Anyone here raise pigs?

Budweiser

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First post here, anyone here raise pigs? I'm thinking of getting a piglet this spring to raise for meat from my friend who breeds them... Just wondering what others do for pens, feed, etc. to get different ideas.
 

SSDreamin

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Yes, several of us on here raise pigs. I would recommend talking to your friend who breeds them for ideas. They would know what works best for your area :hu
As for us, we pasture raise ours, as much as possible. When that can't be done, we feed chop with lots of additions. Our pig girls have a nice sized hutch, L shaped for wind protection, piled high with straw. We were told to always have a minimum of 2 here, as they like companionship and will help each other stay warm during our cold months.
 

Wannabefree

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I set up stalls in a metal frame garage for mine, 3 (8x10) stalls accross the back, made from pallets. They didn't cost me a dime. I repurposed a couple dog houses insde, and keep the floor about 6-8 inches thick with straw, which they toss around and pile up. It just takes a bit of maintenance to do it that way. I feed them kitchen scraps, grain, and old expired yogurt that I got for free. Our pigs are by far about the cheapest animals we raise, but we have a lot of stuff given to us for them. A few neighbors hold out scraps for us too.
 

Budweiser

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I can get truck loads of pallets whenever I need then, and was thinking about using pallets to build the stall, just worried about it strength wise.
 

Wannabefree

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Well, thankfully we have a ton of rebar strewn back here in the woods, we just anchored them with that. It's plenty strong if you have the oak pallets, and reinforce/anchor at the ground level with something like rebar, or maybe concrete would work as well.
 

wannabefarmergirl

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we are getting pigs in a few days and we used pallets. We put t-posts in the pallets for support. Will this be enough? We are also using electric fencing.
 

SSDreamin

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wannabefarmergirl said:
we are getting pigs in a few days and we used pallets. We put t-posts in the pallets for support. Will this be enough? We are also using electric fencing.
We used electric fence too, but trained them to it with what's been called a 'pig ball pen'. I'm glad we did - those stinkers would've went right through the wire without it!
 

Wannabefree

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WBFG it should be enough. We haven't used electric ourselves, but I know folks who swear by it for pigs.
 

the funny farm6

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we use cattle pannels. with T posts. we were told also to keep more than 1 at a time so they will compete for the food and eat more.
 

Wannabefree

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They are pretty social animals too, and a lonely pig is an escape artist waiting to happen!!!
 
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