I don't know, honestly.
The one we raised from a baby doesn't have to have his hooves trimmed. I guess it is because he wasn't raised indoors, and he has access to several different types of terrain. In his pen are rocks, grass, some sandy areas, and some concrete. I guess he wears his down himself.
We have had to trim the ones we have bought as adult pigs a couple of times to straighten their hooves out, but haven't had to trim them since. Patty, the sow with the babies, was so overweight when we got her that her hooves are permanently deformed.
I guess I might have just answered your question. I bet it is because of excess weight and not having access to variable ground to wear them down. Also, since we keep them as pets, their life span is so much longer than a market pig whose hooves never get a chance to get too long.
And breeding hogs are usually pastured and have some concrete that they get on, at least to my knowledge, and have the opportunity to wear their hooves down naturally.
I have just started raising them, and am learning more all the time. We got the boar when a friends dog caught it and they thought it was a wild piglet. They called and asked us to come and get it. When we got there, it was this little pot-belly pig and he was so scared, and so cute!
That was the start of my pot-belly pig experience. Spanky is now 1 1/2 years old and we got him 3 girlfriends this year. We just got the last one 2 weeks ago.
We have 2 sold already. 1 was picked up on Wed. and the other one will go to it's new home tomorrow. I'll probably have the remaining 4 sold by Sunday.
And we will be expecting another litter in June. The new sow looks like she is coming in heat now, so maybe by the end of September we will have little pigs again.
If anyone has any helpful information on raising these cuties, I've always willing to learn more.
Jean
