Potbelly pig

[Fiona394]

hi, I’m getting a potbelly pig on April 18th. She is almost 4 weeks old and is defiantly the smallest in the litter which makes me think she will get no bigger than 80 pounds full grown.
I’m wondering what is the recommended food for pigs, the local farm store has mazuri mini pig chow $40.00 for a 25lbs bag which I find pretty cheap compared to our dogs food. Should I keep my pig indoors or outdoors, we have a 71/2 acre lot that is far from the road and an 8x12 chicken barn that has a 6x4 room that it could go in or we have a spot in our house for her so she won’t need to do any stairs. If she stayed in the house we would build a pen out doors for her to go outside during the day to root around and bask in the sun and we would also build her a small pallet shelter to put inside of the pen. Would she be better off with another pig because there is a litter mate that we are considering getting also that is a male and he will get casterated, I just heard that they get bored easily and get into trouble. She would be alone 6 hours a day for 5 days a week because I go to school. I have a six year old dog herding dog and I’m wondering if they will get along. I’m also considering breeding her so if all piglets are not sold what can I do with them? What is the best type of harness for a pig?

 

[cassie]

I just looked around on amazon.com. You can find a number of books on potbellied pigs listed there. Your best bet is to order one or two. The books will tell you how to feed, train, and care for your pig.

As for what to do with the unsold pigs, you can always eat them. Pork is pork.

 

[Fiona394]

I just looked around on amazon.com. You can find a number of books on potbellied pigs listed there. Your best bet is to order one or two. The books will tell you how to feed, train, and care for your pig.

As for what to do with the unsold pigs, you can always eat them. Pork is pork.

I take a look on amazon. I never heard of people eating potbelly’s before

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I’m wondering what is the recommended food for pigs,

You are going to need a LOW Protein diet if you wish to keep them small-cute and cuddly. Potbellys can get large for a mini-pig. They make wonderful pets.
I suggest you shop around at Rural Kind/TSC for a multi-stock feed to say you some $.
$40 for 25# is highway robbery. Do your homework. Housing is up to you. They are trainable but it is work.
Good luck and enjoy your new pets.

Pork is pork.

Potbelly's are a novelty pig. No way to say pork is pork. Sorry. We raise Heritage pigs for sales & process. Berkshire is rose colored and loaded with marble. Hampshire is lean, Yorkshire is lite pink, Duroc, Gloucestershire, blue butts.. they all have different tastes. Wild Pigs taste like earth. Potbelly falls into the "gamey" category.

Combinations of crosses alter the taste and texture of the meat yield. Old Spot is famous for greater belly yields(bacon once cured).
Yorkshire is the meat industry standard and has been genetically modified to produce a specific growth rate and yield time.
Potbelly pigs are pets. But all the money you put into raising one for processing and time etc.. Heritage MEAT Pigs are more practical. Pork is not pork.. sorry..

I take a look on amazon. I never heard of people eating potbelly’s before

 

[Fiona394]

You are going to need a LOW Protein diet if you wish to keep them small-cute and cuddly. Potbellys can get large for a mini-pig. They make wonderful pets.
I suggest you shop around at Rural Kind/TSC for a multi-stock feed to say you some $.
$40 for 25# is highway robbery. Do your homework. Housing is up to you. They are trainable but it is work.
Good luck and enjoy your new pets.View attachment 1312127
View attachment 1312128
Potbelly's are a novelty pig. No way to say pork is pork. Sorry. We raise Heritage pigs for sales & process. Berkshire is rose colored and loaded with marble. Hampshire is lean, Yorkshire is lite pink, Duroc, Gloucestershire, blue butts.. they all have different tastes. Wild Pigs taste like earth. Potbelly falls into the "gamey" category.

Combinations of crosses alter the taste and texture of the meat yield. Old Spot is famous for greater belly yields(bacon once cured).
Yorkshire is the meat industry standard and has been genetically modified to produce a specific growth rate and yield time.
Potbelly pigs are pets. But all the money you put into raising one for processing and time etc.. Heritage MEAT Pigs are more practical. Pork is not pork.. sorry..

I won’t ever eat a potbelly pig they are too cute and have to good of a personality to just eat them. The mazuri mini pig chow is recommended so I’m going by that and i will strictly follow the feeding portions

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I won’t ever eat a potbelly pig they are too cute and have to good of a personality to just eat them. The mazuri mini pig chow is recommended so I’m going by that and i will strictly follow the feeding portions

Limit consumption to control a desired size and weight class. All pigs have growth spurt windows. Yours is in the first phase. She is going to act hungry and beg just as a dog will. A high nutrition diet is needed in the beginning to maximize growth potential/physically and mentally. Over feeding potbelly's leads to obesity and out of control weight management.
The mazuri mini pig chow is over priced and unnecessary but follow your heart, buy what you think is best by doing ingredient research, not what web sites are trying to market and sell you.. Just don't over feed. Potbellys can become crippled from obesity as well. Carbohydrates make pigs fat fast! (CORN)
Congratulations! Welcome to the wonderful world of Swine. I wish you the best..
p.s.
If you want to meet & share stories with a ton of other piggy peeps, join me over at BYC's sister site:
BackYardHerds.com . Potbellys are very popular over there and the site is owned and operated by the same wonderful owners of BYC.

 

[Fiona394]

Limit consumption to control a desired size and weight class. All pigs have growth spurt windows. Yours is in the first phase. She is going to act hungry and beg just as a dog will. A high nutrition diet is needed in the beginning to maximize growth potential/physically and mentally. Over feeding potbelly's leads to obesity and out of control weight management.
The mazuri mini pig chow is over priced and unnecessary but follow your heart. Just don't over feed. Potbellys can become crippled for obesity as well.
Congratulations! Welcome to the wonderful world of Swine. I wish you the best..
p.s.
If you want to meet & share stories with a ton of other piggy peeps, join me over at BYC's sister site:
BackYardHerds.com . Potbellys are very popular over there and the site is owned and operated by the same wonderful owners of BYC.

What food do you recommend? I’ve been doing tons of reading on pigs but not much info on feeding. All I have found is the mazuri and most people seem to like it. What’s is a reasonable price on piggy food? The dog food we buy is $60 per 25lbs and the chicken food we buy is $15 per 50lbs. The people that I’m buying the piglet from feeds the pigs purina potbelly pig food and their pigs seem to be healthy but they live 3 hours away and I don’t know if they carry that same food at our farm stores. I’m from Nova Scotia so we don’t have TSC here sadly.

 

[cassie]

I take a look on amazon. I never heard of people eating potbelly’s before

Really?? What do you think the Vietnamese people bred these pigs for? While in this country they are kept primarily for pets, where they came from they were, and are, dinner. Sometimes they end up on the dinner table here, too. Pork is pork.

 

[cassie]

You are going to need a LOW Protein diet if you wish to keep them small-cute and cuddly. Potbellys can get large for a mini-pig. They make wonderful pets.
I suggest you shop around at Rural Kind/TSC for a multi-stock feed to say you some $.
$40 for 25# is highway robbery. Do your homework. Housing is up to you. They are trainable but it is work.
Good luck and enjoy your new pets.View attachment 1312127
View attachment 1312128
Potbelly's are a novelty pig. No way to say pork is pork. Sorry. We raise Heritage pigs for sales & process. Berkshire is rose colored and loaded with marble. Hampshire is lean, Yorkshire is lite pink, Duroc, Gloucestershire, blue butts.. they all have different tastes. Wild Pigs taste like earth. Potbelly falls into the "gamey" category.

Whether a pig, or any other animal is gamey, depends a lot on what they are fed. Potbellies may be a novelty pig here in the USA, but where they came from they were, and are, meat. While I have personally never eaten a potbelly, other people on this forum have, and they say they taste just fine. The most practical use for Potbellies that can't find a pet home, or are not temperamentally suitable for pets, is the dinner table.