The View From the Farm - Latest comments on Six Little Piggies

In response to: Six Little Piggies

Karen B in northern Idaho [Visitor] — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:05:23 +0000

I'm having my pigs pork-o-till up next year's garden addition. 3 pigs in a 16 x 16 hog panel pen, tied down to t posts. Tub water only works for a short while, they flip it over, or walk through and try to lay in it. We had to leave town a few days in July and my hubby rigged up a 55 (?) gallon plastic barrel that had a screw-on lid, with a spigot screwed in near the bottom with that soft white tape to help prevent leaks. Put the barrel up on blocks for better gravity flow, just outside the pen, and attached a short piece of hose from it to a push-waterer which goes through the fence. Works great. Can then attach another 16 x 16 pen section, one at a time, on 3 other sides before having to move the water arrangement to move the original pen.

In response to: Six Little Piggies

Robert [Member] — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:52:48 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.

Right now our piggie setup is rudimentary except for the house, which is a Port-a-Hut. Can't recommend them too highly. They last forever and are not too big to drag around by hand.

We're using big rubber feed pans for both feeding and watering. This is bogus, especially for watering, since the pigs muddy up the water instantly by standing in it. We put a float-valve waterer on the back of the Port-a-Hut that is too high for them to get their feet into, but we haven't hooked it up.

We also need to add a self-feeder for pig feed, too. We'll make a stand for it and tie it to the hog panels. Then we'll need the rubber pans only for feeding hard-boiled surplus eggs and other treats.

In response to: Six Little Piggies

Don Speranza [Visitor] — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:11:10 +0000

Last year we raised 4 pigs and it was a delightful experience except for making the same mistake about going into the soggy season.