[Fowgill Farm]

Pleased to hear all goes well, its amazing how resilient the little beggars are.My two pregnant gilts having been racing round in th snow like mad things but have cabined them up now as the thaw and re freeze has turned it all to ice & black ice.
Hope all goes well for your daughter.
best mandy

[egglady]

I'm interested to read that you are feeding your pglets hay.  My tamworths are about 10 weeks old now and have a very varied diet but should i be giving them hay as well?  especially since they cant get under the snow to dig around?  thanks

[little blue]

All the best Jane.

[janeislay]

I'm interested to read that you are feeding your pglets hay.  My tamworths are about 10 weeks old now and have a very varied diet but should i be giving them hay as well?  especially since they cant get under the snow to dig around?  thanks

I'm afraid I have no idea and asked the same question a while back !  We just put a slice inside the ark when it was icy and noticed it had all gone by morning.  And we were worried the little ones wouldn't want to come out in the cold.

Today they were foraging and appeared to be tucking into the grass (or something) at a rate of knots, so presumably when it's icy it will do as an alternative ?  

[Hilarysmum]

Mine dont eat hay, they will play with it.  I suppose as pigs eat grass hay would be eaten by some.  I dont think it has much nutritional value to pigs as they dont easily digest celulose.  It would probably be a bulk food in poor weather.

[princesspiggy]

my tamworths help themselves to the haylage thats open in the yard, they really enjoy it but not sure how much they eat as i find chewed up mouthfuls all over place, rather like spitting out chewing gum! lol

[oaklandspigs]

Ours get hay regularly, because we grow hay and have to buy straw, hay can be as cheap to use as bedding.

The pigs eat some, and love it, and lie on the rest.

However it is supplemental to feed not a substitute.  Piglets will nose around and eat a few strands.

It does help firm up pig poo (roughage), making it easier to clean, for our expectant and new mums who are housed in the yard.

Used as bedding, hay can soak up water, unlike straw that acts as a barrier, so we use both, and don't use hay when wet pigs will be going into arks.

[egglady]

thanks for all the info - you can never have too much!

[Hilarysmum]

Thanks Oaklands thats new info for me too.   

[TheCaptain]

Mine go crazy for hay so we've used it just to bulk out their feed as it's so bloody cold at the moment.  Mum still gets her 6lbs/day and the piglets still get their nuts but they then get the hay after it.  Like I said, they go crazy for it!

On weaning, I let mum decide as to when she was ready to wean them rather than taking the piglets away - we like to keep everything as natural as possible and leave it to her (as my wife tells me, mummys always know best)...  She self-weaned at about 11 weeks and I have two very strong and healthy weaners!