Milk and Eggs for the Pigs

The piggies drinking some excess Bridget Da'Cow milk and extra chicken eggs.

Part of the reason behind getting the pigs is their uncanny ability to not let anything foodstuff-related go to waste. Utilizing this rare talent, part of our plan and vision for the homestead is to feed the pigs the extra eggs the chickens lay and the excess milk and milk by-products (from cream skimming, butter making, cheese making, clabber experimentation, etc.).

Wife tested this yesterday with just some regular milk, and they went CRAZY slurping it all up.




Like, standing in the trough and climbing over each other crazy.

From left, BB'q, Porkie, and (I think) Escargo "pigging" out. LOL!

I had to angle the trough at about 45 degrees because they're too little to reach over the
edge otherwise. We have to be a bit more accurate in pouring stuff in there....

They have been extremely cute and have eagerly eaten everything we've tossed in for them - apples, Cheerios, bread heel, milk, hard boiled eggs, lettuce bits, etc. I'm not convinced they've figured out the pressure waterer yet, but then again, the hose valve I got for the water tank is terrible. I think with better flow they'll learn soon enough. In the meantime, I;m keeping a metal dish with water handy for them. You can see that in the picture above.

Laying down for an afternoon nap after the milk gorge.

The piggies are also starting to root around a little bit. That's another trait we're encouraging, so they'll help us clear out garden space. I can already see little holes dug here and there where they've found something tasty. They're so young, they look more like someone kicked a hole with their heel than anything. As they grow, they'll get stronger and root more. My goal is to have their pen look like a grenade went off in there by the time they're rotated out. In due time....

The other thing I've noticed is that the estimates of 12 hours sleeping/12 awake are pretty spot on. They have active periods during the day and nap a LOT. Maybe it's closer to 10 hours awake.

My grand, crazy, evil schemes carefully thought-out and well-researched homestead plans are finally starting to come together. What an exciting time!