A few beginner pig questions.

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A few beginner pig questions.

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Druid

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 3

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 8:35 am Post subject: A few beginner pig questions.

Hi all, I'm new to the site and joined after reading a few very informative articles on here

. I've finally convinced evreyone in my house that keeping a pig as a pet is not insane so now I'm doing the info collecting bit. I'm located in Ireland so was hoping that someone could give me some info on what the legal and regulation side of things is like over here?

I have 1/4 of an acre earmarked for this project which is fenced with triple railed post & rail fencing, lined with sheep wire and has boards to prevent digging (this used to be a dog run for some extremely clever escaping pups). There is an old garden shed in it which I was hoping to use as a shelter for the pig. Does this set up sound ok for a single pig (or perhaps a pair, one as a pet and one for slaughter?) The field is adjacent to one of our horses' fields which lacks automatic waterers so I was planning to install a double basined waterer which would supply both fields. The field is only about 20mtrs from the house, would unpleasant smell be a problem? (It never has been with the dogs/horses)

Hay & straw will be free as we already make them for the horses, a bag of complete pig feed is �9 from our local farm supplier so what other investments, apart from the pigs which seem to be around �45-70 for 3-6 month old females (gilts?), are there?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Azura Skye

Joined: 14 Jun 2005
Posts: 2199
Location: Carmarthenshire

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 10:02 am Post subject:

We have piggies (two Kune kune), but they are pets. We used to have two vietnamese pot bellied pigs years ago, and one of them, Blodwen got pneumonia, and shortly after, Percy passed away of a broken heart...
well, I've read that if they are together for a long time they form a bond and cant live without eachother. So if you do keep one as a pet, he;ll be mighty sad when the other one leaves... but then again I;m vegetarian and would deffinitely persuade you to keep them both as pets :)))

Thats about as much as I can tell you in reply to your post!
The set up you have sounds pretty good.
Oh yeah, and none of our pigs ever smelled in fact - they were the cleanest animals we had... also chickens ate their poo so there was never any smell in the fields either.
:)

greenbean

Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Stirling

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 10:11 am Post subject:

Hi Druid, Pigs need company, keeping a single pig is cruel. As would be keeping two and them taking one away. I think you need to decide whether you want pets or livestock.
I can tell you that pigs are fabulous animals to keep- I am an ex pig farmer. I think you need to do some reading/research/get some more advice before you go into this. Do you know anyone that is keeping pigs already that you can visit?

Druid

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 3

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 10:24 am Post subject:

I definately wan to keep a pair but may have a little more parent convincing to do for that. Though i've got this far one more pig shouldn't be too hard to persuade them on! I want to keep them as pets, slaugther idea was mother's but has now been scrapped knowing they need company.

There is no small scale pig farmers around me that I know of but I have visited the nearest large scale pig unit and they showed me what to look for in a healthy pig and some signs of common illness to look out for. They are also on hand to give me advice if nessecary so I do have some support even if the way they rear pigs is a bit different from what I'd be doing.

greenbean

Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Stirling

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 10:40 am Post subject:
Hi Druid, Have you thought about keeping vietnamese pot bellied pigs as pets? I haven't kept them myself, but other people here will have more advice.

Druid

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 3

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 10:51 am Post subject:
I hadn't thought about which breeds yet. I know that the common breeds over here are the Yorkshire, Landrace and Duroc. I've also seen saddlebacks, spotties and vietnamese ones advertised for sale. Does anyone have any suggestions for which of these breeds to go for?

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 6:26 pm Post subject:
Druid Ring up your local abattoir and ask them if they can pass your number on to local pig breeders, so you can vist or contact them. I bet there are more around than you think.

greenbean

Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Stirling

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 9:38 pm Post subject:
Druid, again as per Alison's post, visiting and talking with pig farmers or anyone that has a couple of pigs is what you should do, their advice will be invaluable.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 10:53 pm Post subject:
You might even get details off a bacon wrapper!

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 05 7:49 am Post subject:

Hi Druid (and welcome to the site)

We started our "pig-keeping project" earlier this year. We started with just the one pig but I would agree with what Greenbean has said in that keeping one pig is cruel but I think that in the right circumstances he is OK. Our pig is very happy when I spend time with him and doesn't seem to get too lonely. It was always our intention to get a sow to accompany him so that when he goes for the chop we would still have a pig to feed but as Azura Skye has already mentioned this would leave the sow very unhappy. I think next year we will get a boar and a sow and keep them both (just sending their piglets to the abbatoire. Will have to research this further first.

We are in France so I cannot offer any advice on keeping a pig in Ireland. I know that we pay about the same (9 euros a bag) for our pig feed which lasts a couple of weeks and he also get loads of kitchen waste and garden (veg) thinnings. He is doing very well on this. Your setup sounds ideal to me. We have our pig in part of the field with an electric fence around the perimeter. He has a shed which he sleeps/shelters in and he does not smell at all (the hens are more smelly than the pig). I am sure your garden shed will be just fine but I recommend put some breeze block or similar around the bottom as pigs rub themselves on the sides of the hut and are very strong indeed.

Pigs are very intelligent animals and need company. In my opinion two pigs is better than one but they do enjoy human company very much. Spend time with them when you can but don't get too attached if you intend one day to eat them

Hope this helps (please feel free to ask more questions)

Simon

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