[Steel]

How do you all deal with maintenance of your outdoor pig pens between batches? Do you rake the ground level and reseed or not bother? The soil where they urinate is quite poor.

Also, the current pigs have a specific latrine area, but I'm concerned that despite my best efforts to completely clear it, the next lot of pigs may pick up bacteria in the ground or smell the old lot in that area and get stressed.

How do I address that area?

[greenbeast]

Early days for us still so not had much, if any down time for our pens yet. But where sows have moved in and out of our farrowing pens they don't seem bothered by previous inhabitants but obviously there isn't so much 'build up'

[Marches Farmer]

Key here is probably how long the ground is left between batches.  A good baking from the sun or a few freezing nights doesn't go amiss when minimizing the risk of infection.  The smell of dung from earlier occupants will probably encourage them to dung in the same spot, to enforce that it's now their territory.

[Steel]

At least five months between batches, but the area is under cover of trees and quite sheltered so sun and frost might not penetrate.

Didn't think about the smell helping to reinforce territory though.

[lintmill]

We have 3 pig areas, after pigs go off we rotovate and then green manure, follow that by rotovating the green manure in and then grow root crops (not carrots) turnip and swede which we feed sheep etc, after that we re-sow with a rye grazing grass seed. Then pigs come back on.  We repeat for all 3 areas.

[Steel]

We have 3 pig areas, after pigs go off we rotovate and then green manure, follow that by rotovating the green manure in and then grow root crops (not carrots) turnip and swede which we feed sheep etc, after that we re-sow with a rye grazing grass seed. Then pigs come back on.  We repeat for all 3 areas.

What sort of time scale is that over? Are you using each area in rotation or simultaneously?

[lintmill]

Each area is in a 3 year rotation.

[90driver]

We roll the stones back in when the field is nice and soft, strim the few nettles and rake back the border where they have pushed the soil up against the fence.

Then leave it for nature to do it's thing from Nov to April. A good hard winter does wonders. Most of the grass returns ready for the next batch. 

[greenbeast]

Each area is in a 3 year rotation.

I dream of this, gotta go build enough pens to keep up with current demand first!

[Jamesh]

Still in year 1, so not so much groundwork to do so far. I went with larger pens where possible, have 7 roughly 30m x20m pens and another pen double this size for the boar and dry sows. Must say I'm really amazed how well the grass has lasted (albeit a great year for grass).

General maintenance includes stripping thistles, when pigs move out of pens will harrow or top the grass. I put electric wire along the bottom of the stock fence to save undermining it but do need to fill in a few holes near the water troughs.

Some time in October will move the larger pigs onto a patch of land planted the other week with stubble turnips, hoping to save the grass pens over winter