Raising pigs is a difficult and very troublesome business. Nevertheless, with the current prices for meat, many people decide on such an occupation. There are several nuances that need to be considered when keeping these animals, and one of the most important – construction of a solid pigsty in which your pigs would feel as comfortable as possible comfortable. Today we’ll talk about how to build a pigsty with your own hands and what you need for this.
Read in the article
- 1 What are the requirements for keeping pigs
- 2 What you need to know about designing a pigsty
- 2.1 What dimensions should a pigsty have?
- 2.2 How to determine the height of a pigsty
- 3 How to choose a place for a pigsty
- 4 What tools and materials need to be prepared for the construction of a pigsty
- 5 We build a pigsty from floor to ceiling
- 6 Do you need finishing work in the pigsty?
What are the requirements for keeping pigs
Pigs cannot be raised completely in a stall, they will need a run area with a canopy so that snow and rain do not turn it into a muddy mess. For each pig for keeping at home, you need at least 10 m² of free walking area. That is, if you have, for example, 5 animals, then the walking distance should be at least 50 m².
Despite the fact that pigs have a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, they are very sensitive to heat and cold. Especially care must be taken with the young. Therefore, the pigsty should be warm in winter and cool in summer, and this will require insulation and good vapor barrier.
You will be surprised how nimble these clumsy animals can be, so the walls of the pens should be raised at least 150-180 cm if you do not want to look for your pets in the neighbor's garden.
For optimal breeding conditions, livestock breeders recommend making pens for pigs: approximately 16 m² for fattening and 12 for keeping the main livestock.
Another important condition for a pigsty is durable and warm floors that can withstand not only the weight of your pets, but also regular cleaning and the aggressive effects of waste.
If you consider all these requirements, you will have a great, dry and clean pigsty, and your pigs will be well-groomed and healthy.
What you need to know about designing a pigsty
A pigsty is, of course, not a cottage, but even here one cannot do without a project, at least the simplest one. In order to develop such a project, you first need to have a clear idea of how many animals you are ready to keep at the same time. And then it will be very simple: the size of the range, paddocks and other requirements will be based on these indicators.
What dimensions should a pigsty have?
The pigsty has standard requirements for the size, height and dimensions of each room. To correctly calculate the area, you need to know that one pig should have an area of 3 to 5 m². That is, the total area of pens, for example, for 10 heads of pigs, should be at least 30 m², and preferably 50.
Another important factor is the way you keep your pets. There are two options to choose from - fattening or breeding. Fattening is when your main goal is getting meat, and breeding, as you already understood, is the process of breeding animals in order to get offspring.
Based on these data, let's roughly estimate the size of the pigsty for each category of pigs. If you have one sow, then she will need at least 7.5 m² of space for the pen. If, in addition to her, there are 5 young animals for fattening, they will need a room with an area of at least 5 m². Well, let's also add, for example, a boar dad, who needs at least 2.5 m². Thus, the area of the machines alone is 15 m², and add to this the range and passages for comfortable feeding, cleaning and caring for animals. So it turns out that for 7 heads you will need a pigsty of at least 30 m² plus a range of 70 m².
How to arrange the machines in the pigsty - decide for yourself. There is an option to distribute them all along one wall, making a passage along the other, or place them on both sides, leaving a passage in the center. In any case, the width of the passage must be at least 150 cm.
As you can see, there are passages and pens for animals.
How to determine the height of a pigsty
There is a temptation to make a pigsty with low ceilings for such reasons: low ceilings help to keep heat indoors better during the cold season. But you shouldn't do that. Think for yourself: you will have to care for animals, constantly tilting your head and being in an uncomfortable position. And even the height of the full height of a person is not enough: you can neither wave a shovel, nor lift a pitchfork with hay.
But you can make such a height at the location of the passage, but above the machines, reduce them due to the geometry of the roof. So you save on the material of the walls, and on heating the pigsty.
How to choose a place for a pigsty
This is also a very important question. The place for the pigsty must be chosen very carefully, based on several rules:
- The place of paddock and walking should be dry. Natural or artificial lowlands are not suitable, where water accumulates after rain. Dampness has a very bad effect on animals, they will constantly get sick. The ideal option is a small hill or embankment.
- The location of the pigsty must be protected from drafts and blown cold winds. Pigs are very sensitive to cold, and if they are blown through, this can lead to death, especially young animals. To avoid this, bushes and trees are planted around the pigsty, which will protect it from bad weather.
- Remember that no matter how carefully you take care of your pigs, you cannot get rid of the specific smell. For this reason, the rules require that the pigsty be at least 15 meters away from residential buildings. And we are talking not only about your own house, but also about the housing of your neighbors. If you don’t want trouble and constant complaints, think about the people who live nearby and place the pigsty so that they don’t constantly hear the “ambergris” of your pets through the windows.
What tools and materials need to be prepared for the construction of a pigsty
Let's start with the main thing - materials for construction. What is definitely not suitable for this purpose is adobe or wood concrete. No matter how attractive these building materials are in terms of price and characteristics, they are not suitable for pigsties for one simple reason - they are fragile. Pigs are able to dig holes and destroy barriers with their weight, so that loose walls will be instantly destroyed. The walls must be strong, and this is either brick, or foam concrete, or stone. You can build pigsties out of wood: if this is an affordable material in your area, then why not.
For such solid walls, in any case, it will be necessary to fill the foundation. It is made tape, according to all the rules, that is, deeper than the level of soil freezing.
For flooring in a pigsty, a strong thick board with a thickness of at least 50 mm is used. For safety, the floorboards are treated with resin or mining. Boards are laid with a minimum gap so that urine does not linger on the surface. These floors are quite warm, but they serve for a relatively short time, as they quickly collapse in an aggressive environment. It is for this reason that often the owners make poured concrete floors. On the one hand, they last longer, but on the other hand, they are slippery and cold. Therefore, for the winter, it is recommended to throw a removable wooden floor over them so that the pigs do not lie on a cold stone.
Sometimes the floors in private sheds are covered with asphalt. This is easy to do: it is enough to agree with the road builders who are laying asphalt nearby. On the one hand, the mixture of gravel and resin is not as cold as concrete, but on the other hand, it is not easy to clean this floor, because impurities actively penetrate into the porous coating.
And another common option is just earthen floors. Not the best choice, because pigs can dig into them, make holes and even dig for an escape. And think for yourself, how do you have to clean the pigsty? Remove the top layer of earth?
You can also make the floors prefabricated brick from the rest of the brick, but then all the gaps need to be filled with concrete mortar, otherwise your pets will dig them and dig holes.
And finally, what to make a roof from? Everything is much simpler here, because there are no specific requirements: ordinary wooden beams and any kind of roofing material. The roof of the pigsty can be slate, from a metal profile, with a soft roof.
And now a few words about the necessary tool. There is nothing special here either: you will need shovels, a concrete mixer for mixing the mortar, a saw for working with wood, a drill, a screwdriver and appropriate fasteners.
We build a pigsty from floor to ceiling
In fact, a pigsty or any other outbuilding with insulation has a common construction algorithm.
The first stage is the device of the foundation tape. Its dimensions are marked on the ground with the help of pegs and a pit is dug with a depth lower than the level of soil freezing, and a width of a shovel bayonet. Then formwork is made from boards or plywood panels and pouring is carried out with reinforcement of the foundation of frames from metal rods.
The foundation must be raised above the ground by about 40 cm. The load on the foundation will be small, but this is not a reason to relax and hack. The minimum trench depth is 50 cm, it can be reinforced with metal or composite reinforcement.
A blind area for the foundation of a pigsty is needed in the same way as for the foundation of a house. It will help keep the foundation from moisture and deformation. The width of the blind area is about 60-70 cm, you can make it monolithic concrete or soft - now this trend is very popular.
You should not have any particular difficulties with the walls, but special attention should be paid to the floors. As already mentioned, the best option is poured concrete floors. Nobody bothers you to make a wooden flooring for the winter on top of them.
The concrete floor is also poured during preliminary reinforcement, on a sand and gravel cushion, but with prerequisite: you need to prepare a channel for sewage drainage and make a slope to facilitate the process cleaning. The correct slope to the ditch should be from 2 to 5 degrees - this will be enough, and the ditch can be made of brick or asbestos-concrete pipe, cut in half. You can also lay plastic, but then it must be covered with a strong grate so as not to accidentally damage the fragile material.
And of course, if you are planning to make underfloor heating, then they are laid in advance in compliance with all the requirements for this type of floor.
After pouring, concrete floors are covered with polyethylene so that there are no cracks due to rapid solidification.
Wooden flooring with slots will greatly simplify the cleaning process. So your pigs will always be dry, because all the impurities will spill through the cracks. And you can periodically do the cleaning, just pouring from the hose and washing off all the dirt into the ditch with the outlet to the sewer.
Returning to the construction of walls, it must be said that even if your walls are brick or block, it is better to sheathe them from the inside with boards for insulation. Boards must be pre-processed: they can be burned and covered with mining. With such protection, they will last a very long time, at least twice as long as without treatment.
The windows in the pigsty are placed at a height of one and a half meters. Not worth it below - your pets can knock them out. The window must have an opening frame for ventilation. The most practical option is plastic windows through which it does not see through and in which the frames do not need to be painted.
In the middle lane and the northern regions in the pigsty, it is imperative to make ceilings that separate the main room from the roof. Ceilings are insulated with any available material: it can be expanded clay, clay, sawdust, or any synthetic materials for this purpose. Ceilings can be hemmed with a board or, as a universal and cheaper option, with OSB boards.
In the attic of the pigsty, you can store hay for bedding or feed in winter. With this option, you should consider a hatch inside so that it is convenient to remove all these products.
Do you need finishing work in the pigsty?
And how without them? It is clear that we are not talking about interior design, but the basic things are not going anywhere. Lighting - should be, and preferably as inexpensive as possible, LED. Pick up flat protected fixtures for this purpose.
Ventilation is also a must. The hood is made under the ceiling, and the supply holes are at a height of about 20 cm from the floor. They must be protected with metal shutters.
A pigsty, in principle, can do without heating devices, if it is initially correctly insulated. But if winters are harsh in your area, think about how to make the room warmer.
Machines indoors are usually separated by wooden partitions with a thick 5 cm board. Gates are made of the same durable material.
And some more useful recommendations for arranging a pigsty from a breeding expert:
If you have experience in building such outbuildings, share it in the comments!
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