Micro Pigs/Pigs?

[Dizzy socks]

So, having seen an advert up with two micro pigs being offered free to a good home, we've started to consider thinking about having them, but are unsure if we would be able to provide a sufficient home for them.

We had a sloping field of rough grazing, about 1/4 of an acre, and securely fenced, although there is laurel on the sides of the fence. Is this poisonous?

There are a few hens in the field, would sharing be an issue?

If they are rooting, would daffodil bulbs be poisonous? There's also a small orchard area, would they strip and damage the trees?

And one last thing - thanks if you've got this far - presumably they need a lot of attention to be kept stimulated, even if they had each other? What would be a reasonable amount of time to spend with them?

Thanks for reading - and sorry for the question onslaught!

 

[LittleBlackMule]

1/4 of an acre would be plenty, although before long it wouldn't be so much 'rough grazing' as 'ploughed field'.

Yes laurel is poisonous, but if it's trimmed back away from the fence it should be fine.

I doubt the chickens would mind too much, the pigs would turn over lots of goodies for them to pick at.

Yes daff bulbs are poisonous, this would probably be the only main concern.

With company and plenty to eat, they really wouldn't mind if you only visited once a day, if that.

 

[rhylis]

I have two micro pigs, Spoink and Speckles! They are fantastic and so clever. Although my children claimed they would spend hours playing with them ( and I fell for that one! ) in reality the pigs don't get as much attention as I hoped they would. The pigs seem happy though, they have plenty of space and find plenty of things to occupy themselves with. They see me as provider of food and scratches, they adore food and go all soppy when you give them a good scratch!
One thing I have been surprised with is that they really don't show much of an inclination to root, and they haven't made the horrific mess I fully expected! The horses are also fine with them, just curious to start with. They get on fine with the dogs too. My pigs are fine with the chickens aswell,although they will ococcasionally chase the chickens but never with intent to damage! They will however sneak into the hen house and eat any eggs they find.
They are great pets and a real joy to have around.

 

[Dizzy socks]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. .

It all looks great, the only trouble is the daffodil bulbs, which would presumably make it a complete no go? They were planted all over around 2/3 years ago.

 

[WelshD]

we have two pigs every year (spring to autumn) and they live in a pen (about 35ft x 12ft) quite happily, it has a single strand electric fence that stops them digging round the fence. They have a couple of trees and a decent shelter. When they go in to the pen in the spring there is lots of greenery and this is demolished within a couple of weeks but we chuck in the odd bale of straw and the weeds from the garden. they strip the trees as much as possible, they have killed one tree but the remaining two recover every winter and bounce back ok

The red tape is a bit of a pain though but is online so not as bad as it used to be

 

[JLD]

We have pet pigs currently kune kune's but had micro pigs before, how old are the ones you are looking at ? Just ours were about 3' tall and 5' long by the time they were fully grown ! We knew micro's had a habit of doing this so were fully set up for big pigs. They are brilliant pets though although were rotavators on legs and totally ploughed their 10x15m pen up. We poo pick regularly to keep it fresh and chuck loads of greenery/branches in etc and now have 2 pens we rotate and re seed often. They are very respectful of a single strand of electric at snout height. They get on fine with my pony. We often turn them out in the paddock in the summer and the pig will graze under the pony ! On a day to day basis it takes about 5 mins twice a day but I will spend more time with them at the weekends, they are in a pen in my pony's paddock so they watch everything going on.

 

[Dizzy socks]

Thanks again for the replies. .

It sounds mostly great, but I can't see any way of getting over the daffodil bulb issue. They were planted a few years ago, and I think digging them all up would be verging on impossible...