[The Woodsiders]

Hi all, need to have a rant about my GOS pigs, I have 3 gilts around 6 months old now, I thought pigs were supposed to be relatively intelligent, I think I must have the most unintelligent b-g---s around, feed time is becoming an absolute nightmare, they have a 6 foot trough so you would think they would each take a section to feed, no, not the case 2 get into the trough and prevent the other one from feeding, trough gets turned over, feed gets trampled in the deep liquid mud, pigs start squabbling, consequently deep holes are dug, they have totally destroyed the ground in the pen,  same thing happens with the water trough, am constantly going in to put it upright and fill it again, I know everyone must be suffering with the mud, we are on clay, but I have overwintered pigs twice before and never had this much trouble, they are now digging away around the perimeter of the pen, I have never used electric fencing with these 3 and am fairly reluctant to start now, not happy to put barbed wire around the bottom either but am concerned that they are trying to burrow out, we bought these 3 for breeding but now considering having them for FEEDING. On a positive note though they are very friendly.
Sorry for the long post, maybe I will feel better tomorrow

[Marches Farmer]

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, a batch of pigs will behave differently from what you consider to be the norm.  We have, for the first time ever, a batch of growers that dung inside, despite having as little room as possible (which normally deters them as they do like a clean bedroom).  Once they get into that sort of habit it's hard to break.  Do you have any slabs you could put down for feeding?  A couple of big rocks to hold the water trough steady (although you'll have to bail out to keep it clean)? 

[harmony]

Why not buy the large nuts and just tip it in piles. They would dig for food in the wild and the large nuts don't break up easily.

[Mynnyd_Mawr_Herd]

Three rubber trugs feed with in each, easy to carry and clean, you may find the fastest ones will eat quicker, you could dampen the feed of the one that usually misses out as pigs can eat eat wet feed quicker than dry feed, should even out then.

Best of luck, keep your snout up, spring is on the way!

[Caroline1]

I bought a thick rubber bowl and normally pour half in and half on the floor as they don't like sharing and seem to prefer eating pig nuts off the ground. I was also told to get an old tyre and put a bucket of water in it as it stops them throwing the water around. This has also worked out well and they do like a good rub on the tyre. All of this may be beginners luck though 

[Mynnyd_Mawr_Herd]

Sound like your doing fine Caroline1

[Eve]

One of our first two pigs used to lay down in the trough as well, hogging the food    Think of it as a sign of intelligence, Woodsiders 


I've used round wooden plates the size of pallets in the past for keeping feed out of mud, you could try wooden pallets from an industrial estate if there's one near you as they're normally happy for you to take them. Gets a bit slippery sometimes but better than nothing.


And we've had similar issues with water. The small rubber trugs that fit in tyres help though the pigs will still turn them over or sit in them, but at least that wastes less water than a big trough and if they turned two over (that seemed their magic number) they still had a third left.


Probably every pig keeper comes across times like this 

[fiestyredhead331]

ha ha been there done that

gave up using troughs once they got too big, just threw their feed on the ground, kept them entertained for hours finding it all! As for their water we had an old bath, sunk down a bit and stones in the bottom.

ours last 2 were brats for trying to push under the fence, we used rylock when they were smaller with boards along the bottom but then had to exchange the boards for corrugated sheeting with extra posts. Always a relief once they are fattened up and on the trailer, really couldn't be bothered with breeding them, let someone else have the worry of that 

[The Woodsiders]

Thanks for your replies, have gone back to feeding them from the recycled rubber bowls that I have used for pigs previously and placing them a distance from each other, squabbles over, one problem I had was they were almost waist deep in liquid mud, not much I can do about that, but the food just seemed to sink without trace, anyway feeling better now, I really should not have had a bit of a rant as I have kept pigs for a few years now and should be used to it. All I have to do now is to get in there and dig the troughs out.

Thanks again