Post by otter on Dec 20, 2018 14:47:28 GMT -5
I've mentioned my minis a couple of times and while I was cleaning their pens today I got some good pictures of them playing in the barn.
The first two pictures are my boar Runt some chickens " helping" me clean up. The red hen is your everyday Sex-link for a size comparison. The pastel half grown ones are from one of my home bred chickens.
Runt is 3 years old come January and the last time I weighed him he was 46lbs. He eats about a lb of grain a day, plus all the good hay he wants (potbellies will eat a surprising amount of hay) plus whatever he can turn up when he's out and about, plus treats. I keep them on pasture except for winter and in winter I let them out as much as I can.
He keeps himself pretty trim. He looks like the world's smallest wild boar to me. I'd like him a bit fatter but he just runs it off! Busy, busy, busy.
The next pics are off 2 of Runt's piglets out of a standard-potbelly-size crossbred sow (he managed that on moving trailer)
Charlotte and Frankie are a year old next week and about 60#
The little spotted guy, Wilbur (I know, we are so creative in pig naming) we bought at auction for some new blood and cute spots. We were told he was 4 months old, but who knows? He's been here a month and barely grown. He's a little sweetie and no matter what will be a good companion for Charlotte when Frankie goes.
With mini pigs, the pet folks only want girls, and brightly colored ones at that. Nearly all the males and anything I think will mature over 70# I sell for roast pig, and I have a guy who is happy to pay a decent price for a boar - he wants kind of a wild pig taste and a potbelly raised on pasture is apparently just exactly right.
But dealing with the pet folks is exhausting and breeding such small pigs is difficult. I used to have a bunch, but these are my last. If Wilbur and Charlotte manage anything, great, if not, they'll just stay on as pets and clean up crew. Unless someone really, really wants Runt for breeding, he's just around for life too.
The first two pictures are my boar Runt some chickens " helping" me clean up. The red hen is your everyday Sex-link for a size comparison. The pastel half grown ones are from one of my home bred chickens.
Runt is 3 years old come January and the last time I weighed him he was 46lbs. He eats about a lb of grain a day, plus all the good hay he wants (potbellies will eat a surprising amount of hay) plus whatever he can turn up when he's out and about, plus treats. I keep them on pasture except for winter and in winter I let them out as much as I can.
He keeps himself pretty trim. He looks like the world's smallest wild boar to me. I'd like him a bit fatter but he just runs it off! Busy, busy, busy.
The next pics are off 2 of Runt's piglets out of a standard-potbelly-size crossbred sow (he managed that on moving trailer)
Charlotte and Frankie are a year old next week and about 60#
The little spotted guy, Wilbur (I know, we are so creative in pig naming) we bought at auction for some new blood and cute spots. We were told he was 4 months old, but who knows? He's been here a month and barely grown. He's a little sweetie and no matter what will be a good companion for Charlotte when Frankie goes.
With mini pigs, the pet folks only want girls, and brightly colored ones at that. Nearly all the males and anything I think will mature over 70# I sell for roast pig, and I have a guy who is happy to pay a decent price for a boar - he wants kind of a wild pig taste and a potbelly raised on pasture is apparently just exactly right.
But dealing with the pet folks is exhausting and breeding such small pigs is difficult. I used to have a bunch, but these are my last. If Wilbur and Charlotte manage anything, great, if not, they'll just stay on as pets and clean up crew. Unless someone really, really wants Runt for breeding, he's just around for life too.
