Greenhouse :: Hoghouse

Inside a Farrowing Greenhouse at Becker
Lane Organic Farms.

Do you ever find yourself answering your own questions? On Wednesday I wrote about how (with expansion in mind) I thought it was time to add a hoop building to the farm for winter farrowing and winter housing for the grower pigs, but the thing that had always been holding me back was the thought of keeping the building empty for the spring, summer, and fall as the pigs are out on the pasture. Then I randomly found a three-ring binder from the "National Conference on Hoop Barns and Bedded Systems for Livestock Production" (nice short name huh?). As I thumbed through the material I came upon this little tidbit in the "Alternative Systems for Farrowing in Cold Weather" booklet ... "Greenhouse with Radiant Tube Heating".

You can read the article that I came across by checking out this .pdf and scrolling down to page 9. A little more searching turned up this gem from Jude Becker of Becker Lane Organic Farm. The second link there is really a great summary of data and pictures of his greenhouse/hog house construction. Mr. Becker's building was quite a bit more advanced than I was contemplating with it's in floor heating and wood boiler, concrete floor and walls, and eventually it was divided into quadrants with a feeding system. You will also find that his results were much less than stellar, but I think it does give me something to think about for the future.

Some time ago I watched a video online about a farmer that was using a traditional hoop house for winter farrowing. He was using deep-bedding and his pasture huts for farrowing, but also had a heat lamp in the creep area of each hut and a radiant heat tube hanging at the peak. This particular farmer said his goal was to keep the building slightly above freezer so that the sows would be forced out of the common area and into the huts for farrowing. In my somewhat warmer Southern Iowa climate having two layers of plastic with air between them (provided by a fan) may help keep the main area around that 32º some or much of the time.

There are always downsides to every system though. Many of the fabric hoop house owners that I have spoke with tell me that they have had the same tarp on their buildings for 15 years and some even longer. With the plastic I'm sure it would have to be replaced much more often than that and there would be costs and labor associated with that. The benefit that has me most interested in this system though is the ability to have a secondary use for the building in the summer ... by growing some sort of crop once the pigs out out! Of course there is no real "need" for a greenhouse when I would be using it, but maybe I can figure out something instead of having an empty building.

I would love to have a discussion on this topic, or hear any thoughts you all have on the viability of this type of building. Plus ... if you have any suggestions on crops that could be raised in the building ... well ... I'm open to suggestions!

The Time Has Come ...

Working on my Uncle's new
Pro-Tec hoop building

A very quick search of my blog posts showed me that back on November 7, 2008 I first mentioned a hoop house structure for livestock/storage. Then again on March 4, 2009 I wrote an entire post dedicated to hoop buildings and hogs. There were other mentions along the way, but in my Annual Mud Post on April 21, 2011 they were the topic of discussion once again. As you can tell from my writings and ramblings they have been on my mind for over four years now! I think it is safe to say that now is the time that they have most consumed my farm thoughts.

In case you missed it, I wrote last Wednesday about the "Tipping Point" that the farm was at and whether it was time to scale up or scale back. My gut is telling me to press forward, but from the past four years of experience I know there are some areas that I need to greatly improve if I want to scale up. One of the most glaring is my winter livestock handling and more precisely the winter pig farrowing. In a perfect world I just wouldn't farrow in the middle of the winter, but I need finished pigs ready for processing throughout the year so winter farrowing is always going to be part of the farm.

So ... for my needs and uses I believe it is time for me to put up a hoop building to use in the winter months. My plan is to continue things as normal in the spring, summer, and fall with the pigs out on the pasture and woodlot. When things turn cold, muddy, and frozen I will bring the pigs up near the house so that I can ensure they have fresh water and plenty of feed at all times ... along with a place to get out of the weather. That is where the hoop house comes into play, and I plan on my building doing double duty.

The buildings that I have been looking at so far are from Pro-Tec and Silver Stream. If I went with a Pro-Tec building it would either be 30' or 36' wide. The Silver Stream building would be 30' wide for sure. The idea that I have is to split the building down the middle length wise so that I either two 15' wide areas or two 18' wide areas. Then I can use one side of the building for farrowing in the winter and the other side for my grower pigs. With that set up in the hoop building I will then be able to use my portable sheds to hold the boar and gestating sows.

Right now I'm planning on four groups of four sows each next winter, so that will give me plenty of room for farrowing (depending on the overall length of the building). One of the great benefits of the hoop house when it comes to farrowing is that I will be able to bring my huts inside and use them for farrowing just as I would in the summer. I believe a set-up like this will help me get the most use out of a building for an operation my size and then allow me room for growth.

The biggest downside that I have been struggling with is that the building will be sitting empty for a portion of the year and I hate the thought of that. So ... if anyone has any thoughts on a crop that I could raise in there during the summer months I would love to hear about it! Also, have any of you put up a hoop building ... any tips or thoughts?

The Skinny on Hoop Buildings?

After listening to and watching a few virtual farm tours of various swine operations here in Iowa over the past three weeks I have have seen and heard quite a bit about hoop buildings. These particular farms were using them for winter farrowing in huts, bred gilts, and finishing pigs for market. In most cases bedding was used (sometimes deep bedding) and there was even one farm featured that had in floor heating running under the concrete where he placed the huts for winter farrowing. Everybody seemed to have a slightly different design within the basic hoop framework, but I would say that everyone was pretty well pleased with the hoops.

All of this led me to think, "What is the skinny on hoop buildings?" I assume there is some initial cost savings involved because there is less steel and wood involved and maybe there is something to the design that makes it work well. But, why else are so many hoop buildings popping up ... especially for livestock feeding? Is money the main issue here?

I tried doing a little google research, but I didn't come up with a lot in the way of price differences. I did find this .pdf file about the cost of putting up a hoop building for cattle feeding, and this article about the cost comparison of a conventional confinement hog building and a hoop building. In the case of the cattle feeding hoop it was really big and seemed really expensive to me, and when it came to the confinement building vs. the hoop building the research used concluded it was almost a wash.

The reason I ask all these questions is because we are looking at building a livestock feeding building (as you probably know). Should a hoop building be on the research list? I'm not so sure because I don't know how it would work out as a multi-use building, but I want to make sure I cover all of my bases.

I would love to hear any thoughts...