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The Nairobian

The ideal housing for pigs

Livestock

By Paul Kang'ethe | Sep 10, 2020

A pig house should meet basic requirements to ensure increased productivity and profitability of a pig enterprise: The pigsty should be comfortable for the pigs: good ventilation and ample shade, no overheating, no smells, free from draughts and no dampness.

There should be possibility for mud baths if the pig is exposed to direct sunshine.

The floor should be kept dry and must be rough to avoid pigs from falling and therefore being unable to move in the pen freely.

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The floor should be made of concrete or wood since pigs have the tendency to dig into the ground thus making it difficult to clean and increasing the rate of parasitic infestation to pigs.

The house should have dunging area at the rear and feeding trough and water trough in front. It should have a slope to allow free drainage of urine and slurry during cleaning.

The pens should not be near the dwelling houses or below the wind because of unpleasant smells and flies.

Animals of the same age should be housed as close as possible next to each other and the wind flow should be from the direction of the youngest to the older animals to minimize transfer of disease.

The construction costs of the pigsty should fit the pig production system. Use cheap, readily available and durable materials for house construction to reduce cost. All the essential parts of the pigsty should be included.

How about the ideal location of the pig house?

A pig house should be sited away from walls of other buildings to allow air circulation. The area should be well drained for ease of cleaning, to rid infestation and avoid flooding.

To avoid direct sun rays the building should face east - west or have shade from trees.

The pig house should be located such that the wind flow is away from the residential premises.

It can be convenient to place it near the family house, to keep it close and thus prevent theft.

In hot climate areas, the buildings should be of the open type /half walls which facilitates surveillance, promotes excellent ventilation and are inexpensive. It is difficult to control heat stress in fully enclosed buildings in the tropics.

There are a number of designs according to their use for weaner pig production, fattening pigs or a combination of breeding and fattening.