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Author Topic: Piglets and hard feed  (Read 2276 times)

welshlass181

  • Joined Jan 2011
Piglets and hard feed
« on: August 05, 2011, 05:27:41 pm »
As you all know i am still very new to pig keeping and very inexperienced.  The litter of KKxGOS are 8 days old now and all are doing really well.  Is it normal for them to try to eat moms hard feed?  Momma is on a mixture of powder milk, meal and sow nuts so it sort of ends up mushy once the milk has soaked into the sow nuts.  When she is munching she drops a bit on the floor and the piglets are more than happy to clean it up.

Normal?  Not normal?  Should i try to provent them?

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Piglets and hard feed
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2011, 05:39:53 pm »
normal
why milk powder :farmer:

thestephens

  • Joined Mar 2011
  • aberdeenshire
Re: Piglets and hard feed
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2011, 05:47:06 pm »
very normal, they will also nibble away at a carrot/apple too.

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Piglets and hard feed
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2011, 06:55:29 pm »
Yeah, I agree with everyone else - very normal.
Good luck trying to stop them  ;)
Mum should be getting her full ration now (her 3-4lbs, plus half a pound for each piglet) and depending on how much the little darlings are eating you might need to up it a bit more if she starts to lose condition.
Once they get to 3-4 weeks you could start to put some out for them too. A great, easy & cheap piglet trough can be made from a bit of guttering screwed onto a couple of wooden blocks - and it's very funny to watch them eat a bit then jump up into it and walk along hoovering up the extra  ;D Grapes are what I've found to be Kune piglets favourite treat, though they'll eat any fruit quite happily (and hand feeding them makes it very easy to get them nice and tame and socialised  ;))
Karen  :wave:

welshlass181

  • Joined Jan 2011
Re: Piglets and hard feed
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2011, 07:33:30 pm »
She is on milk powder for an extra boost as she is still a bit thin.  I was playing with piglets in a world of my own :) hubby shouted me to get on with it lol so i put hay in the pen with her and as i normally do i put some of her food on the hay and the piglets went in and munched.  When she is feeding the piglets are hanging off her squeeling all the time.  She is on her ration of sow nuts and she has a scoop of meal and milk to mush it up a bit.  She is doing fine and the milk seems to be coming enough for the babies.

They like banana but i haven't quite learned to move my fingers fast enough hehe they're not so scatty now.  What i'll do then is give mom her feed and put some on the hay for just the piglets (only a lil bit) cos mum will munch it anyway.

Thank you  :pig:

 

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