Building the Simple Hog Pen

Building the Simple Hog Pen

You have mapped out your land, started dividing up costs for livestock and feed, and priced out posts and fencing. Now comes the hard part. Keeping these pigs inside the pen.

If you look all over Pinterest you will see blogs about the best fencing for hogs and why.

This post isn't about which pens to not use.

This post is about how to build one pen. Simple.

Land

When we decided to build a hog pen we needed an area with some shade. Even though pigs require shelter from the sun, we wanted them to be in the shade for two obvious reasons. They can get sunburn and heat creates a smelly pen. So, because of the second reason, we moved the pen down the hill from the house so we couldn't smell the pen.

We cleared the land of brush and overgrown vines because it was very thick and we wouldn't have been able to walk inside to build the pen. My husband then drove over the rest of the brush with the lawn mower to have a flat surface.

The other issue we ran into was the tree trunks from the large trees giving the pen shade. So, the pen ended up being a little crooked.

Posts

The posts that were originally there were from a cattle farm. As my husband and I walked up to the posts we noticed how weak they were. Pigs can take out posts like nobody's business. So, we headed to tractor supply for new ones.

We used 5 inch wide 8 foot tall posts and I dug them 20-24 inches in the ground. The posts were then spaced out every 4 feet. To secure the post in the ground we used quikrete in the holes to make sure they weren't going anywhere. We also used an extra post for the shelter.

Fence

Tractor Supply sells hog panels 34 inches by 16 foot long. We bought 6 panels. 4 for fencing and 2 for the ground.

We made the pen square so it was easy to connect the panels at the corners. This 5 gauge fencing needs bolt cutters to trim so making it square seemed logical. The only time we needed to trim was the opening for the gate.

We had 2 panels left over to prevent the pigs from digging out. My husband told me about this trick and so far they don't need rings in their noses. You cut the panels in half (long ways) and lay them down and the bottom of the fencing. You use hog rings to attach the fence to the cut panel. This prevents the pigs from rooting under and escaping. They also can't move the panels away from the fence because they are attached.

Shelter

3 pieces of plywood and 6 pieces of tin roof. We attached the plywood on 3 of the 4 walls to make a shelter and we trimmed the tops of the posts to create a slant for the tin roof when it rained.

Predators

We got our pigs at 4 weeks and they were tiny. My biggest fear was coyotes. My husband bought chicken wire fencing 3 foot high to use the rest of the way up the posts to create a 6 foot high fence. The coyotes can't climb the chicken wire because it wobbles.

We also set up solar panel motion sensor lights around the pens to spook any animals that cross it's path.

Food and Water

My husband and I started using rubber bowls from a feed store mainly because the piglets were to little it seemed easiest for them. Since they have gotten bigger they rather bathe in their water bowl than drink it and I have yet to put the kiddie pool in their pen. So, with summer coming we needed a better solution.

We have a buddy who raises hogs and uses plastic feed barrels then attaches metal nipples to them to bite on and drink. This was a life saver. It took the piglets 20 minutes to figure it out. I'll post about this soon.

Pigs

Our last item on the checklist was picking up two piglets. I found a woman on Craigslist the week before the pig pen was started who was getting ready to sell her piglets over the weekend. That's what sparked the building of this pen so fast.

We went and picked them up and placed them in a dog crate for the ride home. They were scared, understandably, and we made sure they were comfortable when they went into their pen.

Materials Overview

So here is the list of materials:

Tractor Supply

Posts - 5x8 $8.99

Hog Panels - 34 x 16 $22.99

Gate - 4ft $89.99 (You can certainly make a gate)

Hog Rings $7.99 (100 piece)

Chicken Wire - 3 ft $19.99 (50ft)

Lowe's

Plywood - 4x8 $13.98

Tin Roof - 2x8 $13.99