mutant pigs

[simplynaturalfarm]

So, remember my escapade last year with the 3 Berks we got who stopped eating and would scream for milk and refuse their grain? Well, we have some more odd ones this year - this time they are just mutts. Hamp crosses that appear to be healthy. They were all that was available and again, appeared to be very healthy but the pickiest eaters on the planet. When you guys talk about fermenting feed, soaking feed, sprouting I just wonder how do you get your pigs to eat it . . . DH used to boil his feed in big vats when they raised pigs, and if our pig feed gets wet for any reason, the pigs refuse to eat it. We have to put in JUST enough for them to eat that day and no more because they won't touch it if milk goes in it, water etc. Definitely not a "slop the hog" kind of pig and DH wonders if the confinement system is raising weird mutant pigs that have lost all reason.

We have 2 AGH also that go absolutely bonkers over all the scraps and soaked feeds, so it is not that the feed has an issue. But these 2 hamps will come over to sniff the slop pail as it is dumped into a tub (usually old milk with some eggs, bread crusts, and leftovers scraped off plates) and then turn around and walk away. They don't even drink MILK!? DH dumped the scrap pail in with little Lucy and Lisa this morning (AGH) accidentally (I don't want them getting fat so they don't usually get much scraps) and they went bonkers drinking and eating until they could barely walk and then he dumped the rest in with the Hamps and they walked away from it.

Just blows my mind . . . . what do you guys do to get them to eat? They are all in rotational grazing pens, and the hamps do graze well, they dig up the pen (we are using them to refresh a pastured area), and they are finally willing to eat our grain ration (home mixed grains with some hay, minerals, and milk and fish), but they could care less about milk or scraps.

[finallyfarming]

I think your right about the confinement bred pigs. They have gone from domesticated to ultra domesticated. Like horses with small feet cause their female owners think it is prettier or can't work because the breeders think work is 45 minutes trotting/shuffling around in a covered arena. Maybe pigs are being bred to eat a pelleted ration and not much else. Human beings have a pretty good track record of screwing up animals in a fairly short time. Dogs that can't have puppies without a c-section, turkeys that need to be AI'ed, why not pigs that can't survive without Purina?

[charlesh]

I've been lucky I guess. We haven't had any problems in about 5 years of having pigs. I used to get them from a small CAFO and while they were initially a bit shell shocked at being outside, they quickly got used to it and did great. The last two years I have bought from a guy that has mostly durocs and berks and they have adjusted even faster. No one ever got picky on me, though they do love their milk! With the milk I am giving them mine currently receive a 14% corn/soy blend. It goes in a two door hog feeder 50lbs at a time. One corner gets wet in the rain, but it doesn't seem to bother them.

Now I think I'll go knock on some wood...

[suzorse]

I have never had a problem other than if they do not get milk in their food at times
they will look at me like um you are missing something, I have never bought from a large
CAFO always from some one that raises pigs and loves what they do
Suzanne

[simplynaturalfarm]

this wasn't a CAFO, just a backyard guy who raises them in a dirt pen like most backyard guys.

[dunderi]

becasue i know you via the forum as a proper and sensible livestock owner, im surprised (not like one of those horse owners who say their warmblood gelding "won't" eat anything but the greenest softest lucerne, that is almost fluoroescent green and looks to have been harvested and bailed by angels, no doubt also those idiots that pay $150 for a 10kg bag of dog food, and then put only the "best quality" ground lean beef or chicken on it for their precious pooches, because their darling maltese terrier "won't" eat anything else....)

i know you're feeding them to grow, but you're sure letting them dictate to you! i think the intense farming industries have a lot to answer for - when you say they won't eat - are you giving them alternatives, or fussing (and giving them what they prefer) because they don't eat straightaway instead of taking a harder line? (again, i know you want them to eat, and eat well, and eat lots, because they're growing)

my answer to the aforementioned primadonna pet owners is usually "if he won't eat the regular stuff today, he will in two days time when he gets over the habit thats created for him, and gets hungry." but i guess if getting them to eat (even if its what they want) is more important than getting them to eat what you'd prefer to feed them then that's fair enough too.

i know sometimes animals (that aren't properly hungry, lol) will be hesitant to try new foods - and sometimes they're more willing if they've seen another animal eat them first. like the cows with the oranges here. new cow (or yearling cow, in this case) hadn't seen oranges. thought they smelled ok, but didn't lick or eat them. Anna (who's had oranges every year)enters the field, and starts stuffing herself with them, the rest then followed suit.

so, learned eating? (i also know that my dog, will eat ANYTHING that she sees me eating. lettuce? for sure. carrots? yep ok. good enough for the human master, ima eat it too if offered) not that i'm suggesting you eat pig food in front of the pigs.. (i mean, im progressive but i'm not a hippie LOL) but perhaps the reasons the pigs won't eat it is because they're not being taught to. and over progressive generations of confinement, they lose the "lets try everything at least twice" mentality that you see with hometsead bred genetic lines of pigs?

i genuinely hope the pigs i get when we move have no intention of being fussy like that - they're gonna starve right quick if they do. kids and dogs and farm animals.,.. you'll eat what you're given, or you can choose to go without... that's kind of how i was raised.

(obvious things like spoiled food aside, of course, which i also assume you're not feeding them)

[eljay]

The key might be to introduce slowly as in their preferred food with a few drops of whatever you want to introduce and increase from there.

What are you feeding the AGH girls to keep them slim and trim?

[simplynaturalfarm]

Dunderi, they don't have any choice in the matter - it is that food or nothing. But they simply turn their noses up at it. They will let it sit in their pan (especially if it has been soaked) until the flies breed and make a mess and I dump it out. While I most certainly don't cater to any of my critter's that way, it is wasteful for me to keep trying to get them to eat something that they leave.

Their preferred food is pelleted pig feed and I don't feed that

[suzorse]

you could try putting some milk in the pan and then just dump the dry pellets on top
and see if they will eat it that way, then slowly add the food with milk on top that you want them to eat as I have never had a pig refuse milk, but Porkett was not keen on the dry ground food she now gets when I started her on it, but by adding milk she would eat it
and she will also eat it dry when I do not have any milk, had to use water at 1 point
my pigs do not get table scraps they go to the chickens
Suzanne

[dunderi]

Jun 18, 2014 22:19:54 GMT -5 simplynaturalfarm said:

Dunderi, they don't have any choice in the matter - it is that food or nothing. But they simply turn their noses up at it. They will let it sit in their pan (especially if it has been soaked) until the flies breed and make a mess and I dump it out. While I most certainly don't cater to any of my critter's that way, it is wasteful for me to keep trying to get them to eat something that they leave.

Their preferred food is pelleted pig feed and I don't feed that

crazy madness. and it's even stranger that it's the soaked feed they take issue with too. I reckon you're right that they've mutated and now their taste buds aren't working properly!!

i would suggest maybe putting some molasses on it (diluted 50% perhaps) to see if that makes it more palatable for them - but they might not like it being wet.

[Jenn]

Are they with the AGH or kept separate because they are bigger? I bought a buck that had never experienced a bush before and wouldn't touch them to save his life. Then breeding season came round and the girls I put in with him, ignored him and went for the bushes he wasn't eating. He had to learn what his favorite food was supposed to be...and of course, he is now one of the best thistle eaters of the herd.

-Jenn

[beelady]

can you put them in a pen with nothing but dirt untill they learn to eat what you feed them? it sounds like they are filling up on grass and whatever they dig up maybe.

[simplynaturalfarm]

I was afraid to put my sweet AGH in with them because the AGH are so tiny. ANd the fencing that works for the Hamps is not suitable for AGH. Right now the AGH are in an x pen that we move 2-3x a day. They eat everything in the pen (the AGH), dig really well, and are keeping the edges of my garden nice and tidy, but they are also such incredible . . PIGS LOL. This morning my 8 year old (who does the pig chores) was hauling water and I gave her a little tin of flaked wheat for Lucy and Sally. She looked at it and said "I think they like it better as a mash. Do you you have milk? Or even some hot water?" LOL They are spoiled rotten and ended up getting an egg, the shell, the flaked wheat and the entire thing covered in warm milk . . . They will eat every bit til they look they are going to explode and spend the rest of the day rooting up the small pen they have til I move to a new spot. I hav enever had rooting or grazing inhibit the pigs desire for food, and probably if the hamps were in with the AGH they would start to eat better. We plan to move them both to our new garden site shortly and maybe if we put the pens side by side they will learn better eating habits.

I also am going to try the molasses - when we ran out of their pellets we changed them to our feed and it is just a dry feed (unless we soak it). So maybe some sweet will tempt them. I am not THAT worried about them getting big fast, but I do want them to gain appropriately. last year with all the milk and such we put into the pigs we had (who we know were raised in confinement before we got them), they HUNG 100-120lbs at 7 months!! And they cost a lot to purchase and DH drove 8 hours to get them . . . .

Eljay, ours are not getting refined carbs, but getting fresh pasture 2-3x a day and a small bit of 18% home made feed. No more than 2-3 cups of feed per day for the both of them to split. I want them to have high quality protein feed and not just grain which will put fat on them. IF somebody takes some milk out to feed them, then I cut the grain in half. They always think they are dying of starvation and the first thing you hear in the morning is them talking to us when we head out to milk - such fun they are to have!

My chickens aren't good at eating up scraps, but the area goes into compost so it doesn't bother me much. Our pigs normally eat every single thing we put out there. The watermelon rinds are down to 1/16th of an inch and when DH puts the pail out for the AGH, you can't even tell they had anything because they eat it all

[eljay]

Jun 19, 2014 13:04:31 GMT -5 simplynaturalfarm said:

Eljay, ours are not getting refined carbs, but getting fresh pasture 2-3x a day and a small bit of 18% home made feed. No more than 2-3 cups of feed per day for the both of them to split. I want them to have high quality protein feed and not just grain which will put fat on them. IF somebody takes some milk out to feed them, then I cut the grain in half. They always think they are dying of starvation and the first thing you hear in the morning is them talking to us when we head out to milk - such fun they are to have!

My chickens aren't good at eating up scraps, but the area goes into compost so it doesn't bother me much. Our pigs normally eat every single thing we put out there. The watermelon rinds are down to 1/16th of an inch and when DH puts the pail out for the AGH, you can't even tell they had anything because they eat it all

Ours are little pigs too, in every sense of the word. They will lay in the feed pan to try to keep the others out. It's a riot! We've been giving not much more than the scraps that come from the house, which the chickens won't eat, along with a little clabber. I am so pleased that they don't like asparagus and thanks to that I will be able to have them weed the orchard/asparagus patch.

I plan to finish the two we are eating on barley fodder and skimmed clabber. The ones we finished on that last year were too lean. We had to add fat to the pan to cook the bacon without burning it.

[boondocks]

I'm still working on this lil Berkshire gilt, she won't eat anything but commercial pellets and milk products. But she had a hard start and is only 3 months old... Let's the flies eat the fruits an veges so far...