Here is a link that might be helpful..

http://mofga.org/Publications/Maine...Gardener/Spring2006/RaisingOrganicHogsbytheTractorMethod/tabid/212/Default.aspx

 

Here is a link that might be helpful..

http://mofga.org/Publications/Maine...Gardener/Spring2006/RaisingOrganicHogsbytheTractorMethod/tabid/212/Default.aspx

Yep that is the best one that I found, I am think about going with less house and a longer graze area and wonder how that would be to drag around. I wouldn't keep hogs in the tractor over the winter.

 

I would think it would be easier to drag since most of the weight is in the house portion, as long as it has a good solid frame. I agree that 8 x 8 is too much house area for the amount of pigs you could raise in an 8 x 16 pen.

 

IME with AGH the smaller the pen the quicker they take to rooting. With 8x16 and even just a couple of hogs you'd have to be out there 2-3 times a day when you put it on pasture. My other experience is that nothing temporary is heavy enough to hold a fence down if they want to pick it up, so you have to pound fence posts at the corners to keep them in. Not a big deal if you were moving it once a week, but when you're moving it thrice daily you're putting a lot of time and effort into pulling and pounding fence posts alone. Never mind the dragging of the actual tractor. Which is extra fun until you get them accustomed to moving along with it.

My advice is to fence in the whole area and turn them out on it. Give them time and they'll plow the whole thing up for you and then you can seed it for the next season. After that just rotate them more often and expect a little rooting. They are pigs. If you want no rooting whatsoever what you want is to not have pigs on pasture.

 

Why not just rotate them with a portable electric fence, much easier to move.

 

I have been thinking about hog tractors also. But so far I have not convinced myself that it would be worth doing. I built my little houses on skids so they could be easily moved. To give them enough pasture space, I'm still thinking hog panels and "t" post may work best and it will not be that much extra work.
If you come up with a good design, let me know.
Do you remember talking to me about the man I ended up getting my AGHs from? He just had a few hog panels tied in a circle that could be dragged around. The ones for the pigglets were not even staked down if I remember correctly.

SPIKE

 

I would suggest doing managed rotational grazing with paddocks rather than a hog tractor. We tried the tractor route, both with pigs and chickens. Too much work. Not as good results. That was back when we only had a few. Now we have hundreds so the 'pig tractor' really wouldn't work.

 

we have used a hog tractor off and on for awhile. It's 8 x 16 with a metal roof over half of it. It also has a nipple drinker set up. We move ours with the gator every 2 or 3 days. We also have some in pasture now. Both ways work well. We like the pasture better and I think the pigs do to. We use the hog tractor for future garden spots. I will try and find some pics of it if you like.


stacey

 

Rotational grazing is an effective technique for cows or sheep or goats, but it involves allowing the land a resting time to regrow the vegetation, and to break the parasite reproductive cycle.

Walter (highlands) uses fixed, permanent feeding stations, and fix, permanent watering stations; which makes sense since his pigs require a pretty substantial dietary supplement in order to put on weight. They are pigs, after all. His system appears to be closest to "free grazing", which basically means you put up a perimeter fence around your property and allow the animals inside the fence to eat whatever it is they'd prefer. It's easy and cheap. The problems with that system are that the animals will eat all of their favorite plants, leave the stuff they don't like, and unequally use the land -- pigs, for instance, will tend to find a particular place to manure, and use it exclusively. In my experience they like to do it near their water source.

You're asking about tractors. What I'd expect you to do with a tractor is to focus your pigs on a particular area, and then move them to another area, keeping them from returning to the first area, for the rest and parasite reasons. Generally speaking, you can achieve the same effect by training your pigs to respect an electric fence, and then taking 20 minutes to move the electric fence every few days.

If you combined it with feeding -- make a big loop in a new area, put the food there, and allow the pigs to wander over to eat the food, closing the fence behind them, you'd have a system that's pretty cheap and easy to move and maintain.

Where you'd have problems, as Walter does, is that if you have a number of pigs, you'll need to have their basic ration (whatever it is you're feeding the hogs to put weight on them) available in the new space, as well as water, and shelter.

The better your shelter, the less feed you'll use to reach the same weight.

A skid mounted 3 sided shed with a feeder and waterer on it, that you dragged around with a tractor, surrounded by an electric fence, is what I've seen in a number of places. In fact, that's pretty much what I use in the growing seasons. In the winter, I'm sheltering the pigs in a big hoophouse. Check my blog for pictures.

Bruce / ebeyfarm.blogspot.com

 

bruceki,

Awsome piggie hoop house!!!! How is the plastic protected at the bottom from the pigs?

sorry for the :hijacked:

SPIKE

 

Thanks everyone and Hello Spike I do remember chatting with you. I think we are going to do the build a good perimeter fence and then electric fenced paddocks as several have suggested. Perhaps combining a shelter like bruceki does.

 

When I built the greenhouse I put up a double row of 2x4s along the bottom, about 30" apart. On to that I mounted 2x4 woven-wire (horse fence). I'll watch the pigs to make sure that they're not messing with it too much; if they do, I throw a strand of electric around the perimeter. Check the picture of the entrance; you can see the electric fence across it, and then the interior photos you can see the rails and fencing. Click on the pictures for larger versions.

Bruce / ebeyfarm.blogspot.com

 

If you come down sick or need to be away for a few days, you will not be able to move the tractor again as they will root and root and bury the lower part.

You overgrown area is perfect for a herd of goats to clean up and they won't make wallows all over that you need to smooth out. When I moved here, my pasture was overgrown with blackberries and weeds. It is hard to find a blackberry out there now.

 

I've been using the Pig Quickfence from Premier1 to pasture my Asian Heritage Pigs (I like that) since august, I think its 144sq ft. I just have two in it and within two-three weeks there is nothing left but dirt, though this may depend on the season. They do leave large pits and hills though, but it is my intention as well, to use the pigs to renovate/restore my pastures. The quickfence is very portable, I CAN do it myself, but usually have help. We use any kind of insulated wire (speaker wire, telephone wire, etc.) we have to hook it up in parallel to our fence charger and run it as far out to the Quickfence as needed. So far its worked well, but of course this summer will really tell. Tall weeds may pose a problem, there must be portable shelter and water hole for those hot days to come, and the pigs must be electric fence savy.
And you'll need a hoe.
We'll see how well I can integrate the sow's new litter into a Quickfence!

 

Never done it myself, however, the auther of Living with Pigs has and devoted a section of the book to hog tractors:
http://www.amazon.com/Living-Pigs-Everything-Raise-Porkers/dp/1592288774