[nematode]

I'm getting myself ready to keep two pigs for the purpose of fattening them up from weaners to the table.  The area I want to use is shown below:



My question is about fencing.  I intend to build two fenced areas so that I can use one area each year and keep swapping.  The fencing around the bee hives in the picture  is really sturdy and is made of 5 D rails with about 10 cm gaps between the rails.  Can I use the same design for the pigs?  Or do I have to use wire fencing of some sort?  Ideally I would like to continue to use the 5 rail as I like them.  I intend to set it out as shown below:



I would appreciate it if anybody could advise me.

[Berkshire Boy]

Nothing wrong with using post and rail. Stock fencing is cheaper but the rail does look better.Some of my original pens have post and rail and it is still fine after 6 years or so, as we expanded the herd I have used stock fence because its a bit quicker and cheaper to do on a larger scale.

[HappyHippy]

As BB says, post & rail will be fine, it might be worth running a strand of barbed wire or temporary electric fencing around the bottom rail incase they try to dig under  and they will learn to jump up and put their trotters on the fence waiting for you to feed them - so make sure it's strong enough to cope (might be worth putting the rails to the inside of the posts so it's a bit more resistant to pushing)

But, what size is that space overall, and what size would each pen be ?
It looks fairly small to me 
You might find you need to move them halfway through, if the ground gets too badly churned up (wet weather and pigs will do that to your land, very quickly  ) The more space you can give them the better IMHO 
HTH
Karen

[Hassle]

I had that sort of situation when we started I dug stock fencing and fixed to the rails around the  whole paddock and then put temporary electric fencing up to section the inside as needed 

[MKay]

we often find that hindsight is needed in fencing, first time round the fence will always be in the wrong place, always have the gate in the wrong place and not allow you to take advantage of different water table levels during the year.

use 60mm round timber posts, and electric rope(white) and then after 12-18mnths of fiddling about to get it just right, rebuild to a permanent standard.

[nematode]

Thanks for your replies.  I take your points about the size and am now considering fencing off the whole area with the five d rails.  Over a larger area (you can only see half in my picture) half the fencing is already stock proof fence with hawthorn.



Then I was wondering if I could just use an electric fence to create a pen twice the area I originally intended for the two pigs (marked as 1).  I think this would be about 1150 square feet.  Is that enough room?  Then I could use are 2 next year maybe? I was thinking that then if they (or when) they get through the electric there is always the perimeter to stop them (or slow them down).

[HappyHippy]

There are lots of factors to consider when you try to plan space for pigs and usually you'll not get the answers until the pigs are on the ground and you can gauge how quickly they're turning it, how wet it is and how long before you need to move them (it depends on whether you like seeing them belly deep in constant mud - I can't stand it, so like to move them regularly).
Recommended stocking density for permanent pigs is 6 per acre, weaners for pork can be raised in a much smaller area, but the ground will suffer as a result (as well as making tending to them a nightmare and towards the end it can get downright dangerous) and if it's wet, cold, muddy ground the pigs won't like it much and won't do as well as they could - they only like mud when it's hot 
Your 1150 square feet is only 0.02 of an acre, even using the whole space you have there would only give you around 0.1 acre - which might be pushing it a bit IMHO. It's about the same size as my smaller pens and with the rain we had last year they didn't last a whole 'growing season' for ours  I'd section it with electric, let them onto half and see how they go - but prepare yourself to let them have the other half and possibly need to move them again before slaughter.
Karen

[jellybean]

steel posts, ringlock and a hot wire keeps pigs in with out a hitch

[Newby]

2 strands of electric wire is all you need. Keep it simple.

[Jackie 2]

I tried the post and rail type fencing first (yes it does look good) but after trying to catch the escaping pigs for the third time as they had chewed/pushed/broken their way out I now have electric fencing inside the post and rail fence, have never escaped since!

[hatti]

hi im a newbie on here and i have a question about pigs destroying the soil structure through being in one spot to long, how do you tell when they need moving? and what do u think about how to rebuild the soil structure if this does happen?, how long does it take b4 the soil will recover for growing if the pigs puddle the ground ? thank you in advance

[Hassle]

The pigs wont destroy the soil structure, they will however eat the grass and roots that binds it together but as they do that they will also be fertilizing.  You will find that the ground will recover within a growing season, this year due to weather I will power harrow this will level and will give a a good seed bed then dress with grass seed and drag arrows across, the hardest bit I have is trying to get 12 meter rolls to run over the ground to provide a waterproof top and protection from birds. So I should have a lush grass my March April and you wont tell pigs have been there.

You do need to give the ground time to breath and I have heard rule of 4 as the gold standard so the ground gets used by pigs once in 4 years. I would say majority due 6 months in a year.  I've brought mine in over winter this year due to weather. But I have visited friends and other holdings that don't have that luxury to see them reduce herds.  This year has been the exception though.

[jellybean]

build an extra couple of pens and allow the pigs to move out of their existing paddock to a fresh paddock, sow the paddock with seed and allow a good bit of rain to fall, watch the ground come to life...it will be green in no time at all, a few warm days  and you will have feed thigh high.  Allow the pigs back in once this happens and it will give them 6 or so weeks of good green feed, no need to give them any thing else.

[Sudanpan]

We notice that our pigs really really really like scratching on posts.......... 


We went for stock wire fencing with sturdy wooden posts - and then we put electric tape along the bottom edge which stops the pigs using the fence to lean against. I remember when we went to pick up our first lot of weaners we had a look around the seller's smallholding and he had post and rail fencing that the boar was having a grand old time climbing up!


The pigs adapt to the electric tape very fast and it leaves us with lots of options of opening up the ground in chunks instead of giving them the whole lot at once.


Re the bees - possible area of contention so close to the pigs?? Our hives are 70 yards away but the bees seem to like the muddy puddles the pigs create!

[Hassle]

I stick a couple of posts inside the pen one with a scrubbing brush attached for the pigs to scratch on.