Anybody else have picky pigs?

[Maryallison]

We got our piggies 2 weeks ago. They are now 6 weeks old. They are sooo picky! They are not very interested in pig food or corn. Most veggies aren't their thing either. My DH says to let them eat the pig food, he says when they get hungry they will eat it. They do take a few bites here and there, but they are not excited about it. We wet the pig food and corn too and made a mash. I am used to feeding smaller animals like rabbits and chickens and they eat the food up soon as I feed them. The pig mash sits in there and they just pick through it. What the pigs really like......dog food!

I gave them a few bowls of it when we 1st got them. Anyone else ever fed pigs dog food? I forgot to mention these are hogs and the "plan" is to eventually eat them. SO I do want to have quality pork. So any pig advise would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[geepy]

Not really sure what to say, all of our pigs like to eat, everything and anything. Right now we have three feeder hogs that we are feeding vegetables from a local grocery store. They are eating everything we throw them (no onions). Our pet pigs also will eat anything. Maybe you should try sweet feed. I'm not a big fan of just corn because it puts on more fat than meat. That's just my opinion.I know our pigs also like table scraps. Dog food puts the fat on also. Really the best food is pig grower (expensive here). I'm really not much help, but I've never seen picky eating pigs before.

 

[Livinzoo]

Sounds like they are still young and just learning to eat food. I would wet their food with some milk. The older and stinkier the milk is the more ours seem to like it. They would turn their nose up at fresh milk and wait all day for it to get a little nasty. But then you put stuff that is starting to separate in there and they go crazy for it.

 

[Haviris]

My pig was really picky when she was first starting to eat solid food. She got over it and eats quite well now. Feeding the dog food was a mistake, they love it, and it will make getting them to eat the pig food that much harder. If they are atleast picking through it, they will eventually start eating it.

 

[Turkeyrangler]

Let them get hungry, trust me, they will eat whatever you give them. Pigs will eat , that is their nature

 

[Maryallison]

Thanks guys! I really do hope they outgrow all this pickyness. I went out yesterday (shopping)and all they had was the pig food all day, they did sqush it around around with their snouts and I think they ate some of it.

 

[chicksbestfriend]

Can I borrow your two piglets to teach my pig to refrain from food? The pig that I have is a pet, but from the day that I got her, her mission in life is to eat anything and everything! She has gone on several gorge-fests where she was literally eating herself to death. Mine absolutely loves dog food and will climb the back porch stairs to get to it! One day, she opened up a #50 bag of it, plopped her happy little self in the middle of it and ate almost half the bag! I finally persuaded her to go back to her area with banana's. She also bull dozed down the gate one day because a few of her pellets fell on the wrong side of the gate and she definitely didnt want to miss out on those couple of pellets! As far as dog food being nutritional fit? Dont know the answer to that, but the pigs that we have raised for food we only feed them slop from the local eateries and they were very tasty!

 

[Jen4]

I just got our lil piggy last Wed. and she loves to eat too. We feed her bread soaked in milk and she loves it, she also likes oatmeal and tonights dinner was a little oven roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots.

 

[bburn]

Our four peggys are around six months old now. When we first got them they did not really like the dry feed so my husband wet their food. Now, they will eat anything.....they love seeing me come because I come from the food place. All leftovers go that way! We did buy a bunch of corn thinking we would add to their diet.....they would not eat it until I softened it some. I put a huge pot on the stove, bring it to a boil....let it cool down and put it in the garage....the next morning it goes to the Peggys....Peggy Sue, Peggy Jo, Peggy Ann and Peggy Lou....they will sure eat it like that.

 

[arabianequine]

How old are they? Sorry if you said I missed it. They love bread and milk, yougurt. I never had any problems getting my pigs to eat but do seem slower figuring it out when real little. I though pigs were not to eat meat?