Pigs?

[sandi_84]

Ok so me and the OH have been talking about the future, what kind of animals we want etc and he would like to keep a couple of pigs.
I know nothing about pigs so I was wondering if there is anyone out there that has them?
Do you rear for food purposes or are they pets?
How easy/difficult to care for are they?
Are they aggressive? - I worry about this as I know they can bite really really hard!
Anything else you'd say about them?
This isn't going to happen for a good few years yet but I like to get info

 

[GinaB]

We keep two Kune Kune pigs as pets, they are called Dolly and Mixture.
Sooo easy to look after! They are advertised as non-rooting, but that's a lie. They get piggy nuts and fresh fruit and veg. You do need plenty of room. They are incredibly sociable animals, hence we have two. They can be aggressive towards each other and willhave wee scraps but mostly when they're in season. Never been aggressive towards us. They are friendly and intelligent and love to get their noses and ears scratched.
You will need a herd number I believe and you need them registered with DEFRA if you're on the mainland, or DARD if you're NI. I can't remember what injections etc they get but someone else will be able to advise on it.
I'll try and post pictures later when I'm on a laptop.

 

[sandi_84]

We keep two Kune Kune pigs as pets, they are called Dolly and Mixture.
Sooo easy to look after! They are advertised as non-rooting, but that's a lie. They get piggy nuts and fresh fruit and veg. You do need plenty of room. They are incredibly sociable animals, hence we have two. They can be aggressive towards each other and willhave wee scraps but mostly when they're in season. Never been aggressive towards us. They are friendly and intelligent and love to get their noses and ears scratched.
You will need a herd number I believe and you need them registered with DEFRA if you're on the mainland, or DARD if you're NI. I can't remember what injections etc they get but someone else will be able to advise on it.
I'll try and post pictures later when I'm on a laptop.

Thanks GinaB, that's really helpful
Anyone else?

 

[Alexart]

We used to have them for meat and breeding, we had an oxford sandy and black boar called Borris - he was huuuuge!! We had to get pins put on all the gate hinges as he'd just flick them off and let everything out, same with barn doors! He got in one barn one night and found some tins of paint, one of which was a very bright yellow, needless to say he ripped open the can, wallowed in the contents and then proceeded to paint everything yellow in the yard - there were bum and snout prints all over the cars, the stable doors had nose and bum prints on those too and yellow trotter tracks all over the concrete and he'd been joined by his piglets at some point as there were lots of little yellow tracks too, by the time he got to the tractor he had pretty much run out of paint except on his back which he got rid of all over the sides and wheels, he was even strong enough to lift the front of the tractor up!!!!!!
We also had 2 iron age sows who we had 2 litters each off over 2 years and although piglets are increadibly cute they drove us nuts - there was nothing that could keep them in anywhere, their mothers taught them how to pull out electric tape poles and escape that way or dig under fences, wheelie bins make great footballs especially when full!!!

We sold the boar eventually as he kept trying to hump our welsh ponies and he would challenge the stallions, he would also never leave the mares alone when they were in season - slight identitiy crisis I think!!! The sows got rather snappy with the horses and us, so they went in the freezer i'm afraid as they could do alot of damage if they wanted too, they did taste very good though!!!

I'd definitly have them again for rearing for meat but not for breeding, but they do make an awful lot of mess to fields - we woke one morning and they had moved thmselves from their allocated paddock, which we wanted dug over, to our main 10 acre grazing field, lets just say it looked like world war one had gone on in the night with the pigs quest for leather jacket grubs - cost alot to get it back to being flat with no trenches!!!!!
Get super dooper fencing if you do get them, I've seen them throw things at the electric fence to short it out so they can get through it!!!! - they aren't daft!!!

 

[jrp204]

We have just got rid of our pigs, purely kept for meat. You cannot beat home produced bacon and sausages! Although easy to keep, they will trash any land you keep them on and they are actually quite expensive to feed. If you want to rear for meat I personally wouldn't have a native breed, way to fatty and take to long to get to killing weight. They are great personalitys though.

 

[sandi_84]

We used to have them for meat and breeding, we had an oxford sandy and black boar called Borris - he was huuuuge!! We had to get pins put on all the gate hinges as he'd just flick them off and let everything out, same with barn doors! He got in one barn one night and found some tins of paint, one of which was a very bright yellow, needless to say he ripped open the can, wallowed in the contents and then proceeded to paint everything yellow in the yard - there were bum and snout prints all over the cars, the stable doors had nose and bum prints on those too and yellow trotter tracks all over the concrete and he'd been joined by his piglets at some point as there were lots of little yellow tracks too, by the time he got to the tractor he had pretty much run out of paint except on his back which he got rid of all over the sides and wheels, he was even strong enough to lift the front of the tractor up!!!!!!
We also had 2 iron age sows who we had 2 litters each off over 2 years and although piglets are increadibly cute they drove us nuts - there was nothing that could keep them in anywhere, their mothers taught them how to pull out electric tape poles and escape that way or dig under fences, wheelie bins make great footballs especially when full!!!

We sold the boar eventually as he kept trying to hump our welsh ponies and he would challenge the stallions, he would also never leave the mares alone when they were in season - slight identitiy crisis I think!!! The sows got rather snappy with the horses and us, so they went in the freezer i'm afraid as they could do alot of damage if they wanted too, they did taste very good though!!!

I'd definitly have them again for rearing for meat but not for breeding, but they do make an awful lot of mess to fields - we woke one morning and they had moved thmselves from their allocated paddock, which we wanted dug over, to our main 10 acre grazing field, lets just say it looked like world war one had gone on in the night with the pigs quest for leather jacket grubs - cost alot to get it back to being flat with no trenches!!!!!
Get super dooper fencing if you do get them, I've seen them throw things at the electric fence to short it out so they can get through it!!!! - they aren't daft!!!

Ha ha! Brilliant, love the painting boar story!

We have just got rid of our pigs, purely kept for meat. You cannot beat home produced bacon and sausages! Although easy to keep, they will trash any land you keep them on and they are actually quite expensive to feed. If you want to rear for meat I personally wouldn't have a native breed, way to fatty and take to long to get to killing weight. They are great personalitys though.

I think the OH plans on rearing for meat. I've told him I'm happy to have pigs and more than happy to get the bacon at the end of it all but he'll be in charge of them because I'm slightly afraid of them just in case they were agressive, I'm only small you see and I reckon in a fight the pig would win!
What sort of breed would you suggest for meat? (Feel a bit naughty asking (questions about animals I plan to eat in pet box )

What sort of uber fencing would you suggest would work best for keeping the oinkers in their paddock?

 

[jrp204]

Large white x landrace, pietrain x, welsh x. A pietrain or x would be your best bet if you can get them, real meat machines, lean and fatten quickly.

 

[sandi_84]

Large white x landrace, pietrain x, welsh x. A pietrain or x would be your best bet if you can get them, real meat machines, lean and fatten quickly.

Thanks, that's brilliant

 

[GinaB]

Not Kunes anyway, they'd be the most expensive sausages you'd eat lol!

Electric fence keeps ours in, they squeal if they touch it.

The noise of excited pigs waiting to be fed is SHOCKING.

 

[debsandpets]

We currently have a trio of large black X saddlebacks for the freezer. We have a patch of land that the sheep and horses can't graze (infestation of bloody mares tail next to a stream) so as the pigs are only short term it gets picked as much as possible and then the pigs get that area to turn over and root about in till it is freezer time.
We have had OSB's in the past but have opted for something different this time. I would recommend getting pigs with floppy ears for a first time, as they tend to be less aggressive as they can't see where they are going as well as pigs with upright ears.
They are the OH's domain as I don't trust them in the slightest I'm afraid !!!!!

 

[pennyturner]

We've got Kune Kunes. Very friendly, and tasty.

Echo the comments about destruction, and the expense of feeding them, We did go through hell keeping them in. Electric is useless, but we've found a line of barbed wire around the base of the fence does the job.

We've found them very very gentle. Even the boar is trustworthy, and will flop on your feet for a belly scratch. On the odd occasion they get out, they now come to the house to look for us!

Currently being eaten out of house and home by 7 uber-cute piglets...

 

[cremedemonthe]

One of my friends has a micro pig she's called Fiona (after Shrek)


She thinks she's a dog and acts like one round the house, pushing the family dog out of it's bed!