# Pasturing pigs?



## chris706 (Jan 30, 2010)

I am thinking about getting a few pigs to add to my farm. There is plenty of space on the farm for them. However what type of fencing would I need to keep them in? I currently have 3-board fences for cattle and woven wire along the back of the farm.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Jan 30, 2010)

save yourself the time and headache and go right for electric


we were really surprised at how easily they can get out thru anything else. you can also check with Brunty Farms in the meat chicken section on BYC - he has a thread on starting with pigs.

good luck!
ps once they get out its a total pain to get them back in - and dont forget how destructive they are


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## no nonsense (Jan 30, 2010)

I agree, unless you want to go to the time and expense of cementing in solid posts for hog panels.


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## Lil Chickie Mama (Jan 30, 2010)

I know nothing about keeping pigs, but I do know the damage that they can do when not kept where they are supposed to be.  A pig escaped from across the street and is wreaking havock over here and it's just a little guy.  We literally can't keep up with the destruction.  I'd like to keep pigs in the future, but definitely make sure your fence is top notch.  It's less expensive to do it right the first time than to fix the messes they make.  ...now off to hunt that stupid pig...


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## TwoChicks (Feb 19, 2010)

I agree, I haven't installed electric yet, but my pbp Speedy is on lockdown until I get one.  He has escaped out of my chain link fence 3 times, all three times I wasn't at home and evidently everyone on my semi-rural street knows who the pigs belong too (even my phone number) cause I get a bunch of calls saying my pig is loose.  

Once I was out of town and he got out and decided to hole up in a neighbors dog house *with* the dog.  The lady was a taxidermist and her house is across the street from a meat processing plant.  No kidding.  LUCKILY I was able to get hold of my boyfriend and he drove almost an hour to my house, chased that darned pig for 30 minutes in the pouring rain, (and he's no fan of pigs, believe me), got him back in his pen, after he threatened to take him on a trip through the processor on a pig-scared-straight program.  Lol.

So ... electric fence it is.


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## WallTenters (Feb 20, 2010)

Electric electric electric. In the long run, it will save you heartache, crops, your lawn, and lots of $$. An electric fence charger, and all the wiring is very economical, and a good charger will last for years and years. 

The wires themselves are cheap, and the cool thing is - they can be moved! Yay! It's much easier to move sheep stakes w/ hotwire than to pick out tposts and hog panels... !


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## scrambledmess (Oct 24, 2010)

So are you implying that you can put up one or two strands and nothing else for hogs and this will keep them in a pasture?   

TIA for the response.


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## freemotion (Oct 24, 2010)

Didn't work for me.  They weren't impressed and ran right through it.  I had five strands, spaced closely, and quite close to the ground.  We had a drought summer and there just wasn't much oomph to the fence.  I ended up slapping up a cattle panel fence (we couldn't get hog panels close by in a hurry and the fence will work for larger animals later anyways) with one very low wire to keep them from digging under.

This has worked quite well.  My pasture for the pigs is 120' on the longest side and not quite square.


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## Royd Wood (Oct 24, 2010)

Not sure why you had no oomph unless the ground rod was not in very far. When there is a drought its worth tipping water around the rod every few days.
We only have 2 low level strands and it hurts like h-ll - we hear the odd squeel now and again plus it stops the ducks and chickens going in to the pig area which is a grim certain death in the jaws of 6 hogs if they do


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## freemotion (Oct 24, 2010)

We could not figure it out.  We have three grounding rods, each six feet into the ground, and I dump the water buckets on them everyday when it is dry out.  We are on many feet of sand and all water drains away fairly instantly.  Nice in a wet year, as my pasture never has puddles for more than an hour!  But in a drought year...well, we went around and around that fence and that is the only conclusion we came to...too dry.  After a rain, anyone who touches that fence will become airborne!


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## ohiofarmgirl (Oct 25, 2010)

> Not sure why you had no oomph...


we had a bad-a$$ charger too and had it all set up - but the pigs figured if they ran REALLY fast they could break thru the hot strands.

but when we put up field fence on the outside of the hot strands, they couldnt get thru the electric/fence and just stood there getting shocked. 

jmh had some good thoughts about this - he helped us get it figured out. these are the only pigs we've had who've done this. after 2 days of chasing them around - and the pigs chasing the goats - we wont take the chance again. 

pigs = crazy

;-)


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## Poupoulles (Nov 16, 2010)

I needed my two feeders to dig up my garden, so I made a pen out of hog panels and I move it every three weeks or so (every two now) and it has worked like a charm. 
T posts at each corner, and one in the middle of certain sections, if the ground is uneven for example.
Hog panels are the only non-electric fencing I would use, and they are really only for a small area which I am doing on purpose because I want them to root up the garden. If I was keeping these two, I would have serious electric.


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## anthonyjames (Dec 27, 2010)

I am using electric netting for mine.  I purchased from Kencove:

http://www.kencove.com/fence/Electric+Net+Fencing_detail_NPCG.php

And I follow the blog at sugarmtnfarm.  They had a good article on modifying your electric netting which is what I did and works great.

http://flashweb.com/blog/2008/06/poultry-netting-for-pigs.html


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