[amieeajs]

hi,
 i have just brought two saddle backs, i have never kept pigs be-for, so i am i newbie,
          I no they haven't been wormed  yet so i will need to sort that out, where is the best place to get these from,
they are 2months old and i no the feeding rule, but what is the best food to feed them, the breeder does make there own food, but its a 15kg bag for 5:50 and a feed stockest up the road does a food (finishing pellets) for 25kg for 6;25, is this good?
  they will be kept out doors and eventually want to breed from them then go on to keep one or two from the litter for meet,
 is there any thing a pig shouldn't eat, i have been told to not give them anything from the onion family is this true,
 and just whats the best advice, lol
 many thanks for you time
    amiee

[HappyHippy]

Hi,
Are they birth registered pedigree saddlebacks ? Otherwise I'd be tempted to raise them purely for meat until you get to know a good bit more about what's involved before venturing into breeding.
As for what's best, finishing pellets or the mix from the breeder - I would say that the better you feed them the better the results (especially true for meat pigs, but others may disagree). If it's a high quality, GM free mix the breeder has I'd favour that, but it's going to come down to personal choice (and finances)
I have to confess to never having heard that about onions - ours got the 'waste' from a local fruit and veg shop, can't remember if they ever had onions but do know they only ate the leeks after everything else was finished 
As for your wormer - most agricultural suppliers should have it or contact your vet - everyone's got their own preference.
Have a trawl through the pig section - loads of good advice on there 
Good luck 

[little blue]

May also need to treat them for mange, especially if they already have worms - we had an all-in-one injection from the vet (sounds easy, but I had a right time trying to dose the three of them, two jabs a fortnight apart!)
If you prefer non-chemical treatments, you can get Verm-X for pigs, but its quite expensive (imho!)

Finisher feed is for pigs heading to slaughter, if you do decide to keep  them for breeding, price up 'sow and weaner' food to keep up the nutrient levels.
Have a good read through the forum, as Ms HH says, and check your local library for pig and smallholding books
All the best

[amieeajs]

yeah they are registered, saddlebacks, and have really good markings, 
So looking forward to them growing up, they are really friendly, at the moment and are loving a scratch and tickle,
but im looking forward to looking after them they will be spoilt lol, they will have plenty of new land to turf up and lots of mud and water two, we was going to try and use just electric fencing but have realised that stock fencing on main area will be a better idea and electric inside,

[Hilarysmum]

Useful article for any one considering going into pig breeding.

http://www.countrysmallholding.com/Editorial.aspx?brand=CSHOnline&category=CSHfeaturePigs&story=SPED24+Sep+2007+15%3a29%3a05%3a343&page=3132

[JulieS]

That's a brilliant article Hilarysmum.  I came across it when I was looking into breeding.

Well worth the read for anyone thinking of keeping pigs.

[nancyscho]

Our pigs are fed on Hi Peak non GM Sow and Weaner pellets with nothing else apart from what they find while foraging. We had a visit from one of the local Trading Standards officers who spent a couple of hours with us  explaining their requirements and also giving advice on keeping pigs. One thing he did impress on us several times was that absolutely nothing from the kitchen should be given to the pigs. I was already aware of this because I had previously had a lecture on the subject from another member of their staff during a telephone conversation.
Doesn't really matter because what the pigs would have had the goats and dogs would miss out on and I don't have that many food scraps.

[Snoopy]

I give all my vegetable peelings, uncooked, and fruit peelings, to our pigs.

Garlic, Onion ends, and everything go into it.

The only thing they have left till last, but still eat eventually, has been lemons.

I make a lot of chutneys and jams for the farm shop, so they get a good variety of things, but only a handful each, and they get their pig food every day as well.

If they don't like something, they will leave it, but if they get hungry later may return and eat it.

We were laughing at a recent pig course, one attendee always chopped up the apples of the pigs wouldn't eat them - we said - if you stop chopping them up, they will eat them, your making them lazy.  The other thing is to spread the food around if they are in a field, so that they have to go and find it, and make sure that they get exercise and don't just eat and lay down, or you will have more fat than meat when they go on hoildays.