How To Build A Guinea Pig Cage

Plant some shade trees, make use of insulation and prevailing breezes as a much less expensive way to keep your barn cool. Whether you are building from scratch or revamping a grand old gentleman of a barn, planning, environmental sensitivity and a firm...

Visser, available online here . Step back enough to see whether the roof sags. “Any surface decay near the ground or on roof cornices or soffits should be thoroughly assessed to ensure that it does not hide structural or other serious problems that...

However, larger tomato plants require something a bit sturdier, such as homemade wire cages. Of course, you can also choose to recycle poultry fencing (chicken wire) into makeshift tomato cages too.

“ Ventilation is one of most critical considerations of barn design,” says Laurel Bishop, national sales assistant for barn and farm-building custom designer at MD Barnmaster. These features will be less efficient if your barn is poorly oriented,...

If it sounds daunting to lift, line up and brace the 500-pound trusses, hire a crew for this part. With a plan in place and the right help, you can construct a building that will serve your farm for generations to come.

Short neck and short, blocky legs with strong feet. Kurobuta, which is 100-percent Berkshire meat, is much prized by the Japanese; that preference goes back 300 years or more. This article first appeared in the September/October 2006 issue of Hobby Farms...

Don't give up, though—pigs are smart, and you can train them. I don't love this idea for a few reasons, not the least of which is that I still need to offer feed. One common solution is to simply remove all other options, letting the animals' hunger...

After positioning the solar panel to receive maximum daylight sun, I drive the grounding rod, hook it and the battery to my energizer, clamp the energizer to the wire, then let those piggies onto fresh, untrodden soil.

Our twice-a-day feeding method and pasturing practice supported the notion, so, one fateful morning, I dumped a line of feed across the ground that allowed everyone a place at the table.

That's not me, but I do want a healthy sow, so in the end, I decided to follow instructions to feed gestating sows 3 to 6 pounds per day or 1 to 1.5 percent of their body weight. The other day was one of those days.

In conventional hog operations, this material drains into gigantic lagoons, but these fill up quickly and require emptying. Elevated rates of health issues are common in such communities.

Boars average 500 to 750 pounds; sows average 450 to 650 pounds. Kunes have a great temperament and fatten readily on grass, being considered a grazing pig instead of a forager. Large Black Amanda Slater/Flickr This breed has an intensely black pigment...

Breaking Ground If you're pasturing pigs, however, you can skip all that (unless the ground is frozen, but ideally you won't have baby piglets in sub-freezing temperatures ), as piglets will get the right amount of iron from rooting around in clean, fresh...

“If you don't decide where you want the wallow, the pig's going to do it,” Whitely says, and it just might make one that goes right under the fence. You've heard of pigs in a blanket and a hog on a spit.

Hampshires are known for their docility, hardiness, speedy growth and outstanding feed-to-meat conversion rates. Consider consumers' preferences. It remained Hungary's most popular breed well into the 1950s.

Livestock trailers are built to contain animals, and allowing the pigs a night to acclimate to the trailer generally results in calmer pigs when you arrive at the processor and need to coax them into a holding pen.

Win over market customers to your pasture-raised heritage pork with these benefits that easily outweigh conventional pork. According to a study published in 2011 in the British Journal of Nutrition , people who ate moderate amounts of grassfed meat for...

8 Reasons to Buy Heritage Pork Despite the Price Tags farm , pigs Feed Is Pricey Before getting hogs, it's always a good idea to ask around and see what kind of corn or feed is available from neighbors and local co-ops.

Before starting a vaccination plan, it's important to first consult your veterinarian. Swine Brucellosis Swine brucellosis is caused by a bacterium called Brucella suis , one of at least six similar Brucella that cause disease in humans and wild and domestic...

Farmers who run small operations or hobby farms might not suffer from noise-induced hearing loss caused by machines as quickly as large-scale producers who are running equipment all day, but it is important to be aware and protect your ears, even if it's...

A supplement called PROMAX, which contains lactobacillus (a probiotic), enzymes and yeast cultures, has been shown to reduce air ammonia levels between 5 and 40 percent. Keep foul smells to a minimum in your pigs' living quarters by adjusting their feed...

Equipped with limited experience, we predicted the due date (pigs gestate for 114 days), prepared well in advance and welcomed nine piglets on a warm, summer day. Despite our veritable library of books on farming and animal husbandry, not to mention the...

The eggs hatch within a few days; the entire cycle from egg to egg-laying adult is completed in about two weeks. This is a good time to plug quarantine pens: Routinely isolate herd additions for one to three months downwind and downstream from the main...

Too much fiber during the summer can lead to overheating. To ensure there is enough mud in their pastures, Hunter Cattle Co. keeps a constant trickle of water flowing. “Pigs will get a sunburn if they can't get out of the sun,” Whitney says.

This article originally appeared in the October/November 2013 issue of Hobby Farms. Work with your veterinarian to ensure samples are submitted properly and securely. Animals are sick for two to three days; those that live develop active immunity, but...

You need to carefully manage the land and rotate pigs through pastures so they don't damage areas or cause nutrient overload, but for the most part, you do not have to clean up manure and be concerned with health issues that arise from confinement.

The house was built during the 19th century and is furnished with items from back then, kept in pretty good shape considering the hot and wet weather experienced here.Once we've finished our tour, we can set up some hammocks in the shade of those large...