Hi I just wondered how the majority of you feed your pigs? I know it will probably depend on how many you have. We made a trough from a piece of half round guttering for ours when they first arrived but they outgrew it after about 3 weeks!
I've been feeding them on the floor as its been relatively dry with plenty of grass and they seem to like rummaging around picking up pig nuts and fruit/veg however I fully expect there to be times when the pen is a quagmire and their food will disappear into the mud.
My husband has just brought me home two fabulous castiron pig troughs, one is round like a half doughnut and the other is a tradional trough about 3 feet long. His parents kept meat pigs years ago and they were left over in their barn so I will probably use one when I move the piglets out into the big field. Be interesting to know what everyone does.
On the ground or in a trough?
I feed mine on the ground in the summer as long as it is not too wet, but in the winter I use recycled rubber skips. It saves the ground when grass is at a premium and there is less squabbling over the food if they have a skip each. I have found that when using a trough there is always one that gets most of the food, although a round trough sounds better than a straight one.
With the amount of pigs (not just kunes) I have now, I have no option but to feed off the ground.
When I first started with pigs though I fed all of them in troughs which saved the ground ALOT - but now all the troughs hold water.
If you only have a few pigs I would say it's nice to feed them in a trough for the following reasons -
A - it saves the ground if the trough is moved around the pen
B - they know where you will be going when they see the feed bucket & usually will wait at the trough or run ahead of you to the trough
C - I think it also gives the pigs a chance to 'get to know you' when you have to walk accross the pen to the trough rather than just throwing it over the fence (like I have to do now to prevent them jumping the fence if I'm going too slow)
When I first started with pigs though I fed all of them in troughs which saved the ground ALOT - but now all the troughs hold water.
If you only have a few pigs I would say it's nice to feed them in a trough for the following reasons -
A - it saves the ground if the trough is moved around the pen
B - they know where you will be going when they see the feed bucket & usually will wait at the trough or run ahead of you to the trough
C - I think it also gives the pigs a chance to 'get to know you' when you have to walk accross the pen to the trough rather than just throwing it over the fence (like I have to do now to prevent them jumping the fence if I'm going too slow)
Mind over Matter...........You don't mind, it doesn't matter!!!!!