How much space do pigs need?

[forester7]

I am planning for a hobby barn which I will build next spring. If I raise my pigs inside the barn only, what size pen should I plan for if I want...

2 pigs?
3 pigs?
4 pigs?

Also, if I decide to allow them to run both in and out of the barn into a fenced off area, would a 10' x 12' pen inside the barn be big enough for 4 pigs?

Thanks in advance!

 

[TAH]

What do you plan to use your pigs for? what breed of pig are you going to get? If you keep them contained in the barn 24/7, your barn will need to fresh air running thru it. Also how often do you want to muck out your barn?

 

[forester7]

I will keep them for our food and our relatives. I would probably go Yorkshire if I keep them mainly inside. I may possibly end up going with Berkshire if I keep them outside. I don't know if keeping them inside is any less hassle than building and maintaining fences and chasing escaped pigs around our community?

 

[NH homesteader]

10x12 sounds small, particularly if you're planning on keeping breeders or raising them to a fairly large size. I raise my pigs outside and I think it's the only way to do it.

I'll look up specific size suggestions, but I raise mine outside with basically a hut for them to go in. They spend most of their time outside.

@misfitmorgan and @farmerjan

Edit : apparently I never finished my sentence... Tagging those two who have or do raise pigs... And may have a better idea of exact space requirements.

 

[NH homesteader]

Our pigs never escape. They respect electric fence.

 

[Maggiesdad]

I run my 3 feeder pigs in a two acre lot with 3 wire electric, a hut and a wallow that I put water in for them. I never smell anything thing from there. Happy boys.

 

[NH homesteader]

I bet you do have happy pigs! We don't have that much area for ours but we move them frequently, except in winter!

 

[misfitmorgan]

A 10'X12' pen would be to small for 4 butcher weight pigs and would encourage a lot of fighting/bickering, not to mention cleaning it or keeping it clean would be almost impossible. You would need to build a second pen to move the pigs to so you could clean the first pen as there simply would not be enough space to safely clean with 4 pigs in there with you.

You want 20sqft per pig if your going to have a slat floor and gutters etc for waste..so 2 pigs would be 40sqft and 4 pigs would be 80sqft this comes out to be 8'X5' for 2 pigs and 8'x10ft for 4 pigs. This is the size alloted for sows to farrow in in the new style farrowing crates and is the minimum space needed...this is however not how you want to raise meat pigs, you want them to be able to move around more. For meat pigs i would recommend at least double this size on one side which would be 8'x10' or 16'x5'(80sqft) for 2 pigs and 32'x5' or 8'x20'(160sqft) for 4 pigs plus taking into account your ability to clean the pen and the area feeders and waters will take up.

Our pig stalls are 8'X12' and we keep two butcher pigs per stall. We could actually use a smaller stall for just two butcher pigs but we breed pigs as well so we have large stalls for farrowing. When we get the stalls on the other side of the barn done the butcher pigs stalls will be 8'x10' again for 2 butcher pigs per stall. Our pens need to be cleaned approx every 2 weeks and they do not stink.

2 butcher pigs - 80SQFT this can be 8'x10', 16'x5', 11'x7.25'
3 butcher pigs - 120SQFT this can be 10'x12'
4 butcher pigs - 160SQFT this can be 32'x5' , 8'x20', 12'x13.25'

You can use any measurements you like but keep in mind most of these will still require another area you can put the pigs in so you can clean the pen. Alternatively you could make a small shelter and a larger pasture area..the pigs will use the bathroom outside greatly reducing the need to clean the inside pen. If your going to provide pasture space the inside shelter space can be as small as 8'x8' for 2 pigs and 10'x10' or 8'x12.5' for 4 pigs. If your looking at those numbers thinking i made a mistake, i didnt and yes i said 8'x8' for 2 pigs. It all has to do with pig space and the general rule is no matter how few pigs you have you need an 8ft long space because that is the length a pig can comfortably lay down in, at butcher weight 250-300lbs.

If you wanted to do a pasture and hut system thats easy to maintain and clean you could make a hut per pig that is 8'x4'x4', the pig enters and exits on the 4' side usually. For two pigs you could do 8'x8'x4' but i would make a hinged roof so you can lift the roof to clean the hut and save your back. Huts and pasture work great for meat pigs, the poo stays outside. i know one farmer who uses nothing but huts and only needs to clean them once every 3 months and thats only in case of parasites. He uses dirt floors with hay or straw for bedding.

Electric fence works really really well for pigs btw and is pretty cheap to put in a "big" pasture. The larger their pasture the more forage they can find which saves you on feed.

 

[NH homesteader]

Our huts aren't very big (not sure of measurements, sorry) but they just sleep in them. Or hunker down if it's super awful out...

 

[NH homesteader]

Oh and my friend breeds heritage pigs (most of ours came from him) and he said they often sleep out in the snow and get up and shake it off in the morning. Lol. And none of our pigs poop in their huts. Much easier!