[JackandJill]

Hi

Got a small field that I have split into 2x1acre and put my pigs in one of them, its thick with bramble, nettle, grass and dock.  They look very happy with themselves.

So should I feed them pig nuts, or should I let them forage for themselves?  If I feed them pig nuts will they not turn the ground over (which is part of the plan) or perhaps a bit of both?

thanks for your help

[landroverroy]

You need to feed them as well. Don't worry it won't lessen their determination to plough up your field!

[harmony]

Welcome to the forum. As landroverroy says pigs do need feed. They are not vegetarians.


I have to be honest and say when I read your post I was saddened to see you had got yourself pigs and clearly haven't done your homework. Providing food is one of the basic needs you should be meeting as a an owner.

[JackandJill]

thank you, interesting assumption Harmony

The feed was bought and being given to the pigs as per guidance, however, overfeeding is a worry and there are a number threads on here which discuss pasture feeding for pigs (mostly from the US), the land is wild and I was just checking with those with more experience.  Learning for everyone is life long.

if friendly enquiry is met with judgment and accusation perhaps this is not the community I thought it was. 

[landroverroy]

I think it's a valid question because obviously in the past pigs did live entirely from what they foraged and rooted up.
However modern selection has produced a pig with a gut which is, I believe, something like a third of the length of the gut of the original wild pig. A domestic pig therefore does not have the gut efficiency to live well just on what it can find for itself. That is not to say that it couldn't survive - but it wouldn't have much body weight.

[harmony]

thank you, interesting assumption Harmony

The feed was bought and being given to the pigs as per guidance, however, overfeeding is a worry and there are a number threads on here which discuss pasture feeding for pigs (mostly from the US), the land is wild and I was just checking with those with more experience.  Learning for everyone is life long.

if friendly enquiry is met with judgment and accusation perhaps this is not the community I thought it was.

I didn't make an assumption or an accusation. I was perfectly friendly back to you. I am quite aware learning is life long and that no-one is born knowing everything. However feeding is a basic requirement and I think it is perfectly acceptable for anyone looking to keep any animal that they understand what their animals nutritional needs are before they get it.


If I misunderstood your question I apologise.

[harmony]

I think it's a valid question because obviously in the past pigs did live entirely from what they foraged and rooted up.
However modern selection has produced a pig with a gut which is, I believe, something like a third of the length of the gut of the original wild pig. A domestic pig therefore does not have the gut efficiency to live well just on what it can find for itself. That is not to say that it couldn't survive - but it wouldn't have much body weight.

Yes, it is a valid question and my point was that it was one to think about before the pigs arrived.


Turning pigs into an acre of ground, however well covered in vegetation, is not comparable to foraging naturally where they would also be able to meet their requirements by eating as an omnivore not a grazer.

[JackandJill]

I think it's a valid question because obviously in the past pigs did live entirely from what they foraged and rooted up.
However modern selection has produced a pig with a gut which is, I believe, something like a third of the length of the gut of the original wild pig. A domestic pig therefore does not have the gut efficiency to live well just on what it can find for itself. That is not to say that it couldn't survive - but it wouldn't have much body weight.

thanks Landroverroy, that was the kind of answer I was hoping for,

I had been feeding the pigs commercial food since they arrived and after the stories of pigs turning the place into mud soup, was surprised that it looks almost the same as the day I put them in, thought the food might be making them not root around that much.  Then started to think of the wild boar in forest of dean, (who no one feeds) and the damage they do to gardens, wondered if the 2 were linked.