We're Officially in Hog Heaven!

Ok, technically, they're not big enough to be called hogs yet, but you get the drift.

We bought four: Tocino, Prosciutto, Salchicha, and Pancetta. But before you tell me I'm a sadist for naming them that, know that if I don't call them by some type of food product name, I will never be able to follow through when it comes to the end...and I simply can't have four 400+ lb. sows running around next year.

That being said, they are adorable. Just look at them!

Here's the piggies in my truck. That's a pig panel I bent up and tied together at the corner. They were all snuggled up in the straw and loving it!



After the first day, we decided they were having a little trouble adjusting to their new home, so to entice their appetites, we brought them each a little chunk of apple core and 1/4 of a scrambled egg. Boy did that ever work! It took some goading on my part at first but by the end they were checking my hand for any and all scraps. (This got a little scarier when I ran out of food, haha. No one tried to bite, but I've heard that if you feed them by hand too much they associate your hand with food and, well, you know where that story goes...) But, all went well, the piggies feasted happily after that.

More pictures!

But to anyone who might stumble upon this in search of answers about setting up pigs, here is what went into my setup here in southeast PA:


Housing:
-Currently, they are in an 11' x 12' stall in our barn. Eventually they will be moving to a Port-a-Hut (~$300) so they can be moved more readily around the pasture.

Food:
-We bought a one panel hog feeder for the four of them. They're fighting over it a little bit today (now that they figured out where it is) but I'm hoping that settles down. (The lid needs to be strapped open the first couple days so they get used to where it is, then you can let them figure out how to work it.)

Water:
-We used a generic nipple waterer. (They bite down on a stick and the water comes out.) We had to get a metal pipe to attach the nipple to (because if it were directly connected to the hose, they may very well destroy the hose). This pipe is fitted with two nylon fittings. One reduces the size of the hole, the other goes from threaded to hose-fitted. On top of the hose fitting, I put a sawed off hose and a metal pipe clamp. Remember that if you're connecting threaded tubing for water, put the teflon tape around the threads to protect against leaks.  (Can you tell this is where I struggled most?)

Fencing:
-We are using electric fencing. Right now, it lines the edges of the stall so that they get used to how it works. According to my research, pigs are one of the few animals that will try to plow through the fence (depending on where they get zapped) rather than back away. So, to teach them the proper way to deal with the fence, a hard wall needs to be on the other side for a while so they learn that the can't plow through it and must back away from it. So far, it's been working well. Ask me again once they're in the field, haha.

Bedding:
-We are using straw.

Heat:
-We have a heat lamp about 3' up. It could probably be lowered. I'm going to work on that. (The high today is 45°F.)