how can we dry up the land?

[spish]

the area our pigs live has continuously flooded this year and the water just will not drain away anymore....with winter fast approaching the pigs are gonna have their own ice rink if we cant get it dry quick. poor pigs have been wading up to their bellys for the past few weeks

(they're mini pigs)
they have a dry area inside which they seem to spend most of their time in lately (yeah who wants to made out in cold mud?)
we've tried pumping the water away but the pump is not low enough and not strong enough to get the thick muddyness out of there....so we're looking for other suggestions to try and dry the area up? would pouring sand over help or would that make it worse? we have access to sand or black soil...but im worried that will just make the mud worse.....and all in all it cant be good for the pigs feet!
moving the pigs is not an option at the moment, its the only 'secure' place we have for them right now.

 

[darkmatter]

How big is the area? Sand & gravel should help if you have access to a front loader and lots of sand available. Have you thought of stirring in cement to make "dirtcrete"? Can you bury and/or sink in some drainage lines? Do you have access to wood pellets that are used for wood stoves---they will help absorb and solidify mud for a temporary solution. Can you cut brush and pile it up there?
Basically, look around for what you have or can get, then use it.

 

[spish]

the area isnt big....its about 10m by 8m? but the mud is about 25cm deep now..how the pigs walk in it without getting stuck i'll never know.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I use sand in my yard to dry up those wet areas.

 

[Cold Canadian]

I've used shaveings ( wood ) to fill and dry up wet areas in the past ? It absorbs the water first and then release's it into the air .A little bit slower then sand or gravel , but it actually will become soil in time so that if you want you could use in the garden etc ? ...........................my thoughts

 

[OldGuy43]

OldGal suggests sawdust to soak up the water. "Sawdust not wood chips." she says. Just leave it in there and the pigs will work it in and it will eventually compost.

 

[Olive Hill]

Sand and gravel are usually good suggestions for drainage problems but with pigs on the area it will not have work they way you might hope -- it won't really work at all. Because of the way they're built pigs' legs and feet act as constant aerators/mud churners on soft ground. They'll just churn the gravel and sand into the existing ground. Depending on the extent of the muddiness -- and it does sound bad -- any sand and gravel you put down will likely be churned in within hours. Pretty much anything you put down at this point will suffer the same fate.

In the spring our pigs dirt pens are re-bedded daily with 4-8 inches of fresh straw. Yes, DAILY. When you wait for it to get to the sinking-belly-deep stage however, it's going to take a lot more to get the ground back up to par. Putting up another pen so you can rotate them out really is your best bet. How many pigs do you have on that pen right now?

 

[spish]

there is just 2 in that pen at the moment but one is rather people unfriendly so moving him is a no go, and last time he was anethitised (sp) it didnt go too well and we nearly lost him, so im not willing to knock him out just to move him

 

[Olive Hill]

Any pig can be moved. If you can't handle the stock you shouldn't own it.

How mini are they? If he's under 150 lbs you can grab his back legs and wheelbarrow him to where you need to go. If he's larger there are other ways. You can bend a hog panel into a teardrop shape, attaching the two ends to one another, drop this overtop of the pig and with an adult on each side you slide the pen along the ground with the pig inside of it. Just remember to hold DOWN on the panel as you move it so he doesn't put his snout under and toss it up. You can build the pen adjacent to the current pen and put a gate between the two. Open the gate when the new pen is complete, herd the pigs in and shut the gate behind them. You can build a chute on wheels, something like a small trailer, back it up to the gate of your current pen, herd him in, shut the gate on the chute and wheel it to the new pen where you unload him.

 

[Pigs are life]

Hi I know this is really late and like years ago but for any one that reads this, I would not put sand in there because sand goes really cold at night and because of that pigs can get pneumonia, I know this because I have tried and my male pig got pneumonia and sadly died.