Hello we are family of 5 and just bought a tiny section 1/2 acre in Paengaroa....starting off sml so we don't get in over our heads.... so we have a Kune Kune piglet already weaned. She is getting used to us and is less skittish when we step outside. She was raised in a paddock with lots of pigs and no human interaction. Day 2 and she ate her oat breakfast from a bowl I held and I got my hand on her back with her leaving it there! Winning!! I am about to bake her a piggy bread for treats to encourage interaction. Any other ideas/suggestions? Also ideas for entertainment for her?
What are you going to do with the pig? If you are going to eat it, you really do not want to try and be friends with it. I have a rule, if it gets a name, it does not get eaten.
If you make a pet out of it you will never feel good about eating it.
Lots of my animals have names, including the ones I eat, its for identification.
Naming them doesnt seem to affect the flavour.
Making a pet of them and then eating is slightly different but many animals are kept as pets for the fun of it and pigs are great pets.
But think forward to the future when the pig demolishes your back yard [if it doesnt have a ring] or escapes continuously as pigs enjoy doing
Hey!
They do say get 2 so that it is not lonely..
I have had 2 boys for about 3 months - it does take a while for them to get used to you and not flinch when you pat them on the head! I tend to scratch mine behind the ears - once she gets used to you scratch her belly as they love this and will flop over!! i am sure you will love having your pig - mine have really strong personalities and a mind of their own!! beware that they can get under any fence that they want to - even if they are huge lol and we did need to get rings as they alarmingly ruined our garden - we have just under half an acre and it is a mess lol...treats - they love to eat anything sweet - but beware they will just keep eating and eating,,,and eating
Yeah they normally start of as fluffy the lamb or lamb lamb ....until they get to the biatch stage..normally after going the wrong way down the race ...or walking to you when trying to herd the rest of the sheep into the yards ....then they go to the freezer
We were once given a feral piglet by a hunter who had bagged the mum (He gave it to us as I had once told him I wanted a pig, thinking small cute kunekune)
This thing was straight out of the forest, but after feeding him for a week he became as tame as anything. We called him George (after an acquaintances new baby - there was a marked resemblance) and he was so tame my then 5 year old kept climbing into the pen and sitting with him for a chat. As George got bigger I was afraid he would forget his manners and eat my son so we sent for the homekill guy. George was delicious.
So supply plenty of food and I don't think you need to try to hard to make friends
For entertainment I would get one of those balls that has holes in that drops kibble as its moved around.
Anakei;511867 wrote: We were once given a feral piglet by a hunter who had bagged the mum (He gave it to us as I had once told him I wanted a pig, thinking small cute kunekune)
This thing was straight out of the forest, but after feeding him for a week he became as tame as anything. We called him George (after an acquaintances new baby - there was a marked resemblance) and he was so tame my then 5 year old kept climbing into the pen and sitting with him for a chat. As George got bigger I was afraid he would forget his manners and eat my son so we sent for the homekill guy. George was delicious.
I think naming and interacting with your animals is good.
If you don't have the heart to eat an animal you have named and petted then maybe eating meat is not for you.
Give your meat the best life you can, is my motto.
George was our first home kill, and I was amazed how quick it was. One minute happy pig thinking he was going to get fed and the next minute bang, gone. A good life and a quick death - who could ask for more?
We got Miss Piggy as a 350 gram monster, found beside some bee hives. She was covered in lice and wild as. After a few weeks in the rabbit cage, being eyed all day by the dog, she quietened down, so we put her in the glass house next to her surrogate mum, the black mini horse. After a few more weeks I started to train her to round up the sheep, and let her out into the orchard. She immediately started to dig up the trees, so when she was about 15 kg we tried to put rings into her nose. This was very difficult, and noisy, for the 3 of us doing the job. It only stopped the digging for a while. The training did not go well, and she killed at least one hogget sheep. Then she tried to kill the dog. So we home killed her, and from the 60 kg live and $160 spent on pig food, we got ......
20 kg of meat and 30 kg of fat.
Been there, done that, not again.
and we did need to get rings as they alarmingly ruined our garden - we have just under half an acre and it is a mess lol...treats - they love to eat anything sweet - but beware they will just keep eating and eating,,,and eating 
