Practical Farm Buildings: Plans and Suggestions

by Andrew Frederick Hunter

The upper window, which throws light into the pen on the north side is long, and this necessitates a flat roof for the part of the building south of the alley, which must necessarily be covered with some material, such as Paroid Roofing, that will shed water at a slight pitch. Dryness should be secured by thorough drainage, freedom from dust by sprinkling with water, and the direct sunlight should be prevented from entering the pens during the hot part of the summer days; this is done by the manner of constructing the building—the lower window is shaded by the eaves and the rays passing through the upper windows fall upon the floor of the alley.

In order to be most serviceable a hog house should be constructed so that it can be used every day in the year. In order to be an economizer of labor the house should be planned so that the largest amount of work may be performed with the smallest amount of labor, which, with the present scarcity of labor, is a very important factor. Farrowing pens should be supplied with fenders, which prevent the sows crushing the pigs, and should be built so the attendant may lend assistance, if necessary, with both convenience and safety. By having all the hogs under one roof handling becomes simpler, and in case of bad weather much more convenient.

Fig. 70—Ground plan.

The alley through the middle of the building is eight feet wide; this permits driving through the building with a wagon, which allows the bedding to be hauled directly to the pens, and the manure to be loaded on the wagon directly from the pens and hauled to the fields. The pens are ten feet wide and eleven feet deep. Each pen has a slide door opening to the outside, and a door opening to the alley; the latter is hung so that when it is opened it will turn the pigs towards the front end of the house, for weighing, etc. It also permits changing pigs from one pen to another, and gives easy access to the attendant. The trough is placed on the side of the pen next the alley, and a swinging panel above the trough, shown in the illustration of the interior, makes feeding a very easy and convenient operation. The “fender” is shown in the ground plan, and consists of a two-inch iron pipe placed on posts of the same set in concrete in the floor. This fender should be placed eight or nine inches above the floor and about six inches from the wall, it is to prevent the sows crushing the pigs at farrowing time; the sow will necessarily make her bed in this corner as the other three corners are occupied, two of them by doors and the other the feed trough.

There is a four-inch drain tile laid from each pen to the main lines on either side, which are placed on the outside of the pens, leading off down the ravine. The tile opens up through the floor of the pens by means of a perforated iron disk, which is laid in the bell-end of a length of sewer pipe. The floor is made to slope toward the drain so that it can be flushed with water.

All the gates and partitions of the interior are made of wire netting panels. Wire is better than lumber for this purpose, for several reasons. They are no obstruction to light, the rays of light coming through the windows are not cut off from reaching the floor, where they are most needed; they keep the floor and bedding warm and disinfected. In case the hog house should become infected with disease germs it can be flushed out and disinfected much more easily and thoroughly. Wire partitions allow the hogs always to be in sight of each other and of the attendant. By this means the sows, when they are shut up to farrow, will not become estranged from one another, and will not be so likely to fight after returning to a common pasture.

Fig. 71—Large hog house—interior.

A hog house built and operated according to the above outlined plan makes it possible to perform a maximum amount of work with a minimum amount of labor, and to put the pigs on the market at seasons of the year that are out of the ordinary; it can be expected that pigs thus marketed will sell for higher prices than those that are marketed along with the general supply.