-as-rototiller" setup. I'm kind of relieved that I don't have pigs any more.

Ahhh! I've never had pigs but this is such a good point I had never considered! I could see how this would quickly become a nightmare lol!!!

I think it's an idea with great potential, especially if you focus on getting rid of troublesome invasive plants. Pigs will even kill Japanese knotweed, if given enough time.

I have rented out my kunekune×potbellies to till my neighbors future garden plot. I just set up a solar energizer and 2 strand electric fence and they were on the job...did very well and the aggreement worked well.. even led to a buissiness deal where the owner loved what they did so much he offered to buy one of my piglets .. i think if your pigs highly respect electric you could do it... my pigs are the sweetest. They come when called, if they see me they will come, they respect the electric so much at this point that as i type this ive had no power going to the fence for almost over a month because of snow burrying the line and the pigs will still stop about a foot or 2 away from the fence..so they have been a great blessing... this post actually is making me want to offer my services more

I think it would cost you more to secure/limit them on the client's property than you would make in the "tilling services". Not only they are bulldozers, they are killdozers (did I just date myself remembering the incident?)

Also, if they're decently fed, they're picky - at least mine are. They'd eat all they like and then only dig up places where something interesting hides. 3/4 of my pasture is untouched most of the year - quackgrass is not so yummy.

I want pigs to make a pond on my land.  I may approach some people that have pigs and try to make a deal where a few pigs live on my land for a few months in the summer to work on my pond, and I'll feed them and care for them and then return them to the owner.  I wouldn't pay someone to rent their pigs, but I would get to use the pigs and the owner would get them fattened up to size at no cost.  I also have plenty of room so they would be healthy and happy and have good lives.  I see it as a win for everyone involved.

Rob Kalman wrote:I think it would cost you more to secure/limit them on the client's property than you would make in the "tilling services". Not only they are bulldozers, they are killdozers (did I just date myself remembering the incident?)

Also, if they're decently fed, they're picky - at least mine are. They'd eat all they like and then only dig up places where something interesting hides. 3/4 of my pasture is untouched most of the year - quackgrass is not so yummy.

I do remember that incident!

I was thinking of doing this on my land actually and paying someone for the use of their pigs to clear land. It was just an idea as an alternative to a machine. I do see now that it might not work very smoothly.

I don't think it's worthwhile.  Assuming you are raising pigs for market and you want to make money and you have other things to do besides work, by the time you load pigs into a trailer and take them somewhere, clear the land, load pigs back onto the trailer, take them somewhere else...I think you're wasting your time.

What makes sense is to put electric fence-trained weaners (that you can pick up, so there's no loading process) onto land someone wants to clear, and then use electric fence to rotate them through various parcels until it is all cleared or until you are ready to process them.  So raising weaners on someone else's land makes total sense to me (total moves = 1), but transporting them from place to place (many moves) does not.  

My version is what Polyface does, if that matters.