The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: princesslayer on May 27, 2015, 01:07:19 pm
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Anyone got any advice/anecdotes on keeping horses and pigs near each other?
I'm looking to get a couple of weaners and also have a new forest pony and some sheep. If the pig enclosure was next to the pony enclosure ( he's on restricted grazing) would this be a problem? I've heard horses hate pigs but have no experience.
Thanks :pig: :horse: :pig:
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No problems here - and that's a stallion in the picture. I've got pigs living in stables next door to horses too and no bother at all.
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Hello,
I have breeding pigs and young stock as well as horses.
There have been escapee pigs who have got into the paddock and caused havoc. You need to watch out for this as mine got a good kicking and still didn't really get the hint so I worry what might have happened had I not been there to wrangle them. I do however have a completely free range Shetland who wanders everywhere including up to the pig pens and she seems to quite like them (although obviously she gives their electric a wide birth). All my horses are used to pigs so if they are kept securely it is not an issue to have both. I've heard tales of horses freaking out at the smell but tbh they get used to it like we all do!
I would be very careful of sheep next to pigs, although I'm sure someone will jump in and say they do it and its fine. Pigs don't really have any perception of other animals emotions/ reactions, they cant read them, so if a sheep sticks its head through a fence it will probably get bitten. I am always very cautious with dogs and what not when I am not there with them. If they cant physically get to each other then I imagine its fine.
Someone with more sheep experience will hopefully give you a better answer on that front.
If you're fencing is good you should have no problems :thumbsup:
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The only people that can answer this are your pigs and ponies ,I see them living together harmoniously,less harmonious and a down right pain ,all will be different .
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My pigs, poultry, sheep and dogs intermingle all day, every day and have done for the last seven or eight years and I haven't had a mishap (yet!)
A neighbour complained that her horse was terrified of the pigs each time she rode past my gate but when living in adjoining fields soon got used to them.
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I agree that it all depends, but I also agree from my own experience that pigs don't have a good sense of others' - they are just blissfully curious!
I have sheep, donkeys and currently two weaners all on the same field, but the weaners are in an electric fence pen that they respect, and this works very well for all involved.
But on one occasion when I moved the pen on, the piggies were running loose for a very short time, and went straight up the donkeys nose, repeatedly... which the donkeys didn't appreciate at all, and they started chasing them around rather aggressively.
Taught me a lesson - I now move the donkeys to the garden or shut them in temporarily when I have to move the pigs. Also the donkeys are now restricted to their own summer grazing track by electric fence line, so should the piggies escape unnoticed they can get out of the donkeys' way.
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My shetlands adore my pigs (pigs bigger than ponies!).
I have a system for introducing new/visiting ponies to pigs.
1) Put pony into large paddock next to pig orchard. Plentry of room for ponies to keep well away until they feel safe.
2) Feed pony at same time as pigs morning and night, just molasses free chaff if pony doesn't need feeding. Always feed pigs right by gate.
3) At each feed, move pony's bucket closer to pigs' gate.
4) By about day 4 or 5, pony eating very happily right next to pig.
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I have ridden two horses who were utterly terrified of pigs but now have 3 pigs in a pen near the road in a very horsy area and have never seen a any of the horses that ride past spook at the pigs. Introduce them sensibly and I'm sure all will be fine.
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anxious horse owners make anxious horses.
Always exceptions (so there will be cases where the horses are scared) , but generally if you treat the pigs as normal so will then horses.
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Thanks all, just the experience I was looking for :thumbsup:
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Never had a problem, they have a chat through the fence every morning.
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I've done this for the first time this yr, the horses was not impressed for a week or so and kept their distance but they soon got over it.