We are planning to build a barn to house show pigs (no farrowing). Does anyone have suggestions/ dos and don't s for building a good facility to house approximately 10 pigs. Any builder suggestions or web sites with ideas?

I would go with 10x10 pens. Welded wire framed with square tubing. Simple but nice. I would also suggest PLENTY of roll-up type doors. Expensive, but well worth to easily be able to clean out pens or open during the summer. I would also see about having a completely enclosed room in the barn for feed & tack. Just some ideas! Good luck and have fun with it!

We use roll up doors...great for the summer in Texas. We got ours off of CraigsList from a storage company that ordered too many doors for their units. They work perfect and was a perfect price.

The ultimate pig palace: Walking ring adjacent to pen area under roof. Wash pen. Be sure wash pen is situated so that water doesn't enter a pig pen when using. Build for ease of manure removal and re-bedding of pens. Bury water lines where possible to keep pig water as cool as possible AND in case you eventually use in freezing weather. Real pig panels built for pigs are the best for pigs. If you don't use real pig panels, then build pen gates so that when pigs ride them they don't tear them up (sagging gates). Make sure gates are user friendly for the youngest member of your family. Concrete for pens and walkways sloped for ease of clean-up/power washing after show season. Place electrical receptacles for fans and plugging in of clippers etc out of reach of pigs. Heat-if you think you will need it.

Most important-get the kids involved as much as possible. Plumbing, pulling nails, clean-up, pulling electrical wires, mounting receptacle/switch boxes, whatever you can think of! Try to give them meaningful tasks as well as the "go fetch" jobs.

Swinedad

Make sure you plan for air movement. It seems like you can never have too many outlets and lights. If I had mine to do over, I would slope the pens to a small trough to catch any excess water. I used pex to run all my water lines. It is very affordable and easy to handle. I would use cup waterers. We stack bales of shavings above the pens on shelving. Good luck with your new barn!

Look on Stohlquist's web site and you can get a good idea where to start. I would give my left _ _ _ for a barn like that but doubt I will every be able to justify it (or sneak it by my wife).

I always like to have smaller hand feeding pens away from the regular pens. You can build them on a concrete pad that slants away from the gate and have them double as a wash rack. This is a good place to doctor the pigs if needed too. The pigs also get used to going in and out of pens so they are easier to work with at the fair.

torf wrote:Look on Stohlquist's web site and you can get a good idea where to start. I would give my left _ _ _ for a barn like that but doubt I will every be able to justify it (or sneak it by my wife).

What? Doesn't everyone's barn look like this?

Ryan works his ass off, his whole farm is spotless. The new barn is really awesome I was thru a couple weeks ago.

Not everyone has a barn like that but I can dream. Congrats to Ryan for his hard work and building a sweet barn like that.

I'm looking at building a new barn for the hogs. What do you guys think of having concrete pens inside and then a door that leads to an outside dirt pen? Each pen would be separate. Sorta like horse stalls that go outside to a horse run. The runs would be totally covered and shaded from sun.

My name is Josh gentry with carpenter creek farms. Lots of good advice posted. I would be glad to discuss some dos and donts if you would like to chat or send photos of our new show facility. Cell is 2192082084. Thanks and good luck!

Good job swinetime....."get the kids involved.....some meaningful chores, and some fetch it chores". What was the other one..... oh yeh, MAKE THE GATES USABLE FOR THE YOUNGEST EXHIBITOR. Ya make me proud.

Swinedad

We have a lot of experience with all sizes of showpig buildings. Having done work for Adam Beck, Sam Scher, Maucks, Bret Goff, Travis Platt and many others I am sure we can help you design a building or space for your individual needs. We do custom gating, and supply all of the equipment necessary for any size project. Regardless of where you are located or what you are looking to do we may at least be able to give you some suggestions for air quality and penning options.

You can call our office at 877-726-3710 and ask for Chad.

Posted on another thread, but thought I might get some responses on this one.

We are in the process of building a new barn which will include housing for show pigs.

One thing I am really trying to carefully consider is drains for water? Sloped floors will be put in towards drain location.

Questions:

1. Waterers towards front or back of stall?
Originally back of stall made sense, but to keep one section clean all the time, front makes sense along with the feeder. Pens will be 5x10' with feeders up front for ease. If putting automatic waterers up front along with feeders, where do drains make most sense? Near waterers. Outside of pen to avoid shavings clogging it? If so How far?

2. What drains have you used that are comfortable on show pig feet and don't get clogged?

Thanks