A HOG TRACTOR? - PAPA CONTINUES TO EXPLORE HOMESTEADING POSSIBILITIES

This could potentially make my life even easier!

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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

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Until next time…

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