# Need a pen, quickly



## Martlet (Jul 4, 2016)

I bought some land last year and I've been slowly clearing it and adding animals.  A neighbor recently offered me a feeder pig, but I only have a week to clear some trees and get the pen built.  Having never dealt with pigs, and since I'm not sure this will be the permanent home for it, I've built a decent shelter and would like a non-permanent fence.

I'm thinking T-Posts with hog panels, then run three strands of electric inside the panels.  Will this be enough?  Hog Panels aren't the sturdiest and I've heard horror stories about pigs running through fences.  If I put T-posts every four feet would that be enough of a visual deterrent when supplemented with the electric wire, or should I use electric rope or tape since it's more visible?   

Or am I just COMPLETELY off in my thinking and need to go in a different direction?

Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated.


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## samssimonsays (Jul 4, 2016)

I dint know much but I do know they do better with a buddy and toys. If you cant get it a buddy, Give it toys and space. @Ferguson K @Devonviolet @babsbag may be of more help. I am drawing a major blank on others names right now


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## Latestarter (Jul 4, 2016)

Greetings @Martlet and welcome to BYH  What type pig? How much space are you allocating? IMHO, hog panels with T posts every 4', with electric inside should be more than adequate. Since your pig will be starting out pretty small, I'm sure it'll learn quickly to avoid the hot wire(s). That should stick with him/her as it grows out. I'm assuming you'll be processing it for your freezer, so it shouldn't get to be 600+ pounds... I do concur that pigs are very intelligent and get bored easily so do best with a partner and toys/distractions.

I believe @misfitmorgan is an experienced pig person, and @purplequeenvt & @jhm47 have chimed in on some pig issues in the past. Also some others are @Pamela @arrowti There are others as well. Maybe some of them will jump in here.

Good luck, and I hope you'll share some pics as you proceed! We're a bunch of pic addicts here.


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## babsbag (Jul 4, 2016)

I raised two pigs in a 10x16 dog kennel and had no problems with them destroying anything. They did dig a lot and I constantly watched for them digging out but they never did that either, but got close. Some people lay a 2' strip of hog panel on the ground next to the fence, inside the pen, so they can't dig out. They weren't hard on the wire at all, just the digging part was what I worried about. 

We did build a hog panel perimeter pen about 16x24 just in case they did get out there would be another pen to contain them until we caught them but they never got out. 

Our neighbor raises them in hog panel pens all of the time with no problems. T posts are about 6' apart.  He raises one at a time, for fair; it seems to do ok alone. 

I suspended a sprinkler over their pen and it was on a battery timer so that it came on every hour for a minute. Didn't make much mud, just enough to keep them happy. I gave them a big rubbermaid tub to lay it too, and put it under the sprinkler so it always had some water in it. Also used a pig nipple waterer for their drinking water. I ran a garden hose to PVC and then wire tied the PVC to the pen and attached the nipple. Nothing permanent and nothing fancy but they always had clean water to drink. It is HOT where I live so that was a requirement for me, I don't "do" water buckets.


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## Martlet (Jul 4, 2016)

Great responses!  Thank you so much.  I'm not sure what breed it is, since it was just offered to me.  I'm trying to find another as a companion, and because a friend would like a pig as well.   I had planned to add pigs to my homestead, just not this quickly.  I'm fine with it, I just don't want to make a structure too permanent.  I don't mind building it a big solid shelter, since I can move that anytime.  Good fencing can be harder, though.

I'm thinking of making it 16 feet square for 1 or 2 pigs (if I can find another).  From what I've read that should be enough.  One they are trained to the fence, I can always expand it if needed.  I have the room, I just need to cut the tries and put up the fencing.

I don't know much about pigs.  We just bought this land last year.  So far we've been successful with Maple Syrup, Chickens, Blueberries, Vegetable Garden, Bees, and red worms.  We'll see what happens next.


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## Ferguson K (Jul 4, 2016)

I think your own set up will be more than enough.


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## Baymule (Jul 4, 2016)

I raised 3 feeder pigs last fall and took them to slaughter in March. They were Large Black/Berkshire mixed. I built them a hut with the idea in mind of using it for other things after the pigs were gone. I built it on skids and right now it is in the back yard providing shelter for the lambs I weaned. Here is a link on the Hawg Hut.
http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/hawg-hut-or-goat-or-sheep-or-dhs-new-digs.32088/

and here is a link to my hog raising thread.

http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/feeder-pigs.32154/

Hope this gives you some ideas. Pigs aren't all that hard to raise and we are sure enjoying the bacon, sausage,  chops,  roast.....you get the picture.


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## Ferguson K (Jul 5, 2016)

Our pig pens are hog panels with t-post a every 8ft. Rowdy hogs get extra. The only time they really ever test a fenceline is when they're hungry or out of feed.


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## Mini Horses (Jul 5, 2016)

Yep, very content to lay in some mud if belly is full.  I cut lawn with bagger on mower just so I can toss it to the pigs!   They graze it & do well.  Keeps them happy between their other feedings.    They can't sweat, so trees and shade will be ideal for them in hot climate.   Mine love to get a hose bath & roll around in the mud.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 5, 2016)

All good idea so far...ditto on it all. T-posts every 4 ft with electric seems a bit overkill though i must say. We have field fence with alternating cedar and t-posts every 10ft..and a single hip wire of electric running on the inside.


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## Martlet (Jul 5, 2016)

Great tips.  Glad I joined this forum.   Maybe I'll stick to a single wire low to keep from rooting under the fence.


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## Martlet (Jul 5, 2016)

Baymule said:


> I raised 3 feeder pigs last fall and took them to slaughter in March. They were Large Black/Berkshire mixed. I built them a hut with the idea in mind of using it for other things after the pigs were gone. I built it on skids and right now it is in the back yard providing shelter for the lambs I weaned. Here is a link on the Hawg Hut.
> http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/hawg-hut-or-goat-or-sheep-or-dhs-new-digs.32088/
> 
> and here is a link to my hog raising thread.
> ...



Great info.  Thanks!  I was thinking of skipping the floor and using hay instead.  The rest of it looks very similar to what I'm building.  I'm thinking making the back a door to remove them when it's time to harvest.


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## JakefromOhio (Jul 5, 2016)

Glad I found this thread.  Don't i feel like an over achiever now...   I'm also building my first pig pen in anticipation of  a couple of feeders I'm getting. A "friend" told me I had to build an extremely sturdy fence and recommended I use no smaller than 6 inch posts at 6 foot apart. So, I built a 15 x 24 pen out of some posts I found on Craigslist described as 6 inch treated but turned out to be closer to 9 inch telephone poles.  Oh well, It'll take a mighty hog knock it over now.  I ended up pulling the center post and going 6 more feet out the back side with it.    Good luck with you pigs and please make a thread, I have a lot to learn and I'll take any info I can get!


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## Baymule (Jul 5, 2016)

JakefromOhio said:


> Glad I found this thread.  Don't i feel like an over achiever now...   I'm also building my first pig pen in anticipation of  a couple of feeders I'm getting. A "friend" told me I had to build an extremely sturdy fence and recommended I use no smaller than 6 inch posts at 6 foot apart. So, I built a 15 x 24 pen out of some posts I found on Craigslist described as 6 inch treated but turned out to be closer to 9 inch telephone poles.  Oh well, It'll take a mighty hog knock it over now.  I ended up pulling the center post and going 6 more feet out the back side with it.    Good luck with you pigs and please make a thread, I have a lot to learn and I'll take any info I can get!View attachment 19516



You need to start a thread on your pig pen that looks like it would hold a herd of buffalo!!


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## Latestarter (Jul 5, 2016)

Greetings Jake and welcome to BYH! That is gonna be one impressive pig compound! Little chance of escape from that for sure! There's quite a selection of reading material on the various threads in the pig section... Make yourself comfy and browse around a while   If and when you have questions, just post them in the right place and normally someone will get to them pretty straight away. Glad you joined us and thanks for sharing the pic. Make sure you post some of the little bacon bits when you get them!


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## Martlet (Jul 10, 2016)

Quick question:  How tall should the pig shelter be?


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## Latestarter (Jul 10, 2016)

Tall enough for them to get in and for you to comfortably clean. You don't want to be on your hands and knees at cleaning time.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 11, 2016)

Latestarter said:


> Tall enough for them to get in and for you to comfortably clean. You don't want to be on your hands and knees at cleaning time.



Ditto


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## Devonviolet (Jul 14, 2016)

A big Texas howdie @Martlet! 

Your hog panel, temporary fencing sounds like a great idea and gives me an idea, for doing temporary quarantine or separating a buck from my does.

You have gotten some great advise here. I especially like @babsbag's suggestion for the mister. We could really use something like that (in this Texas heat [110°+ heat index]), to cool our animals!

The only thing I might add to the discussion, is that pigs are highly intellegent, social animals. They do best if they have a playmate, while you are growing them. 

If you only want one pig, you can sell the second pig, to pay for the costs of growing your pig, to butcher weight. Win, win!


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## sadieml (Jul 14, 2016)

Ditto about that water-cooling idea!  We actually lost our Barbu d'Uccle roo to heat-stroke yesterday.  He had shelter and water, an still succumbed to the 108+ heat index.  I spent most of my afternoon sobbing like a baby.  Jean-Pierre and I were finally beginning to bond since we took him out of the pen with his ladies a week or so ago.  He was absolutely gorgeous, and very protective of his girls.  I miss him like crazy even though we only had him a few months.  I've got a couple of timers lying around and I think a timed sprinkler might be just the ticket to break the heat.  Of course, pigs will like it more than chickens, but my chickens seem to like a little rain.


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## babsbag (Jul 14, 2016)

@sadieml  Sorry about your roo.  So glad that we don't get the humidity that you do. It gets plenty hot here, well over 100°; sometimes 110° or more but it a dry heat and the animals do pretty well with it.  

When I had a litter of pups one summer I bought the string of misters that attach to a garden hose and tied it near the whelping box and had a fan too. I left the fan on all of the time and once an hour the misters would come on for about 2 minutes. I didn't want to get the pups really wet, just cool off the area they were in, it worked great. But for the goats I use one of those rain bird type sprinklers that covers a large are and the pigs had just a cheap fan one that I had suspended over part of their pen so it rained down on them. They loved it. 

The chickens love the damp ground too; they take dust bathes in the cool soil and them just lay in the holes they make. The dogs like it too.


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