Hoop-style Mulit-purpose Housing for Pigs, etc.

I just moved our sows into a new location yesterday using some new-to-me designs. I recently bought a bunch of 4’x16′ livestock panels. With them I made a wire box-cage that I used to move the sows from their old pasture down the road 1/10 mile and into their new digs. I cut the panel into two, a 5′ and an 11′, sections. I then bent the extending wire on the 11’er to make a hinge for the corner with the 5’er. I used hose clamps to join the two remanufactured panels at one corner, and clips on the other so it can open and shut for a door.

I also used the panels as support for the hoop-house structure. I used 2x6x10 “runners” spaced about 9′ apart. Then bent two livestock panels into the dome form. I cut the ends to fit and bent the wire ends to form corners. Fencing staples hold the panels in place along the bottom structure. A door was cut in the front so animal can be secured in there.

Truthfully it is a bit light for pigs, but these girls are pretty reasonable, and we’ll just see how it goes. I’m hoping to build a second one and let the sows farrow in them. They are set up n our garden for now. They are not that easy to move, but with a rope through each runner, two of us were able to move this one to where we wanted it.

In the cold rain and snow yesterday the sows were very appreciative of the dry, and reasonable warm place to snooze. They have had some cover, although not like this, and they have been out all winter.

I hope to use this structure for poultry also. For that I will use wire-ties to attache 1″ chicken wire to keep them in. I have built a lot of structures similar to this design, and at this point the livestock panels provide more stability, and a lighter weight than others I have tried.

Carl