HOW TO: Housing
Updated: Sep 1, 2021
The aim of pig housing is to provide an atmosphere that will allow the pig to optimally develop or breed. Therefore, pig housing must strive for:
Protection from extreme climatic conditions, e.g. direct solar radiation, rain, wind.
Allowing the pigs' inherent behaviour patterns and minimize overcrowding.
Provision of conditions for dry bedding that do not predispose the pig to diseases.
Enabling access to clean water and food.
Making sure the stockman moves easily. Successful effluent disposal.
Cost effectiveness in the construction of housing.
Housing structure
In Fermented Bed Technology, pigs are raised intensively in the housing structure to:
Make it easy for management and feeding. Pigs of various sizes are separately raised should an outbreak of disease occurs; it is easier to quarantine sick animals.
At various stages of growth, such as breast-feeding sows, weaned piglets, finishers, porkers and breeding stock, a farmer can also handle pigs effectively. Encourage optimum production.
The piglets are shielded from the vagaries of nature when in a sheltered structure.
Fewer deaths are encountered in litter Control pests and preventing outbreaks of disease.
Factors to consider when selecting site for good housing
A good site:
It should drain well.
To allow sunlight to reach in the morning and evening, its orientation should be in the east-west direction.
To deliver supplies using vehicles, it should have easy access points.
The roof must be made of material that protects pigs from direct sunlight and rain.
The walls should allow full circulation of air.
It should have troughs with feed and water.
The Roof
Locally available materials such as dry thatching grass, polythene sheets, papyrus mats placed over polythene sheets, dry banana leaves placed over polythene sheets or iron sheets should be assembled.
To create a cool atmosphere, the roof should be at least three meters above the ground.
Be resistant to rain and sun. If corrugated iron sheets are used, collect rainwater.
Walls
Using either bricks or cut-off timber.
To prevent the pig from pushing against it easily, the off cuts should be nailed on the inside part of the house.
The wall should be plastered well. Using treated poles to support the framework.
Floor
The floor should not be cemented, but with a soil surface, the left bear.
The parent material of dry matter (grass, maize stalk, sorghum straws, twigs or small branches) should cover it.
A mixture of either fine saw dust or rice/wheat bran mixed with lime, table salt and red soil should cover the parent material.
Feed and water troughs
On opposite sides, the feed and water troughs should be positioned so that the pigs can exercise as they move from one trough to another.
To avoid over wetting the same location, the water troughs should be relocated regularly.
It is advisable to use plastic troughs since they can be easily washed to maintain an
appropriate standard of hygiene.
The troughs do not necessarily have to be fixed; after the animals have fed and drank water, they can be easily relocated to make more space for exercise.
They should be constructed along the wall if the troughs are fixed. A space of 30cm in a feed trough should be allowed for each pig.
A water trough should have a height of at least 30cm.