How much space does a pig need?

[Dace]

I am just wondering.....planning the future. Things may or may not go my way but we are trying to buy this house and so I am dreaming about the what ifs.......

I have room, I think, and I have a portion of the yard that may work. Just wondering if I was going to raise a pig or two how much space would need to be dedicated to them?

 

[Farmfresh]

Mine takes up about 1/4 of my deep freeze!

 

[Dace]

 

[TanksHill]

I think the last time I asked this question the answer varied. I think the hog panels usually run 16 ft in length. So the going idea was 16ft square. Blackbird has his pen up against his barn and uses several panels to rotate so the destruction(rooting) is more evenly distributed.

I have seen commercial pens much smaller but I think that kind of runs along the lines of battery chickens. Not healthy or natural.

Maybe do a search for the other thread. I received lots of great ideas and advice.

gina

 

[Dace]

Thanks Gina...that 16' square pen sounds reasonable.

I will search for the other thread. I looked on back yard heards but did not find much. Seems like pigs are not very popular

 

[freemotion]

My question is how much space is minimum IDEAL for pastured pigs (two). Not minimum for survival. Minimum for thriving. Bee, what do Salatin's books say?

 

[TanksHill]

yes, Free it would be interesting to see what he says.

gina

 

[Bettacreek]

I know of someone who raised two in a pen that was pushing 10'x10'. Granted, this is the same *explicit* who had several breeding rabbits, yet told me that the rabbits with the dewlap were the males...

 

[Big Daddy]

We raised 2 pigs in a 32x32 pen. 8 hog panels with t-posts every 8 ft. They made a huge mess because the mud made it impossible to clean up their waste. Huge increase in flies and the smell was horrible. After 3 years the smell was still there when I roto tilled. I wouldn't do it unless you live far away from your neighbors or hate your neighbors, because they will hate you if they are within nose distance when the wind blows. I can smell horse dung all day long and live with it, pigs are a different story. They are fun to watch though. Smart.

I understand that if they have some room then the problem is much less severe.

 

[Dace]

Wow Big Daddy...that is an ugly story.

Hmmm...... any other stories? Maybe a pig is not a good idea. We are on less than an acre and I have neighbors on one side. Could be bad news.

Although, I am in California where we get less than 10 inches of rain a year, so mud would def. not be a problem.