The advocate., 1897-09-08
A Practical Pig Pen.

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w. F. Hill, in Wisconsin Agriculturist
thus describes a pig pen which he thinks
good one:
"a pig pen Of some kind Is to be found
on every farm some are good, some bad
while some are neither. Mr. Frederick e
pen has the virtues Of being easily con-
structed, cheap, convenient, and very
practical The lumber used was largely
taken from a couple of old pens he tore
down, and even the roof was taken from
them in their entirety and afterward
placed in solid piece on the new pen
1t is in size 14x35 feet, and built shed
style; posts Of one side being sixteen
feet high, while on the other they are
eight feet. For a foundation there are
fine walls built of stone running cross
wise Of the building, but they project
beyond the building, and so are about
eighteen feet long. Intending that the
structure should be permanent one
and having plenty of fiat limestone, they
were used, but judge that the timbers
would answer the purpose quite salts
factOrily. There Is an alleyway five feel
wide running the entire length along the
high side, with an entrance at the end
the feed is stored and fed from here al
present. The part occupied by the hogs
is partiti0ned into six pens, one being
five feet wide, but all the others six, anC
all nine feet long. The troughs are Sc
CuTely fastened at the end of pen mex
to the feed room or alleyway. There Ii
tight floor Of old boards laid above, and
stairs lead up there from alleyway. He
expects to sort the corn when hauling
it from the field, and driving the loads
of poorer quality and nubbins along the
side Of pen which has highest posts
shovel it from wagon in on the flOOl
above. A hole is cut in this upper floor
directly over each pen, and chute built
up above it so that the corn can be piled
up The amount of corn that is needed
for feed for the hogs In any pen can
be shoVeled into the proper chute 1t
is likely, too, that the chop or other
mill feed will soon be stored up there
in hOpper-shaped bin, and through a
spout having a choke slide near the
bottom, and extending down into the
alleyway, he can draw the feed into a
half bushel or bushel basket, and pass.
ing along with it, the feeding process
need not require much time.
"1he reader probably noticed that
while the building proper was but four
teen feet wide, the foundation or cross
walks were eighteen feet long. They
project that much beyond the lower side
of building, and timbers are laid on here
in such way as to give the plank floor a
little slope, and good drainage away
from the building is secured. AS the
ground is two feet or more lower at this
side of the building than the other, the
weddings, naturally working down to
lower edge, are pushed under the Slated
side Of this runway, and fall to the
ground below. The runway is parti-
toned off to correspond with the pens
in width, is four or five feet deep and
uncovered Each pen then, Of course,
has runway connected, and in summer
the pigs bask contentedly in the sun
shine there, having ingress and egress
through the swing door which they open
at pleasure from either side, which al
ways closes after them. AS the runway
partitions all have doors which can be
raised by a. man, but are fastened down
at other times, it is an easy matter to
change the pigs around from pen to pen
as may be- desired; at such times the
doors between pens and runways are all
fastened with the pigs in the pens, then
the doors between runways are raised
between whatever pens he wants to ex-
change the pigs or any number of them.
AS the runway is three feet above the