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One of the UK’s most popular and long-lasting pig buildings — the Trobridge grower and finisher house — has been given an update. New materials used in its construction make it more hygienic and labour-saving.Previously made from exterior-grade ply, the mono-pitch building now has low-maintenance ‘Flexstone’ exterior cladding, white, easy-to-clean polypropylene pen linings and an option of Paneltim plastic pen-fronts. The rough-textured exterior, available in a variety of colours to blend in with the surrounding environment, needs no preservative or weather treatment.
First farmer to be supplied with ARM’s new Trobridge house is Julian Gribble of Coads Green, Launceston, Cornwall.
“The naturally-ventilated house can be straw-based or fully-slatted and the pens can easily be adapted to suit a wide range of pig weights and group sizes,” said Tim Miller of ARM Buildings, who took over the manufacturing rights of the Trobridge from Pig Breeders Supply Company in 2005. It complements ARM’s existing range and makes use of the modern laminated panel system developed for the company’s other buildings.
Julian Gribble’s range of new Trobridge pens has been neatly fitted into a bank as part of a herd expansion programme.
The standard-sized pens measure 2.5m x 5.0m (8’3” x 16’6”) and hold 18-25 pigs to slaughter. Because the average weight of finished pigs is rising, the height of the rear wall has been raised from (3’ to 4’). A big health advantage is that each pen of pigs has its own separate air-space and can be washed out as soon as it is emptied without waiting for neighbouring pens to be cleared. The new materials facilitate this.
Particularly suitable for small and medium-sized units the Trobridge is low-cost and economical to run. Normally constructed in parallel runs, it can be erected on the farm by ARM or supplied in kit form.
ARM Buildings Ltd
