Pig poop

[Jayzandra]

We are getting ready to build some pig pens to house a sow and two hogs, one will be castrated for slaughter, one left intact for breeding. We have have done all the research and have our design all figured out, but I can't find anything on pig poop management.
We have a friend that has let us keep pigs at his place before and the poop just piles up at one end and stinks terribly.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Welcome! And for the pig poop - compost it!

 

[mysunwolf]

I agree, you have to keep adding carbon matter to keep the smell down and to get that poop to break down. Straw, hay, woodchips, wood shavings, sawdust, bags of leaves, etc. Otherwise it definitely smells terribly believe me, I know...

 

[Tracker]

So, do you muck out the manure and then add carbon matter to a compost pile outside of the pen, or do you add the hay straight to the pen and muck out the resulting, um, "N-C casserole"?
I have a 30 x 80 pen. We had a lot of rain this past week and well, yeah.

I've only had my pigs 2 weeks. We got close to 6" of rain last week. This pic is after a 2.5" deluge in less than an hour. I've since added about 3/4 of a bale of hay to the pallet platform, and they seem to be sleeping there (as was the plan). However, wondering if I should add another bale spread around the "potty area" of the pen that they seem to use (dead middle of the pen).

Thanks for the insights

 

[Jayzandra]

Before we built the 100x50 pen we raised pigs at a friend's house and his pens were much much smaller, about 20x10, and they were absolutely disgusting, which is why I asked this question. However, in the 100x50 it hasn't been a problem. They have enough room that they just poop everywhere, except in their shelter, and it dries and doesn't stink. granted, we're in the desert so it dries quickly. We plan to pen them in the garden area over the winter with a few bales of hay. Then just till it all up in the spring. I'll let you know how that goes.

 

[mysunwolf]

Before we built the 100x50 pen we raised pigs at a friend's house and his pens were much much smaller, about 20x10, and they were absolutely disgusting, which is why I asked this question. However, in the 100x50 it hasn't been a problem. They have enough room that they just poop everywhere, except in their shelter, and it dries and doesn't stink. granted, we're in the desert so it dries quickly.

I do think climate is very important. Here we are extremely damp most of the year, maybe a few weeks without rain in July but that's usually it. In the winter when everything's frozen it's fine, but as soon as it thaws the mud in the pig pens can get a foot deep.

We plan to pen them in the garden area over the winter with a few bales of hay. Then just till it all up in the spring. I'll let you know how that goes.

You may want to re-think using hay in the garden area. The pigs miss most of the weed seeds and after tilling in the spring and summer (which is very difficult after the pigs have compacted the earth) you will have the most beautiful, fertile weeds.

 

[mysunwolf]

@Tracker sounds like you are doing everything right! I don't muck anything out ever, but we do rotate. The bedding material spread over the pen breaks down over time, but when everything gets too disgusting we move to a "new" pen and let the old one sit and break down for 1-3 months. We have also tilled the area like @Jayzandra is planning and it turned into amazingly rich soil but was really difficult in the more compacted areas.

Honestly I plan to set up pasture rotation soon to avoid some of these issues. I'm beginning to think that the best thing would be to have an area with a concrete slab that has the feed, water, and housing. This would then connect with the dirt pen area, but it would give the pigs a place to get out of the muck when things got really bad.

 

[Tracker]

I'd like to rotate, but I'm having a hard time trusting only electric fence. That, and most of my place is woods on a hillside, so it's tougher to lay out. So, I'm going to have to muck out some. I've got a compost pile just the other side of the end of the pen and will just toss it over the fence. Mainly, I want them to grow healthy, nicely marbled, and produce some good meat in the fall.

 

[Jayzandra]

Having 100+ temps with no moisture means I don't mind the weeds. Especially if it's something I can feed to my animals. I use it as a living mulch. Keeps the soil cool and damp so I don't have to water as much.

 

[Baymule]

I raised mine from October to March. No smell, no flies. I didn't get the fence up until October, it was my garden area, so they had to go before planting time. I have very poor sand soil and the pig poop really helped!

If you can build another pig pen, when you rotate to the other pen, plant turnips or something in the pen rotated out of. If the smell gets bad, you might want to consider raising your pigs through the winter.

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