Pros/Cons? Am thinking of taking in a year old female who used to be a house pig. Would like advice on what to expect? Too much trouble? Will I have to cordon off my hay to keep her out of it. Will she likely be going after the dogs’ food? (We have 3 big livestock guardian dogs) Will the dogs likely be a problem? Will she be happy at the barn with her own kiddy pool during the hot months? I’d like to give her run of the farm. Thanks for any help.
Oh and must you get the females spayed? And if so, how much does that cost? And where would you go to get that done anyway? University vet clinic? As I don’t think any of the large animal vets, or the small ones for tht matter, do pigs. She’s already had one litter and will be an only pig.
I know this isn’t exactly what you asked for, but I started a thread on Micro Pigs and there were some poosts that might answer some of your questions.
Good luck
LBR
the thin kiddie pools won’t hold up for long
it will eat the dog’s food but if you put dog’s food up on something that they can jump to problem solved
no males around, no problem with babies
(my friend/neighbor had a pbp for ~12 years)
I rode at a barn that had a pot-bellied pig in residence and after that I boarded at a barn with a dwarf pot-bellied pig. I have to say, those guys are pretty fun.
I don’t remember either pig breaking bales of hay, but both would make a bed in any loose hay that was in the hay room in the barn or sleep in the stall of horses that didn’t clean up all their hay. They learned pretty quickly which horses were kosher with the idea.
None of the barn dogs ever really had a problem with the pig, but none were LGDs.
The only issue I have really seen is that some horses just never learned how to deal with the pig. Most would become blah about the whole thing after a while, but we had 1 or 2 that just knew the pig was a bear who was going to eat them if they ever took their eyes off it.
Also, when we had schooling shows, we would have to lock the pig up so he didn’t disrupt everything. Their favorite time to go out and about is when there are a large number of people with food and new horses milling about it seems.
Pigs are smart about staying cool. They know how to bump troughs to get the water to splash out so they can lay in it and when the arena is being watered. They are also not above spilling their own water to lay in it.
Pig poop is really not much harder to clean out of stalls than horse poop. They seem to wander into open stalls any chance they get.
Good to know. This girl is about a year old and 45lbs, so not huge. Even if she grows a bit. And for just $50 bucks, even if she doesn’t work out, no big loss, but might be fun to have around. Thanks for the feedback.
I have one around here. The ponies went bug-eyed at first, but now ignore him.
He prefers to sleep in hay or manure piles. He has a house…maybe I’ll just throw manure in it?
He’s not neutered yet and will attempt to molest the dogs, who don’t care. Our LGD (GP) ignores him.
I hear females will go into raging heat quite often and be horrible, but I’ve never had a female.
I hear females will go into raging heat quite often and be horrible, but I’ve never had a female.
My old trainer had a female pig. When she’d come into heat, she would be very clingy to people and occasionally would try to hump a leg or two 
THEY WILL EAT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING IN SIGHT so make sure all food like substances are off the ground (no treats in groom boxes on the floor). While I liked the pig, I now understand where the term “pig headed” came from… just something to keep in mind :winkgrin:
Uhmmm…they’re loud. REALLY loud, especially when they’re mad. Let’s just say they have an opinion on everything. Kinda like a mother-in-law.
Their feet need trimmed about twice a year. Seriously, this is not easy. And, finding someone who will do it is no cake-walk, either. Be sure and wear ear plugs.
Mine isn’t a lot of trouble and he’s really good at guarding the chickens.
This is one of the few animals on the planet that my Corgis avoid like the plague. :lol:
Mine will scream and squeal if the dogs are running…cause he can’t quite keep up. I find it highly hilarious
Are we trying to EN-courage or DIS-courage her from keeping the pig???
As far as I am concerned PBP(some very small) bacon sounds good :lol::lol:
LBR
We have one at work.He’s the barn manager…he’s smarter than all of us put together!lol
There have been 2 at our barn over the years. The first was female, and the second a male that the b/o had fixed. A few horses never quite adjusted to them, on account of the danger of being swallowed in one gulp.
They each just lived their lives wandering around the farm doing whatever it is that pigs do. They definitely got in the dog food if it was left out. They were fun to have around. But when the male died last fall, the b/o said no more pigs, or goats, or bunnies, or guinea pigs or other miscellaneous creatures. We still have chickens, though.
Interesting the varying opinions. Alas it’s moot as the pig was sold before we could get there. I may keep my eye out for another female.
A barn I rode at years ago had one - hated it! It ate everything, and I mean everything, you couldn’t put anything down or it would grab it and don’t think for a minute you’re getting it back!!
It was messy, noisy - grunting, snorting, screaming when it didn’t get what it wanted.
It went after my NEW dressage boots one day. I still have teeth marks on the toe.
Seriously, from a boarders point of view, it did not enhance my time at the barn.
I love my pigs. My horses do too. The pigs use their legs as scratching posts and sleep in their stalls. Momma pig had two piglets yesterday. They are soooooooo adorable. Momma Pig will do anything for an iced oatmeal cookie. I will always have at least one pot belly around. Ours are the little ones (about 40lbs).
[QUOTE=Go Fish;5605351]
Uhmmm…they’re loud. REALLY loud, especially when they’re mad. Let’s just say they have an opinion on everything. Kinda like a mother-in-law.[/QUOTE]
:lol: :lol: :lol:
I had a female pig for awhile. When she would go into heat she would take a walk on the wrong side of the tracks…literally. There is a neighborhood over there populated by southern country black folks…these are folks that are poor, used to raising thier own food and not adverse to catching a wandering pig for barbeque. These are folks with whom I’ve never even had a conversation but they know all my business, where I work, my children’s names and which animals belong to me. I would get a phone call from some friendly soul that my pig is a’wandering again and some not so friendly souls are considering what she might taste like on a spit and that I should come and walk her back home. This happened several times. Obviously that was a 2 way street because an unknown somebody over there owned an intact male pig that came visiting and fathered a litter of little piggies.
Spaying should be considered. I also own a neutered male pig…please be aware that pigs can live a very long time and are a serious committment. My pig is now 16 year old.
I just got a mini pig and she’s in with my two goats (a smaller nubian and a pygmy) right next the the horses (who had never seen a pig before).
So far have had no issues (cept the pygmy is bullying her a little as she’s smaller then the goat). They will eat dog food for sure!! Ignores the hay, happily forages around for stuff.
They are LOUD! but so far no more or less hassle then the goats which don’t really require that much.
Just keep in mind that your prospective porcine might get a lot bigger. We had one wander onto our place about 5 years ago. She was adorable, about 75 lb (I was able to lift her, but just barely) and I wanted to keep her, but our ancient Special Guest Pony nearly had a stroke – wouldn’t come into the barn when she was there. She was adorable and affectionate, and our other two horses liked her. No damage to the barn while she was with us.
We ended up taking her to (no joke) Planet Pig, a shelter about 50 miles from us that was home to 150 (now 184, I see) potbellies and one full-sized hog. The proprietor, Sandy, told us that our girl was likely only half-grown. (It wouldn’t have stopped us keeping her, but she said that she gets a lot of pigs that are dumped when they start to grow.) We wrote a check for $150, which Sandy told us would cover her initial expenses (spaying and shots).
