1. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Pig pens are the most subjective crazy annoying things I have ever read; From recommendations from Texas Tech University to books to eBooks to Pliny the Elder.

    So far, I have a 25 x 100' pen (7.62m x 30.48m) I can easily make another with out working very hard at the moment that is 50 x 25. (15.24m x 7.62m) for 2 piglet size Berkshires that I plan to see pregnant with a litter in these 2 pens till I am physically able to do another 25 x100(7.62m x 30.48m), or are the first two enough for 2 potential sows with litter the first year?

    Additionally, the 1st pen, that is 25 x 100 is semi forest in rehab and over grown blackberry with prairie area in rehab. South of this is a swale on contour with a jumbo chestnut, more coming as life allows. When I am physically able I will have the pigs go over the swale to another pen that would be 25' or wider x 100' that is a more forested in search of rehab area.

    The second possible pen that is 50 x 25 is most prairie / blackberry. A jumbo chestnut will be in this area that drops into this pen as well. Both areas will be getting oak for acorns as well in the future when $$$ allows.

    What is your opinion and why for the size pens I need for the 2 Berkshires?
     
  2. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    Wonderful Pigs
    Miss the pigs
    I ran a 25 to 30 sow piggery for nearly 10 yrs
    Typical grower shed for pork through to bacon
    Sows had a 80 x 50 metre paddock to wander in plus a shed with three sections and a cement floor
    Sow paddock had a few sun / rain shelters (just a roof) in the paddock
    Sow paddock had a significant slope which helped drainage
    Most of the time there was only about a dozen in the paddock the rest were feeding their babies or locked away for final pregnancy stages or in the breeding pen

    Your question "How big"
    As always it depends
    They don't really need much room they dont use it they just lay around and eat thats about it
    Mine used maybe a tenth of the paddock
    They need shelter and as clean as possible
    If your land is flat you will need lots more room as they will dig wallows the rest of the paddock will end up compacted and bare doesn't matter how big you make the paddock , so too much slope you will get erosion trouble .

    So turning your plans completely upside down
    Ideal would be as long a raceway as you can get and a moveable shelter on wheels , electric fence across raceway , move them on every few days before they bare the land out .

    A bloke I used to shear for went and helped after the kings lake fires , he helped a small intensive farmer with fencing . This bloke ran pigs and followed with chickens similar to the cows then chickens (Salatin ??) , and was growing 10 tonne to the hectare wheat crops with no chemicals at all . They dig every thing up but if you can keep them moveing you wont get the dirty great wallows (tons of soil).

    Or you could run them on the sloped floor shed system and not worry about paddocks
    1 in 15 slope (I think , its been awhile) at the bottom of slope is a 4 inch gap in the wall at ground level dropping away outside
    Depending on how many pigs in the yard you throw a measured amount of straw in every day
    They play in this all day mixing it and it eventually ends up pushed through the gap outside
    Worlds best compost
    Very little fighting , happy busy pigs

    Back to your paddocks the trees will need serious mesh protection that's a given
    Hope that's given you useful info you can use in your design
     
  3. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    I can't exactly do it your way, I physically can't. However for my 2 piglets which will be sows with litters eventually & I read about 1 sow needing 35 sq. ft. for 1 sow with litter.
     
  4. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    [​IMG]

    The Dot above the farrow pen, right of Pig Pen 1 is a power pole. Plantable areas will have acorns, chestnuts and other food forest items that will be available to me, and to the pigs.
     
  5. Flatland

    Flatland Member

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    The area where I used to live was originally very heavily wooded. The why it was cleared for market gardens was by pig. Fence was put around the area to be cleared and then pigs put in. The pigs happily rooted around and the land was cleared. Interesting way of clearing but goes to show what pigs can do if allowed to.
     
  6. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Berkies are pretty big pigs when grown, that is why most folks give them space.
    If you are rotating them through the pens often enough you should not have any huge problems with bare land being rooted up tons.
    I have a friend that has his own land race breed of Berkies. He rotates them on a weekly basis and says he doesn't have huge rooting issues.

    All pigs or hogs will make themselves a wallow, usually close to their water source, this is just a given.
    pastured pigs or hogs, when rotated weekly tend to not root as much, if they are left on one parcel longer then they will start to root for tasty worms, bugs, roots, etc.
    By keeping your trees out of the paddocks, you will not have "rubbing" issues but they will get the dropped nuts that fall inside their paddock, this is what you want anyway and have said they are for both you and the pigs, so no worries there really.

    small operations can be far easier on the land in use than if you are running a large herd. We have two breeding sows and one boar but ours are American Guinea Hogs, a lard breed that is on the critical list. Our hogs are pasture hogs, they wintered in one area that we intended them to root out all the unwanted vegetation, they performed just like we intended. Now I can move them into the paddocks I've built them on the weekly rotation and I will be able to plant the currently decimated paddock with really good pasture plants for them. Once it is growing well, it can be added to the rotation setup and I shouldn't have to feed them all winter like I did this year.

    Be prepared for each sow to have between 6 and 12 piglets, the babies will need a space that mom can't get into, this is so the babies can escape her when she flops for them to nurse. Without this escape space the babies could be crushed by mom accidently. Once they are about 5 weeks old they will be able to avoid her easily.
     
  7. Nicolai Barca

    Nicolai Barca New Member

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    I would think pens or paddocks should be large enough to supply food, shelter needs, recreational activities, absorb wastes, and handle the impacts done by the animal. As said above, so long as you rotate them fast enough, the pasture will grow back. Now if you are feeding them all or nearly all of their diet and water, the pen can be as small as can be so long as wastes and shelter are met. People keep pigs in dry deep litter systems which are only like 15 square feet per pig. Looking at your drawing and description, I would think it would work well, at least for now and you can build more as needed. Them two little pigs will grow fast and might be pushing the limits later on, especially if you don't add more of your planned pens. The worst that could happen really is if they damage the vegetation productivity, in which case you could always confine them to an even smaller pen while the pasture recovers. They probably wouldn't mind.
     

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