PBs and predators...

[secuono]

I've got foxes and raccoons that always visit in hopes my fence will fail and they will get a free meal. My three Potbelly pigs have doubled in size from when I first got them, but they still seem too small. I'll attempt to get weights today after work. They are maybe 1ft tall and to me, still seem like a for or coon could easily kill one.
We've been having a ton of rain lately and the pen is now nothing but an upturned mess. I want them out in pasture, they are way too small to be just released and hope the 4 acres is enough for them not to escape.
I am going to buy seven 16ft hog panels and make a square out of 4 of them. The other three will be used when moving the pen, basically 3 will always be rotated in and out of use so I can move the pen w/o actually moving the pigs themselves.
Right now, I am thinking that I would have to run hot wire to the pen to keep coon and fox out.
Do you guys think they are still too small and would get eaten or badly injured?
Should I just give up on having them rotated on pasture and just make them a large fenced area? Should I buy a new solar energizer and just use hot wire for their pen?

 

[Alice Acres]

Pictures or a weight would help.

Hmm, with 3 of them, I wouldn't think a coon would do anything. A fox? - not so sure. When we had a good fox population around, they never messed with my animals. At that time my chickens were penned, but it was only chicken wire - so not that tough if they had wanted a chicken bad enough.

I like the idea of the cattle panels and moving them around. Will you have a little hut or shelter that fits in it too? That would be the only hard part I would foresee.
Our pot belly was an adult when we got her - but she was small. Nothing bothered her, and she was free range for years in our yard. (I am very rural - on a gravel road, etc.)
Now we have coyotes...that's a totally different game

 

[secuono]

The fox and coon here are resent-less and vicious. I lost about 100 animals[chickens, ducks, guineas and rabbits] in total before I installed the hot wire fence. They didn't bother the lambs, but they had their mothers with them.

For the shelter, I was thinking of getting plywood, drilling a hole at each top corner and adding hooks. Then another board for the top. Basically hang two in a corner and strap one on the top. That'd be the lightest and easiest to drag around.

These pics are a little old, but they haven't grown much since. I'll get weights after work, so late tonight. I did pick up Porker, he felt about 18-20lbs or so.

 

[BrownSheep]

Ild say your pretty safe from the coons. As for foxes Ild say you're getting there. I doubt they'll go after them being as pigs have some pretty nasty teeth of their own.

 

[secuono]

22x22
19x484
9196/400=22.99


Porker weighs around 22.99 pounds.

 

[secuono]

Ild say your pretty safe from the coons. As for foxes Ild say you're getting there. I doubt they'll go after them being as pigs have some pretty nasty teeth of their own.

I haven't seen any teeth on my pigs that would hurt a fox.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Gosh I have never heard of a coon killing a pig but would hate to say that it couldn't happen but it doesn't really seem feasible. Do foxes work in packs like coyotes? We had a fox problem in Montana & he wiped us out of chickens every year but never took a pig.

Once we moved down here to Missouri we had coyote problem but once we started using the Nite Guards, have not had a problem. They do not even come after our sheep. http://www.niteguard.com/pages/Home

Liz

 

[secuono]

Niteguard is a waste of money. They need to stop lying to people that it works.
We got 2 of them, 3 days later we lost more ducks.

Foxes hunt alone, but I can't be risking loosing any more animals. I guess I am waiting even longer...

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Niteguard is a waste of money. They need to stop lying to people that it works.

Well they have worked for us & the coyotes. We have them every 100ft around our perimeter fence. You have to make sure that every angle is covered & that they are at the height of your predator.

Liz