Another question! Are Kunes as hardy as say, the OSB's? We do not have any barns so they would have to stay out all year, although they would of course have nice warm arks with plenty of straw. And if they are cuddled up to the big ginger, then they would be positively toasty!
In a word YES
Two winters ago the temps here were reaching -20C, the water was frozen for 6 weeks solid and even when given the option of a nice warm, dry shed our boar didn't want to come in - he stayed out the whole time.
They 'hair up' in the winter and if it gets really cold we give extra hard feed (only 3lbs per day max) and warm sugar beet to help. But given a dry, well strawed arc they're every bit as hardy as the rest (even more so than my Large Blacks
)
As a meat pig the results I've been getting are good
(Good enough that we've expanded our breeding herd of Kunes while we've had to cut back on the bigger breeds
)
When raising for pork, we feed 1lb of hard feed a day, up to around 10 months (depending on the time of year - if it's winter when they get to 10 months they get a bit more food) after this grass, fruit and veg and a bit of hay just to keep them munching.
But even counting 10 whole months of feeding (assuming you get them at 8 weeks) it's a total of 300lbs of feed consumed to give a liveweight of approx 70Kg per pig, versus a minimum of 420lbs for a 'big' pig. Add to that less damage to your ground and ease of keeping (they're soooo docile and friendly) - they've got a lot going for them
HTH
Karen
