Thursday, August 11, 2016

Bring in the Hogs!

by Pa Rock
Farmer in Summer

There is a pond on my place.  It holds some water, but not much.  When the pond is full, as it has been on just a couple of occasions since I have lived here, it is a beautiful small lake - but most of the water is gone within a day of the rains ending.  My little pond needs to be sealed.

There are a couple of ways of sealing a pond.  One is to bring in the bulldozers, smooth everything out, and hope for the best.   I pursued that approach by inviting a fellow who owns some heavy equipment over to assess the pond situation.  He was  almost too honest, saying that the pond had been dozed before, and that he would be happy to do it again, but that he seriously doubted that he could seal it.

Another method of sealing a pond involves the use of bentonite, a dry chemical substance  that comes in large bags and is poured along the surface to be sealed.  I have used bentonite at another location, and while it works to an extent, it is expensive.  I have also heard that the substance will eventually wash to the lowest spot in the pond where it will coagulate and need to be cleaned out.

The third method is a more common practice and more environmentally friendly - and it is the one suggested by the honest dozer operator - bring in the hogs.   Hogs eat, crap, sleep, and wallow.   On hot summer days they particularly like to wallow in cool mud.  This past week my son set the first post in what will eventually become a fence surrounding the entire area where I want my expanded pond to stretch.  If we can get the temporary fence completed by early spring, I will bring in a couple of young pigs and let them eat, crap, sleep, and wallow to their heart's content.

If the pigs do their job a large, nice pond should begin taking shape.  Then the fence will come down and we can bring in the geese!

Things are happening at Rock's Roost!

1 comment:

Xobekim said...

With any luck the pigs will have the job done by Ash Wednesday and Pa Rock can serve ham for Easter! I like the plan.