Mini-pigs are bred down from fully-grown pigs that weigh about 500kg. So a lot of work has gone into breeding the Mini-pig as he/she will only weigh about 40-70kg. The piglet should not outgrow its Parents.Our Boar is named ROLLIE he weighs about 40kg.
Our Sows are named Oink and Porky they weigh about 55kg...
Our latest sow Charlotte should weigh about 30-40kg(maybe smaller) At the moment she is 3 months old and she weighs 4kg.
Thinking About Getting a Mini-Pig?
The ultimate pet is a Mini-Pig.
Mini-Pigs live from 10 to 15 years,
Mini-Pigs are clean, social and very intelligent and they even outsmart a dog. Mini-Pigs will come to their name, learn tricks and they are very loving. They like a clean, dry place to sleep and they will pick one corner of their night pen to go to the toilet, so really they are very clean animals. If you are going to keep your Mini-Pig inside, make sure that your house is piggy friendly.
Pigs don’t sweat like we do, so to cool off a small child’s pool is perfect. They will roll in a mud puddle, but they prefer water to mud and they are excellent swimmer’s, our Mini-Pigs love to go for a swim.
Mini-Pigs love to play especially with a toy that has food inside it or a scrunched up bit of paper.
Or if you have a large compost heap like us. When we are going to put all our old hay on the compost we put the scraps on first mixed with some popcorn. They love it. And it keeps your pig entertained for ages and gets your compost heap turned over as well.
To make a Food-Toy Drill some holes in a ball, just big enough to let some popcorn or pellets out when your pig nudges it with its snout.
Then drill another hole big enough to fit a cork into and put the food in. You will then have ONE HAPPY PIG.
Housing.
You will need a shelter eg- small garden shed, large dog kennel or a home made shelter with a wooden floor.
Pigs have a high body temperature (39 degrees) so they feel the cold, so they need bedding of straw or something similar. (Of a day they are let out to graze)
It is a good idea to have a pen attached to there housing so they can be put to bed if you need to do something and you don’t want his/her help.
Feeding
PLEASE NOTE: IT IS ILLEGAL TO FEED PIGS ANY FORM OF MEAT OR IMPORTED PRODUCTS LIKE SALAMI.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AS CONTAMINATED SWILL CAN LEAD TO DISEASES SUCH AS FOOT AND MOUTH, AND SWINE FEVER BEING INTRODUCED INTO AUSTRALIA
WARNING !!! Over feeding your pig will make it over-grow in size.
Your pig requires 3% of its body weight in food everyday. And if it has been grazing all day it will only need a small amount of scraps. Feed your pig at a regular time and in the same place so it has a disciplined feeding routine.
If a pig is allowed to eat all day, “IT WILL”.
A diet high in vitamins and minerals is good, not high in proteins, so make sure your pig doesn’t eat the dog food. I feed my pigs my food scraps NO MEAT eg- fruit and veggies.
If I don’t have scraps I feed them 1&Mac218;2 -1 cup of soaked grain when small and 1 -2 cups full grown, you can also add some chaff...
Your pig should look healthy not obese.
REMEMBER – you own a pet mini-pig so don’t fatten it up for your Xmas dinner.
Water
WARNING !!! If your pig doesn’t have sufficient drinking water it will get salt-poisoning, it is incurable. Symptoms include: walking in small circles, incoherent, won’t eat or drink.
Your pig needs clean drinking water. I prefer pig-nibs; they let out water when the pig presses on it. (You can buy these at your Produce - Store). Or you can use a container tied to the fence, but this needs to be cleaned everyday.
Health