Feral hog damage in Louisiana

The LSU Ag Center is conducting research to determine the extent of damage done by feral hogs in Louisiana.

Forestry economist Shaun Tanger says they’ve been getting reports from farmers and landowners about property damage, but they want to get a better picture of the problem with a couple of detailed surveys.

“We’re going to ask specifically about revenue losses, the types of commodities and also costs related to feral hog damage,” said Tanger.

Tanger says they want to get an idea of overall damage feral hogs are causing and, from there, what can be done about the problem. He says Louisiana has never done a study like this.

“We want to see how we compare to other states nearby,” said Tanger.

“Texas produced a report that said their damage was around $50 million dollars. I’ve seen, for the entire country, damage estimates of up to $1.5 billion.”

Tanger says the animals cause major damage to agricultural crops because they can be used for wallows, for forage and for protection. He says the first step to reaching a resolution to the problem is to find out exactly how big the problem is.

“From there it’ll be easier to work with legislatures to see what policies we can make to fix that problem,” said Tanger.