Hog-O-Matic Finishing Floors

Not every labor saving idea for swine confinement lasted much past the initial development phase. From the 1960 Yearbook of Agriculture, we present the HOG-O-MATIC!

Hog-O-Matic

This automatic hog finishing facility – dubbed “Hog-O-Matic” – is equipped to feed the pigs and clean the floor under fully automatic control. Cleaning is done (below) with two jets of water under 70 pounds of pressure. The revolving boom circles the 21.5- foot exercise area every 2.5 minutes. A 4-inch center drain carries the wastes away.

High-Pressure Water Jets clean pen floor

A good idea in theory for the time, but it is likely this system would not work well with sub-zero temperatures during a typical Midwestern winter.  Here’s a more typical finishing floor from the early confinement years.

Reverse mono-slope finishing floors with rear access alley.

Hogs are housed in clean, airy, efficient buildings. The picture above shows one of the many new types of confinement housing during this time period. Raising hogs in confined quarters is a growing practice. The farmer designed this pen arrangement (below) with the plan of finishing two-thousand hogs per year. 

Labor-saving equipment included automatic watering and feeders filled with an overhead auger.

From these early designs, the industry continued to develop into the improved feeding and ventilation systems we have today. GrowerSELECT feed systems and AirStorm ventilation fans offer today’s producers great equipment backed by the best warranty in the business. To learn more call us at 800-949-4674 or go online at www.hogslat.com.

Interior view of a modern swine finisher constructed by Hog Slat.