Along with creating my Gardening Plan from Dollar Tree items, Piglet Day is one of my favorite times of the year. This is the name we have given to the day we pickup our Piglets. It took several years of trial and error. But, we have finally perfected the easy ways to transport piglets and how to make a simple pig pen that minimizes the workload. I am now able to look forward to this day and welcome the arrival of our plump and adorable piglets.
We pick up our piglets sometime during the first two weeks of March. In the past, this was quite the stressful day and raising the pigs continued to be a time-consuming project. We had a pig pen that was not user-friendly. And, we were using open buckets for both feed and water. On top of this, we had no running water at the barn, and the barn is close to 1/4 of a mile from our house.
When Roger was only a few months old, my car was in the shop for a day and Warren was away. The pigs still needed to be watered. So, I filled two 5-gallon pails with water, loaded them into my stroller, put Roger into the Ergo Carrier and made the trek to the barn. While this wasn’t bad for one day, it certainly was not feasible on a regular basis. I will share our tips with you, so that hopefully you can skip straight to the “easy way of raising pigs”.
Ways to Transport Piglets and Make a Simple Pig Pen
Transportation Options: Getting Your Piglets to their Pig Pen
For a few pigs:
- It is pretty easy to put dog kennels in the bed of a pickup truck. A large dog kennel will easily fit 2-4 piglets depending on their size. Make sure to bring old blankets or tarps to cover the crates and protect the piglets from any wind, rain, or cold. If they are big enough, just tuck the corners under the crates to hold them down. Or, you can secure them with rope, towing straps, or bungie cords if they are smaller.
- The scenario listed above would also work if you have a small open utility or ATV trailer.
- If you do not have access to a trailer or truck, then you could put the crates in the back of a SUV or even a car. But, be prepared for a potential mess if one of the pigs eliminates or vomits from motion sickness. Definitely cover any exposed surface with plastic to protect it. And, travel with the windows down to minimize the smell.
For a larger number of pigs:
- It is still possible to fit quite a few piglets in kennels in the bed of a truck (especially if you have a long bed).
- Ideally, use a cattle trailer. Breeders often have their facilities set up so that a trailer can back right up to the barn door. Then, you can just use something to block the open area between the trailer door and the ground to prevent escapees. With a little encouragement, the piglets will basically load themselves. Plus, a trailer can be easily hosed out to clean it and smelliness is not a worry.
If you have to lift the pigs out of the vehicle or over a fence into the pen, be careful. When unloading pigs, remember to always have help. Pigs will escape if at all possible. And, they can be easily injured when moving them. Don’t grab the ears or tails. Do not squeeze their chests or ribcage area (you can puncture a lung). Preferably, pick small piglets up by one hind leg with a hand supporting their chest. For larger piglets, pick them up by both hind legs without twisting or jerking them.
Making a Simple Pig Pen:
Now that you know how to successfully transport your piglets, you are ready to make a simple pig pen for them. There are a few components to consider when setting up your pig pen.
- Food
- Water
- Shelter
- Safety
- Bedding
- Space
Feeding the Piglets in their Pigpen
The cheap option for feeding pigs is to dump their food into an open bucket. However, this gets messy and requires that you check and replenish their feed twice a day.
Ideally, use an Automatic Pig Feeder. Click here to see how to build one yourself from 2 pieces of wood and some basic hardware. With an automatic feeder, you only need to check them once a day. And, the food will usually last for several days before you have to add to it.
Water
Again, the cheap way to do this is to water them in open buckets. But, just like with the food, this gets messy and has to be done twice a day.
Pigs are very intelligent animals. And, they can easily be trained to use a nipple waterer. In fact, they usually figure it out on their own within 24 hours of being in the pen with it. Adding a nipple to a garden hose gives a continual flow of water, but only works if the temperature is above freezing. If the weather is dropping below freezing, we use this stock tank waterer that Warren designed and built with Apollos’ help. If it gets really cold, we throw a scrap of foam insulation on top to prevent it from freezing. Just check daily to make sure that the water is flowing when the nipple is compressed.
Check out these videos to see how Warren installed this nipple on the stock tank. You can do a very similar installation process on a barrel or drum too.
Showing it Set Up and Ready to Go
Shelter
Your pigs should always have somewhere to go to stay dry and get shade. We have always kept our pigs in a 3 sided structure for this reason. It allows them to get the full range: sun, shade, breeze, and still stay dry. But, if you have an open pen, you can always build a small roofed area to provide them with shade.
Safety
This will definitely depend on what area of the country you live in. For us, coyotes are about the only predators big enough to take out a 30 pound piglet (and certainly a full grown hog). So, we just keep our fence about 4 feet tall, and have not had any issues. You can see our pallet fence in the photo below.
Also, be aware of your own safety when working with pigs. Full grown pigs are heavy, strong, and can be vicious. Do not enter a pig pen without something to defend yourself with (pitchfork, shovel, etc.). And, I also wear tall muck boots when I go in, which has saved my legs from being bitten many times.
Bedding
Straw, Sawdust Shavings, or Hay all work well. We choose to use Hay for a few reasons:
- We make our own Round Bales, so it is readily available and inexpensive for us.
- The pigs will often snack on it as well.
- Turns into great compost at the end of the season.
- We get our piglets in March when the weather can still be quite cold. The piglets will often “tunnel” into the loose hay to keep warm.
Space
The standard rule for adult hogs is usually a minimum of 8-12 square feet of space per pig. But, we usually give quite a bit more than that because we prefer not to clean the pen until after the pigs go to the butcher. We usually give closer to 50 square feet per pig. However, we do not free-range our pigs for two reasons. First, our farm is bordered by a road on one side, and pigs are notoriously hard to fence in. And, if pigs are exercised a lot, their meat tends to be a little tougher.
Our current pig pen is actually a bay attached to the end of our barn. The door on the right side opens into the barn. And, it allows us to store the grain bags in the barn and dump them into the top of the feeders without ever entering the pen.
I hope these tips help you have way more fun than work this year while you are raising your piglets. Farming and homesteading has been way more sustainable for us now that we have focused on cutting out the unnecessary daily chores. And, of course, the pigs are happier with a continual supply of food to “hog”.
Shop This Post: Items to Help Transport Your Piglets and Make a Simple Pig Pen
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Rubbermaid 100 Gallon Stock Tank
Heavy Duty Pig Nipples – Stainless Steel