Hog Panels

[RhodeIslandReds]

Ok well I just got 3 cattle panels or hog panels and I want to use them to add onto my pig pen. I am planing on trenching the panels and little but I want to know what I need to keep the panels up and sturdy. The panels are 16 long and not sure how tall but I want to make sure my pigs can rub aganist them and not tumble them. What material will I need to make this work?

Thanks,
RIrs

 

[Olive Hill]

You need posts.

We use wood posts in the corners, t-posts in the center as needed.

 

[RhodeIslandReds]

Arent there metal things you use to hold them together?

 

[Olive Hill]

To hold what together? The panels to one another? They make clips, yes. But that will not prevent the hogs from mangling the panels. You need posts to hold them up and those posts need to be well set. We concrete ours in. You cannot set your posts more than 16 feet apart and expect them to hold up so we never bother to attach the panels to one another, we just attach them directly to the posts. We use hammer-in staples with barbs.

 

[RhodeIslandReds]

Ok know I understand. I was talking about holding the panels to the post.

 

[Olive Hill]

Ahh, yes. We use 1 3/4" Barbed Fencing Staples. You can buy a box at most farm supply stores such as TSC.

You can use other things -- extra large zip ties, large nails pounded half in and then laid over top of your fence, etc -- but the fencing staples work great and aren't coming back out on you.

Make sure you set your panels inside your posts so that when the pigs push on the panels they are pushing against the entire set-up not just against a couple of fencing staples. The barbs hold them in well, but over time the hogs could easily get them worked loose.

If you go with T-posts in the center we just use zip ties for those. They do make T-post clips if I'm not mistaken, but the zip ties work fine here and we always have them around. Again, put the post on the outside of the panel.

Alternately, you can go with less sturdy construction and put a single electric strand about 10 inches up on the inside of your panels. But since you said you want them to be able to scratch on the panels I assume you're not interested in that.

 

[halo]

I just use the baling twine that comes off of my hay bales. Its some kind of poly material and impossible to break. And free.

 

[drdoolittle]

Didn't the place you bought the panels at throw in the clips for free? I got my hog panels and cattle panels at TSC and they just gave me the clips for free------but maybe you have to buy the T-posts to get the free clips (which is what we did).

 

[RhodeIslandReds]

I got the panels in a trade for half a hog. But yes im not intrested in the electric. The pig that is going in this pen is a young boar. Im going to TSC tommarow to get all the stuff.

 

[LotsaChicken]

Quote:
I raise pigs and would suggest that you use wood posts buried well, with the staples mentioned above. They can chew through baling twine. My pigs are kept in panels until they are too big to go through field fencing. When they are big enough I then turn them out to pasture that is fenced in with field fencing. The panels teach them to respect fencing and they don't bother trying to escape the field fencing. If I buy a larger pig I keep it in the panels, that are located inside the pasture, kinda like a little pen inside a huge one, for awhile to teach them not to test the fencing. I have not had success with electric fencing and pigs in the past. I know alot of people do, but it hasn't worked for me when I've tried portable fencing.