The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: flowerpotkitchen on September 13, 2012, 07:41:05 pm
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Hi, we are due to take delivery of our 2 gorgeous weaners in four weeks, I have a question about the manure that will be produced and really need advice on keeping odour to minium due to neighbours.
We are going for baconers so 6-7 months and we have given our weaners a 40ft x 30ft run. We are going to poo pick twice day and clean out the ark weekly to monthly depending on dirt, I have defra approved powder disinfectant for the poo corner that the weaners will choose.
We are desperate to minimise odour from our piggies as we are full urban and we are doing it in our front garden! I have read all information from Defra, and direct gov, taken soo much fabulous and gratefull advice from other pig keepers, in order not to have controlled waste we are thinking we will have to compost, What other advice can anyone give please? We have found wastecare.co.uk who will remove the pig waste 100kg, but I am worried about keeping odours down until we reach almost the 100kg load. Thank you . :-)
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Your biggest problem will be one of containment, there will be escapes, and destruction , a lidded wheeliebin should contain more than 100kilo of pickings , that is going to be the least of your problems I fear. :innocent:
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We've kept a couple of weaners for the freezer about 8 times and never had an escape. And that's with Tamworths most times, so escapes aren't inevitable. I fear destruction is though ;D
Give it a go - if it gets too much, put them away quicker. But do make sure your fencing is top class.
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Hello :wave:
Others might disagree, but I think your pen is too small :-\
Given that you're taking them to bacon weight and keeping them overwinter they are going to trash your ground :o Since it's the front garden and you're in an urban area you might find your neighbours none too happy about the appearance of their pen. So it might be worth either halving the area so you can rotate them or looking at where you can house them if/when the garden turns into the somme.
Oh, and I've never noticed mine choosing a toilet corner - maybe yours will be more considerate though ;) ;D
Good luck with them and keep us updated
Karen
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Flowerpotkitchen, are your neighbours aware of your plans?
If they aren't already aware they certainly will be with the smell and the noise. As young weaners they will snuffle a bit and squeal when you pick them up but I find that as they get older they make a lot of noise around feeding time and I don't see how you can avoid it.
It will be good to get the neighbours on side i.e. they can come and look at the little piggies and watch them grow, and maybe, if so inclined, help you to feed them. With the prospect of some home grown pork/sausages in it for them too I am sure it will make life easier all round.
Sally
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Happyhippy posted just as I did. She is a very experienced pig keeper whilst I am just about to send off my first couple of weaners.
I agree about the toilet situation. The only place I have found that mine don't go is in their ark.
There is also not a blade of grass left in their pen and with all the rain we have had it resembles something from the battle of the Somme.
Sally
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I agree with HH, although I am all for keeping a couple of pigs for the freezer in an urban setting, I normally advise that you keep them over the summer and usually raise them for pork rather than bacon, that way you are only really keeping them for a short while. Also the other thing I would worry about, having pigs in your front garden will invariably lead to people feeding them or throwing over rubbish which could cause injury. I don't know your situation at all so forgive me if I have got the picture wrong, but people feeding them as they look over the fence at them would be my concern, as would the state of the garden, with all the rain we are having it will only be a short while before your garden is a quigmire, and because of the pen size they will have no where dry to go. You will need a dry patch at least in which to feed them otherwise you will be battling with pulling troughs etc out of the mud, you should also have a dry standing for the ark. Its only my opinion but can't you wait until at least next spring, as once the winter sets in your pigs will be soon in glutinous mud and that will soon have the neighbours concerned, it also makes life easier for you if the weather is kinder to the land. Lets us know how you get on though. :)
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Hello :wave:
Others might disagree, but I think your pen is too small :-\
Given that you're taking them to bacon weight and keeping them overwinter they are going to trash your ground :o Since it's the front garden and you're in an urban area you might find your neighbours none too happy about the appearance of their pen. So it might be worth either halving the area so you can rotate them or looking at where you can house them if/when the garden turns into the somme.
Oh, and I've never noticed mine choosing a toilet corner - maybe yours will be more considerate though ;) ;D
Good luck with them and keep us updated
Karen
Sorry to disagree but I think that's enough space for 2 pigs, they'll destroy it in about 5 hours my first two did.
Then they stand back as if to admire their work, they're like miniature JCB's.
Sorry to disagree again but mine have always had a sleeping area, an eating area, and a toilet. Less so with the separated toilet the more space you give them.
I very much doubt I'd ever try keeping pigs in an urban area though. Serious neighbour problems, serious risk of vandalism I'd have thought.
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in all honesty and if you think this through with all the pitfalls don't do it for all the reasons listed and a whole Lot more
no ifs or buts pigs do smell even if you pick the crap up and that is if it is solid enough the urine stinks as well so how are you going to collect that stockproof fencing that is secure enough to prevent little angels letting them out on the street
better getting the farm you are getting the weaners from to rear them for you or better still buy one that is ready to go for meat and save yourself some money and a whole lot of grief :farmer:
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Don't do it - pigs in that kind of setting over winter to bacon weight :o ... you are asking for BIG trouble, not just from neighbours, but from passers-by, people on their way home from the pub at night thinking it will be fun to play with the piggies... etc etc...
Also environmental health be there in 5 minutes.... pigs do smell and IMHO it is not fair on your neighbours to live with the smell, even if you don't mind it...
If you want to raise some of your own meat - get some day-old meatchicks or ducks or find a local (but rural) smallholder that would sell you a pig at the pint of slaughter!
Actually thinking about this - surely this must be a wind-up?
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Your right robert, I do think in this instance, keeping pigs in an urban area is not a good idea. I have customers that have successfully kept two pigs until they were six months old in a garden in the middle of Wilmslow in Cheshire, two tamworths and I have others that have successfully kept pigs in an urban setting, but I don't think on this occasion, keeping pigs is a good idea, better to do what others have suggested and get the farm to rear them.
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Is this Mr Tigger at it again ???
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You could bag the poo (use the empty feed bags), and find a local allotment group (or gardener) who will take it for composting.
You will still get a smell though, like everyone else has said. :)
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One other point is that they won't just stop at digging the garden up. Ours ha?e undermined the foundations of their barn by digging around the base. They also love digging up fence posts. Ours are noisy and smelly and would escape if we didn't use leccy fence. Don't do it x
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Thank you for the positive comments, very helpful. The stock fenced pen is also with solar electric fencing, where the are weaners are coming from they are already being trained to electric fencing. We are very lucky that you cannot see the house from the road due to fabulous large trees and everygreen bushes and the pig run is only one 6th of the garden. Mud bath not a worry to us and we have indoor space and second run for pigs if the going gets to wet. Our neighbours have been marvellous and are looking forward to meeting the weaners, and obviously they are excited for some sausages, it is the quality of life we are looking forward to giving to the pigs who in return will give us honest meat, is why we are doing this. Defra recommend a powder disinfectant that you can sprinkle on the ground.
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Well it sounds as if you have a sorted flowerpot. The problem on a forum is other people including myself don't know the situation, I had it in my mind that your front gardeni was in a terraced type street with a piece of garden in front of the house next to the drive and looking out onto a street, so sorry for the presumption, but if you have a large garden and good fencing, sometimes that is better than some smallholders I have met who keep a couple of pigs in a minute piece of scrappy ground (they have country views though so that makes it ok :roflanim:) Anyway good luck. :)
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I must admit, I saw it as a sort of open plan estate type garden so glad you explained. Having neighbours on board makes so much difference. When we moved here (also urban) having told the people we were buying from that we had a goat, we were amazed to find that the neighbours had no idea. Fortunately, the one the side of the goat yard her loved and and the ones that followed and the other side are quite happy to have goats next door, especially when they go off with a few barroloads of manure! ;D
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thanks for clarifying. good luck. nothing compares to your own bacon! xxx
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I must admit to having reservations when I first had a chat with Flowerpot about where the pigs were to be placed but having seen the setup when we delivered the Ark I was very impressed, it was a better setup than mine when I first started with pigs, lets all wish them luck with the venture, they are a well organised and determined family.
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Just to get back to the original question.... ;)
Our weaners very quickly established a toilet area, under some trees in the corner of the run. I poo pick about once a week and have only noticed a smell once, when we had a few days of hot weather. (The only time we had a few days of hot weather ::) )
I put the droppings on our large compost heap, where all the straw bedding is mixed with all our garden and kitchen waste. It is rotting down nicely now and certainly doesn't smell. HTH.
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When swill was fed to pigs they did smell but, now that they are vegans I don't find their manure any more offensive than, say, horse or cow muck.
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Massive big thank you to Markcott and everyone else for your positive respsonses, we are really excited and just want to do this so well so that we can continue to do this again and again.
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Don't forget to put some pics on so we can see for ourselves. Seeing other people's animals is nearly as good as having them for myself.
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I'm always reluctant to call manure "waste". If you haven't got the place to keep it as fertiliser for your own garden (i.e. compost heap not in wind direction of your neighbours!), can't you maybe find smallholders / allotmenteers in the area who'd take it off your hands without having to pay for waste disposal? Try freecycle... I know around here there's often an offer for chicken or horse muck. If you load it into lidded bins (the smaller type, not the big wheelie bins), they easily fit into the boot of a car. We've done that in the past with sheep muck.
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I'm always reluctant to call manure "waste". If you haven't got the place to keep it as fertiliser for your own garden (i.e. compost heap not in wind direction of your neighbours!), can't you maybe find smallholders / allotmenteers in the area who'd take it off your hands without having to pay for waste disposal? Try freecycle... I know around here there's often an offer for chicken or horse muck. If you load it into lidded bins (the smaller type, not the big wheelie bins), they easily fit into the boot of a car. We've done that in the past with sheep muck.
Good idea Ina :thumbsup:
With pigs now being fed as vegetarians, their manure is really good stuff for the garden :thumbsup: I used some of ours last winter, that had only been standing for a year & my roses have done :trophy: & my veg beds were doing well, until my OH's bl**dy Marans got through a hole in the netting ::)
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Freecycling is great idea. I give away most of my goat manure through Freecycle. In fact, I now have my regulars. ;D
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Thanks guys will look up free cycle and I spoke with council today who said I should speak with the person in charge of my local allotments, small bins really helpful advice thank you, I am photo mad so I look forward to updating pictures when the girls arrive and when our adventure begins and how we do ! ;D Thanks again for your helpful comments and suggestions.
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Thanks guys will look up free cycle and I spoke with council today who said I should speak with the person in charge of my local allotments, small bins really helpful advice thank you, I am photo mad so I look forward to updating pictures when the girls arrive and when our adventure begins and how we do ! ;D Thanks again for your helpful comments and suggestions.
:idea: You never know - it may be a way for you to get trimmings etc for your weaners. You provide the "fertiliser" & they can help you fill from the other end ;)