Hog Housing?

Up North · #1 08/30/07, 11:10 PM

We are considering options for permanent hog housing. One option we are looking at is a Coverall, or hoop style building. I guess the other options are individual small huts or a conventional pole barn structure.
Advantages? Disadvantages?
Thoughts or suggestions on layout, floor design, etc.?

RedHogs · #2 08/30/07, 11:27 PM

I'm in the same situation, the coverall barns are by far the cheapest and with the open ends should have the best air quality....2100 square feet for 4200 dollars plus sidewalls. I was going to add inner walls to give 4 sections with shared waters and feeders in the middle.

agmantoo · #3 08/31/07, 10:22 AM

I think you will enjoy this article
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/hooped.html

The most user friendly and animal benefiting housing I have ever seen was the old Cargill hog finishing units. They were cheap, had good ventilation, almost no energy requirements and the animals thrived. Scroll about half way down the page at the following site and there is a small pic of a Cargill unit. http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/Hogs.html#humane There is little odor and you get natural sterilization from the sun. The pad is sloped and urine evaporates. The drinkers are located at the lowest areas of the outdoor pad and that is also where the animals will pass their waste. The bedding area is under the roofed portion and stays clean. The roof is designed to achieve natural ventilation so no utility bills. The manure is spread as a dry product. A small lagoon is required for rain run off.

**highlands** · #4 08/31/07, 04:52 PM

I like the hoop houses I've seen in articles but have not tried them because we get very high winds in the winter when it is very cold and I fear the plastic won't hold up. There is someone about an hour from us, in the more temperate area of Lake Champlain who has been using a hoop style greenhouse successfully.

To date we've been using open sheds opening to the sun side and protected on the wind side. The pigs spend very little time actually in the sheds, just using them for sleeping in the worst weather.

Putting the housing up a bit from the surrounding soil line is important to keep the ground inside dry. We also maintain a deep bed of hay. The biggest issue is protecting them from the wind and the wet when it gets cold. Once the deep cold sets in it actually is easier than during the wet period of of the fall (November around here).

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

Up North · #5 09/02/07, 05:23 AM

Thanks for all the good info. Lots of considerations brought up in the articles.
Still studying the different aspects.

FrankRichards · #6 09/02/07, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highlands

I like the hoop houses I've seen in articles but have not tried them because we get very high winds in the winter when it is very cold and I fear the plastic won't hold up. There is someone about an hour from us, in the more temperate area of Lake Champlain who has been using a hoop style greenhouse successfully.

Hoop greenouses are all over here, and have been for several years. Admittedly we're a bit warmer than you are, but there are a couple of hoop storage buildings over on Pitcher Mountain that I know have seen 25 below and gale force winds.

**highlands** · #7 09/02/07, 03:44 PM

Frank, I wasn't aware of the hoop buildings at Pitcher Mountain. Are they at the Pitcher Mountain Farm? Are they opaque types or translucent like greenhouses? Thanks, -Walter

FrankRichards · #8 09/02/07, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highlands

Frank, I wasn't aware of the hoop buildings at Pitcher Mountain. Are they at the Pitcher Mountain Farm? Are they opaque types or translucent like greenhouses? Thanks, -Walter

Pitcher mountain Farm it is. They're all opaque. There's a manure shed with concrete walls and a hoop roof (open end), which as been there for several years. The CSA (which isn't Pitcher Mountain Farm, just rents their land) has a green one-car garage model. That one's been there three, maybe four years. and just last fall the farm added one to house a couple more tractors they'd picked up.

Can you tell Pitcher Mountain Farm is on the way to everything east of us?

Frank

tinknal · #9 09/02/07, 08:18 PM

Are we talking feeder pigs, or farrowing operations?

Up North · #10 09/04/07, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinknal

Are we talking feeder pigs, or farrowing operations?

For our farm, we want the building for Gilts, Sows, and Boar(s). Our idea is to set the building up with some individual farrowing areas, then have group pens with access runs to outdoor lots/ grazing paddocks as we develop it over time.

tinknal · #11 09/04/07, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Up North

For our farm, we want the building for Gilts, Sows, and Boar(s). Our idea is to set the building up with some individual farrowing areas, then have group pens with access runs to outdoor lots/ grazing paddocks as we develop it over time.

Well, this makes it easy. I would say you need shade in the summer, and a place where you can bed them well in a spot where they can get out of the wind and wet in the winter. They can handle nasty weather, as long as they can sleep somewhere dry and out of the weather.

Needless to say it needs to be durable enough that they cannot destroy it. Pigs can be very destructive.