anyone ever kept a pig

[Fishfanboy]

I am getting a pig today and wondering if anyone has any tips on keeping them

 

[mfdrookie516]

Just feed it well. The bigger they get, the more meat there is.


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[cgthebeast]

Uh what type of pig? Pet pig or eatin pig

 

[Fishfanboy]

Eatin. I just picked it up its a mean little thing though.

 

[cgthebeast]

Feed often and make sure it can wallow in mud and such. Keep it's water trough clean and full of water. like like to root around so no need for a food trough unless you get like 5 of them. Feed pellets or grain, vegetables, table scrapes. that's basically it. I know some people spread straw out in a corner of a pen for bending, so if you do that, change it monthly or when ever needed. Also, pigs are semi social so getting anthor piglet might be a good idea.

 

[54seaweed]

never kept a live pig only one I got from butcher for the grill good eating
if I had got a live one the wife would fall in love and it would never get eaten lol

 

[GreenLily]

What breed of pig did you get? I have two sows that are 3/4 Hampshire and 1/4 Duroc. The pig might take time to get used to you, and it's less likely if it's stress positive, as stress positive pigs tend to be more nervous and not so trusting. I found that they get friendlier as they age. Mine did anyway. I gave them a few days to adjust to their surroundings and then began interacting with them. If you want to train it to use a harness, I suggest you start it young, but if you are just going to eat it, you might not find any use for harness training. As cgthebeast mentions, clean fresh water is a must and feeding it off the ground is fine- trust me, it'll end up on the ground anyway since they LOVE to knock the bowl over. You could try using a heavy cinder block to weigh it down, but nothing ever worked for mine especially now that they are big and stronger. You can feed it pretty much anything! Weeds (no fox tails), meat, eggs, fruit, veggies, hay.. The list goes on! The recommended diet for fattening pigs up for butcher is feeding them 14-16% protein hog mash. I had a tough time figuring this one out and started my piglets on sweet mix and cracked corn, which was OK for the cold months, but if I had known sooner, I would have just fed them the high protein hog mash. This will produce a meatier, leaner pig. It'll grow a bit slower, but it's worth it for the meat content. Corn and sweet mix (or 4-way) will just yield fattier meat. A mud wallow is nice in the hot summer months and pigs can use the mud to coat their backs to protect from sunburn. I always have a little wallow and more dry ground for them to walk on. Despite what are thought of pigs, they are actually clean animals if allowed to be.
Please consider getting your butcher pig a buddy, if you didn't buy one yet. They are very social animals and get depressed easily! Also, be sure they are in a secure enclosure.. It's really not a lot of fun chasing a pig or two! They can run fast and will destroy lawns/trees and anything else they think tastes yummy. Since they are rooting animals, they will dig deep into the ground if they think there is something there or just for the fun of it.
One last thing, don't forget to worm your pig! I got my piglets already wormed (about 75 lbs) and I wormed them again at 125 lbs, and they need wormed ever so often, but I can't remember at the top of my head how often/what weights. Hope this helps! Pigs are fun and I am glad I am able to experience them. They are a hoot!

 

[Fishfanboy]

I don't know what kind it is but it's red and I'll try to get a pic. We might get another but I'm not sure yet. It also got out today and we chased it all around the neighbor hood and it took forever to catch. It got the gate propped open and got loose. We are going to fix up its pen a little better in the next few days tho.

 

[Fishfanboy]

. .

 

[Fishfanboy]

Here is a better one

 

[54seaweed]

never turn your back to a pig they will charge ,they are mean
make good BBQ though

 

[GreenLily]

What a cutie! Going by it's color, I'd say it was a duroc. Sorry to hear that it got out and had to be chased all over! It's quite an adventure in getting them back! It looks like it could use a little friend.

 

[emilygupps]

Sure you have to eat it ? Pretty cute... Look at those ears. Yup if we got an eating pig I would probably fall in love. Farm life is not for me.

 

[GreenLily]

Sure you have to eat it ? Pretty cute... Look at those ears. Yup if we got an eating pig I would probably fall in love. Farm life is not for me.

So true! I'm keeping one of my two butcher hogs.. She'll stay on my hobby farm and make babies for me. The hubby agreed! lol