# Pig Fencing and pasture size!



## BarredCametLaced (Dec 27, 2011)

How much space should i give one pig and her litter? Like if a pig has 6-10 piglets and i raise the piglets to butchering size?

If i have two sows, and raise my pigs and their piglets to butchering weight, how much space would i need?

There would only be two-three seasonal residents. Thanks!

ALSO, would a combination of Tractor Supply General Purpose Field Fence, 6 in. Vertical Stays, 47 in. H, 11 ga. Filler Wire and a strand of electric at the top and bottom be suitable for keeping horses, sheep, and pigs (not all together).


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## Kojack (Dec 27, 2011)

There's probably a minimum amount of square feet needed for health and santitation purposes, but I think more, rather than less, is better. I have two pigs in an area about 100' x 30' and they use it all. I think that if I'd fenced in twice as much area they would use the additional space as well. I'm seeing that space allows for foraging, rooting, play, and a clear separation between feeding and manure areas. I think larger spaces also reduce odor and the difficulty of managing the manure. The only caution I've heard about large spaces is that there's a potential for the pigs to revert to being wild and becoming hard to capture/contain whenever the time comes to trailer or butcher. I hope you'll let us know what you decide and provide updates along the way. Good luck!


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## BarredCametLaced (Dec 28, 2011)

Thats what i was thinking about size... I wasthinking like a 4 acre plot divided into four 1acre sections so that i could rotate them around. 

Any one on the fence question?
...would a combination of Tractor Supply General Purpose Field Fence, 6 in. Vertical Stays, 47 in. H, 11 ga. Filler Wire and a strand of electric at the top and bottom be suitable for keeping horses, sheep, and pigs (not all together).


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## austintgraf (Dec 28, 2011)

for your fence question I would think so. My family has horse and keep them in with one electrical strand at chest height and its not even turned on half the time so i guess it depends on how calm your horses are. as for pigs it should do fine I would think.  but pigs get big and are known to try and tell fences who is boss so i think in a years time the wire will be fairly stretched but with the electrical wire the should keep off of it. And as for sheep to be honest I don't have much experience with sheep with the exception of a couple lambs for meat. But its been my experience if the think their head can get through a hole they with stick it through, and if the have horns will get stuck. but the should be a problem seeing as most breed of sheep the ewes have know horns and the rams are so big they couldn't fit through anything anways. And for the space for the pigs, more is definently better. seeing as they will tear the ground up in know time, trust me i know  my friends told me to put rings in their noses but I just think its cruel to take away their desire to root, its just instinct.


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## pubwvj (Dec 31, 2011)

We raise pigs on pasture on a fairly large scale, hundreds of pigs. That's small by confinement operation standards but big for pastured pig operations. I figure a maximum of ten pigs per acre using managed intensive rotational grazing. For that sow and offspring figure you need an acre but you need to divide the acre up into at least four and preferably more paddocks. Then you move the pigs between the paddocks so that they do not compact the soil or over graze any one paddock.

A good way to set this up is as a nine-square like a tic-tac-toe board. Put their stationary stuff if you must in the center such as wallow, house, supplemental food, water, etc. Then open the outer eight paddocks to them in succession to rotate their grazing. Electric fence works great.

See:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:flashweb.com+grazing pigs

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa


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## Dino (Jan 31, 2013)

I agree with pubwvj on everything said.  Once your pigs know where an electric fence is and that it will shock them, you will be hard pressed to get them to cross that spot even if you remove the fence... for a day or two anyway.  I turn our fencer off all the time and never have problems with escapees.


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