Old wooden Pig Shed

i.e. the old wooden pig shed

The pig shed shown in the museum is a replica from the Thuringian museum Hohenfelden and was built in 2000.
Pigs were kept in such sheds in the middle of the 20th century in south and central Germany.

Other sheds in use are made of brick with straw and a little window in front for feeding purposes.
These conditions were bad for the pig’s health, because of the bad air supply, poor illumination, thermal insulation and the restricted possibilities for movement.
Over the years and from generation to generation, the constitution of the animals deteriorated.

The development of the so-called „Lochow shed“ by the Lochow family who were important rye breeders from Petkus (in the south of Brandenburg),  improved the housing conditions considerably after the 1920s.

Recent modern pig sheds were built under the pressure to produce efficiently on a global market.
The keeping conditions became important and improved in comparison to the early 1920s.
Today, there are very strict laws for environmental  protection and animal welfare in Germany.
This has had a great influence on the keeping conditions for pigs and other farm animals.