# How much space do pigs need?



## forester7

I am planning for a hobby barn which I will build next spring. If I raise my pigs inside the barn only, what size pen should I plan for if I want...

2 pigs?
3 pigs?
4 pigs?

Also, if I decide to allow them to run both in and out of the barn into a fenced off area, would a 10' x 12' pen inside the barn be big enough for 4 pigs?

Thanks in advance!


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## TAH

What do you plan to use your pigs for? what breed of pig are you going to get? If you keep them contained in the barn 24/7, your barn will need to fresh air running thru it. Also how often do you want to muck out your barn?


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## forester7

I will keep them for our food and our relatives. I would probably go Yorkshire if I keep them mainly inside. I may possibly end up going with Berkshire if I keep them outside. I don't know if keeping them inside is any less hassle than building and maintaining fences and chasing escaped pigs around our community?


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## NH homesteader

10x12 sounds small, particularly if you're planning on keeping breeders or raising them to a fairly large size.  I raise my pigs outside and I think it's the only way to do it. 

I'll look up specific size suggestions, but I raise mine outside with basically a hut for them to go in.  They spend most of their time outside.

@misfitmorgan and @farmerjan

Edit : apparently I never finished my sentence...  Tagging those two who have or do raise pigs...  And may have a better idea of exact space requirements.


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## NH homesteader

Our pigs  never escape. They respect electric fence.


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## Maggiesdad

I run my 3 feeder pigs in a two acre lot with 3 wire electric, a hut and a wallow that I put water in for them. I never smell anything thing from there. Happy boys.


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## NH homesteader

I bet you do have happy pigs! We don't have that much area for ours but we move them frequently,  except in winter!


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## misfitmorgan

A 10'X12' pen would be to small for 4 butcher weight pigs and would encourage a lot of fighting/bickering, not to mention cleaning it or keeping it clean would be almost impossible. You would need to build a second pen to move the pigs to so you could clean the first pen as there simply would not be enough space to safely clean with 4 pigs in there with you.

You want 20sqft per pig if your going to have a slat floor and gutters etc for waste..so 2 pigs would be 40sqft and 4 pigs would be 80sqft this comes out to be 8'X5' for 2 pigs and 8'x10ft for 4 pigs. This is the size alloted for sows to farrow in in the new style farrowing crates and is the minimum space needed...this is however not how you want to raise meat pigs, you want them to be able to move around more. For meat pigs i would recommend at least double this size on one side which would be 8'x10' or 16'x5'(80sqft) for 2 pigs and 32'x5' or 8'x20'(160sqft) for 4 pigs plus taking into account your ability to clean the pen and the area feeders and waters will take up.

Our pig stalls are 8'X12' and we keep two butcher pigs per stall. We could actually use a smaller stall for just two butcher pigs but we breed pigs as well so we have large stalls for farrowing. When we get the stalls on the other side of the barn done the butcher pigs stalls will be 8'x10' again for 2 butcher pigs per stall. Our pens need to be cleaned approx every 2 weeks and they do not stink.

2 butcher pigs - 80SQFT this can be 8'x10', 16'x5', 11'x7.25'
3 butcher pigs - 120SQFT this can be 10'x12'
4 butcher pigs - 160SQFT this can be 32'x5' , 8'x20', 12'x13.25'

You can use any measurements you like but keep in mind most of these will still require another area you can put the pigs in so you can clean the pen. Alternatively you could make a small shelter and a larger pasture area..the pigs will use the bathroom outside greatly reducing the need to clean the inside pen. If your going to provide pasture space the inside shelter space can be as small as 8'x8' for 2 pigs and 10'x10' or 8'x12.5' for 4 pigs. If your looking at those numbers thinking i made a mistake, i didnt and yes i said 8'x8' for 2 pigs. It all has to do with pig space and the general rule is no matter how few pigs you have you need an 8ft long space because that is the length a pig can comfortably lay down in, at butcher weight 250-300lbs.

If you wanted to do a pasture and hut system thats easy to maintain and clean you could make a hut per pig that is 8'x4'x4', the pig enters and exits on the 4' side usually. For two pigs you could do 8'x8'x4' but i would make a hinged roof so you can lift the roof to clean the hut and save your back. Huts and pasture work great for meat pigs, the poo stays outside. i know one farmer who uses nothing but huts and only needs to clean them once every 3 months and thats only in case of parasites. He uses dirt floors with hay or straw for bedding.

Electric fence works really really well for pigs btw and is pretty cheap to put in a "big" pasture. The larger their pasture the more forage they can find which saves you on feed.


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## NH homesteader

Our huts aren't very big (not sure of measurements,  sorry)  but they just sleep in them.  Or hunker down if it's super awful out...


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## NH homesteader

Oh and my friend breeds heritage pigs (most of ours came from him)  and he said they often sleep out in the  snow and get up and shake it off in the morning. Lol.  And none of our pigs poop in their huts.  Much easier!


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## misfitmorgan

NH homesteader said:


> Our huts aren't very big (not sure of measurements,  sorry)  but they just sleep in them.  Or hunker down if it's super awful out...



Yep his sleep in them or hide from the winter sometimes but thats it. His huts are built bigger because he sections off the huts with the sow when it is farrowing time and puts a panel inside the hut to make a creep area for the piglets with a heat lamp. According to what he said it works great! His huts are also square built out of all wood with a tin roof thats slanted so the snow falls off. He used to use smaller huts but he had a gilt get killed in one so went to bigger ones that he end up liking better. The gilt was asleep in the hut and a large sow or the boar squeezed in there on a night it was -47 and the next day he found the gilt a bit smooshed and dead.


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## SheepGirl

We bought six 20-30 lb pigs from auction two months ago. They started in an 8x8 (about 10.7 sq ft) pen but it was then expanded to 8x16 (about 21.3 sq ft each). They are probably 75-100 lbs now, though I don't know for sure. These are my first pigs so I'm still not able to guess their weight very well. I have a scale, I just need to get around to weighing them. They live exclusively in the barn as my mom does not like pigs, doesn't like to look at them, hear them, smell them--so they are in the barn where they are "out of sight out of mind" for her. Soon I will be moving my pigs to my new house with 7.2 acres so they will have a little bit more space and then one of them will be butchered this winter. The other five I will be breeding. My fiance and I plan to build a long building with individual pens with outdoor areas for each one. That way we can have each sow separate when pregnant/farrowing and also have the boar separate. We will have larger pens for the litters when they're weaned while we're feeding them before they're sold.

I recommend reading this. Check out Sections 7 & 8 for raising feeder pigs to a finishing weight. http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~chibale/swineproduction.html


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## Latestarter

Ummmm, ahhhhhh, 8 foot by 8 foot isn't 10.7 square feet... it's 64 square feet and 8' x 16' is 128 square feet...


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## NH homesteader

I think that was per pig measurements...


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## Latestarter

Ahhhhhh..... <face to palm> 6 pigs to 64 square feet so... got it... I read what she typed literally; 





SheepGirl said:


> They started in an 8x8 (about 10.7 sq ft) pen


 without adding or assuming "each"...  So is it too obvious that I'm a very literal person and therefore have little creative bent?


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## NH homesteader

Bahaha I looked at it twice before I figured it out too. 

Yes @misfitmorgan good point.  We have three pigs that are all the same size (little for now)  and none will be bred until spring.  So our little pig huts will be remodeled before farrowing. We've only raised pigs for meat til now so I was in feeder pig mode.


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## misfitmorgan

NH homesteader said:


> Bahaha I looked at it twice before I figured it out too.
> 
> Yes @misfitmorgan good point.  We have three pigs that are all the same size (little for now)  and none will be bred until spring.  So our little pig huts will be remodeled before farrowing. We've only raised pigs for meat til now so I was in feeder pig mode.



Raising meat pigs is certainly easier in terms of housing requirements but breeders are not much harder just have to make sure the gilt/sow has enough room when she has 6-12 piglets that are 4-8 weeks old(depending on when you wean) and a way to section off the piglets when you wanna wean them.


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## NH homesteader

Is there any  reason you can't leave piglets in with the sow until she weans them herself? Obviously not the ones we're  selling but couldn't we do that with the ones we're raising for meat? We will only be breeding once a year.


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## misfitmorgan

You can but sometimes "modern" breeds will get mean with their piglets and you have to keep in mind it is possible for boars to breed at 4 months, though being successful is rare at that age. If they are used to being in a pasture setting with many piglets it should be fine but make sure you dont have a breeding age boar in with them because they will kill the young males sometimes and definitely try to breed the females as soon as they come into heat. It all boils down to the temperament of your pigs, we are working towards pasture raising in large groups. So far the gilts are fine with "foreign" piglets as in one gilt had her first litter and the other gilt has not tried to hurt the piglets at all and in fact is more protective then their mother.

We will be AI'ing my pet gilt shortly for 4-h piglets, should have actually done it a month ago


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## NH homesteader

We are super lucky and we have someone who will loan us a boar for breeding and then he'll go away.  Also we will be  cutting our male piglets so theoretically we could just let them stay with mom. Ours are mostly heritage (GOS /Chester Whit and Duroc). Their grandmother and mother are the friendliest pigs ever and allow other sows' piglets to mingle with theirs. We actually primarily  chose them as our breeders due to personality of their lines.


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## misfitmorgan

NH homesteader said:


> We are super lucky and we have someone who will loan us a boar for breeding and then he'll go away.  Also we will be  cutting our male piglets so theoretically we could just let them stay with mom. Ours are mostly heritage (GOS /Chester Whit and Duroc). Their grandmother and mother are the friendliest pigs ever and allow other sows' piglets to mingle with theirs. We actually primarily  chose them as our breeders due to personality of their lines.



Awesome then you shouldnt have an issue! We dont cut our feeder pigs just 4-h piglets.


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## forester7

Ok... after hearing some of the arguments, I am thinking of fencing them in pasture. How much pasture would I need for 4 pigs?


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## misfitmorgan

It depends a good deal on the land you have. Is it woods, grassland, hay field, dessert, etc. If your fine feeding them 100% throughout and just letting them forage for whatever they can find as a bonus you could go as small are 1/4 acre but they are gonna root that up a lot. If your wanting to do a true pasture system and have good woods or grassland, some kind of lush pasture you could do 4.....1/4 or 1/2 acre pens set up in a square and rotate them thru the pens. That helps cut down on things like rooting, parasites, and helps the pasture have time to regrow and more bugs,insects, worms, etc to move in again which will  keep your pigs happier, healthier and cost you less feed. Totally up to you, standard pasture system for pigs is 10 pigs per acre and rotating as needed usually every few weeks. Standard drylot is 50 pigs per acre. Both of those last two will require supplemental feeding for the first and full feeding for the latter.

This site has a lot of info on pasturing pigs. The why's and the how's etc. http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2013/09/08/pig-on-pasture/


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## GooderSan

Looking into adding pigs to our herd. Probably just two feeders for now. We had a nanny goat for the last couple of years but have recently sold her and her kids. So now we have a 10'x5' stall in our barn just sitting there doing nothing attached to a 1 acre barb wire fenced, moderately steep, wooded pasture. Would this pasture be large enough to withstand the destructive power of large pigs? They would be sleeping in the barn, shared with another stall occupied by quail. I plan on running electric fence, would one wire along with the barbed wire (six strand about 6" spacing on the lower wires) be enough? Lastly, there are known predators in the area. Coyotes, neighborhood dogs, foxes. Would any of these be a possible issue with pigs? I would hope the wire would stop them, but we did have issues with our chickens/guinea fowl out in the pasture due to the smaller predators. Many more questions to follow in the next week or two as I establish the knowledge base before picking up some piglets. Thanks!


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## Latestarter

Greetings and welcome to BYH. There's a good bit of shared knowledge and experience in the various threads. Browse around and make yourself at home. Pigs are very smart and very strong, and if they want through that barbed wire, well, they'll just push right on through. A really stout (meaning high output) electric wire (or 2) will tend to keep them from challenging the fence, once they've experienced the hot wire. One acre seems like more than enough space, but depending on what's there, it may not be enough to provide all the nourishment they need. You may still need to provide them food. The coyotes or dogs would have to be pretty serious to try and take on adult pigs. Foxes wouldn't be considered a threat to anything other than young piglets really. We have a good group of active pig owners here, so post away and someone should be along to help you out. Glad you joined up. Hope you stay and share some pics and stories of how it goes for you.

@misfitmorgan @farmerjan @NH homesteader @Mini Horses and there are a lot more hog folks here as well.

Edit to add; you should put at least your general location in your profile so folks can have some idea where you're located. It matters when you ask for help/guidance. Also, there's a member from N Alabama who is presently selling some hogs and they'd be a really good deal for you if you're within reach.


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## NH homesteader

An acre is a lovely amount of land. How many pigs? They will root and make mud pits, so depending on what you mean by withstanding their destruction, maybe or maybe not lol. I don't use electric, I use hog panels, so I'll let someone else comment on that.

We are always careful with piglets because they could be taken by a coyote. But adults? I would be surprised! Not a lot wants to mess with a pig.


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## misfitmorgan

Latestarter said:


> Greetings and welcome to BYH. There's a good bit of shared knowledge and experience in the various threads. Browse around and make yourself at home. Pigs are very smart and very strong, and if they want through that barbed wire, well, they'll just push right on through. A really stout (meaning high output) electric wire (or 2) will tend to keep them from challenging the fence, once they've experienced the hot wire. One acre seems like more than enough space, but depending on what's there, it may not be enough to provide all the nourishment they need. You may still need to provide them food. The coyotes or dogs would have to be pretty serious to try and take on adult pigs. Foxes wouldn't be considered a threat to anything other than young piglets really. We have a good group of active pig owners here, so post away and someone should be along to help you out. Glad you joined up. Hope you stay and share some pics and stories of how it goes for you.
> 
> @misfitmorgan @farmerjan @NH homesteader @Mini Horses and there are a lot more hog folks here as well.
> 
> Edit to add; you should put at least your general location in your profile so folks can have some idea where you're located. It matters when you ask for help/guidance. Also, there's a member from N Alabama who is presently selling some hogs and they'd be a really good deal for you if you're within reach.



I would agree with @NH homesteader not much messes with adult pigs. Two runs of electric wire if exposed to it at a young age should keep them in just fine, pigs hate electric. The barb wire isnt going to do you any good for any small livestock usually. As far as the acre being enough general space this link should be helpful http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2007/10/12/how-much-land-per-pig/ but i would say you should definitely have enough space for two pigs for butcher. They will not likely get all of their feed from it though, it depends where you live really. 

If you provide a wallow for them with a sprinkler suspended or something to keep the area wet they will not make other wallows in the pen. Our pigs generally go out on pasture in spring/summer/fall and they dont tear up the pasture much but we always feed them before work(5:30am) in the warmer months. For winter atm our pigs go into stalls in the barn, esp anyone who is bred.


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## NH homesteader

Oh man I hope when we have a bigger area for my pigs they'll learn how to not destroy everything!


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## farmerjan

The only way to keep the pigs from "destroying" everything, like rooting, will be to put rings in their nose.  They will then graze and utilize the pastures better, but will not be able to do their "pig thing" and root.  You have to make a choice.  1 acre is plenty big for 2 pigs to have for room, but will probably not supply their nutritional needs unless with a forested area that has things like acorns etc.  Wild hogs that are the bane of many farmer  and ranchers, do alot of their foraging in wooded areas, and brushy places.  You want them to gain weight, not just survive so added feeding would be the way to go and they will love you for all that playing space.  Barbed wire will not keep them in, but like others have said, adding a strand or preferably 2 of electric and letting them get "hit" once or twice will teach them and they will stay in it.
Have never had an issue with foxes ever.  When real little, momma hog would tear a fox apart trying to bother babies, when they are weaned and 20-30 lbs they are as big as a fox and they just won't be an issue.  Coyotes will be a possibility, but hogs will bite back so doubt they will be a problem unless real little.  Dogs might run them, but again, a hog will fight back if attacked.  Most dogs just won't do it.  A sheep or goat will run, but a hog when cornered is a ferocious thing.  Most have very sweet dispositions, and they love the people who bring them things to eat.  But I would never attempt to get after one that could turn around and get me.  Their jaws are stronger than a pit bull.  Most predators won't mess with them past the little tiny baby pig size.


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## Bossroo

Since you say that your land is moderately steep,  add rooting pigs and some rain, you could end up with errosion / gullying that would eventually become quite a problem.  As for dogs as predators, dogs are used to hunt wild boars, so keep that in mind too.


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## NH homesteader

I actually thought of that after I posted. I have a dog bred for hog hunting, but she leaves the pigs alone (other than harassing them from outside the fence). Her father would jump the fence and take one down if he ever came here.


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