Free's piggie thread...new pics p 19

[patandchickens]

I do not know about pigs in specific (which really is why I opened this thread at the moment, because I am perpetually contemplating pigs and want to hear more firsthand experience) but as far as electric fences IN GENERAL, the way to deal with dry soil is to run a second wire about 4" away from each live wire (either above or below, and it does NOT need to be on insulators), and have that wire(s) attached directly to the 'ground' terminal of the fencer (to the terminal itself, or to the wire that leads from fencer to ground rods). That way, any time an animal touches the fence enough to be touching both kinds of wires at once, he gets the FULL zap of the fencer's strength, no matter how nonconductive the soil is.

Good luck with your future sausages, and I look forward to reading all about it ,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

Thanks, Pat, I do have the "non-live" wires but I did NOT know that I could/should put a grounding rod from that wire.....we do have two grounding rods but they are near the fencer, far, far away from the pig fence.

We are going with the security of cattle panels (hog panels are not in stock at our local TSC and we don't want to drive the half hour to the next one. Also, the cattle panels will be more versatile with the goats. I will run a low electric wire a few inches off the ground on the inside to keep them from digging under the fence or lifting it up....I would think the metal cattle panels, combined with one strand of electric wire, should give them a suitable zap, right? Or do I need to add a grounding rod to the panels? I could add one near their wallow, where the ground will always be wet. I hose it every day, sometimes twice.

I was pleased to find out, with the 100' measuring tape, that my pacing of the fence was accurate to within 6"!!! Seriously! From measuring my stride decades ago when I was doing a little jumping with horses and needed to measure distances quickly when setting up jumps.

My dad and dh spent most of the afternoon yesterday building the new cattle panel pig fence. We just need to make the gate and run the electric and it will be done and they can go out again. Don't know when that will happen....my heavy work week starts tomorrow, and my next day off, Tuesday, will be occupied with picking up my dear first doggie from his knee surgery and fussing over him all day. Poor little poochie.

 

[big brown horse]

Hi I've been lurking around... I have learned so much but I dont post often. I may have a solution to the water flipping. My pigs did that as well and it gets hot here. I always worried about them not having water. So I took an old wash tub and put a cinder block in it to weigh it down now they drink and no flipping the thing over!

Thank you so much for posting this!!!! I've been at my wits end keeping my pig's water fiIIed up.

What a great and simpIe idea!

Iurk Iess, post more!!

 

[Blackbird]

When we had oinkers we used a large old sink and sunk it into the ground, like Deb mentioned. Now we have it in the goose pen.
We also had cement crock/bowls, very heavy but they are nice for grain when you have pig! I bet a person could figure out how to make one pretty easily.

 

[Farmfresh]

When we had oinkers we used a large old sink and sunk it into the ground, like Deb mentioned. Now we have it in the goose pen.
We also had cement crock/bowls, very heavy but they are nice for grain when you have pig! I bet a person could figure out how to make one pretty easily.

I wonder if an old top from a birdbath would work for grain? Just an idea.

 

[Blackbird]

When we had oinkers we used a large old sink and sunk it into the ground, like Deb mentioned. Now we have it in the goose pen.
We also had cement crock/bowls, very heavy but they are nice for grain when you have pig! I bet a person could figure out how to make one pretty easily.

I wonder if an old top from a birdbath would work for grain? Just an idea.

I sure bet it would, or at least hold up longer than a plastic alternative.

I'm trying to remember what else we did for them..
I remember when it hit the hot days of July we would run the hose in their pen for a couple hours so they would have a nice cool area to wallow around in. Whenever they ran out of water and became thirsty they broke out of their fence (cattle panel) and roamed the yard. We would have to lure them back in with a bucket of water.

 

[Farmfresh]

A friend of mine had a big old cast iron bathtub with part of the drain pipe still attached that she used as a horse water tank. They had a valve attached to the drain pipe, so you could just turn that and the tub would drain away.

I always thought a set up like that but dug down into the ground more and with gravel around and under the tub to make it last longer would be a "cool" idea for a pig wallow.

 

[freemotion]

I have rubber tubs that are pretty indestructible. I also keep an area wet for a wallow, and I think in my situation, the mud is better than just water in a tub...the mosquitoes are horrendous in the evenings and a nice coating of dried mud gives them a little relief.

BB, I did NOT like reading that your oinkers escaped cattle panels regularly!!! How did they do this? Did they lift them, or push them off the fence posts? How did they get out?

We live in a suburban neighborhood on a busy road and cannot have pig escapes!!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Did they lift them, or push them off the fence posts?

once they start getting bigger they will just get their noses under and toss them like they are potato chips....and then run thru the woods with your husband chasing them in his nice work clothes. ok maybe not YOUR husband - but thats what happened to mine
;-)

run dont walk and get electric!

 

[freemotion]

We are replacing the electric with cattle panels because it didn't hold them! I will run a wire down low on the inside of the panels....I sure hope the wire plus the panels works. Yikes. I'm hoping to grow them to something like 300 lbs, lots of fat.