Pig Waterer DIY Tutorial

Raising pigs can be a great experience. It is very rewarding and satisfying. Pigs have a lot of uses. They can be used to clear overgrown land, turning soil for a new garden, or even sealing up a pond. We have used pigs for all of these tasks. After the pigs are mature and big enough to harvest they make delicious food for your family. Pigs really like to eat and they certainly like water, a lot of water. Building your own pig waterer and pig feeder from scrap can be easily accomplished. It is also a good feeling to up-cycle junk and save money.

Building a Pig Water Trough

This is a simple DIY step by step tutorial for building your pig waterer.

Materials for a DIY Pig Watering Trough

In order to build this hog waterer you’ll need an old pressure tank. I found one that a friend was throwing away. They were glad to give it to me so I could put it to good use. Another good place to check for a pressure tank is with local plumbers. They often replace them and are usually happy to give them away so that they don’t have to to deal with the trouble of disposing of them. There are other items that can be used in place of the pressure tank. A 30 gallon metal barrel or a steel water holding tank are great options as well. I’m sure if you begin to look around you can find something that will easily work for this project. Another item you will need is some type of straight pieces of metal to cut for the four legs. You can use angle iron, rebar, flat metal bars, or even some round stock. If you’re a farmer you probably have plenty of metal scraps laying around that will work. You will also need access to a welder or a friend who welds and would be willing to help you.

Splitting the Tank for Your Hog Waterer

The tank will need to be split in half length wise. To do this measure the circumference of the tank and divide by two. You then put a mark on the tank and measure from that mark to the middle of the tank and make another mark.

These two points should be the marks to make your cuts to divide the tank into two equal halves. It is not as very difficult to cut the tank into halves. You can use an angle grinder with a cutting wheel as shown in the pictures. Another simple method is to use a reciprocating saw with a metal blade.

You will also need to cut the metal for the legs. They will need to be around eighteen inches long. They can be cut using the same tool that you used to cut the tank in half. Be sure to wear gloves and safety glasses to protect yourself from injuries.

Putting your Pig Watering Trough Together

Now that you have your materials cut it is time to start assembling your hog waterers. Start by flipping the halves of the tanks over and grinding to areas clean on what will be the bottom of the pig water trough. It is important to remove all paint, rust, or dirt from these areas. You will also need to grind the middle of the legs clean so you will easily be able to weld them in place.

Now that you have cleaned the areas to be welded it is time to weld the legs onto the bottom of each of the pig waterers. Be sure to have all of the proper safety equipment for welding. A welding helmet and gloves are a must. Never watch someone weld without protective eye gear.

Preparing the Trough to Water Pigs

The pig watering trough is now assembled and is almost ready to water hogs. Usually the water tanks have residual rust in them that will to be rinsed out before you water pigs. In order to prevent injury when water pigs it is important to use the angle grinder to remove any burs for the edges of the water trough. You want the edges to be a fairly smooth surface as to not cut or scrape your hogs.

These water troughs also double as feed troughs for your pigs. Since you will have 2 halves of the pressure tank, you may as well build a second trough that an be used for either feeding or watering pigs. They are very tough and when properly assembled should last for many years. We have not had any issues out of ours.

Time to Water Pigs

The hog water trough is now assembled and ready fill up with water. Our pigs really enjoy this style of water trough. On hot days the smaller pigs like to lay in it like a swimming pool. It is very important for pigs to have a way to cool off in the heat. Pigs aren’t capable of sweating so they can easily overheat. This trough is very sturdy and stable so it is rare that the pigs flip it over and dump the water out of it. It is very tough and has held up well.

We enjoy sitting and watching our pigs as they drink and play in the water. It is a wonderful form of entertainment on top of being a much needed and practical item. I count that as a win all around. There’s not much cuter than happy, healthy pigs playing in water.