So it’s been too long since my last post. I have shared a few updates on our Facebook Page. Anyways, so have you ever done something and looking back thought- Ugh! Should’ve learned more about _______ before doing it? Yeah... that was me with the pig 😅. Oh, for the record he’s named “Pigbert” - thanks Dan for that random nickname that has stuck.
So... when we bought the pig, he was covered in mud- like more mud than pig skin 😬😅. We came to find out a few things. We knew in advance about fencing, rotating their area if possible, feeding, and housing. The day after bringing him home, the kids hosed him off. Through sharing some pictures on Facebook group with more knowledgeable pig farmers, I learned a lot- that i wish I had known before getting a pig. Pigbert was covered in bite marks from the other boar he was with 😢. At first it was suggested that because of how bad his hair was it was perhaps lice and/or mites 😭. However, 10 days later his skin and hair was MUCH improved and the improvement was before giving him Ivermectin (treats worms and mites). Lesson #1- don’t buy a muddy muddy pig. We also learned that he was either not the breed mix that we were told, not the age the farmer told us or that he was VERY malnourished/wormy and possibly a runt. I reached back out to the farmer and he wouldn’t comment and said he was honest in the age and breeds. Agh. Any which scenario was NOT what we wanted when we got a pig. I had seen tiny piglets and great big huge pigs before they went to market and had seen pot bellies but never before seen a feeder pig that was a couple months old. So pig shouldve been at least 125lbs based on his age. He was 50ish lbs. But he is doing so much better overall.
[Pigbert the day after we got him vs 10 days later]
He is now in a quarantine pen that we built so that the Ivermectin can do it’s job. Then we can just shovel out the entire pen afterwards to decrease risk of cross contamination. Overall he really seems happy in this smaller pen as it’s in the woods. He has been rooting up nuts and all the small foliage and roots and really enjoying it. He is now close to 150 lbs. He did mess up one hoof somehow (or Max did playing with him) a couple days before we moved him to quarantine. And of course the day we moved him he was scared of the mower so tried running on an injured foot 🤦♀️. He is putting more weight on it and moving around more so hopefully it will be back to normal soon.
He seems happy enough. Runs up to the fence anytime we go over there. Loves having scratches. His favorite food is bananas (he gets the ones the kids left out on the counter only half eaten 🤦♀️)... or maybe his favorite is when we pour the kids leftovers from their cereal bowls over his breakfast 😂. Anyways, that’s it for right now on Pigbert. Will try to do an update on the chicks soon. We’ve learned a lot so far with pig. Hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20. Care to share anything that you learned a lot on in reflection that you wish you had learned before?
Always learning,
Jenn
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