Feral hog control topic at CPYRWMA meet

Feral hog damage includes over $44 million a year in agricultural damage in Alabama.

“Hogs can easily decimate large portions and sometimes entire crop fields,” Ashley Henderson told those attending the Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow River Management Authority Board meeting March 2 in Ozark.

Henderson is the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation’s director of conservation. She was at the CPYRWMA meeting to outline the state’s feral swine control program.

CPYRWMA’s mission is to develop and implement programs related to water conservation; water use; flood prevention and control; water pollution control; wildlife habitat protection; agricultural and timberland protection; and erosion prevention and control, according to the agency’s executive director Lisa Harris.

The watershed management authority is governed by a 16-member all volunteer board of directors representing the counties within the watershed boundaries. The directors are appointed by the Soil and Water Conservation District’s Boards of Supervisors and serve four-year terms. All or a portion of the watersheds lie in Barbour, Bullock, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston and Pike Counties.

Steve Stevens and Don Hallford represent Dale County and Adam Beasley and Josh Carnley represent Coffee County on the CPYRWMA board.

The Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee and the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resource Conservation Service/ Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have Farm Bill funds to help property owners control feral wine, Henderson said. “We got a lot of people together because we knew the National Resource Conservation Service was going to have some funding through the Farm Bill for states with high populations of feral swine.”

Henderson said that several organizations partnered with the state Soil and Water Conservation Agency in hopes that Alabama would be selected for funding of the pilot program. The grant application partners included Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, USDA Wildlife Services, Alabama Agriculture and Conservation Development Commission, Alabama Association of Conservation Districts, Alabama Cooperation Extension System, Auburn University, Alabama Farmers Association, Alabama Wildlife Federation, Alabama Cattlemen’s Association and the University of West Alabama.

Alabama was selected, Henderson said. The Farm Bill funds for feral swine traps purchased as part of the Alabama Feral Swine Control Program are available in the Blackbelt area in west Alabama, the Gulf Coast area and the Wiregrass, Henderson said. Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry and Houston Counties are included in the eligible areas.

Under the program there is a 70 percent hog trap rebate available and Henderson said that Henderson said that the ASWC has already begun funding for feral swine traps in those eligible areas. “If you are a landowner in those counties, you can go to your local soil and water conservation district to apply for that trap.”

There is a $6,000 cap for landowners with more than 100 but less than 1,000 acres and a $12,000 cap for landowners with more than 1,000 acres. An online technical training session is required as part of the program.

“No crop is safe from a feral swine’s appetite at any stage of growth,” Henderson said. “They root newly planted seeds from the soil and strip tender sprouts. Hogs trample mature crop growth and other varieties of crops such as hay and newly sprouted pine trees.

“Damage includes tree damage caused by intense rubbing of bark layers making pine and hardwood trees susceptible to harmful insects and pathogens,” Henderson said. “Pine plantation and hardwood forest destruction is caused by direct consumption, rooting and trampling. Popular game species such as turkey, deer and quail sometimes suffer predation of their eggs and young.

“Depending on the severity of the damage done, replanting the entire field is often required. Feral swine rooting behaviors cause deep ruts in fields that can damage farm equipment. Livestock farmers aren’t exempt from the damages caused by feral hogs. Additionally, swine can carry up to 45 different diseases and parasites that they can easily transmit to livestock, ultimately impacting production.”

Those interested in more information about the Alabama Feral Swine Control Program should call the Wiregrass Feral Swine Coordinator at (334) 832-0120. “That gets you connected to the feral swine program that is right for you,” Henderson said. In Coffee County, the soil and water conservation district can be contacted at (334) 894-5581. In Dale County, the soil and water conservation district can be contacted at (334) 774-4749.