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I've now decided our livestock trailer (which had a wheel fall off) is sadly beyond repair as one of the side-frames has rotted, the other bent when the wheel collapsed and there are several patches of rust that should be cut out and replaced with new metal.

If I had a good welder and was a half decent at welding, it would make sense to repair it but it's not economical to pay someone to do the job for me.

So, what does this have to do with pig housing? Simple, I'm putting a door in one side, taking off the tarpaulin roof and replacing it with either corrugated iron or ply and roofing felt, and sitting it on concrete foundations (six-inch plastic pipe sunk in the ground and filled with postcrete).

But while planning this out, I suddenly realised this might be useful for other people too. Pig arks can easily cost upwards of £250, but you can get worn-out box trailers for £100 (or less sometimes).

Take the wheels off, reinforce the sides, put on a roof if needed and put in a door. Then depending on the trailer's size, you can house a couple of weaners, a porker or two, or even a pair of gilts if you can get a big enough trailer.

The main thing is the make sure the floor is strong enough and that the trailer's cross members are sitting on strong foundations.

So there's my idea for the day.

Stonehead

I just wonder.... whether... the sculpture workshop in lumsden could do this... or perhaps they might know someone who could...!! Lots of metal workings going on there. They have an open day on Saturday afternoon - we are going along (I used to work there)

Great idea for reusing the trailer though - and a BIG thanks for sticking up for me on the freecycle forum too!!

Thanks for that Stoney. Much appreciated.
You and my other half would get on really well. He gets immense satisfaction from making something useful out of nothing. He doesn't care how it looks as long as it works and doesn't end up more expensive than just buying it in the first place.
It may well come in handy for us in a very practical sense soon. Just as we were beginning to accept that we would never manage to find a smallholding we could afford, one has literally fallen into our laps. We'll be renting rather than buying but that's okay, we can live with that. The first thing on the agenda once we've settled the kids into the new schools and unpacked will be pigs. I will be merciless in my brain-picking...

Hepsibah wrote:Thanks for that Stoney. Much appreciated.
You and my other half would get on really well. He gets immense satisfaction from making something useful out of nothing. He doesn't care how it looks as long as it works and doesn't end up more expensive than just buying it in the first place.
It may well come in handy for us in a very practical sense soon. Just as we were beginning to accept that we would never manage to find a smallholding we could afford, one has literally fallen into our laps. We'll be renting rather than buying but that's okay, we can live with that. The first thing on the agenda once we've settled the kids into the new schools and unpacked will be pigs. I will be merciless in my brain-picking...

No brain left to pick...

I have another pig hut that's stood up well to the porkers. I made it by driving eight salvaged fence posts into the ground in a vaguely rectangular shape.

I then nailed salvaged 6x2s across the posts to support a floor, then nailed salvaged decking boards to the sides. There's no frame as such, but as decking boards are almost an inch thick and I used 6in galvanised nails I don't think it will shift any time soon.

For the doorway, I just left a gap between two of the centre posts, while the roof is salvaged seven ply topped with 4x2s, then corrugated sheeting (some iron, some plastic). I insulated by nailing weldmesh to the uprights on the inside and then sutffed straw between the wall boards and the mesh.

We did lose the first roof to a gale, but I suspect we would have lost most roofing as it was laden down with about 300kg of boulder and logs, as well as being nailed down. The gale, one of the strongest we've had, lifted the whole lot off and threw it around 15-20 feet. I know because I was attempting to feed the pigs at the time and had to hide behind a strainer post!

Good luck.

Stonehead

I think alot of this making something out of nothing frame of mind is due to the exposure we had (as we all seem to be of a certain age) to the A-team as children................they could be shut in an empty shed and STILL come up with a fantastic 4 wheeled/ tank combo and noone would get hurt!

Congrats on the smallholding Hepsibah!

kind thoughts
Deb