Would you keep horses in a barn with hundreds of intensively reared pigs???

Hels_Bells

Hels_Bells

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A breeder on the farm next door to me is herding about 8 of their horses into a big barn overnight with hundreds of intensively reared pigs in it.

They are separated from the pigs by big bales on one side and lowish fences on the other and have a corner of the barn with some straw down but i'm just not sure what to think about it.

Part of me thinks, well why not? They are warm and fed/watered (prob superwarm with all that body heat around them!) and with temps hitting -10 to -15 round here at night at mo it's probably a good idea. Also, they'll be very pig-proof by the time this weather's gone.

On the other hand I would never keep my mollycoddled bunch in that circumstance. Also if I owned high health intensive pigs I probably wouldn't want to mix them with horses from the point of view of spreading disease to either animal, and I wonder if it might be rather stressful for the horses being herded in and locked in overnight with all those pigs??? As generally horses are pretty fearful of pigs.

What does everyone else think? Ok or a no-no??
 
Not something I would do. Like you mention, the disease risk would concern me, also amonia from the pig muck would put me off - my mare has COPD so anything that could exaserbate (sp!) this would be a worry for me.
 
Not me, I have been told that the reason that horses are instinctively worried by pigs is because if a horse goes down they will happily eat it. May not be the case but it would worry me.
 
As long as the horses seem happy enough I woudlnt have a problem with it. No reason to I dont think.
I have a problem with the pig farm generally..but thats not the point! :rolleyes:
 
My pony gets very worried about pigs so I don't think I could do that to him! I am not sure my horse has ever seen a pig, so I don't know if she'd be worried or not
 
Thistle said:
And if the horses were left outside, cold and with no shelter, would you be worried about that to.
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Not necessarily, for example, I think there are far more people on this forum keeping their horses out at mo than there are keeping them in with pigs. I was simply wondering what people's thoughts are that's all, as am not quite sure what I think about it myself (per my orig post).

Quite agree that owner is just trying to do the best as I think I also acknowledge in my post.
 
Did anyone read my thread last night about my yearling who jumped out of his stable last night and joined our pig?

I guess they would be warm...

As long as good hygiene is maintained I can't see a problem
 
Hee that's funny Christmas Crackers, bless them!! Did you get a pic?? We rescued one of the runt pigs from the same farm which was going to be knocked on the head as too small and she and my old boy became great friends!! He hated her to start with though!! They can definitely grow used to them, but as I've said, just not sure if I'd do this from a health and/or stress perspective.
 
Good way to introduce horses to pigs

Are you sure they are proper intensive pigs? Would be on slats and generally in small grouped boxes rather than running loose.

Sounds like they may be barn rather than intensive pigs, in which case smell not so vile and I'm sure horses would get used to it.
 
Personally no, I can't think of anything more un natural and unhealthy, the noise, the smell, the heat, possible stress, risk of disease.

I'd rather have them outside in the fresh cold air rugged up and access to water and hay.

However if the owners don't have a choice for what ever reasons due to this terrible weather then I can understand why perhaps they are giving it a go.
 
Horses can soon get used to pigs. On the smallholding my aunt and uncle have, the horses and pigs share the same barn, along with sheep and goats and are quite happy.

As long as the barn is kept well ventilated and reasonably mucked out, then there is no problem.
 
As Doris said, I have a problem with the intensive pig farming part of it, but that's another conversation.
I think different horses react differently. We've kept a couple of outdoor 'happy farming' pigs at home in the last couple of years, and my horse has never batted an eyelid at them, would happily walk past their paddock or be tied up next door.
However a mare I rode yonks ago had a complete fit at pigs! Stopped dead out hacking one day on a farm track, and took 40 mins of me sitting being stubborn refusing to let her turn round before she carried in '5 steps forward, 4 steps back' fashion. Eventually when we got nearly to the farmhouse at the end, she basically shut her eyes and shot past. Managed to stop, and saw they had a sow and a bunch of tiny piglets in the garden! What a fuss - she must have been able to smell them from the end of the track, but I couldn't.
I also remember some people at Burgie having fun on the old roads and tracks, as part of it went past a pig farm. Certain horses used to partake with Vic smeared round their nostrils to block the smell!!!
 
Depends what the conditions are like outside! if its 3 foot of snow and dangerous then yes bringing the horses in is the most sensible thing. not ideal situation but temporary measure i dont see a problem.
 
If the pigs are bedded in courts the ammonia and smell will be a lot less than when they are on slats. I think if that was the only option available to me then I'd do it. My old man would stay out in any weather but drops weight easily and gets cold easily so I'd rather bring him in than risk leaving him out. Mine presently have a sheep shed to themselves with cattle in the shed next door, the cattle have provided entertainment over the last week for them and my big lad has loved having heifers to chat up!
 
There arent actually very many diseases transferable from pigs to horses and vice versa.
I personally wouldnt have a problem with it
 
My horses are voluntarily sharing with pigs. They have access to a big barn which has been invaded by six rather charming pigs that have come in from the Forest. The horses could refuse to go in the barn or they could chase the pigs out but they don't The pigs all huddle up in once corner and the horses eat their hay around them. I'm rather pleased as it means I haven't got to worry about meeting pigs out on the Forest in the future.
 
If the pigs are intensive reared then I probably would not want my horse in that kind of environment, however if the pigs were barn reared....then so long as there was decent ventilation etc then I wouldn't have a problem with it.

I used to keep my loan mare on a working farm with a herd of pigs. Behind her stable was the pig pen, but they didn't worry her as much as I would have thought! She became pretty pig proof :) They were also let to roam the horses paddocks during the day too.
 
Once horses get used top the smell of the pigs they seem to be fine, not sure what it is about pig scent but the only thing my mare find scarier is Lamma/Alpacha scent according to her they come straight from the gates of hell and we can't possibly walk past like a normal horse? Any way back on topic, the hunt yard I used to work at was right next to a pig farm, Fab on the days when the wind was coming from them to us!!! but after a week or 2 of smelling them the horses didn't bother almost as if the constant exposure to the pig smell had desensitsed them to it, which was good if we came across a pig farm out hunting as the hunt horses would look really good and profesional as they just strolled past not batting an eyelid or in this case nostril!!
 
We have just had 4 piglets move onto our yard, they are kept in a stable in our barn - away from the horses, but they can hear and smell them. The other barn with horses also can hear and smell them. One horse had to be moved out of his stable - he was next door to them and petrified, another had stress induced colic and had to be pts. So if I had a choice whether to mix horses and pigs I would say no.

Luckily mine seem ok with them.
 
amymay said:
Why not - the thing most likely to worry the horses would be the noise I suppose.
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Do you know something? Mine haven't batted an eyelid at the noise, in fact most of the horses on the yard probably think it's Henry snoring as they snore constantly. I did however have to walk Duke past the stable a few days ago and had my arm nearly yanked off. He suddenly went bonkers as we were level with the stable. I think mainly it is the smell that alerts them to them, and I guess the odd squeal is secondary.

Blooming horses, the pigs are really cute! However, I must not get attached as I know where they will be off to next year :(
 
Theresa_F said:
Horses can soon get used to pigs. On the smallholding my aunt and uncle have, the horses and pigs share the same barn, along with sheep and goats and are quite happy.

As long as the barn is kept well ventilated and reasonably mucked out, then there is no problem.
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Agree with this.

We have a pig called Nellie, she's kept under the barn but the horses all go up and talk to her over the door, especially Freddy! She has a quick ramble round when we're feeding her and went into the stables once cue lots of bog eyed looks simply because she wasn't where they're used to her being.
 
lillith said:
Not me, I have been told that the reason that horses are instinctively worried by pigs is because if a horse goes down they will happily eat it. May not be the case but it would worry me.
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Hmmmm, I would worry for this. Pigs are very adept at escaping and pork age pigs can be really viscious, destructive brutes - especially on intesive farms.

Sorry but no, I wouldn't put my horse in the same building as pigs and I very much doubt he'd be up for it either :D
 
Most large pig farms would be accredited disease free, plus pigs get a bad press i feel, one of the cleanest farm animals around..ours used to be in a large barn with only gates seperating pigs and horses and quite often came in and found the horses leaning over the gates licking the pigs backs.
They soon get used to them.
Im sure a lot of the horse/pig stigma is down to the individual person as they see pigs as dirty creatures.
 
I would not put mine in with pigs but I suppose needs must. Cappy is absolutely terrified of them, used to be free range one that Elizabeth spent weeks getting him past, he went past but reluctantly.
FDC
 
Saucisson said:
pork age pigs can be really viscious, destructive brutes - especially on intesive farms.
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Have to say they do bully and torture each other terribly sometimes (through boredom I'm sure) sometimes the shrieks make your blood run cold!! :( But I don't think they'd attack a horse, unless it was seriously injured or dead. Having said all that I do love pigs especially having had one as a pet, she was a darling. They are so very clever as well, cleverer than dogs, which is probably why they misbehave when cooped up and bored.

I think it's probably the fact they're omnivorous that scares horses, if you tried to get a horse in a barn of dogs or foxes etc they would probably react similarly. Also after Ezmirelda (the pig) went we let Sam (the horse) reclaim her paddock, he then got mud fever for the first time ever (at about the tender age of 25) and it took a good few years to knock it on the head. Maybe just coincidence but I did wonder if it had anything to do with the fact he was using the area where a pig had lived for years esp when it got muddy in winter etc and it must have got on his legs... I think it's probably jsut one of those mysteries we'll never know the answer to!
 
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