In 2016 we are going to start a farrowing operation. This decision did not come lightly. Breading and raising baby pigs is a lot more work, but the difficulty of getting enough finishing pigs at a profitable price pushed us to the decision.
After looking into how many sows we would need to get enough babies to fill the pens, we decided the goal is to get to the point where we will have 20 sows. We could split them into two groups of ten with each group have baby pigs two times a year.
As we speak my husband and the neighbor are on their way to gets some gilts. A gilt is a female pig that is yet to have a litter of piglets. (By the time I was able to finish this post, they are back and the pigs pictured are them.)
To get ready for our new adventure my husband built two hog huts. He modeled them off some old ones his grandpa built years ago. He used some tin and boards we had around the farm.
The first one has a slanted roof to keep the rain out. The sides and back are slanted in so when the sow goes to lay down she doesn't squish her babies.
Looks like there is plenty of room for a momma and babies. Since we don't have a pen for the boars, this will probably be theirs.
The next one is in an A frame and top notch....for used materials.
The edges of the door are wrapped to keep the sow, or son, safe from cutting herself on the sharp edges of the tin.
One modification from his grandfather's is he put a 12 inch door on the back. This way he can pull out any dead baby pigs without having to fight the sow. No matter how good of a mother sow you have, she will loose some.
On the A frame he lined it with plywood before putting the tin on to provide a little bit more insulation on cold days.
The hog huts are nice because you can pick them up and move them to clean them out. Then you don't have work bent over with a pitch fork to clean the manure out. Also they make great summer pigging shed because they get more air.
Step two in getting ready is converting the chicken house into a farrowing shed with 10 pens.
First we had to clear out all the old chicken coops. Each box was a nest for a chicken laying an egg. A young healthy chick should lay an egg everyday, but we are getting off subject. Back to building.
The layout is a center aisle with five pens on each side.
As you can see when the sow is in her pen you have to slide her door up, which lets her out into the aisle before going outside.
Once in the pen there are two by fours screwed in about 12 inches in from the side and 10 inches off the ground. This allows the babies a safe place to escape to when momma lays down. Otherwise a few would get squished between the wall, floor, and momma.
Unlike most hog confinements where a sow goes into a pin just big enough for her to stand and lay down for six weeks, there is plenty of room for momma to turn around and move.
In the future running electricity to the shed will be nice so you can see after dark and have outlets to plug in heat lamps next winter.
Step three is building pens for two boars and bred gilts before they pig. It will be awhile before we have babies because the gilts are still babies themselves. We are just trying to get ready before the weather gets nice. That's when things get busy on a farm.
Derick is getting to know his new gilts. Trying to tame them and get them used to humans will make them easier to handle when they are pigging.
Copper saw us out with the pigs and he had to join us. The pen is too tall to jump so he squeezes between the pipes on the gate.
I can't wait to bring Henry by!!
ReplyDeleteAnytime!! We won't have babies until early next year, though.
DeleteI can't wait to bring Henry by!!
ReplyDelete