I need ideas for hog tractor

I read the blog about chickens with the small portable roost and feeding station and want to do that with hogs.

I have an underutilized area that stays thick and lush under a bunch of cottonwood trees. Idea is to build a "hog tractor" on skids I can tow and place with a tractor and set up hot wire around it. I basically want a pen inside of a pen, so when it's time to move I'll put some treats in the tractor and lock the pigs in then tow them to the new location and set up hot wire then open the door.

I'll use a hefty fence charger and solar panels. on board water in case I move them to an area without ground water, or winter months.

getting close here, but I want on board water/feed and electric fence stuff. And the capability to temporarily lock the pigs inside while it's being moved.

This is a google image

The weight of the pigs + water seems like it would need to be built pretty strong or it will break hitting the inevitable roots, ruts, rocks, etc. Why not expand the electric fence to include the new area then move the pool, shed, etc. then move the fence to shut off the old area? An ATV could drag it if you didn't want to, easy to "sneak" one in while they're eating.

Sepp Holzer moves his pigs by training them to follow the bucket of feed. Trust me, it works best if they haven't been fed recently! But that's mostly what I do, let them out and get them to follow the bucket to the new paddock. 80% of the time it goes without a hitch, other times it's more of an adventure.

cheap 2 horse trailer--you can get them really cheap if they don't have the title anymore. Feed them in the trailer every day, and they will always go there easily.

Just thought I would add to Renate's post about Sepp's system, rather than create a movable shelter for the pigs it seems Sepp has built round wood shelters in the different areas he tends to have pigs.

Here is a link to Paul's Sepp article, toward the bottom there are pictures and diagrams of his shelters:

http://www.richsoil.com/sepp-holzer/sepp-holzer-permaculture.jsp

Good luck,

Daniel

Would this work for you?

IMG_0004 by antfiresbetter, on Flickr

I am a fan of the 'follow the bucket of feed' trick. Our 3 are on pasture, but I do give them a bucket of feed in the morning and night. In the next week, I'll start dropping their feed in the back of our stock trailer. After a few days, it will be easy to shut the door and relocate them to other pasture.

With kencove fence and a energizer, you can then set up paddocks off the trailer with moving as you desire, before pulling up anchor and moving to the next spot.

I ran pigs in a pig tractor for awhile. We would drag them with the tractor forward each day to give them fresh grass. I felt good they had a new area each day, but didn't really feel that they were getting to be Pigs and run around.

We did add covers for shade and put metal on the sides during cold spells to keep the wind off.

They did work great...they were 8' x 16' long, with 2x10s and hog panel and outdoor screws.

No one escaped even when pig until day would not pay attention and bump the tractor over a big pig that was lying down. It was a bit of adventure to get them back in.

I did this because they had learned how to escape electric fence and I had to keep them out of the neighbors area.

They were very delicious. BTW, I Had boars and gilts in there and had ZERO boar taint at all.