Although we’re keen pig farmers, in the past we’ve been reluctant to breed, preferring to source weaned piglets. As part of our multi-enterprise approach to farming, we acquired a small micro-dairy which came complete with breeding saddleback sows and a boar. With dairy setup on a very tight deadline, we had a portable pig housing crisis that needed a solution! Enter the Pig-Go!
Woodend is a fairly chilly place in winter and with sows dropping piglets, we needed to build basic (simple & cheap) housing to give the sows protection from the elements. Since we’re committed to portable infrastructure and the benefits it offers in regenerative farming, the pig shelters needed to be portable.
So, with little time to spare, we raided a pile of junkie timber left over from the construction of our second eggmobile and in a couple of hours, we’d framed up some basic accommodation to protect our new additions from the elements!
The Design Brief :
1/ Mobile (on Taranaki Farm everything must be easily movable)
2/ Cheap (to profit in farming, we must avoid expensive inputs in hardware)
3/ Fast (The pigs were arriving in 24hrs!)
So, we settled on a simple skid design (toboggan inspired!) consisting of a couple of red gum planks with a basic timber frame build upon it, clad with second hand corrugated iron. A team of three interns and myself knocked them together using assorted left over screws, nails, timber and tin in just a few hours.
Mission successful, and the sows are now happily making themselves at home in this cheap, simple and portable little pig house. We’ll experiment with breeding some pigs (beyond our usual sourcing of weaners) and we’ll see what happens… only time will tell.
Love the pig mobile and your cute Saddlebacks.
We are keen to have some Saddlebacks but found sourcing them difficult.
Would you share with us where to source them. We live 22kms NE of Kyneton.
Looking forward to visiting when Joel Salatin is at Taranaki.
Thank you
Peg Higginbottom
G'day Peg, They are adorable aren't they! Alas we couldn't tell you the answer to your question because these came along with our micro-dairy. I would suggest contacting Fernleigh Farm near Daylesford as I believe they are big exponents of the saddleback pig. Hope that helps and see you later in the year!
Ben Falloon
Hey Ben – great little structures. One question on the flooring. Did you end up going a solid floor, or is it slatted to allow waste to fall through?
Also – how heavy are they – can you move them by quad bike, or is it a tractor job?
Finally – how cold are you getting mid-winter? We're getting down around -5 here, so are looking at some additional heating for the mid-winter farrowing. Means less mobility, but it is a reality of where we are.
Cheers, Danny.
G'day Danny,
Firstly, it gets very cold here in Woodend. The floor is slated, though if I did this again, I'd brace it more diagonally and do away with a floor altogether… The floor was only for structural integrity (because of our slap dash design). Pigs generally don't sully their living spaces, and I reckon with a good bed of hay or straw, and the pig-go directioned away from the cold winter wind the warmth would be no problem.
These could be easily moved with a quad bike.
All the best,
Ben
Hey Ben,
Happy to report that I've blatantly ripped your design and our recent weaners are now happily ensconced in their new palace. Slight variations on your design – removed the floor (a bit of cross bracing was enough for structural integrity) and I've added a board across the front of the skid for the full width of the palace to help with dragging it over tufts of grass.
Cheers, Danny.
Danny, it sounds like evolution of the species! Glad we could supply the basic inspiration and happier still you could improve upon it. Bravo! May those weaners graduate to baconers, but not too fast!
Hi Ben and Danny,
I love the sleds!
For cold winter farrowing – we used a shed made out of bent reo, filled with hay bales, a design we stole from Milkwood. The hay is a great insulator, and, when you take it out, the reo is light to move. The reo is more expensive than spare timber, though, as we buy it new from the hardware shop.
Just did our first pig home kill and have a barn full of Wessex salami!
Cheers, sadie
That salami sounds divine Sadie! I've seen a picture of those Milkwood pens and they look really cosy! Fantastic. Keep up the pig keeping – we love it!
Hi Ben,
Like your pig shelters, but a couple of questions please. We have just sourced some saddleback sows and a boar and wonder how soon after farrowing do you start to move the sows and piglets? Do you let them farrow in your their shelters in the open paddocks or do you move them to a more sheltered area? One more question too – how much supplementary feeding is required in excess of the milk?
Keep up the great work and we look forward to catching up with Joel again in WA in October.
Cheers
Mike
Thank Mike,
I don't see too much trouble moving them soonish after they're born, though I would plan not to and would make any moves not too far. We let them farrow in these structures, though individually. We do some supplementary feeding – basically we soak a simple grain mix in skim milk.
Enjoy Joel in WA. should be great…
All the best, Ben
Hey, the portable pig housing looks wonderful. This is really a sweet and simple way of creating pig housing. Liked reading it. Thanks for the share.