# moving pigs without a trailer?



## tansyflower (Dec 16, 2013)

So I have always used my dog crate and a minivan to transport my pigs, but now they are much too large for that. We have to move them an acre west to their summer paddocks, is there a way to move pigs without a trailer? We do have a trailer but the sides are only a few feet high....maybe we should retrofit that somehow? Thank you in advance!


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## Gravytrain (Mar 2, 2013)

Won't they follow you with food? If they are trained to electric you could also create a little lane to wherever you need to take them. Either way, pick a time when you can afford to be patient.

Yesterday,I had to move 6 young pigs who are NOT trained to electric, and have never really been on open pasture to the Olympic electric training facility. I thought it went fairly well, but my 13 year old just about had a meltdown because, well the pigs weren't listening and they were not taking the most direct route. :shrug:


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

tansyflower said:


> So I have always used my dog crate and a minivan to transport my pigs, but now they are much too large for that. We have to move them an acre west to their summer paddocks, is there a way to move pigs without a trailer? We do have a trailer but the sides are only a few feet high....maybe we should retrofit that somehow? Thank you in advance!


My 3 hogs broke out the fence one time and I found them 1/2 mile away-----they just followed me back to there "pen" with me shaking a feed bucket. 

Yes, if you are going to have hogs, you need to "fix" the trailer or something to haul them in----if its needed.

I have bought pigs, bring them home in a dog cage----then they never leave the farm. I process them myself.


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## tansyflower (Dec 16, 2013)

Maybe I could use a few cattle panels to make a hoop house on the back of the trailer?


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## tansyflower (Dec 16, 2013)

Gravytrain said:


> Won't they follow you with food? If they are trained to electric you could also create a little lane to wherever you need to take them. Either way, pick a time when you can afford to be patient.
> 
> Yesterday,I had to move 6 young pigs who are NOT trained to electric, and have never really been on open pasture to the Olympic electric training facility. I thought it went fairly well, but my 13 year old just about had a meltdown because, well the pigs weren't listening and they were not taking the most direct route. :shrug:


Some are trained by food, but I have 6 feeders that are feisty and a total pain in the butt anytime they get out. Pretty sure they would be a nightmare to move!


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## tansyflower (Dec 16, 2013)

Fire-Man said:


> My 3 hogs broke out the fence one time and I found them 1/2 mile away-----they just followed me back to there "pen" with me shaking a feed bucket.
> 
> Yes, if you are going to have hogs, you need to "fix" the trailer or something to haul them in----if its needed.
> 
> I have bought pigs, bring them home in a dog cage----then they never leave the farm. I process them myself.


Yeah I am thinking maybe a hoop house made of cattle panels. The trailer is pretty heavy duty so I think securing it would be easy and we could easily deconstruct it. We tried building a plywood enclosure on that trailer once but the pig ripped it to shreds! Luckily we were not going down a highway at the time....


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

Sides of the trailer a few feet high? I am trying to visualize the problem.
The hog panels around my pig pen are only 3 feet tall.
But of you feel the need, sure line the trailer with cattle panels.
Then go to the lumber yard, buy some 2x4s and 2x6s, some carriage bolts, and build some stock racks for your trailer.


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## tansyflower (Dec 16, 2013)

Dixie Bee Acres said:


> Sides of the trailer a few feet high? I am trying to visualize the problem.
> The hog panels around my pig pen are only 3 feet tall.
> But of you feel the need, sure line the trailer with cattle panels.
> Then go to the lumber yard, buy some 2x4s and 2x6s, some carriage bolts, and build some stock racks for your trailer.


They are probably less than two feet high on the sides....my pigs can jump that easily, especially if they are scared lol. *off to Google image stock racks*


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

I just googled it, apparently the rest of the world calls them something else, we have always called them stock racks.
Anyhow cut some treated 2by4s, about 4 or 5 feet long, bolt them upright every 4 feet or so to your trailer, then bolt some 2by6s horizontally around the uprights, gap 6 or so inches between boards.


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## Bubbas Boys (Apr 11, 2013)

I have to either work with a utility trailer this year and build a frame for it or buy a livestock trailer this year. We just got our first pigs and I went and got them on a open trailer with 3 dot cages strapped to the trailer. It worked but I think the guy we got them from was really worried about my ride home. haha


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## cooper101 (Sep 13, 2010)

I made a pig mover out of a few 2x4s and a hog panel. It's just a cage with no floor on wheels. The ends slide up and down. Get the pigs into it and then roll it along to where it has to go. I know people lead them with food, but I just can't bring myself to have them outside of the wire on purpose.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

Bubbas Boys said:


> I have to either work with a utility trailer this year and build a frame for it or buy a livestock trailer this year. We just got our first pigs and I went and got them on a open trailer with 3 dot cages strapped to the trailer. It worked but I think the guy we got them from was really worried about my ride home. haha


All of my pigs have come home on dog cages in the back of my truck. Once they are 250-300 pounds that won't be an option.
I have been looking for a trailer, cheap, that I can build a pig hauler out of.
I have a 16 foot utility trailer now, but it is a bit overkill for a few pigs.

I have been considering the 4 by 8 trailer kit that harbor freight sells. It is eater at something like 1250 pounds or so. I think I could build a fine little pig hauler on it.

Missed my chance last week. Found a 2 horse trailer. Not too bad shape, but needed new wiring and lights, and a new floor. Tires held air, but coulda been replaced. $300.
I was about 3 hours too late when I found the ad.


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

Save yourself a lot of loading and unloading. You can use field wire and a few steel post to make a lane for the pigs. 

Your idea of a hoop frame for the trailer should be easy to construct and also easy to remove when not in use.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

We move pigs all the time by herding them. They only get in a vehicle at the very end.

At the simplest level we just use our hands. Once you find the balance points they move right along. Most of the time we also use sorting boards because we're cutting them out from the herd, sorting who's going to market each week, who's moving into gestation pastures, etc. 

Lanes help a lot. Even better is good herding dogs - we have a pack of them. If a pig gets away from our herding group some of the dogs will bring it back while we keep focusing on the herd. One good dog is worth five people. 

The other thing is simply train the pigs to follow. If they're hungry and have learned that a pail contains food they'll follow you right well. Pick your color for this - bang the bucket with your hand - develop a call.

Moving with a wire works well when there is not much pork to move:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/moving-a-pig-in-wire/

Lines of sight work well - look at it from the pig's perspective. It should be very clear as to what the right path is:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/moving-pigs-line-of-sight/

Livestock Guardian Herding Dogs:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/kit-and-kavi-with-pigs/

Here are sorting boards:

http://www.sugarmtnfarm.com/?s=sorting boards

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/rotating-pigs/

If you're sorting you might want to be temporarily marking if there are more than a few:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/hair-spray/

And a poem on the topic:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/while-on-my-way/

Then at the end if you're taking them to butcher you need transport. Trailers are the standard but in our case don't work because of our icy, muddy, steep mountain roads which are not safe with a trailer much of the year. So we use our van. For years it was a mini-van, then we graduated up to a 19.5' long extended body van which we put a pig space in the back with a stainless steel pan to protect the van from pig pee and poop:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/stainless-steel-pig-carrier/
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/long-days-night/

What ever works. Just make it secure so you don't lose pigs out of the vehicle on the road. I've heard of a couple of people having that happen.

Cheers,

-Walter


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Using hog panels, I throwed this together. I think its 40" x 54" but I would have to remeasure to make sure. I have moved 2 sows that weighed app. 900 lbs together without a problem. I have had several 75 to 100lb pigs in it. I can move it 2 ways, but mainly with the front-end loader with a pallet fork. I also have a small trailer that is the same size as this cage---the trailer has 8" boat trailer type tires with a ball type hitch. I put the cage on the little trailer(without the pallet), put this on my bigger trailer. Go to someones house that has a hog(s) for sale and use their 4 wheeler/golfcart or by hand move this trailer to their stall-----load the hogs then pull the little trailer back to the bigger trailer. I then have a winch to winch the little trailer into the bigger trailer. It works Great. It gets into a small area where a bigger trailer will not fit. I can not see the small trailer behind my truck so I put it on a bigger trailer if I got to pull it more than a few miles.


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## tansyflower (Dec 16, 2013)

Wonderful ideas everyone!


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## bmurphy96 (Nov 23, 2013)

if you are building something..its hard to overbuild. I took my first pig to the processor a couple of weeks ago. When he got into the trailer and realized i closed the back end on it he put his nose under the hog panel fencing that was welded into place and bent it up like a tin can.

yee haw!

keith


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

bmurphy96 said:


> I took my first pig----------he put his nose under the hog panel fencing that was welded into place and bent it up like a tin can.
> 
> keith


Keith with that type of damage----sounds like you took your first HOG instead of a pig----LOL!


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

I have a big wooden box I made. It is all bolted together and no pig that will fit in it is getting out. I use it mostly because I do not like to pull a trailer if I do not have to. I have it made on 4x4 runners so I can use the forks on my tractor and set it on the back of my truck. I have also used it to move a few, as I can set it in a doorway, lure them in it then carry them where I want to go. I have had cattle and mules and all sorts of farm animals, the easiest way to move any of them has always been to train them to follow a feed bucket.


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## Philosaw (Mar 3, 2014)

Mine's similar to muleman's but made out of pipe and hog panels. I have a vertical sliding door at each end, so we just back it up to the stock gate and lure the pig or pigs in (it'll hold two large pigs). It has no floor so we just tow it along at a very slow speed behind our tractor. The pigs love it, exciting new ground to see...especially when the acorns are down!


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## hemlock hamps (Jan 18, 2014)

I use a plastic garbage can with wheels,if there not to big


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## swamp man (Dec 25, 2005)

Nice gate, Fire-Man!

Yep, cattle panels. First hog I ever bought was about a 200lb boar I bought at auction.....The said "hmmmm. How am I getting this dude home in a Mazda pickup?". I had my sawzall, a roll of RedBand wire, and assorted "truck junk", so we went to the hardware store across the road, picked up some panels, and slapped together a pen plenty serviceable for the ride home. It's already a small bed and the tool box eats up a good bit of it, so we built it to fit with the tailgate down to pick up a little more square footage. At a later date, we spent a little time and a few bucks on hardware to make it prettier, stronger, and more convenient to install and remove. We used it for years, made a few bucks here and there hauling hogs for other people, and it worked great. Adapting a trailer would probably be even easier.


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## Lilith (Dec 29, 2012)

So, here is a crazy idea. My kids are doing pigs for 4h. This is my first experience with pigs. The kids saw a you tube video of somebody with a pet pig walking it around in a dog harness. So, like the dog project they did last year, the put a dog harness on the little pigs and started training them to show like they did with the dogs. :shocked: It was a week later before I saw them headed out there with the harness and leash and they had the pigs all trained to show off to Mom. The youngest even observed that pigs can be smarter than dogs and easier to train.  I talked to the 4h Leaders about this behavior, and they say it should not hurt the pig or it's performance. I'm thinking it may actually make it easier to get them loaded when it is time to take them to market. In the mean time, it is just to darn funny to make them stop! Maybe leash training pigs in the future will solve your trailer issue.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Lilith,
That is a great idea. I think it is probably possible with most pigs. IF, and that is a big IF, we all had the time and resources to spend on every pig teaching it to lead. I also figure a pig would be like a horse. You can lead them anywhere they are willing to go. I do not care how well trained a pig is to a leash, when a 200, 300, 500 pound pig decides he does not want to go no more you will not stop him by holding on to the leash. Would probably seem funny in some instances and could be dangerous in others?? 
In the mean time if your kids are willing to take the time to leash train, I say let them.


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## moohorn (Sep 24, 2013)

We have a utility trailer with a ramp. My husband has built a cage much like the one made out of hog panels above. I can lead my guinea hogs with food and they go right in. I find trying to push them around does not work but they seem mesmerized by the food.


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