A HOG TRACTOR? - PAPA CONTINUES TO EXPLORE HOMESTEADING POSSIBILITIES
This could potentially make my life even easier!
Some time ago, @everittdmickey suggested that I think about trying a hog tractor. The basic idea is to have a large moving cage that can contain the pig while allow it to have free access to grasses and plants to forage on. Trust me, if he sees this he will by no means think that this prototype is heavy-duty enough, but for now I'm going to risk it. I'll get to the photos and story shortly, but first the video about it.
BEHOLD - THE HOG TRACTOR
THE BASICS OF BUILDING
The basic concept and building process is pretty simple. This is a test run for me, so I didn't go too in depth, I just wanted to make sure that it would work for me and be capable of doing what I wanted it to do. With the help of some @little-peppers, I had a little fun putting this together. To start with, I got two of my 16 foot long cattle panels. Though these have bigger spaces that will allow piglets to escape, I like the fact that they are taller than the hog panels. Also, I'll just be using these for full size pigs, so they should work well.
I also picked up some "handy panels." Handy panels are pretty much an 8 foot version of the cattle panel. It is best if you just purchase cattle panels and then either cut them or bend them in half, since this is much more cost effective. I was in town with my short trailer though and wanted to get the job done quick, so I spent extra.
I wired the ends of the cattle panels to the handy panels to make a large rectangle, sixteen feet long by eight feet across. I also attached a few handy panels to the top, just to help it hold its form. I make use corner braces instead, but this one is a prototype. They were easy enough to attach and will be easy enough to remove as well.
Since pigs can get sunburned just like we can, it is important to provide them with some shade as well. I used some scrap metal to provide enough shade to allow both of the pigs that we were putting in here enough space to get out of the sun for most of the day if needed.
Once we added some water for them, they were pretty much at home. The goal is to be able to move this manually on a daily basis (or as needed) to be able to use the pigs as lawn mowers. Since our hogs are predominantly the Large Black variety, they do well eating grass and root around less in the dirt than some other varieties.
They were happy to have so much grass to munch on. Just grazing kept them rather busy and quite entertained for a lot of the day today. They did lay down for a nap too, but the rest of the time they mostly just ate.
SO FAR SO GOOD!
As you can tell from the photo above, I also lashed two large cedar logs to each of the long walls of the hog tractor. This will provide extra weight to help attempt to keep the pigs inside of the tractor. I am optimistic, although some may think that I am just asking for free-range pork at this point. We will see, but they did get ready for bed just fine tonight, so if they are there in the morning, we should be good.
If for some reason they are not there in the morning, hopefully they will still be close enough to hear my call. I like to train all of our animals with their own call and reward them with a treat for coming. It worked to get these pigs out of their pen and into the tractor, and helps us round up our chickens and other animals too. I just don't have time to be chasing livestock around every day, if you know what I mean.
As long as my first post tomorrow is not Where Have My Pigs Gone?, you'll know everything is still working well. Don't worry, so far that hyperlink is empty and doesn't lead anywhere. I plan on keeping it that way.
Well guys, what do you think? Will this work, or am I asking for trouble?
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-hog-tractor-prototype
Until next time…
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Great post...resteemed
Very clever, this could be a great help for us here in the Philippines, I will share this to some of our Farmers here. Thank you @papa-pepper ...
I've heard of others successfully using things like this!
So, did the pigs stay inside the tractor? :)) Were they still there this morning?
Very good post my friend . . Thankyou for sharing 👏👏
nice
You are doing a very great job on the farm land... Kudos to you sir....
Lest I forget , you are highly handsome know that shot.
I must tell you this too...... I'm speeding up in my task of post too, yesterday I posted 5 times
AH, an increase in quantity!
Aww, I was totally looking forward to a hog pulling a plow or something! :P
Ok with your hog tractor, you could make a fence with bamboo or wood with wood vertical and horizontal interlinear one between other the bamboo horizontal.
it would be but it is to hard you only go to buy the hog tractor and easily building a fence for your pigs it is easily and do not expenses a lot of time in work hard but if you do not have money it would be.
We build something like a hog tractor with metal and wood it was very expensive around $150.00 including the work and was for only have around 8 hen with a chiken and we continued work for be better conditions for it.
make your life more easy it is the actitude i love the homestead life but i work in a city but dad an mom live in the little farm and i every day think how be better quality of life for them 63 and 82 yeard old, daddy it is very energic more than me. :( maybe the farm life is the best for you healthy and lifestyle it is very hard hard but very nice.
Best regard.
@galberto
Thank you @galberto!
put a bottom in it, another panel...and it should work perfectly.
those cedar logs are a good idea..they might be enough even without the bottom
We will see. I'll continue to monitor and reinvent as needed. Thanks for the idea.
Back on the Llano in the eighties I was thinking BIG. I never thought about using hog panels like that. I had them. With a bottom so they can't lift it up. (Hawgs are STRONG) it should be perfect until they are market size (about 220lbs).
For full grown hawgs. (My breeding stock weighed damn near half a ton each). I dunno.
Ok, this is a long reply, and I may get cut off in the middle, so check back for more...
I have a friend who was in on the beginning of the organic farming movement. In his words, hogs are much better than chickens (in a tractor) because they really turn of the soil.
Now, turning up the soil is great for where you are going to build a garden.
It is awful in areas where you wanted to be left as grass. They really destroy the grass, and so your other grass eating animals will have nothing left for them next year.
A male hog will easily lift those timbers and get out whenever he wanted to.
The female hogs... it depends on their disposition. But each of those hogs in the pictures, their snouts are as strong as your hands are.
So, to reiterate: If you are putting the hogs in a place where you are going to build a garden, great.
If not, you are just tearing up your soil and it will get washed away in the rain.
Your cage isn't good enough to keep the hogs in if they decide they want to get out.
Hogs need more area... well, during the hot months they need an area to take a mud bath. Other times of the year they need an area to take a dust bath. They also need a shed type structure for the winters, and a shade area for the summers. They also need a pen that is more than 4x4s. As in welded pipe, or 6x6 posts.
So, I suggest you start looking into a proper pen for your hogs.
A packed earth lean-to is something you may want to look at.
A male hogs snout is stronger than you are at lifting. If they weren't such pigs, we could probably train them to be fork lifts. ^_^
From my experience with hogs (about 800 pounds of famished pig), I must agree with you. I have seen a hog bust through a 2"x12" without much trouble. They are also great at destroying bramble patches, and taste better for the blackberries they eat when they do.
I'm sure they'll love the fresh grass, but I am also quite certain that if they decide to exit the structure, what I saw won't hold them back much.
Yeah, these ones really like a good mud bath. They took their previous more permanent pen down to the bare dirt without much effort. I'll be covering it with mulch and beginning to build the soil for a no-till garden there.
Thanks for the advice.
hope they will be there in the morning. Thought you might enjoy this podcast http://www.permaculturevoices.com/pastured-hogs-webinar-with-rebecca-krassnoski/