Author Topic: pigs and water (Read 10079 times)

JMB · « **Reply #15 on:** July 21, 2014, 06:04:17 pm »

We have tyre drinkers too,they're great. Although Lumpy does manage to move it around and tip it occasionally , which is why I got two.
Easy to clean too.
We did have an old Belfast sink but it wasn't very portable and difficult to clean out.
And one of our hens drowned in it. Aw xxxxx

Clive · « **Reply #16 on:** July 22, 2014, 07:53:46 pm »

We also use Tyre drinkers and found them to be great. Our pigs do work out how to remove them from the tyre though so we often have to wander around the pen to retrieve them. The bigger pigs can turn them over when full. I've considered putting concrete in the bottom of the tyre but never got round to trying it.

hughesy · « **Reply #17 on:** July 22, 2014, 11:04:59 pm »

This afternoon one of our sows has not just tipped over her belfast sink, but has moved in into her wallow and half buried it, upside down. I had to use a crow bar to prise it out of the mud. She watched me sweating and cursing and was clearly amused.

bekka@dh · « **Reply #18 on:** July 23, 2014, 02:24:10 pm »

Sounds like you all have as much fun as me with the water situation!

I tried the tyre with a bucket- they tipped it over
I tried the tyre with a different type of bucket - they grabbed the handles and threw it around and then played with the tyre
I tried the tyre with bricks... still no joy!
Next step is concrete inside the tyre...

Next step is abattoir!!

Buttermilk · « **Reply #19 on:** July 23, 2014, 07:39:35 pm »

Two sorts, these stay in the tyre once placed in http://www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk/pws/ProductDetails.ice;jsessionid=D459E0D708ABFDEC3804BCE1DF45BDEC.CountrywideAS2?ProductID=17376

and these remove for cleaning http://www.rideaway.co.uk/tyre-feeder

Tamsaddle · « **Reply #20 on:** July 24, 2014, 09:05:40 am »

The one and only type that worked for us was the tyre drinker shown in Supplies for Farmers, £12.99, cat. no. S6PTB (as I have no idea how to do links). The bowl has a completely flat rim that the pigs can't get their noses under, and it sits in a deep tyre which tends to get pushed around rather than turned over, for reasons unknown. We too had a sow who could shift and turn over an enormous Belfast sink full of water, simply because there was space for her to get her snout under it to give her the necessary leverage. They always had huge, deep, filled up wallows as well, so all the weight lifting must have been just for fun, or because there was the most tempting piece of mud just under where the belfast sink was.

Loved the two photos of pigs cooling off in baths.

Clive · « **Reply #21 on:** July 31, 2014, 09:12:18 pm »

Buttermilk I love the paxton drinkers but I'd have to sell my pigs to afford them!!

Guess I will just keep refilling!

Young Ed · « **Reply #22 on:** August 02, 2014, 09:19:34 am »

we have taken an old oil barrel (205 litre i think) and cut it in half with the angle grinder and crimped the edges over with pliers then screwed this to two posts knocked deep into the ground and for the wallow whenever we fill the trough we just spray a load of water into a big soggy mud pit
Cheers Ed

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #23 on:** August 03, 2014, 11:16:23 am »

If you have a sturdy enough post and can link into a hose pipe then a galvanised half-bowl drinker can be fitted. Our sties have commercial type Suevia drinkers, where the pigs have to push the end with their noses to make the water flow. Piglets learn this very quickly and the water is always fresh, not sitting around getting green and full of mosquito larvae. They last just about for ever but if they're outsisde in a run you have to remember to turn off the water if really cold temperatures are expected, as the plastic nut in the drinker is forced out by the ice and when it thaws you have a small fountain!

ScotsGirl · « **Reply #24 on:** August 04, 2014, 01:25:31 pm »

We tried everything. Our OSB sow pulled the small auto drinker off the post, flung the plastic mole valley drinker out the pen and anything else we put it. Only the sombrero hefty old fashioned type drinkers/ feeders worked. I have found as long as they have a muddy spot they are contented now. Last week they were up to old tricks again and emptied the water trough and had flung it about.

Tiva Diva · « **Reply #25 on:** August 04, 2014, 05:21:46 pm »

We tried tyre buckets: they were OK for weaners but older pigs just tipped them over. Now we use old Belfast-type sinks with the plugholes blocked up with cement for the young pigs, and big plastic sheep troughs for the older ones (see pic). If you half-sink the troughs in the ground or wire them to wooden posts, they don't tip them over. Some pigs learn how to take out the rubber bungs, though, so we now use ones without bungs.
The pigs do still bath in them sometimes, even with a lovely big wallow right next to it. Well, they do say that pigs are very clean animals