Live hogs were on the minds of Berkeley Soil and Water Conservation District commissioners and staff during discussions on the supply and operation of animal traps at the group’s July 26 session at the Berkeley County Farm Bureau office in Moncks Corner.
Staff member and resident bee expert Nick Yoder clued in attendees on conversations he’s had with District Commissioner Barry Jurs and Berkeley County Farm Bureau President Harry DuPree on not only distributing traps to area farmers, but coordinating the technology that goes along with recording footage of the roaming critters.
Yoder proposed contacting Verizon or another similar telecommunications service to set up a system whereby hogs entering cage traps can be viewed in real time. Jurs offered that a monitoring system would entail the usage of a phone app to allow people to keep track of feral hogs from the comfort of their homes.
“My question is, who’s going to pay the fee for the electronics?,” asked District Chairperson Diane Edwins. “You get a number where you get a ping and you look at your phone, and here you have your trap. You can [see] whatever is in the trap. It could be a raccoon, a squirrel, a coyote, or even some pigs. You can actually [program] the trap where you hit the button and the trap drops.”
The cost of a live video feed, per Yoder, is about $55 per month, although he added that there might be a cheaper option available.
Since the District will only incur the expense of the trapping equipment and not assume responsibility for round-the-clock monitoring, stated Edwins, the app subscriber would need to make sure that the trapped animal or animals are released and relocated before they destroy the wiring.
When asked by community member Cliff Martin about what happens to the hogs once their captured, Jurs replied that it’s up to the farmer to determine that. On that note, Martin also expressed concern regarding the size of the cages and their heavy panels.
“Whatever it catches, it’ll probably be missing a limb or a head — we can’t do that no more,” continued Martin.
The purpose of the traps, countered Jurs, is catch an entire sounder of hogs since apprehending them individually wouldn’t make a dent in the population of the mammal species.
“You wait until you have a number in those before you push the button. But you want to catch as many as you can in time,” relayed Edwins.
During Associate Commissioner Roxy Bishop’s Earth Team recap, she introduced Clemson University’s Horticulture Extension Agent Christopher Burtt, who expressed interest in teaching gardening classes, starting in February. Burtt maintained that the focus would likely be on edibles in terms of how to grow and maintain vegetables.
“With the economy that way it is now, I look for a lot of people to start planting gardens next year,” predicted Edwins on the viability of a class on the ABCs of gardening. The location of the public tutorials would take place at Santee Canal Park or in Cypress Gardens, it was noted.
Bishop also alerted listeners to an upcoming week-long Yard Art Show at Cypress Gardens from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., starting on July 31. The proceeds of the event, she added, will be donated to Cypress Gardens. Last year’s display generated $325.
In addition, the District’s July conference featured USDA National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) reps Adriana Hamilton and Kevin Triplett, who reviewed federal programs, such as EQUIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) that provides financial aid and technical assistance to agricultural producers and non-industrial forest managers to address concerns and deliver benefits, such as improved air and water quality, as specified on nrcs.usda.gov.
Other referenced initiatives included the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the American Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).