Pig housing and outdoor runs, step by step

1. The site

Before you lay the first block, walk the plot and decide where the pig house, the run and the manure heap go.

1. Dry and free-draining — Never put a pig house in a hollow or next to a stream. The site must be dry and free-draining.
2. Openings face south — Sheltered from cold north and east winds, openings facing south or south-east. In summer, shade from trees or a roof.
3. Away from the well — Pig house, run and manure heap at least roughly 30 m (about 100 ft) from a well and below it, not above.
4. Manure heap and woods — The manure heap sits on an impermeable base and is covered, so rain doesn't wash the liquid into the soil and the well. Keep the pig house and run away from woods where wild boar or feral pigs come.

Why: A wet pig house means bad feet, scours and ammonia. A run along the edge of a wood is the first step towards African swine fever.

• An old stable or shed can often be converted: a sloping floor, a window, a solid partition and a run on the south side. That's roughly a third of the cost of a new pig house.
• Many councils and US counties set minimum distances from houses, roads and wells. Check before you build.

2. Sizes and three areas

A pig is clean when it has room: it chooses a dry bed and always soils the same corner.

1. How much room — A fattening pig needs 1.5–2 m² indoors and 10–20 m² of run, a sow with piglets a pen of 6–8 m².
2. Dry bed — The bed is half the pen: the warmest, driest part, against a wall without a window, with straw.
3. Trough and drinker — The trough sits on the outer side of the partition, along the passage. The drinker goes by the dunging corner, not by the bed, because pigs spill water.
4. Dunging corner — Furthest from the bed, by the run door and the drain. Muck out here every day.

Why: A good pig house simply follows that: a dry, warm lying area, a place for food and water, and a dunging corner that's easy to clean. On a small homestead a pig lies down more, moves and roots, so allow more than the minimums for farms.

• Partitions are roughly 1–1.2 m high, 1.3–1.4 m for a boar, and solid at the bottom: pigs don't jump, but they push and lift with their snout.
• A heat lamp for piglets hangs on a chain, never by its cable, at least roughly 50–70 cm above the straw, with a guard. Get an electrician to do the wiring.

3. Floor, bedding and trough · Locked

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4. Summer and winter · Locked

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5. Fencing and the run · Locked

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6. Biosecurity · Locked

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