Since we had one of our beloved little piglets taken by the coyote/wolf/coywold a few weeks ago we started a little project aimed at keeping them safe.
First off we wanted to build a fence that would protect Mumma and babies. We figured the most logical place to put this is in view of the house and encompassing an older shed that is about 10 X 24 (built in 1949 to be exact). Steve and his Dad finished most of the fence within a weekend, getting all the posts in and half of the fencing up. We then finished the rest of the fencing that week and Mumma and babies have been using it ever since!
Since it isn't too cold out we haven't needed to worry much about shelter, we actually put Mumma and babies out into the paddock each morning and then walk them back to the barn each night (thank god for well trained pigs!) Thinking forward to the winter, if Little Girl (our large black sow) has a litter in the winter I want her to be in this paddock but she needs proper shelter and this older shed just wasn't cutting it. We decided to restore this older building. Going into this project I really didn't understand the scope of work that was required to do things properly. First, clean out the shed, re-enforce support beams, put in floor beams along the wall, insulate (walls and roof), foam any cracks, use heavy duty ply wood along the bottom of the walls, strap the top of the walls and the roof and use 1/4 inch plywood, bring in gravel for the floor, get rubber stall mats for the floor, install rubber flaps for door way.
We have now been working on this the passed few weeks, the shed is split into two sections; one of which we have almost finished (yay). The other side is allllmost all insulated, I just need to start strapping and then putting up the plywood.
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| Supporting old beams |
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| This shed is going to be warmer then my house! |
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| Used an old door as the front window - thrifty! |
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| Using rope to get a straight fence line |
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| We stack them around here! |
