The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Pipsa on January 26, 2013, 04:08:17 pm
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Hello,
does anyone here have Kune Kune pigs ? What are they like ? I would appreciate any opinions/experiences,
please.
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I keep and breed Kunekune pigs, as well as other 'big' breeds of pig.
I'm probably ever so slightly biased, but I think they're great :thumbsup: ;D
Friendly, easy to manage, less damaging to your ground than the big breeds (they do root from time to time, such as in winter - but the damage they do is far less than longer snouted breeds ;)) cheaper to keep, and producing lovely pork.
We raise them on 1lb of pig nuts per day, they have access to plenty of grazing (or hay/hayledge when there's no grass) and a good range of fruit & veg and they do really well on it. Ours are usually ready for slaughter around 10-12 months old, when they've typically reached weights of around 70-80Kg. They're not too fat (a common misconception, or it might be due to those 'feed me' eyes they're so good at ::) ;))
We have also sold some into (carefully vetted) outdoor pet homes, they're great at keeping the grass down and ever so friendly, especially around kids.
You do need plenty of ground for them though - at least half an acre for 2 pigs I'd say. They're not a breed that does well on high rations in small spaces.
HTH but if you want to know more just ask away !
Karen :wave:
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Thank you, HappyHippy.
Is it easy to train them? Do you think I could keep them in a stable at night and have them in a paddock with
sheep daytime?
The most important piece of information in your answer was that they are friendly and great with children -
I might get two Kune Kune pigs for a petting farm - would be this year's new attraction (:
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they are lovely, lovely pigs.
Be sure that you do train them, especially if they are around children, e.g. if hand feeding.
And its essential to get them from a reputable breeder, there's alot of so called micro/pet/teacup mongrels out there.
we've "rescued" some before (kunes) but had they have had poor health and short lifespans....
:pig:
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I keep and breed kunekune pigs :)
I dont know if they are easy to "train" as I havnt trained them to do anything! some of them know thier names :)
They eat much less than another piggie and I find them so much easier to work with than the bigger pigs are due to the size, although they are small pigs, but they are still big strong animals and know thier own minds!
I have 2 boars, 3 castrates and 2 pregnant sows (well one is a gilt) at the moment and I love them :) :love: I had a gilt who was 3 years old and wouldnt get pregnant and she went off last week and is now all packed up in my freezer and tastes amazing :), also sent a few off for mini hog roasts
They are so good with children and LOVE being with people, they will come and lie down with the children in the field with heads on laps, they are such lovely lovely animals and so so clever.
Photo of kiri in the summer
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/Duckberry/kiricool.jpg)
Crumpet in a paddock, she grazes it neater than a sheep does, makes it look like a cricket pitch!
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/Duckberry/crumpy.jpg)
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/Duckberry/photo10.jpg)
Crumpet and Kiri after having a nice wallow in the summer
Asking the dog for a belly rub
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/Duckberry/mango1.jpg)
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Super easy to train :thumbsup: (they're like big labradors - driven by their bellies !)
A bunch of grapes or pieces of apple work a treat ;) Just train them as you would a dog. Ours all know their names too, and moving them is an easy operation even if they're not trained (as long as they're hungry and you've got the food ;D)
Be VERY wary of hand feeding them though, like Little Blue we've also rescued quite a lot of Kunes and you can spot the ones who've been hand fed, because they try to bite your hands ::) Unfortunately none of these ones are still with us, because once they start doing it, it's an impossible habbit to break :( and not a trait I can afford to have in any of my stock because of the kids. Always put their 'treat' in a trug and feed from that ;)
I think they'd be fine in with sheep during the day and stabled at night, you would need to give them some kind of shelter in the field though for during the day. And you might want to look into vaccinating them against colostriduim (done with Lambivac, I think) as this can cause sudden death in pigs and I think it's quite common in sheep - but I'm not a sheep keeper, so can't tell you for sure :-\
Good luck and keep us posted
Karen x
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Ditto with all the above :thumbsup:
They are just so easy to keep & probably the most "multi-purpose" pig breed. Ideal for the 1st-time pig keeper (we've also kept some of the bigger breeds for the freezer, but decided to stay just with the KKs due to health reasons) - great "outdoor pets", companion pigs, make great pork, fun to show & are good mums.
Again, as Karen has already said, I advise all new owners not to hand feed them, especially those going as "petters/pets" & homes with children, as they can get "nippy".
Be aware - if you decide to get some KKs, they are VERY addictive :eyelashes:
:love: :pig: :love:
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Thank you for your advice, very much appreciated.
I am going to see two Kune Kune girl candidates on Tuesday - - I am hopeless with animals, so let's see
what happens ...
I have had White Large/Saddlebacks/Curly-coated pigs before but never Kune Kunes.
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Hi Pipsa :wave:
I have 3 KKs (from happyhippy) and they are indeed the most adorable wee things :thumbsup:
2 are destined for the freezer and one is for keeping/breeding
They are so cute and very friendly and not nibbly at all, but I never hand feed them. They are great with kids and just generally love attention and tummy rubs. They are really easy to keep and great fun.
Can not say what the pork is like - yet, but soon...... :innocent:
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Thank you for your advice, very much appreciated.
I am going to see two Kune Kune girl candidates on Tuesday - - I am hopeless with animals, so let's see
what happens ...
I have had White Large/Saddlebacks/Curly-coated pigs before but never Kune Kunes.
After those "big pigs" your KKs will be just so easy (& cheap ;) ) to keep. If you're looking at petting/"pet" pigs, I would recommend castrates rather than gilts, especially around children - KKs mature sexually very early (from about 5 months onwards) & the females cycle every 3 weeks & can get VERY hormonal - just imagine severe PMT with teeth!
:love: :pig: :love:
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the females cycle every 3 weeks & can get VERY hormonal - just imagine severe PMT with teeth
:roflanim: :roflanim: I'd better start watching my back
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Big fan of Kune Kunes too, dont know if anyone has mentioned if you were feeding them in the same area as the sheep that the pig feed has copper in it, not good for sheep.
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Big fan of Kune Kunes too, dont know if anyone has mentioned if you were feeding them in the same area as the sheep that the pig feed has copper in it, not good for sheep.
Eek! - now that I didn't know - ooer!
Now, I'm sure when we were looking to expand our female bloodlines a few years ago, the "breeder" was giving the piglets sheep nuts :o - there must have been a reason why we didn't buy anything from her - hm :-\ oh yes - she was asking £200 per piglet too, without registrations ::)
I think it's the same "breeder" that's now involved in the "micro/mini pig" trade up here :furious:
:love: :pig: :love:
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So would you then recommend to have two sisters OR a castrated male with a female ?
(PMT-problems made even my partner roll his eyes, hahah)
and thank you again for your comments - I should have asked you before with all my animals.
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Big fan of Kune Kunes too, dont know if anyone has mentioned if you were feeding them in the same area as the sheep that the pig feed has copper in it, not good for sheep.
Big fan of Kune Kunes too, dont know if anyone has mentioned if you were feeding them in the same area as the sheep that the pig feed has copper in it, not good for sheep.
Eek! - now that I didn't know - ooer!
Now, I'm sure when we were looking to expand our female bloodlines a few years ago, the "breeder" was giving the piglets sheep nuts :o - there must have been a reason why we didn't buy anything from her - hm :-\ oh yes - she was asking £200 per piglet too, without registrations ::)
I think it's the same "breeder" that's now involved in the "micro/mini pig" trade up here :furious:
:love: :pig: :love:
I once had to buy sheep nuts for the pigs as my supplier had not got their order through due to snow and I was almost out of pig nuts. So for about 2 days they had sheep nuts mixed with the remaining pig nuts and I think that this is actually fine. The vitamins and minerals will not be quite right for the pigs, but short term, will do no harm. But I think that it is not good to swap feeds the other way around due to the copper in pig food not being good for sheep or something like that!
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2 sisters = 2 x PMT with teeth - double trouble, they'll cycle at the same time most likely too ;)
Probably better with 2 castrates for long-term "pets" - though you may be ok with a gilt & castrate together, though I've been told of a KK gilt who beats-up her brother every 3 weeks for not being able to "perform" :o
:love: :pig: :love:
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Sorry to jump on this post but I have a question...
How do you think a Kune Kune would get on with a 1 year OSB gilt (hopefully soon to be mum when she meets her boyfriend iin next few months)? I'd like a permanent companion for my OSB and really like the look and sound of Kune Kunes. I was offered 2 gilts for free a few months ago, but at the time it was soooo wet and I didn't really want 2 extra pigs and the owners, rightly didnt want to split them up.
Trouble would be with feeding but then we are used to feeding the big pig separately from weaners anyway.
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Kunekunes get on with just about every species known to man ;)
You'd need to watch your OSB didn't bully it and they'd have to have plenty of space so the OSB wasn't rooting up all the grass that the Kunekune needs to graze on.
I'd be tempted to mix 2 Kunekune with your OSB, rather than just one (strength in numbers and all that ;)) and see how they go (you could always send one off to slaughter eventually if the union worked). I've kept mine seperate from all my big pigs so far, but might try running them all in the big field this year and see how it goes :thinking:
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HH -so Kunes HAVE to have grass to graze on? That would rule them out as a companion pig then cos although we rotate and reseed the pig runs, they pretty quickly turn to bare mud, either through Flo rooting or the ground turning to mush. We could let them out at weekends in with the sheep - although Flo would not be happy at being left out! Flo has done the odd spot of digging in the big sheep field which my OH was not happy about. :rant: !I guess we couldn't guarantee the Kunes wouldn't do the same?
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You couldn't guarentee they wouldn't root, no :-\ Some don't do it at all and others do it quite a bit, they're less likely to do it and being snub nosed the damage is far less than the bigger pigs.
I suppose you could try keeping them together and just have a hay rack for the Kunes :thinking: But we've always run ours on grass, when there is grass ::). When they're in, in the winter we give hay and hayledge instead.
HTH
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My 3 KKs live with Matilda the tamworth sow and they all do really well together. Matilda has trashed the field, but the KKs get hay daily and I have half the field taped off with electric fencing for spring/summer grass for KKs.
I had thought of putting up a post and rail fence between the trashed bit and the grassy bit that was high enough for the KKs to get under, but not Matilda, come spring. Not sure if that would work or not :thinking:
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I had thought of putting up a post and rail fence between the trashed bit and the grassy bit that was high enough for the KKs to get under, but not Matilda, come spring. Not sure if that would work or not :thinking:
I think you'd find you had a limbo dancing Tamworth :D the grass is always greener and they always find a way ::) If she's respecting the leccy fencing I'd stick with it for now ;)
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Mine have no grass at the moment due to the fields just being so muddy!
not actually from rooting but from the pigs walking and making it yucky! I need to sort my drainage somehow and do some re seeding this coming weekend on the worst poached bits (gateways and walk ways)
so I give them an arm full of haylage in their huts in the evening and they gobble it up :), I think they need the fiber more in the winter as (I think) its heating and helps keep them warm :) well thats what I imagine anyway...
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Kunekunes get on with just about every species known to man ;)
including goats!
(we had a shed-delay so they all mucked in together for a while!) :pig: :goat:
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friendly with....
Lambs
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/Duckberry/lambbabysitter_zps4555ddd3.jpg)
Children
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/Duckberry/girlbabysitter_zps9d4e423e.jpg)
dogs
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/Duckberry/dogandpiglet_zps5c43c104.jpg)
:)
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Lady grey those are the best pictures ever! :excited:
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Lady grey, well what can I possibly say that will let you know how absolutely wonderful those photos were, especially the dog one :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
and the very thought of a limbo dancing Matilda makes my mind boggle :P
Maybe I should do it and get it on video :innocent:
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Another question! Are Kunes as hardy as say, the OSB's? We do not have any barns so they would have to stay out all year, although they would of course have nice warm arks with plenty of straw. And if they are cuddled up to the big ginger, then they would be positively toasty!
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Question. Everyone says they're cheaper to feed. But it takes 10 - 12 months to hit pork weight. How does this work out from a "meat pig" point of view?
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Hi Hughesy,
If you know how much you are going to feed them, the cost of feed and your target pork age my calculator will tell you the rest ... see here to request a copy.
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=30635.0 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=30635.0)
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They are also friendly with ducks!
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Another question! Are Kunes as hardy as say, the OSB's? We do not have any barns so they would have to stay out all year, although they would of course have nice warm arks with plenty of straw. And if they are cuddled up to the big ginger, then they would be positively toasty!
In a word YES ;D
Two winters ago the temps here were reaching -20C, the water was frozen for 6 weeks solid and even when given the option of a nice warm, dry shed our boar didn't want to come in - he stayed out the whole time.
They 'hair up' in the winter and if it gets really cold we give extra hard feed (only 3lbs per day max) and warm sugar beet to help. But given a dry, well strawed arc they're every bit as hardy as the rest (even more so than my Large Blacks ::))
As a meat pig the results I've been getting are good :thumbsup: (Good enough that we've expanded our breeding herd of Kunes while we've had to cut back on the bigger breeds ;) :innocent:)
When raising for pork, we feed 1lb of hard feed a day, up to around 10 months (depending on the time of year - if it's winter when they get to 10 months they get a bit more food) after this grass, fruit and veg and a bit of hay just to keep them munching.
But even counting 10 whole months of feeding (assuming you get them at 8 weeks) it's a total of 300lbs of feed consumed to give a liveweight of approx 70Kg per pig, versus a minimum of 420lbs for a 'big' pig. Add to that less damage to your ground and ease of keeping (they're soooo docile and friendly) - they've got a lot going for them :thumbsup:
HTH
Karen
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I do like these pictures of the spotty ginger Kunes! One like that would be a little "mini me" of our big ginger Flo.
Im trying to get to grips with this idea of not feeding pigs nuts! So, if I was to feed a Kune hay (given the scenario they couldnt be put on grass permanently), would I just put in as much as they wanted or restrict it to a certain amount per day? And would the big girl be likely to tuck in too? More likely she would want to tear the hay apart and throw it about - this is exactly what she did to the pile of dirty hay from our sheep!
Sorry for the many questions but the more I think about it, the more it seems like a great idea to get a Kune companion (or 2). I shall have a look at the breed society website, any other good sources of info 9other than here of course!) ;)
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Thanks guys :) I think I have more photographs of my kunekunes than of anything else :excited:
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im the same ladygrey, when people ask to see pics of my daughters on my phone, i need to flick through quite a lot of piggie photos although our puppy is quite photogenic too!
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Thanks guys :) I think I have more photographs of my kunekunes than of anything else :excited:
The same here too!
Though they aren't on my screen-saver - that's designated to my baby Merlin ;)
:love: :pig: :love:
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Though they aren't on my screen-saver - that's designated to my baby Merlin
Magic :)
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OK. You've all convinced me. It will be Kune Kune weaners this year.
Now, does anyone know any good breeders in Somerset or Devon? :thinking:
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OK. You've all convinced me. It will be Kune Kune weaners this year.
Now, does anyone know any good breeders in Somerset or Devon? :thinking:
Oh, there are a few ;)
Here's a list to the breeders page on the BKKPS website - have a scroll through, they don't seem to be in any particular order.
http://www.britishkunekunesociety.org.uk/Breeders.aspx (http://www.britishkunekunesociety.org.uk/Breeders.aspx)
HTH
Karen :wave:
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Brilliant!
Many thanks :thumbsup:
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Hi,
Friends of ours left the country and we inherited their 3 kunes, 2 girls and a castrated male (ginger, lowenna and blue). They are 17 months old and very sweet having been hand reared. Having had them for 2 months we have seen we just don't have enough land for them. They need more space.
The girls would be lovely to breed from. I would be very happy for someone with a county holding number and the registration number for keeping pigs from animal health to have them for free and their house (not the best state but serviceable). You would need to collect them yourself and also to be registered to transport pigs.
https://www.gov.uk/animal-identification-movement-and-tracing-regulations#registering-your-pigs-sheep-and-goats (https://www.gov.uk/animal-identification-movement-and-tracing-regulations#registering-your-pigs-sheep-and-goats)
If anyone is interested I can post photos. I am only posting here for the moment as I want them to go to people who will care for them properly.
Many thanks,
Steph
ps we are west of Penzance Cornwall so it is a long way from most places :)
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I have 2 kune kune pigs and they graze with the sheep in the summer & have been known to pop into the horses paddocks when they think I'm not looking :innocent: . They're great with our dogs too and Harry always comes when he's called :excited: . I think they're great
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Went to look at some Kunes over the weekend and I have fallen head over heels in love with them. They were so lovely tempered and so cute and small. The pigs were about 5-6 months old and they were the size of some of the big pig 8 wk old weaners we've had in the past! They were so hairy too, we reckon we could put a pair of horns on one of the gingers and it could pass as a Highland cow. Reckon we will be having a couple of them in a few weeks time :excited:
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Hi, sorry, only just picked up this post.
We have 3 pet kunekunes, lovely animals. Ours do root quite a bit though ( although our ground is quite wet so worse for that).
I only joined in to say - don't put your pigs with your sheep. Sheep can't tolerate the copper in pig food, but remember that the copper comes out in to the pig poo on to the field, where the sheep graze.
I've had to look in to this because I wanted to rotate my fields and put my sheep in the old pig field, but the copper can stay in the ground for ages.
Some sheep are more susceptible to copper poisoning.
Good luck.
Can't beat a sunny day with sheep, pigs and chickens
J xxxx