Piggy Plunge Loads Pigs Into Trailer

Piggy plunge loads pigs into trailer HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 16-5-27 Leonard and Caroline Gronewold's feeder pigs get a slide ride that most animals won't ever experience. When the pigs reach about 40 lbs., they are slipped into a 12-in. dia. PVC tube for a slide ride from a nursery in the former haymow of the Gronewolds' redesigned old two-story horse barn to a waiting trailer or truck 12 ft. below. The slide isn't the only interesting feature of this barn. The pigs' slide ride is preceded by an elevator ride to the second-floor nursery at weaning. The Gronewolds remove pigs from the first-floor, 20-crate farrowing facility at about 12 lbs., and place them, up to 20 at a time, in a mobile crate for a slow ride on a 2,000-lb. capacity, motorized elevator to the barn's second floor nursery. The 90-year-old barn, solidly built in part from walnut, was first converted to hog production in 1959, when 20 farrowing stalls were constructed on the ground floor. At that time, weaned pigs were taken to another building. Three years ago, the Gronewolds wanted to expand their 40-sow herd and yet preserve the old barn. In hopes of accomplishing both goals, they asked Ron Perry, a local contractor, if it was possible to have a nursery in the haymow. Leonard Gronewold and Perry came up with the plan for the barn that now houses 20 modern 7 ft. by 5-ft. farrowing crates, with plastic-coated floors, on ground level and 13 nursery pens, each capable of holding 20 40-lb. pigs, in the former haymow. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leonard Gronewold, RR, Beatrice, Neb. 68310 (ph 402 228-0685).

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