The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: harry on March 18, 2012, 05:26:33 pm
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being a 1st year pig keeper i thought rather than chuck feed on the ground when its muddy i would put it in a container....... so i got an old butler sink nice and heavy, cant lift it .... no trouble for the pigs that was soon turned over.............. saw 2 cast iron mexician hat feeders at car boot one 2 foot dia...one 3.5 foot dia got the big bugger thought turn that over,,,,they did.. almost pushed it into the eletric fence...plan b is drill a hole in the middle and bang an iron stack into the ground... let them try shifting that :-\ :-\
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They are very strong but we feed in washing up bowls ans rubber trugs which we do't leave in with them but collect after feeding time is over. If you need to feed and leave i've heard concrete pads are quite good as you can hose them down and scrape mud off.
Mandy :pig:
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normally the Mexican hats are bonded to the ground by suction well they are like that when you go to move them if they are moving them they are hungry and looking for food how much did you pay for your Mex hat feeder if you drill holes in it it will reduce the value :farmer:
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paid £25.. not bothered about value as got it to use myself but a small 10mm hole in the top of the dome should be ok, iron rod banged though.... most are used as garden planters now, you are correct hard to shift when i try...
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Trust me Harry, even your Kunes will move it eventually ;)
You've not met me, but to say I'm not a small person is a bit of an understatement :o I'm almost 6ft tall and weigh, well, a LOT ! At only 9 months old (maybe 60-70Kg max weight) our Kunekune boar 'Red' lifted a 12 foot metal gate with me standing on it - clean up into the air like it was cardboard :o I reckon your pole would need to be at least 6ft into the ground to even stand a chance of staying put :-\
I use the plastic tyre bowls - they can't get their snouts in under the rim to lift them off the tyre and they're really lightweight and easy to lift out to clean them (providing you're human ;)) :thumbsup: Supplies for smallholders sell them, but you might be able to get them in your local agri shop too.
HTH
Karen :wave:
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I feed mine in lightweight troughs. They turn them over when all the grub is gone, then I pick them up, hose them out and store them 'til next feed time.
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we use long plastic sheep troughs for weaner pellets if the grounds not dry and they suction well into mud, infact i lost one under the mud for a yr or 2 til a tractor scraped up the mud. scrubbed up like new. but our place is overgrown so feed usually gets placed on what ever weeds we r trying to get rid of. sow rolls r much better for feeding on ground.
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ive decided to chain them to a tree..
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The feeders or the pigs ;) :pig:
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i new someone would say that. :D
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being a 1st year pig keeper i thought rather than chuck feed on the ground when its muddy i would put it in a container....... so i got an old butler sink nice and heavy, cant lift it .... no trouble for the pigs that was soon turned over.............. saw 2 cast iron mexician hat feeders at car boot one 2 foot dia...one 3.5 foot dia got the big bugger thought turn that over,,,,they did.. almost pushed it into the eletric fence...plan b is drill a hole in the middle and bang an iron stack into the ground... let them try shifting that :-\ :-\
Concrete platforms fix them right up. stops them turning any thing over. but make sure you have plenty of reinforcing in there to stop them breaking up the concrete
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We use an old heavy wooden door that my OH picked up from a skip many moons ago, long before we had pigs.... ::), they do move it about, but it still has a handle so is easily shifted back to where I want it (unless one of them is quicker than me and stands on it...). Also enough space for up to 4 grown pigs to get to the feed. It has worked well, I have been on the lookout for a mex hat feeder for about 5 years now, but never seen one yet at our local sales...
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get other half to make one