[HappyHippy]

What she said 
We don't slap though, we rub vigerously before we jab. Our thinking is that rubbing tenses the muscle so if we inject as soon as the rubbing has stopped the muscle relaxes and they don't feel it as much. But mainly they never notice - especially if their head's in a bucket of pig nuts 

[harry]

now 1 pound a day over 14 months is £56 for bought in feed to get your kunnies to a carcase weight of 95 kilos and that is not the excellent grazing of new zealand  or the alfalfa and clover of north America
it is high time these commercial breeders were using kunnie  pigs 

  as a side issue can kune kunes reach 95 klos mine appear to have stopped at about 60 klo

[HappyHippy]

Oh yes Harry - some get fairly big 
I sent 2 gilts a few weeks ago, the dead weights were 99Kg and 104Kg after having been skinned (we didn't weigh them before they went, but they must've been 130Kg plus) Our old boar must've been at least 150Kg, if not more 
I find (in my litters anyway) that there are some which are smaller and some that grow a bit bigger, but it's not about the quantity with Kunekunes - it's all in the eating 
Karen x

[harry]

HH what age were yours at 100 klos.... my biggest is 60 klo at 10 months, not a fatty,,,, i know size doesnt matter but if its £40 to butcher a pig whatever size

[HappyHippy]

Those ones were 18 months Harry, though they were about the same weight at 14 months, so could have gone earlier (they got a reprieve for a while  ) I've a gilt now at 6 months, weighing 47Kg and one at just over a year who's 90Kg - but even though she's that weight she is still quite small looking (to my eye).
60Kg at 10 months is alright for a Kunekune  If you have to pay a set price per pig, then it's definitely worth running them to a heavier weight to get your monies worth (or find a butcher that charges per Kilo dead weight)  If you're not in a massive rush to get pork or have the land vacant I'd give them to the end of the summer - you'd be surprised what that extra couple of months of warmer weather and grazing will add 
HTH
Karen 

[Billy Rhomboid]

My word, every time I come on here, I remember why I don't come on here more often, lol.

We have some kunes we got for free, mainly to help out someone who had them as 'house pigs' and was then distraught when they grew big enough to eat the sofa. We took them as we had the space and believing them 'grazing pigs', thought it would cost us nothing.

Well, that has not quite been true. We have had to supplement their feed, and in winter they didn't want to touch hay and had to have commercial feed and so on. The rest of the time they have thrived on grass and waste veg from the market with a small amount of feed to top up. I would guess they are around the 120kg live weight mark now and have each delivered us a couple of litters of kune/manga crosses (averaging 10/litter) which have sold at £55 each and the ones we kept have been splendid. (have six still available from current litters - please PM if interested).

We breed pigs from the point-of-view of making salumi and charcuterie first, and selling off surplus second. Kunes are super little pigs. Delicious meat, very inexpensive to slow-rear, very manageable. If your aim is producing white pork in the shortest timeframe possible then I can see it is probably not the pig for you.