how are the pigs?

Things are slowing down on the homestead. The bees are tucked in for the winter with their insulated cap and strapped down lids. The chickens have decreased their egg production significantly, and we are still seeing some egg loss (these ladies seem to love eating their eggs). The pigs have settled into their routine and greet us daily with their little piggy squeals of joy.

It appears Hamlet and Link have both gotten used to their ramp to go into and out of their house, they have been thoroughly trained to the Premier one hog net, and we have nailed down their food ratio after some trial and error. Initially, we were told to give 4 cups each of swine feed daily. This seemed a bit much, so we gave about 3 cups of the swine feed and a 1/2 cup of pelletized timothy hay, as well as a 1/2 cup of black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) each. Then we went down a rabbit hole of whether swine feed should be given at all to Kune Kune pigs since they tend to graze naturally in the wild on grasses. Some people believe their feed should be all grass and no feed or grain. Well, we proceeded to up the grasses and decrease the swine feed and we almost had a revolt on our hands. Hamlet and Link would look at their food bowls with all that soaked hay and just walk away unimpressed. They seemed almost insulted at the prospect of being given hay when they could just eat it straight from the ground. So we proceeded to change up our ratios a couple more times until we landed on the one that works for our boys. So, we are currently given them 1/2 cup of BOSS, 1 cup of Timothy pellets, and 2 1/2 cups of swine feed all soaked/fermented. They get 1/2 their food in the morning and 1/2 in the afternoon. Then they root around and graze on what pasture we have available in their paddock.

We are still moving them every ten days, but this will need to be decreased as they continue to grow in order to decrease the amount of poo build up. Thankfully, it has been cold and their poo is not quite as stinky. We are certainly going to be in for it in the summer though.