Pig House Sleeping Floors of Pre-cast Blocks

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 79, Issue 5, 15 November 1949, Page 481

Pig House Sleeping Floors of Pre-cast Blocks

IN an article in the July issue of the “Journal” I. H. Owtram, Extension Officer in Pig Husbandry, Department of Agriculture, Wellington, described a simple method by which pig producers could build their own concrete pig houses with concrete or hollow-stone blocks. In this article he explains how sleeping floors for concrete pig houses can be made with special pre-cast floor blocks.

THE use of special concrete-mixture JL sleeping floors in pig houses has become general , of recent years, and their advantages • over wooden floors are very great. An article on the laying of hollow coke-breeze concrete floors was published in the February, 1947, issue of the Journal. Machinemade coke-concrete blocks for conavailable Ind SSr SeSpfiflesX Tnh rnnsidprablv Each block is 4in hL fi lS’and Rin wide cove?i?S’ so ft l of S floor space There are IX circular holes ™ amete? running through the block from side to side, and there is a tongue at one end of the block and a groove at the other. These holes and tongues and grooves are shown in the accompanying illustrations. • Lavina tho Foundation ' Laying me rounaanon The first step m laying these floor blocks is to put down a foundation of ordinary concrete. If this is laid on solid ground, it need not be more than lin. thick, but if the ground beneath has been built up at all, or if there is any doubt as to its solidity, as, for instance, on sandy types of soil, the \ foundation should be at least 2in. thick. The necessary falls m the floor, e ?fron?o‘i n the n fioX lr a ?2 1 Dut e ta a when laving +hA eonerptA the fl Jo? S t-The fall in the sleenine floor must coincide 1 with the fall in the whole floor arPA and to achieve this the foundation for the 1 steening floor blocks should be laid at theSe Hme tL flnnr tile same time as the rest of the floor. Ppnnlnn I pvplc pegging Levels - The method of pegging levels to get the correct fall is not difficult, but

it is most important that the falls should be correct. x Fig. 5 eow shows the ground plan of a simple unit Bft. wide and 16ft. long with a 3ft race in front o it containing the main drain, the fall of which depends on the site and general layout . This fall should not be too steep ii n . in 20ft. being ample, After the walls of the units have been built the mam drain 1S put in The falls of all floors must connect with this drain » and unless the dram b Put down first this cannot be done properly. In the unit shown m Fig. 5 the trough is placed along the dividing wall between units, not along the front, and the doorway is m the opposite corner of the front; it is to this corner that a fall of |m. m Ift. is required over the whole floor area. As glazed-tile troughs are nearly always use d nowadays, the space for the trough is left unconcreted and the troughs set in dead level after the floor has been put down. It is advisae not to excavate the floor area un the levels have been pegged; in building the' walls a trench is dug for the foundations, and the earth in the floor area j s not touched until the wor k on the levels is completed. When the walls have been built up and the main drain finished a peg ls placed at Ain Fi S- 5,. the to of this peg being exactly level with the edge of the dram - A second peg (B) is driven in alongside A, its top- being exactly Bin ' higher than the top - of peg A. Then with the aid of a straight-edge and a spirit level along the line between peg B and peg C (several temporary pegs will be necessary, as a straight-edge board of this length, over 16ft., is very hard to

get) place a peg at C so that the top of it is exactly level with the top of peg B.

Again with the aid of the straightedge and the spirit level place a peg at D, the top being exactly level with the top of peg C. While doing this a peg should be driven to the same level at F., a point 16in. from the side wall along which the trough is placed.

Peg B is driven down until its top is 3jin. above the top of peg A, and by the use of the straight-edge and spirit level peg E is placed with its top level with the top of B. This is to give a fall of jin. in Ift. from E to A. Peg B is then removed and five pegs, A, C, D, E, and F,-are left and are so placed that if the surface of the floor is laid level to the top of these five pegs, a fall of jin. in Ift is obtained over the whole floor area to the point A.

These are the master pegs. A certain number of intermediate pegs are necessary and these can be placed at the correct level by means of a string stretched tightly between the master pegs; the intermediate pegs are driven into the ground so that their tops are level with the string.

The floor area is excavated to the required depth, 2in. if the floor is to be 2in. thick, below the top of these pegs; screeds are placed in position and the floor laid. The reason for locating a peg at F is to have a straight line for levelling from E to F. The space for the glazed tile trough is left unconcreted until after the floors are finished, when the troughs are put into position. Placing of Blocks When the concrete foundation has been laid and has been given time to set properly the placing of the blocks can be proceeded with. A rough surface must be left on the concrete foundation to provide a key for the mortar on which the blocks are laid. First, the blocks are placed so that their length is across. the house and the holes in them coincide and run from the back of the sleeping floor to the front (see Figs. 1 and 2). A thin layer of cement mortar (3 parts of sand to 1 part of cement) is placed on the concrete foundation and the blocks placed on top of it.

The blocks are not • placed directly against the walls of the house, but a space of about 2in. is left on both sides and at the back. This space is filled in with solid concrete when all the blocks are in position. It is not necessary to put any mortar between the blocks, as the tongue of one block is fitted into the groove of the next. ,

When all blocks are in position, and it takes about 50 of them for an Bft. x Bft. sleeping floor, the spaces at the back and sides are filled in and the front is finished with a strip of solid concrete which is bevelled as shown in Fig. 3. The reason for this is that if a sharp edge is left, both the edge of the concrete and, more important still, the pigs’ feet will be damaged.

Plastering the Surface The final work is the plastering of the whole of the surface with a 3 to 1 sand-cement plaster not more than Jin. thick (see Fig. 4). A steel float is used and a very wet mix of plaster. This -is necessary owing to the cokeconcrete blocks drawing the moisture out of the plaster; unless this is mixed very wet, it becomes exceedingly hard to work.

In the completed floor the holes in the blocks form sealed air cavities running the whole width of the floor from back to front. This is the secret of the warmth of these floors. The air in the cavities becomes warm through the pigs lying on the floor and retains its temperature for some hours, even though the floor is unoccupied while the pigs are running out, so that there is always a warm floor for the pigs to lie on.

Concrete floors in piggeries should be. kept as dry as possible and should be hosed down only when absolutely necessary or in very hot weather. Floors that are always wet are liable to be slippery and cause pigs’ hoofs to soften and crack or wear rapidly, thus rendering them more liable to infection of the foot by organisms which are normally present in the piggery, but which do not cause damage unless they gain access through broken skin.

New Meat Prices

THE opening schedule prices for lamb, mutton, and beef, announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Cullen, are as follows: — - ' Lambs (Woolly) - Prime Down Cross and Prime Canterbury: 20/36, Hid.; 37/42, Hid.; 43/50, 10|d.; 51/56, 10id. Prime crossbred: 20/36, Hid.; 37/42, lid.; 4'3/50, 10id. ; 51/56, lOd. 2O/36, 10id.; 37/42, IOJd.; 43/50, Wethers—North Island Prime: 48/U, 7Jd.; 49/64, 7id.; 65/90 as 64, 7id. = 38s. Bd. Seconds: 64/U, 6gd.; 65/72 as 64, 65d. = 365. . Wethers—South Island Prime: 48/U, 7id.; 49/64, 7d.; 65/90 as 64, 7d. = 375. 4d. Seconds: 64/U, 6Jd.; 65/72 as 64, 6Jd = 345. Bd. Ewes 64/U, sjd.; 65/90 as 64, sjd. = 275. 4d. Quarter Beef . Ox—G.A.Q.: 720/U, 575. per 1001 b.; 0/720, 545.-■ F.A.Q.: All weights, 495. Heifer—G.A.Q.: 720/U, 565. per 1001 b.; 0/720, 535. E.A.Q.: All weights, 48s. Cow—G.A.Q.: All weights, 475. 6d. per 1001 b. Boner Beef Ox, bull, cow, heifer, 345. per 1001 b. The Minister has also announced the new schedule prices for porkers and baconers, which are as follows: North Island South Island d. d. Porkers , .. .. 10 10i ' Baconers 121/175 .. 10 101 Baconers 176/185 .. 9i 9i