[P6te]

All,

Following on from a previous thread I note that many Smallholders have relatively large runs for their pigs. ..... re.

Our main area is in woodland about 200 x 200 metres, plus a daytime grass paddock 50 x 50 metres - this is usually divided into 2 or 3 plots and we open them up as needed depending on rooting, destruction and weather. They are in use from April to September then rested.   Finally I have September to April use of a further area of woodland, a different plot each time, also approx. 200 x 200 metres.

So, in cases such as above, how do people secure the perimeters and how are large runs subdivided?

At the moment all ours are secured with pig netting with a barbed wire as a scare wire at the base.  They cost us in the region of £4.50 - £5 / metre installed before adding any gates etc. Extremely long runs would be very expensive!

How do you secure yours and what areas are typically used?

Many thanks

Pete

[robert waddell]

there is no hard and fast rules we use a combination of rylock rabbit netting and dykes some backed up with eclectic scare wires some not but all pigs are trained to the electric fence in small paddocks first before letting them out into the wilds   subdived by electric fence wire usually just two strands

[harry]

yup that does it a barrier fence with 2 strands of electric fence wire about a foot inside..... if you dont have the barrier fence when the pigs get a belt they could charge over the electric wire in their panic.... i was going to try dividing the free range area with that orange plastic stuff you see around building work thats cheap then the 2 electric wires inside.... bright orange pigs should see that

[Fowgill Farm]

as my oh puts the answer to your question..............expensively!
mandy

[P6te]

Thank you for your replies,

For subdividing I was considering Barrier Fencing Safety Mesh to provide a visual deterant with twin electrics on either side.  From your comments that seems a reasonable option?

Robert - does Rylock Rabbit Netting work out much cheaper than Pig Netting?

Mandy - expensive has been our theme for some time!! I'm open to cost effective secure solutions!!

All - What size area are you talking about??

Many thanks

Pete

[hughesy]

Two strands of electric wire. Any pig that hasn't seen leccy fence before goes into a small pen that has stock fencing with a leccy wire round the inside for training purposes.

[Tamsaddle]

Two strands electric rope.  Dozens of plastic posts, wooden posts and/or trees with insulators at all corners/changes of direction and for the gate, and an energiser that will do double the distance of the two strands of rope all round.   One of our big woodland plots has had to have full length stock fencing around the electric, but only because one dreaded section is right beside a 'public footpath', used by, amongst others, the charming sort of youfs who think it's great fun turning off the electric and stealing the battery/energiser etc. as well as chasing the pigs round and frightening them.   Even with a big buffer zone along the woodland margin we can't move the woods, nor the footpath route protected by every law in the land, so we just have to live with it and keep our fingers crossed.   Tamsaddle

[Fowgill Farm]

Two strands of electric wire. Any pig that hasn't seen leccy fence before goes into a small pen that has stock fencing with a leccy wire round the inside for training purposes.

Bear in mind that lop eared pigs don't always see well so leccy fence doesn't always work well with them, our GOS just blunder thro particularly Twinkle who is as blind as a bat because of her big lugs! We gave up with leccy fencing and its all post & pig wire apart from one weaner pen made of security fencing left over from one of OH's projects.
Mandy

[fairhaven]

Hi
 As said by Mandy, with their floppy lugs our large blacks didn't get on with the electric fence that well, But we used the orange netting with a strand of barbed wire about 9"  from ground level, then another strand of barbed wire another 8/9" above that.   The netting fence was about £20 for a 50m roll.  (Ebay - true traders from gt yarmouth - postage £5.00)
Cheap & cheerful, but it worked for us.

[oaklandspigs]

We keep everything behind a single strand of electric, but two rules
 
1. they MUST be trained first.
2. if they do get out, they must still be within your property, and not able to wander to somehwere where they can do harm - they don't immediately rush to the next boundary to get free, they investigate the new area they have found, in our case fields that are sheep fenced, but certainly not pig proof.
 
We've only had 3 exceptions in 16 years - a Tamworth who stepped over every day at meal times to greet us, a GOS (but only one of many) who just walked through yelling as she went and was always out, and a middlewhite who came form a farm where she was behind a 3 ft wall with a strand of electric on the top - that should have told us something !
 
We now have LB, GOS, SB, MW, Berkshire, Landrace, mangalitza, OSB all behind a single strand.
 
 

[P6te]

Many thanks to all,

As always some great advice and plenty of food for thought.

I don't think I was too far off with my original thinking but I have some new ideas to add in.  I'll add electrics to one of the existing 'small runs' such that it can be used for training.  The 'large run' is within our boundary and as such any escapees should remain on our property.

For subdividing the large run, as our pigs are OSB's (and others we have are likely to be lop eared too) I think posts with Barrier Fencing Safety Mesh to provide a visual deterant plus 2 lines of electric on either side should work well.

I am undecided whether to add barbed wire as if a pig should attempt to escape it may get a nasty injury in the process.  (thoughts anyone?)

Many thanks

Pete

[oaklandspigs]

For subdividing the large run, as our pigs are OSB's (and others we have are likely to be lop eared too) I think posts with Barrier Fencing Safety Mesh to provide a visual deterant plus 2 lines of electric on either side should work well.


Pete

we run different pigs either side of a stand of electric as long as there's no need for them to cross - eg boar one side/sow the other or even sows either side with one on heat can go through.  You barrier fencing with one strand either side should work well !
 
 

[P6te]

Thanks Oaklands,

I'm planning for any eventuality / mix of sows in season, sows and boars want to retain flexibility for use of runs and hope this will do the job!

Pete

[robert waddell]

the area that has rabbit netting was done many years before we had pigs and was the first area to have them in it is backed up with a bottom scare wire electrified and so far we have not had a problem with escapes or even attempted escapes       the most of the rest of the paddocks have a scare wire at the bottom even the dykes     the pens that are on concrete have steel barriers they will have a job to get through them     we had them in stock from our cattle days

[hughesy]

Two strands of electric wire. Any pig that hasn't seen leccy fence before goes into a small pen that has stock fencing with a leccy wire round the inside for training purposes.

Bear in mind that lop eared pigs don't always see well so leccy fence doesn't always work well with them, our GOS just blunder thro particularly Twinkle who is as blind as a bat because of her big lugs! We gave up with leccy fencing and its all post & pig wire apart from one weaner pen made of security fencing left over from one of OH's projects.
Mandy

Haven't had an escape yet. In fact once the pigs know the wire is there it's very difficult to get them to cross the line even when it's taken away. Our pigs are saddlebacks so are all lop eared.