Pig wallow expansion efforts.....theirs, not ours.

Generations of pigs have used this wallow near the driveway.  It started out as a modest dip where rain water collected, but over time and across many rooting hours, they have excavated the boundary more into the driveway towards the right side of the photo.  The partnering photo shows a yellow line which we would like to make the new boundary.....but built out of what?  I was thinking a decent load of field stone as a quasi retaining wall....and heavy enough to deter continued outward rooting.  The fieldstone 'wall' would follow the yellow line; backfill purchased from the county comprised of the same composite used for local county road would serve to reclaim the driveable portion of the driveway.  We would have to keep an eye on all of this to ensure the pigs don't try to regain real estate near the driveway in attempts to create a new wallow.  Thoughts?  Would a field stone retaining wall provide enough hold-back for county road gravel mix?  We hope to start on this following the spring thaw. Thanks....

what material do you have that you will not need to purchase>

I think a brush pile would be good. Brush dam aka brush pile?

I think a brush pile might disintegrate from being in the water....the water table is very high here so even when it's been dry for some time, that wallow retains water.  Yes, we do have a fair amount of field stone already on the property that I could use.  But you bring up a good point regarding items already here and I forgot that we have a fair amount of busted up concrete from an old barn foundation.  I'm wondering about field stone being the outside edge (yellow line) and the the bottom being filled with old concrete chunks, which itself would then be covered by the road gravel.  That way we wouldn't need to purchase so much gravel to fill the hole that will need to be packed down to support car and truck traffic.  Thanks!

Maybe use the stone/concrete chunks where the yellow line is and lots of leaves and brush on the outer edge.

That way the leaves and brush would decompose turning that area back into land, eventually.  Even wood chips if those are available.

Hi John;
I have been raising and containing piggies for many years.
To fix their excavation job you need to start with one of your own.

On the imaginary yellow line, you would want to excavate a trench apx a foot down.
Place used metal roofing (often free) horizontally in the trench and backfill, half of the roofing will be exposed.
Next, I suggest using gabion baskets filled with rock behind the metal roofing.

This gives you a subterranean wall that when they go to "accidentally" root under, they hit solid dirt (nothing to eat) this is backed by the very heavy large gabions.
The gabions will retain your driveway even if you are moving heavy equipment on the road.
Your pigs will now... excavate in a different direction away from the road.

The smaller pigs (Pot-bellied, Kune-Kune, Guinea, etc.) are not much of a problem, but it's the larger ones that have some serious rooting force.  They don't seem to be looking for food so much in the wallow as trying to excavate new 'mud' in which to coat themselves.  That, and ...... well ..... pigs just seem so adept at finding the very thing you *don't* want them to do and then doing it with great interest and determination! :-/  We do have both livestock panel pieces in excess (for a gabion wall) and metal roofing pieces from when our quonset was crushed by snow-load a few years back, so this combination of rock/mesh/steel roofing may be the way to go.  We would need the roofing as the last layer facing the pigs since I could just imagine one flopping in the wallow and getting a tusk caught in the mesh panel if it were accessible....have had that happen more than enough times already!   Additionally, I would need to place some sort of protector along the edge of the roofing since I know how that could cut through even pig hide if an accident were to occur.  I like the idea that this combination, once embedded within the mud already present, would provide a quite sturdy wall and roadway over time to allow for larger than average vehicle traffic to access that roadway near the barn.  Thanks Anne and Thomas!

thomas rubino wrote: Next, I suggest using gabion baskets filled with rock behind the metal roofing.

I was just going to ask if his region might have used chain-link fencing cheap or free to do essentially what you're suggesting with the gabions, but home-made fake it ones.

No pigs myself, but I'm amazed how much dirt a determined chicken can move, and pigs are a lot bigger and heavier and possible more determined!

Jay Angler wrote:......pigs are a lot bigger and heavier and possible more determined!

In addition to the weight and strength, pigs clearly are treat-motivated and obedience-challenged. lol....

With the size of the rock available, the livestock panels should be able to hold them back nicely.  If I can get the backhoe in there before the wallow fills again the depth for burying the embedded part of the fence should go pretty smoothly.  The heavy clay here when saturated otherwise will be a headache.  Fingers crossed!...