1. Pigs love greens??
Pigs aren't supposed to eat greens. Their stomachs are similar to ours in that they can't break down the lignins in grass, yet, they would spend their whole day munching on grass. Obviously they were a bit more excited about their daily grain/protein feed, but for apparently not getting much nutrition from grass forage they sure did consume ALOT of it. Obviously they are rooters first and foremost, but we wouldn't hesitate to call them grazers.
2. They are forest animals
They loved being around trees. They didn't like direct sunlight so would often take a nap in their shelter in the hottest part of the afternoon. That's why trees were so important, they could scoot under the shade of a tree and keep grazing. In fact, at one point we put them in a range with a patch of conifers and they quickly decided to ditch their shelters at night to sleep under the tree cover.
3. Keep the fence on
The pigs were actually quite easy to contain. You can likely attribute this to the smarts, as they knew not to go too close to their electronet. Being so grounded (four pig hooves anchoring over 200 lbs) they would get quite the shock. BUT, if you happened to leave the fence off, for say an afternoon, while out to town, you can expect to return home to find them in your backyard making new mudpits and quite enjoying themselves. This is when it is good to also have another perimeter electric fence as to make sure it's not your neighbors backyard.
4. Human connection
While their closest connection was with food, a close second was us. They really did enjoy having humans around and would often run around in our presence or let us lie down and cuddle with them.
5. Water: for baths not for drinking
We found they didn't drink near as much as the literature said they would. Our speculation was they were getting plenty of hydration in the forage they were consuming (grasses are 90% water). Therefore we didn't have to fill up their water more than once or twice a day. That being said, on a sunny day, they were anxious for water to wallow in and therefore we often found we had to provide them with water to do this. A pig wallowing is maybe the best picture of an animal doing what it loves to do. The water for wallowing was especially important on those sunny days, as the pigs are sensitive to sun and need to use the mud in the wallow as sunscreen.
6. Eat and Eat
A pig can eat. They were a fair bit to handle during feeding as they are soo focused on the next meal. It is remarkable to think we started off with 30lb pigs and five months later they were 150lb. For those keeping track, that's just under a pound a day!! After feeding them certified organic hog feed, we came away with no profit on these pigs cause of their appetite.
