Old Grain Bins Make Great Pig Shelters

Old Grain Bins Make Great Pig Shelters BUILDINGS Livestock “I had two old grain bins that I wasn’t using anymore and got to thinking one day that they sure would make inexpensive shelters for my hogs ” says Ontario farmer Eric Hartemink The smaller 2 000-bu bin was 14 ft dia and 12 1/2 ft tall The larger 5 000-bu bin was 19 ft dia and about 14 ft tall Hartemink first tipped the bins on their side and removed the roofs He cut the corrugated metal bins exactly in half from top to bottom which produced two half-moon shaped pieces from each bin He overlapped the pieces from each bin end to end and bolted them together which produced two quonset roof buildings about 25 ft long “The smaller bin gave me a building 14 ft wide and the larger one is 19 ft wide ” Hartemink says He closed off one end of each structure with hinged plywood doors to keep out rain snow and wind Hartemink set and anchored the quonset buildings on 2 by 2 by 4-ft long cement blocks next to his conventional hog barn The blocks raise the side walls off the cement floor and provide a ceiling height of 9 ft in the smaller quonset and 11 ft in the larger one Hartemink starts 100 pigs that weigh about 65 lbs in the smaller building A month later he moves them into the larger building where they’re fed to a finished weight of 260 lbs “I bed with plenty of straw so the pigs are comfortable year around ” Hartemink says “In the summer they have a shady place to rest and I can open the plywood doors for ventilation In the winter I add more straw so the pigs are out of the wind and cold ” Hartemink says The slab extends 20 ft outside the open end of the buildings so pigs have an area for exercise eating and drinking Hartemink mounted the original grain bin roofs on metal posts to create a carport-like roof that covers the feeders One frost-free drinker is shared by both pens Runoff from the slabs and roofs goes into a 4 ft wide gutter that runs across the front of the slab That empties into a larger pit which also serves the conventional barn Hartemink raises about 1 100 hogs a year in the two shelters and the conventional barn Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Eric Hartemink 13994 Dorchester Rd Malahide Ont Canada N0L 1B0 ph 519 765-4121; ehartemink@golden net

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