Moveable hog pens?

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You folks with moveable hog pens: What are you building them out of and what are some cheap, lightweight housing options for a southern great plains climate? I have breeding stock - 2 sows and a boar.

-- Lynne (boodad@us.inter.net), August 12, 2001

Answers

Ours is made of wood.Logs for the skids and lumber for the walls. Salvaged corrugated metal makes the roof of their sleeping/shade area. To move the pen I use my neighbors tow cable and hook it to my trailer hitch and pull with my vehicle. Dirk Van Loon's book Small Scale Pig Raising has plans for a portable hog pen.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), August 13, 2001.

Well, I know this isnt extremely cheap, but its sturdy. How about metal gates, wired together on the corners?

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), August 13, 2001.

I have used pallets for years but I prefer 16' wire stock panels.

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), August 13, 2001.

How about using four hog panels tied together at the corners. When you get ready to move it just untie at the t-post and drag it 16' over and reset the t-post and tie the panels back on. I would only recommend this for feeder pigs that will go to slaughter.

-- Russell Hays (rhays@sstelco.com), August 13, 2001.

Hope this story about "movable hog pens" brings a chuckle, I sure wasn't at the time.

Last Friday we brought home six LITTLE weaners. Stuffed them in a feed bag and aaway we went. Now, having done this before, I had put up a small pen around their house. A wood fence with a hot electric wire, fenced off the holes under the building and provided food and water. (I had not forgotten the first time we brought home feeder pigs, very wild feeder pigs, the electric fence was nothing and we chased all four. One took off and we never saw it again.) Well, the little guys were released from their bags, decided we weren't all bad, the scraching was appreciated, the food was OK and WOW! there was REAL dirt to root in! Life is Good! Weeellll, went out the next AM, wouldn't you know the hubby man followed me out, NO little pigs in the pen. He was sure they were in the cornfield across the road, never to be seen again. I told him to cool down, I'd heard noises behind the horse barn. Went to check, sure enough six piggies, on the lam, having a GOOD time. This was een BETTER than the pen! Well food is a great enticement asnd I caught one, the other five were real leery of me after hearing the alarm sounded. Thinking back to the greased pig contests I have seen I figured it was time to rethink my strategy. Hubby man suggested we build a fence around the little poopers. Sounded good to me, they were where I wanted to pasture them come cold weather anyways. Away he went to get the hog panels. So, the afternoon was spent building the fence around the little Houdinis (sp? That hole they went through was cwertainly small!). We put up the panelized building I had made last year. (It was put together with screws. Came apart and went back together OK.)The first time I have ever built a fence around the animals, talk about breech!

So far, they seem pretty happy. Will put up an electric fence on the inside of the hog panels, son drove the fence posts today. They are definitely temporary, far from being straight, that will drive the hubby man nuts. He doesn't go out there much though. Thank goodness you can't see them from the road, he'd divorce me.

As far as the fence, the hog panels are fairly reasonable, will last for years and can be moved. Like the other post said with t-posts it'd be a cinch. Some pigs or hogs reuire more - I've had easy keepers and not so easy keepers. I finally broke down and bought a solar fencer, a temporary hot wire seems to do wonders as to attitude about staying where you want them to stay, unless of course they are related to the buggers I just bought! Cheers and good eating!

-- TAB (burnash@gisco.net), August 13, 2001.



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