Baby Pig. Now What?

jimmyj · Dec 17, 2012

Biggreenavalanche said:
Don't let him see the Christmas ham, might freak him out ! :shocked: :laughing:

Ya, but I bet he'd eat it all up!!! LOL

jimmyj · Dec 17, 2012

Biggreenavalanche said:
Don't let him see the Christmas ham, might freak him out ! :shocked: :laughing:

Ya, but I bet he'd eat it all up!!! LOL

EddieWalker · Dec 17, 2012

I never gave Oscar ham to eat. Same with bacon. It seems like it would be wrong to do that. He's not a fan of steak, but if he can get ahold of the chicken livers while out fishing, he will take off with them to a safe distance to eat them. He's done this twice, and once from the pole on the hook. I had to pull the hook out of his lip with the long nose plyers. That wasn't fun and he wasn't very cooperative.

He's been very dificult to get a tape around him lately. Every since my parents moved here and my Mom got over her fear of him and now spanks his but all the time. He likes to dig where she doesn't want him digging and she has all day to chase him around and yell at him. My mom loves to nag and she loves to prove her point. She will get him to stop digging where she doesn't want him to, but it's made him skitish around me and others.

He's not afraid, just doesn't relax when he's close by.

If I was to guess, I'd say he's a little over 400 pounds. He isn't gaining like he did the first year. Now he's just a big ole pig that wonders around and does silly things. Yesterday, while up in the rafters of my parents house, I watched him gathering branches and grass, then carry it to his bed and pile it up. It's kind of like he's making a nest or a matresss, but when he lays down, he pushes it out of his bed and lays next to everything he's carried there. Usualy it's close to his head, so I'm guessing he just likes to see or smell it. It's not to lay on, so we're not sure why he does it. He doesn't do it often enough to get a picture either.

Eddie

charlz · Dec 17, 2012

How much food does he eat per day now?

DougM · Dec 17, 2012

(( How much food does he eat per day now? ))

All he can find

EddieWalker · Dec 17, 2012

He seems to be eating less. I still have the feeder with Ol Roy in it on my porch and he can eat any time he wants, and as much as he wants. It seems to be lasting a lot longer now. There are a lot of acorns on the ground, but even over the summer, it seemed like he was eating less. I'm not sure if he is finding more food with his digging, or if he just doesn't have as big an appitite now that he's gotten bigger and not growing as fast. Some days, he doesn't eat until the afternoon. I was wondering if it was the heat and he was just napping instead of being hot, but now that it's cooler, I just don't know.

Eddie

EE_Bota · Dec 17, 2012

EddieWalker said:
He seems to be eating less. I still have the feeder with Ol Roy in it on my porch and he can eat any time he wants, and as much as he wants. It seems to be lasting a lot longer now. There are a lot of acorns on the ground, but even over the summer, it seemed like he was eating less. I'm not sure if he is finding more food with his digging, or if he just doesn't have as big an appitite now that he's gotten bigger and not growing as fast. Some days, he doesn't eat until the afternoon. I was wondering if it was the heat and he was just napping instead of being hot, but now that it's cooler, I just don't know.

Eddie

I think a maintenance amount of food for a hog like that would be something like 3-4 lbs of food a day, and that is on concrete. The hog would eat a great deal more if allowed. Free ranging like Oscar is, I'm sure he turn up some pretty good grub on his own. I'm glad he is trying to mostly stay out of your wallet.