George Eakin, President and CEO of Osborne Industries, spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at the 2022 World Pork Expo held in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Eakin showcased a new piece of equipment for outdoor pig farmers.

“The fundamental piece of equipment that we're showing this year is an outdoor farrowing house. It resembles the old farrowing house from the 1970s; however, it has some unique features that are different for those raising pigs out in the pasture or in a separate place,” said Eakin.

The Hog Hut farrowing house has a standard tipping door for easy overhead access and a latching entry door along with 48 ft² (4.5 m²) of internal space with a separated creep area.

“But the ingenious part of the design is the floor - it's an insulated floor. So, in the wintertime, it will retain the heat to keep the sow and piglets comfortable,” he says. “At the end of the farrowing, you can lift it up with your skid steer or your forklift, pull some pins and the doors open up dumping all of the straw and waist down onto the ground. Then the doors will come up to the side to where you can simply pressure wash it to get rid of any of the disease and dirt and so forth. But in the summertime, you can lock those doors up on the outside and take advantage of the ground cooling to keep the piglets and the sow cool,” he says.

Eakin said the unique design of the Hog Hut works well for the emerging market of people wanting to hobby farm or raise a few pigs or chickens for themselves.

“They're buying our hog feeders because we're really the only provider of an outdoor hog feeder. We have lids for our feeders; our feeders do not contaminate water and work very well. People who are interested in being food secure, especially in this pandemic and time of uncertainty, about what's going to happen to their protein. This gives them the assurance that they have some control over that,” Eakin explains.

Eakin further describes the benefits of the materials used to make the Hog Hut.

“This is construction-grade fiberglass, foam insulated, and it's very easily clean. If you have a wood structure, or something that gets wet, that is difficult to clean, and you run the risk of having disease issues,” noted Eakin. “Another interesting thing about this product is it doesn't have to be used solely for pigs. It can be used for chickens, goats or dairy. So, there's a lot of different applications for a product like this.”

Click here for more information on Osborne's new Hog Hut.