So we had some questions about our pig huts. I decided to go ahead and write a blog post that way I can just point folks to it. If you have any questions feel free to email me here. Click on the picture to open a larger pic in a new frame.
Currently we have three different fencing set ups all using electric fence chargers. We have 2 strand for the older girls, pig netting from Premier 1 for Seth and Iollan and chicken netting for our new hogs that are isolated from the rest. The reason for chicken netting is our new hogs very from nine months to two months. If you have ever seen a two month old AGH they are small enough to easily fit through pig netting. So for now we move pigs pretty frequently so when we were wanting to build some pig shelters we wanted something mobile yet large enough for our hogs.
We decided to use some old pallets to make shelters. Each shelter takes two pallets, two eight foot 2X4s, some type of cover and a hand full of screws. Once you have built one the others only take about fifteen minutes to make.
This one is a finished one but you will see we start off by placing two pallets together at 90 degree angles from one another. We put a short board across the top and a long board across the bottom.
We have found it is easier to screw the bottom board in place then saw off the excess. Then we use the piece we cut off as the brace for thee top.
Then you gently roll it over and do the same on the other side. To the right you will see a finished pig hut laying on its side
Here is Matt our farm intern standing next to a nearly complete pig hut.
Finally we cover them with used billboard tarp. The used billboard tarps are cheaper
and much stronger then your typical tarp. Check them out here. We fasten them on with screws and roofing washers. We don’t like to use staples because they tend to come out easy.
And here is a happy pig checking out his new home. Our newest pigs all sleep in one hut. That’s nine pigs three are nine months old, three are about five months old and three are just weened. They have two huts in their enclosure but all sleep together.