When thinking of animals to add to your small homestead, pigs may not be on the top of your list…but they really should be! I will admit that I didn’t think of them until much later into our homestead journey. We got chickens, rabbits, and even cows before we decided to get pigs. But if I could go back and change it, we would have added them right away!

Pigs are relatively inexpensive to get started with, easy to care for, and they grow out to processing weight very quickly. In this post, I’ll be sharing with you the exact set up that we use for housing & caring for our pigs. We will discuss cost, and I’ll also leave links to anything that we used so you can easily set up a space for your own pigs!

If you would prefer, you can also watch a video showing our set up in more detail down below!

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What breed of pigs should you get?

Honestly, we went back and forth on which breed would be right for our homestead. From Kune Kune to Idaho Pasture pigs to eventually deciding on Blue Butt pigs. Why did we decide to go with the breed of pigs we chose?

Simple. These are the pigs that we were able to get at the time that we wanted to get them. Sure, there may be a “perfect” breed for your homestead, but it often comes down to what is available in your area at the time you need to raise them. The best pig is the pig you can raise well in order to feed your family.

How long will pigs take to reach butcher weight?

This will vary from pig to pig, but it will take about 7-8 months total for our Blue Butt pigs to reach processing weight. Since we picked them up when they were 2 months old, this means that we only need to raise them for about 5 months. What a great reward for only 5 months worth of work!

How much did our pigs cost?

We paid $200 for a pair of female pigs. You want to make sure to get at least 2, because pigs are herd animals.

What size pen do pigs need?

There are many different schools of thought on how best to house pigs. We chose to create a 16 ft x 32 ft pen using hog panels and t-posts. This was bigger than all of the “minimum” space requirements we researched online. After seeing our pigs in this space, I’m really happy with the amount of area they have. I don’t think I would go smaller than this, but you certainly can flex the amount of space based on how large your property is.

What type of fencing should you use for pigs?

Like I said above, we decided to create our fencing from hog panels and t-posts. We also added a strand of electric* on the inside of the fence to keep the pigs from rooting under the hog panels or pushing against them. This has been very effective! Having the hog panels as an extra fencing layer also keeps our children from easily grabbing the electric wire when they are playing outside.

We use a solar charger* with our electric wire to keep from having to run an extension cord to it. This is optional, but I would recommend it if you can!

What feed and water containers should you use for pigs?

We had a large plastic drum already on our property that we repurposed for a pig waterer. This was easy to do by attaching a pig nipple water kit* to the bottom. As they get bigger, the pigs are able to push the waterer over, so I would recommend adding a brick inside to further weigh it down or putting the drum on top of a few bricks to elevate it.

For food, you really just need some type of sturdy bowl. We have two of them because they often fight over food.

What type of shelter do pigs need?

From our limited experience, pigs are fairly hardy. A simple 3-sided structure works well. They need something to keep them dry & safe from any heavy winds. We decided to make a 3 pallet structure from free pallets we picked up at the feed store. Stapling a tarp to the outside creates an easy shelter that gets the job done!

How much does it cost to create a pig pen?

All things considered, we spent $200 on our pigs and around $500 on the supplies. We did have a few things on hand like the water container & got the pallets for free. So this cost may vary based on what you have and prices in your area. Re-use whatever you can! Pigs don’t need anything fancy or pretty!

Pig Pen Supplies We Recommend:

Nipple Waterer for Barrel Kit*

Electric Fence Polywire*

Solar Fence Charger*

5 Inch Extender Insulator*

T-Posts (we used 12) and 12 Gauge T-Post fence clips

Hog Panels (we used 6)

Tarp* (similar to the one we got from our feed store)

Rubber Feed Pan

Step Stool* – We use this to climb over the hog panels to get in and out of the pen.

And there you have it! Setting up a pig pen is a very simple  and fairly inexpensive process! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions that weren’t covered in the post, and happy pig raising!