Late October

It looks like the wild pigs are not too keen on challenging my electric fence! I could not find a single trace of them when I spent a few days in Svångemåla last week. So far so good ....

The old forest to the north of the house was reap for harvesting and a big machine has made its way through most of it. It has left some hardwood but all conifers are gone. I actually do not mind since this will be a haven for moose and deer next year when new plants come up. It also makes the forest a bit lighter and not as dark as it has been before.

 The linden tree is wonderful this time of the year when it glows in the sunshine.

From "The ManKind Project"

Enough is enough !!!

A line or to be correct, a rope has been drawn in Svångemåla to keep the wild pigs (Sus scrofa) from destroying more of my plot. It was really hard work to set it up and without the help from a good friend it had taken me much more time than the three days it now took. As you know from previous postings, the ground is full of stones and it was as times impossible to get the fence poles down without removing rocks. When that was not possible, we simply had to go around them or in one case through a very small crack in a rock.

One of Sweden's more famous author and artist, Björn Gidstam, has experienced the same problem as I have and wrote a very good article about it in a newspaper, highlighting the fact that so little has been done to assist and help those who are hit by the pigs and that nothing will probably change as long as the politicians in Stockholm and other big cities are not affected.

http://www.smp.se/nyheter/lobbyn/insandare/ge-oss-ett-slut-pa-detta-svineri(3453528).gm

Gidstam also compared how much energy and emotions that have gone into the discussion about wolfs compared to how, relatively, silent it is about the damages done by wild pigs. I fully agree.

Here are some pictures showing the problems we faced setting up the fence. I really, really hope it will keep the beasts out!

The poles are treated to last for at least 15 years. By then I hope the wild pigs have moved on or even better, been reduced in numbers so that they can live in peace in the forests only.

 

 The equipment needed is not cheap. All together I had to pay more than USD 1,000! The instrument I am showing measure how high the voltage is along the rope and from my measurements it reached 7000V ! I do not think even a big pig can take that on the snout without feeling some pain.