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Author Topic: advice on pigsty ideas please  (Read 4939 times)

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
advice on pigsty ideas please
« on: July 27, 2015, 09:30:54 am »
Hi, :wave:


        well a third of the wood is cleared, the bracken and ground Ivy has been sprayed and two fencing company's have gone off to work out a price for the fencing. I have earmarked the orchard and an area of pasture for rotation grazing and been to visit 3 Kune Kune breeders. The Piglets will be born in Feb  :fc:  and will be ready for me to pick up in April so I should have time to get everything in place.


     Now I need some advice on stys. I have an area of hard standing to site the sty on which gives access to the pis grazing and had planed to put an 8 x 6 or 8 x 10 shed up with a pen attached. Having seen some big pigs scratching their @rses on some shaky looking stys this week Im wondering if my shed idea will be robust enough. This is what I had in mind. Any thoughts or photos?

[/size][size=78%]any thoughts [/size]

Small Plot Big Ideas

  • Joined May 2012
  • North Pennines, UK
    • Small Plot Big Ideas
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2015, 09:48:45 am »
I'm not sure how many pigs you plan to get but at first glance I would suggest you have a Plan B in place for when they get bigger and start to dismantle their house!


Of course that is based on my past experience with Tamworth and OS&B weaners so the Kune Kunes might be a little more gentle on their surroundings. Also I've been lucky to inherit a few old traditional metal pig arcs which are invaluable and should last for many years to come.


Have you considered electric fencing? We got 2 pens added in our woods using proper post/rail fencing and stock mesh but it wasn't cheap and I've now decided any further sub-dividing will be done using electric fencing because the outer perimeter is already secure.

greenbeast

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2015, 10:06:22 am »


Have you considered electric fencing? We got 2 pens added in our woods using proper post/rail fencing and stock mesh but it wasn't cheap and I've now decided any further sub-dividing will be done using electric fencing because the outer perimeter is already secure.

This is how we're going to do it too, we've started with a 50x50m paddock sub-divided into 8 with electric and once the entire perimeter is stock fenced we will use solely electric within the farm

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2015, 10:23:10 am »
Whatever ark you decide to buy I would suggest metal strips down the edges. My first weaners chewed the wood but since then metal edges have saved the day.
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2015, 10:54:13 am »
A friend made me a pig house from solid pallets about eight years ago. It's still as good as when it was made despite Berkshires, Saddlebacks, OSB and Old Spots and Kunes. I wish I knew how to post pictures!

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2015, 10:59:47 am »
devonlady, are the pictures on your pc? If so its fairly easy to post them (I am no expert) but when you respond to a mail you will see a bit at the bottom saying attachments and other options.
if you open that when there is another piece further down that says attach and to the right browse.
If you click on the browse you can search your pc for the picture you want. Providing its no larger than 1024kb then it should work. If the picture is large it won't let you send it.
Does this help?
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2015, 02:24:48 pm »
The pasture area will indeed be fenced with electric and the boundary to the road with stock fencing but its the pig sty designs that I am interested in. The 8ft x 6 ft building will be sufficient for two Kune Kunes to sleep in and the pen area will mean they have a place to exercise and toilet in case of illness or very bad weather. It will hopefully wear down their feet too.


The metal trim and pallet sty ideas sound good. I was thinking of making the first few feet of breeze block which is what all our old pig units and farrowing pens are made of.


I read once about some pigs who lived in a house made of straw who had terrible trouble with a wolf....apparently he huffed and he puffed..... :eyelashes: [size=78%] [/size]

Cosmore

  • Joined Jun 2015
  • Dorset
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2015, 03:46:27 pm »
Just a suggestion, why not have a look on the internet for any (pig) equipment farm auctions forthcoming near you?
I did that and was lucky to have an auction occur near me. I got 2 standard ark ends brand new and 120 'patch sheets' also new for a total of £140. :) . They had cut the corrugated arcs into equally sized sheets intended for 'patching over' their damaged arks in the field. After a bit of calculation and some timber, I constructed a 16 foot ark 8 feet wide with enough patch sheets left over to make another 12 foot ark or just to keep as 'spare patches'.
I've attached a photo of the ark.

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2015, 06:52:27 pm »
Wow Cos what a whopper!


  that is smart. Good idea about the auctions I will have a look about.

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2015, 10:15:43 pm »
There used to be a man on eBay who sold the tin curves for around £40 each (brand new) if you put one or two rows of block and the curves on top/outside it would be very secure  :thumbsup: You can also get insulated breeze blocks (thermolight or something they're called) if you get cold winters or will ever think about farrowing in the sty it would help (but at about £1 per block, they're not the cheapest - you can saw them to size very nearly with a hand saw though and they're lighter and easier to handle).
It might be worth putting in a concrete pad for the base?
Remember to face the opening south (other directions are colder/wetter) and have a run on the base away from the house - last thing you want is for rain/urine to run into the bedding  ;)
Also, look out for old plastic oil tanks, these make great floored arcs for kunekune. You just need to cut a hole for a doorway and wash it out a few times. They're easy to move, robust, being dark green they blend in lovely and you can usually pick second hand ones up for about £30-£40. We use them and find them ideal size for a couple of kunekune or a sow and litter  :thumbsup:
HTH
Kx

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: advice on pigsty ideas please
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2015, 06:54:41 am »
Oow lots of great ideas guys.


  Our farm was once a pig farm and having taken all your advice on board we have decided to copy the design of our existing buildings and create a reinforced breeze block sty up to about 3 or 4 ft with Yorkshire boarding above.


We have some spare roofing panels left over from old buildings which will help it all blend in. We have also come up with a way to divide the sty and pen into two if necessary so that we can separate piglets etc.


The drainage / run off is an important point and the hard standing area does run to a drain but we need to bear than incline in mind when designing the buildings.


In the meantime we have built a simple but sturdy field shelter to accommodate a couple of Kune Kune weaners for fattening which will be in 50mts x 50mtrs electric fenced paddock. Now all I need is a battery for the energizer.....oh and the pigs! :excited:

 

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