HOG HOUSE

also called pigpen building for housing swine, particularly one with facilities for housing a number of hogs under one roof. Typical housing protects against extremes of heat and cold and provides draft-free ventilation, sanitary bedding, and feeding. Simple hog houses are sometimes called sties. Movable houses may be prefabricated or home-built with or without floor, single walled, and with burlap sacking for a door. They can be relocated on clean ground each season. Enclosed houses, used mainly for herds of 12 sows or more, usually have concrete floors, smooth walls, and insulation. They may be air-conditioned or ventilated and may be heated with unit heaters, underfloor hot-water pipes, or heat lamps. Farrowing stalls, sometimes called crates, may be used to confine the sow so that she may stand or lie down but cannot move about and accidentally crush her young.