Wild Hogs threaten NM farmers

From the Alamogordo Daily News - CLOVIS, N.M.—State and federal officials say feral pigs are ravaging eastern New Mexico's range and farmland.  An astonishing reproductive rate has seen hogs spread to 17 of New Mexico's 33 counties in just seven years.  The wild swine have rooted up Quay County farmer and rancher Ted Rush's feed roads and destroyed milo and sorghum crops. He said he has killed more than 300 feral swine on his land.  "My wheat fields looked like they'd been bombed by the military, there were huge craters everywhere," Rush said.  The pigs could have a devastating effect on New Mexico's economy.  U.S. Agriculture Department wildlife specialist Ron Jones is tracking the invasion of feral pigs into New Mexico. He tells the Clovis News Journal (http://bit.ly/wd1yfA) that he uses abandoned windmill sites with running water to track the pig's progress across the state.  "There are only two kinds of land owners in New Mexico—those who have feral pigs, and those who will," Jones said. Read more

Wild Hogs threaten NM farmers