Anybody have a pet pig?

[jerrybob]

I dated one in college many years ago......boy....that girl could drink beer!ig:ig::drink:

 

[MacLawn]

They roast up real good if you don't let them turn into hogs!

 

[powerpace]

Pen enclosure is the key. Even a pet pig has rooting habits. They can tear up a flower bed in less time that you can till it. Also a pig is not the most manageable animal. A full size market pig (about 180 to 200 pounds) will go where it wants to go not where you think it should go. It will not take long to get that weight. Smaller breeds still are a handlful to manage. This is what people don't realize they don't stay small forever.

 

[buickanddeere]

One pig is a pet. Two or more pigs together are just pigs.

 

[DKCDKC]

Was given a runt many years ago - Yorkshire mix I believe. It stayed in the barn, but I made it a pet and it followed me everywhere. On mild afternoons I went into the small field near the barn and would sit down and read. The pig would come over and curl up in my lap. It was a female, but was short... A really bad thing for a breeding sow. So my father often spoke of how it would have to go for bacon. I pleaded and eventually he said we could let it have one litter and see. Popped out 9 piglets in its first litter, and all survived. Dad was impressed. And then the pig started to grow - possibly 400 to 500 pounds and with a beautiful long sow's body. She went on to be one of the best breeding sows we ever had - and the piglets - all mine - paid for most of my first year at college.

Funny thing... I came home after the first year away and happened to go out to the field next to an old post, sat down and started to sleepily read a textbook. Next thing you know I was great pain. The big old sow had come over and sat in my lap. I had to beat her with the book and scream to get her off. Nothing broken, but I was sore.

 

[El Wood]

There are some great stories here. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[phiferpharm]

Do you have any pictures of Elvis and his pig house you could post?

The picture with the two boxes show his "indoor" home and one of his two open wire boxes. This one is easy to move. The other open wire box is is 6X12 and fits up snug to his closed box. I usually use the smaller one upside down to give him his baths in. He squeals like crazy when you first wet him, but likes it when you soap him up and scrub him. I use a no-tears shampoo that has an Oatmeal base.

 

[DKCDKC]

My granddad built a concrete wallow for the pigs in a large, woodland enclosure. Water from a spring flowed into in, made a shallow bit of water about 4 to 6 inches deep. Water flowed out the other side into a drain. Pigs loved it. They were never muddy, never stinky, and would lay in that wallow for hours on hot days. Pigs are not inherently dirty or even messy. And they are smart. Saw a carney doing tricks with pigs. Taught them to walk in a circle and stop immediately when he clicked his fingernails, something only the pig could hear. Did all kinds of tricks then... Put numbers on the ground and had it do math.. Or a Y and N and had it answer questions... Or symbols and had it tell futures. Folks not in on the trick were amazed. Several articles on the Internet say pigs fall only behind primates and dolphins on the intelligence scale.

 

[Soundguy]

we used to keep hogs and pot bellies. and the pot bellies DO get big if they have the feed and the room.. and they are just as strong as a regular hog.

i have some.. they hang witht he cows. horses don't like them much.. least mine don't.

chickens don't mind em...

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The picture with the two boxes show his "indoor" home and one of his two open wire boxes. This one is easy to move. The other open wire box is is 6X12 and fits up snug to his closed box. I usually use the smaller one upside down to give him his baths in. He squeals like crazy when you first wet him, but likes it when you soap him up and scrub him. I use a no-tears shampoo that has an Oatmeal base.

I had a Berkshire barrow that I raised for show; he loved for me to brush him and scratch his side.