feed trough

need ideas for a feed trough tough enough for 3 fair size hogs #200's We have been just throwing the food over the fence. (mostly bread) but with all the rain the paddock is mostly 2 foot deep of mud and we must be waisting alot of food. I can attach something to the pen if neccessary.

 

The food/water trough can pose a problem. I just went through this on my first pig. I bought an old used steel trough at our local sale barn. It's about 4 feet long, and about 12 inches wide, shaped like a hollow pole that got cut long-side. The water trough is/was a plastic blue tub. Number one: the hog is going to try to move anything you put in there around, stomp on it, turn it upside down, and try to eat it. So, whatever you put in there MUST be secured down. We drilled thru the trough, stuck rebar in there and got it secure that way. We tied the tub to the fence with wire to secure it. Number two: when it rains, the trough will fill up with water/mud, and will stay that way until you can shovel it out. Holes drilled in the trough should help in that area. Number three: the hog will stand/root in the trough from time to time. You don't want him breaking his leg in the $R&*#@( trough. What I intend on doing next time is keep the trough OUTSIDE, fashion a feeding hole in the fence so I can keep the trough clean and keep him OUT of it. Hope this helps.

 

find an OLD water heater, strip it down to the tank, cut the tank long ways, weld 3in pieces of strap metal around 1ft from each other on top, and get 2 3ft pieces of 3in angle iron, weld on the rouded side/ends for legs and thats it. Take 4 1/2in rebar and drive them in next to the trough and inside the legs where you want the trought to stay. Run bailing wire between each end 2 just over the trough and it should stay where it was put if you have drove them in 9in or so. Be sure o include the top straps or they will slosh slop to one end of the trough and rake it out over the end

 

Cut the sidewall out of an old tire, turn it inside out, and tack the uncut side to a HEAVY piece (or several pieces) of plywood. (we used an old countertop) Put the feed in there, and it will hopefully stay above the mud. The only problem we had was the pigs trying to stand in their food, so it might help to put it up on some cinderblocks or something.

Love the username, Kids o' Plenty. Ha Ha. How many do you have?

 

Thanks for the replies. I like the idea about the tire because with all this mud this summer I would have a hard time anchoring it to the ground. I could hang the plywood to the side of the pen. Plus I built the pen on beams so i can relocate the pen elsewhere every year.

For the water I went to the tractor supply store and bought a plastic automatic waterer and hung it on the outside of the pen and cut a triangle shaped hole above it big enough for the pig to get his head through. works great!!

 

I made a "trough" out of old (but sturdy) 2" x 6" lumber. It was 4' long by 6" wide by 6" deep. Actually might have been 2"x8" wood??? Anyway ... I put it against the shed wall and they never even moved it ... it's gone through 3 sets of hogs now. That's as simple as construction gets!