We have Pig!

[rebecca100]

Potbelly pig is pretty durn tasty! They are also a GREAT source or lard for rendering, much better than the meaties breeds. Some potbelly pigs get pretty big too. I actually thought about keeping a pair of the larger ones myself just for the tender meat and all the lard!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

golly! I'd have to raise like four teapot pigs to have enough pork to feed my family for winter.

 

[gettinaclue]

I read somewhere that potbelly pigs were perfect for small homesteads - and I believe they were bred for that purpose. I want to say they came from Vietnam...but I could TOTALLY and COMPLETELY wrong...it has happened before.

 

[TanksHill]

x 2

 

[Wildsky]

We just got one a week ago as well, as a pet, not breakfast.. To keep them small you need to feed them food for Mini pigs, not regular swine feed. Swine food will make them grow bigger faster.

1/2 cup of food twice a day for a mini pig.

(I posted pic's of our little girl in my PORK BURRITO thread!)

 

[Wifezilla]

There are several microbreeds...even smaller than pot bellies. I would LOVE to get a hold of some Yucantan Pigs (aka Mexican Hairless pigs)

 

[Marianne]

Cute!!! The pork burrito pig was darling, too!

My sis had a pig named Breakfast.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

I read somewhere that potbelly pigs were perfect for small homesteads - and I believe they were bred for that purpose. I want to say they came from Vietnam...but I could TOTALLY and COMPLETELY wrong...it has happened before.

nope you're pretty right on. that why i always laugh when people think they were "made" for pets. if you think about it - they can grow out pretty big and fast AND they dont take up a lot of space.

 

[rebecca100]

They are a lard type pig. That is why a lot of people who don't render the lard don't like them for eating. You have to cut through layers of fat to find the meat. Now of course the itty bitty ones are just for pets.

 

[pinkfox]

as rebecca said, they actually make yummy meat, alot of lard, but yummy fat (make GREAT sausage and back bacon!)
they were origionally bred in vietnam as a small all around homestead pig, females were kept for breeding and used as clean up pigs and plowing, males were grown for meat and large amounts of lard.

true potbellies, while small compared to most pig breeds are not SMALL pigs.
pb's do very well on forage, they LOVE acorns and dirt and whey!
in vietnam they would get scraps and only scraps! whatever was left fomr the kitchen, whey, slightly rotten foods bread rice ect...

pb's do have a tendency to become overweight on pig pellet so go light on the pellets and give plenty of fresh...personally i like the "hows he doing" method...keep an eye on hos weight how hes growing ect and adjust food as nessicary rather than feeding what the bag says ect.

there are people now using pot bellies and mini pigs to breed down size to make them cute "pets" and while i love piggies...i agree with "teacup pigs" about as much as i agree with "teacup" dogs...it drives me batty...runt to runt is NOT healthy breeding practice.
my grandfather had pb's in the uk (which tend to be a little smaller overall than the pb's being bred in the us as pure bred) along with his GOS pig...the GOS was my favorite but the pb's knew all kinds of tricks and were incredibly smart and quite sweet natured...
yummy too! all our sausage was PB...
nd now that i think about it i dont think he ever fed any of his pigs pellet feed lol the gos was the orchard pig, she lived year round in the orchard and in the fall she got all the windfalls and anything that worms/birds ect got...she was specifically for breeding for bacon/lard babies.
the pb's however got more acorns, chestnuts and whey which made for incredibly tastey meat.

if i were going micro for pets/clea up it would be kune kunes...
otherwise pbs and gos for me all the way.