AMERICUS — On top the dry conditions of the last month, Sumter County farmers have been dealing with a few extraordinary and problematic issues. According to Sumter County Extension Agent Bill Starr, feral hogs have been wreaking havoc in fields of soybeans, peanuts and even corn.
“It has been a huge issue for a couple of years,” Starr said.
He described the impact of the wild hogs on crops as a two-fold loss. Not only do the hogs eat edible crops, but their rooting activity disturbs the land and damages the plants, which Starr said can be devastating to crops.
“There are certain areas in the region where there are tremendous populations of wild hogs,” Starr said.
In February, Starr held a feral hog control meeting, where he and officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Natural Resources presented information to farmers to help them deal with the pests.
“They are pretty intelligent animals,” Starr said.
He said that some farmers are trapping the hogs, but many of them are shooting them to save their crops.
Starr said that the hogs travel in groups and range in size from small piglets to boars that are in excess of 200 pounds. The reproduction cycle of the wild hogs in the region presents the most daunting aspect of the hog problem. Starr said the pigs can produce seven to 14 piglets in a litter and can reproduce twice in a year.
“It doesn’t take long to develop a large population,” he said.
In addition to dealing with pests, farmers are having to resort to traditional methods to combat a weed known as pigweed. Helpers have been hand weeding large cotton fields to remove the weeds before they go to seed. Starr said that sometimes, controllable weeds become resistant to herbicides like glyphosate, or Roundup, as it is know commercially.
“They are trying to eliminate the seed bank of the next generation of pigweed. One we can produce as many as 250,000 seeds,” he said.
Growing as high as six-feet, pigweed can easily take over an entire cotton field.
“It is a nightmare weed,” Starr said.
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