[Melias farm]

I’m new to pigs and get 2 girls for store on Saturday.

The breeder has told me their adults escape from electric fencing. I’ve been told and read sooo much that says if the fencing is on all the time and done properly (livestock electric fencing and a wire strand 8cinches from the ground) it’s great fencing.

Am I rose tinted glasses in fencing? I’m now scared taking these piglets on at the weekend!

[harmony]

Are they electrically fenced at the moment and already used to it? If not you will have to get them used to it and they will possibly go through it until they respect it. Small area to start with and something behind it, such as pallets, so they can't go far.


People use electric fencing and it does the job fine.


Personally I prefer stock fencing for peace of mind.


Are these mangalitzas from the marketplace ad? I'm not sure if they are slower growing than other breeds but those were 6 months of age were they not? Piglets are newborns and by the time they leave the sow they are weaners (usually around 8 weeks of age), another month and I'd call them stores. At 6 months many pigs would be ready for slaughter. My point in addition to what you call a pig at different ages is they will be bigger than weaners and maybe more difficult to electric fence train.

[Richmond]

Most people tend to prefer electric fencing for their pigs, especially if they have a lot of pigs and/or need to give them fresh ground as then it can be easily moved. However I have never been a fan and we've never used it for our pigs. We built our own permanent pens using stout posts and stock fencing and we've only once had one pig escape - she climbed over the top when we were late feeding. We had friends over for a rather boozy Sunday lunch but sobered up quite quickly after seeing the pig run past the dining room window! After that we learned never to be late for feed times and if we ever go out for the day then we get a friend to come up and feed them.
Also some breeds are diggier than others - we had some Berkshires last year that were pretty much the diggiest pigs ever, but they didnt dig out, only huge craters round the trees.

[SallyintNorth]

Some use electric as much to protect the permanent fence as to keep the pigs in.

Whatever the scenario, daily checking and moving soil heaps and other stuff which covers the wire is a must, or you are just training them to keep testing the fence!  Lol.

A pig that *really* wants to be the other side of electric may well decide to take the hit...

One of my early WWOOFs, we arrived at the pig area one day to find the boar (whose name I have forgotten but let's call him Henry) had smashed through his electric fence to get to Henrietta's paddock.  Fearing the worst (can't remember why they didn't want Henrietta bred yet, or maybe Henry was her brother or something), off we set to investigate.  Turned out it wasn't sex, and it wasn't food, it wasn't even company.  Henrietta had a fabulous wallow in her paddock, and Henry wanted a soak.   

[alang]

Our pigs are almost exclusively kept behind electric fencing. But ours are fence trained from an early age. Some pigs will just run under electric rope even if they know they'll get a zap, especially if there is food the other side of the fence. The benefits outweigh the short term zap!

If you have the funding to get a proper livestock wire with a run of single electric rope just below knee height from the ground (or double if you think you need it) inside the livestock wire then i would go that route.

[Melias farm]

Thank you all for your replies. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back on here. The person I was buying from pulled out the day I was collecting the piglets!
I’m hopefully picking up 2 today.
I’ve bought livestock stock electric fencing to train them too. To start with they will be in a stable.
Tomorrow I will put a smaller run I already have and will be putting the electric feed directly onto that blocking the yard (I have a 25ft concrete yard with stables around in a U shape. Leave them a week to get used to it then start moving them everywhere where I have paddocks for them.
Plan is to move them every couple of weeks or when needed.
I have 3 acres of land for them to go on over the next 6 months. Then they will be off to their end.
That’s the plan. I’m sure it will end up with several altered versions of the plan before the end destination is set ha

I’m going into a waiting list due mangalitza pigs at the weekend I think. I’m hoping I like keeping pigs!

Thank you again

[Womble]

That sounds like a good plan.

The important thing is to have something solid behind the electric fence initially, or else they get a shock and run forwards straight out of the pen.