[Clarebelle]

Hello everyone,

My first weaners are due to arrive in a few weeks so I am on the look out for an ark. My problem is that the local agri merchant only gets arks from solway recycled and they are so expensive! Their cheapest ark is a 5' by 4', is this big enough to get two pigs to pork weight?

They are white pigs, and will be outdoors with access to a large area.

[shygirl]

is it very heavy? if its plastic it might blow away if it doesnt have a base.
5x4 is big enough, we have one that size and 6 mth old porkers arent that big really, sort of knee height. they snuggle on top of eachother.
we made one out of wood and corrugated metal.

[Clarebelle]

I doubt it's very heavy. Other people here just tether stuff like that into the ground. I think they come with the option of a floor so I might for that

[HappyHippy]

The Solway arcs are good, but they are very expensive.
If you're raising them through summer / autumn they'll do fine in a homemade/alternative shelter that doesn't need to cost the earth 
Have a look through the pig section, there's a couple of threads on arcs and housing.

[Anke]

straw bales tightened in with fence posts and corrugated iron sheet as roof, all tied down securely shoudl do it for weaners that go off to abattoir by 6 months.

Or a sheet of corrugated iron bent into ark shape and tied down, after all you only need shelter form rain/wind not to keep them really warm during the winter.

[Fleecewife]

We made a couple of small pig shelters from a 1000l black barrel cut in half lengthways.  Once they were able to carry them on their backs we added a wooden base wall to make them taller.  Now our pigs are gone we use the houses as lamb shelters and they provide endless fun for growing lambs to bounce on.  To stop them blowing away we knocked short sections of stob into the ground at each corner and tied the shelter on with rope.

[Clarebelle]

Great ideas for homemade arcs, your right in that I only really need something they can shelter under. The only trouble with something like that is finding the materials.

Maybe I'll try and get hold of one of the local farmers and see if they have anything suitable lying round.