The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) proclaims October as Hog Out Month to highlight its ongoing effort against the nearly 2.6 million feral hogs that cause an estimated annual $500 million in damage to property and crops in rural and urban Texas.
Hog Out Month comes in the middle of TDA’s 2014 Coordinated Hog Out Management Program (CHOMP) that works with counties across the Lone Star State to decrease the feral hog population, according to a TDA release. The program runs from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30.
CHOMP requires registered counties to track the number of captured feral hogs within its county. The program will award grants based on those numbers and will receive assistance to continue local abatement activities. Those activities may include educating landowners on hog removal, coordinating trapping and hunting programs, conducting aerial gunning or addressing public safety hazards related to feral hogs.
TDA has $175,000 available for CHOMP awards and anticipates awarding 13 grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each.
Individual counties may submit their application before the Dec. 15, 2014 deadline. For more information or to download an application, click here.