Author Topic: Pig floor surface... help (Read 2662 times)

Louise P · « **on:** July 14, 2016, 05:17:34 pm »

Hi All.
Just a quick question for all you pig owners out there.
Has anyone got an outdoor surface for your pigs which will allow for drainage that they can't dig up and turn into an absolute swamp?
I need something that they can go in in the summer until they go

But also that my pony can go in in the winter.
My current thought is perhaps to put hardcore down then a membrane then cover with rolled tarmac plannings but I'm worried that the pigs will just root it up into big piles and destroy the membrane?
I'm quite happy to have a small soil area for them to root in but it can't be good for them being knee deep in mud unless they are in their hut.
Please help....

eaglesalz · « **Reply #1 on:** July 14, 2016, 08:23:08 pm »

Hello, I was going to put wood flooring down in mine (oak or douglas fir) but after reading other post I decided to lay concrete (with a dpc) as I can disinfect, no place for vermin to hide and the pigs won't slip on it. I just put a good layer of straw down for them, but I only have a small house for them so did not take long to lay concrete.

greenbeast · « **Reply #2 on:** July 14, 2016, 08:39:31 pm »

how big an area do you want to hardcore? it's not cheap
they don't mind the mud, depends how bad/deep it gets

Louise P · « **Reply #3 on:** July 14, 2016, 09:43:26 pm »

The pen is probably around 6m x 10m ish. I could probably just do half of it if need be.
Machinery isn't an issue as we have our own but we'd need to buy the hardcore or whatever.
I just feel so guilty looking at them knee deep in mud. Their hut is clean and dry and around half of it is not too muddy but the other half is really wet :-(

greenbeast · « **Reply #4 on:** July 15, 2016, 09:33:23 am »

I know what it's like, our main pen was a swamp this winter and we had a rush job on christmas eve of preparing arks in a dry pen for two gilts who ended up farrowing on christmas day.

I suppose you're looking at a few hundred quid to do that area in some kind of hard core

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #5 on:** July 15, 2016, 09:52:22 am »

Do you have space to turn them onto fresh ground when the mud gets very deep? Pigs will rapidly turn a small crack in concrete into a channel, so they'd have lots of fun destroying hardcore. It may help to have a small concrete area to feed them on.

Louise P · « **Reply #6 on:** July 15, 2016, 10:08:02 am »

Ha, yeah I have the space but I'm not going to let them trash anymore grassland. It's a shame they are such rooters as they make great animals otherwise lol. :-)

pharnorth · « **Reply #7 on:** July 15, 2016, 12:30:10 pm »

I'm doing much the same Louise and to be honest it is more for my comfort than the pigs. I find getting through the mud without risking falling or being pushed too much like hard work, it's bad enough for feeding but if the vet was needed......
That said, I think even pigs look a bit miserable when they are knee deep in cold wet mud for 3 months so I am putting a 15m x3m concrete base from the gate to the pig sty. It will also give me hard standing for loading and unloading the trailer. The plan is the pigs use the concrete with straw Nov through to end Feb then the grass pens they can do what they like with March through end October. For the reasons given above I discounted putting just hardcore, I reckon they would destroy it in a matter of weeks.