*I am not a veterinarian and am only giving knowledge that I know and experienced. Please consult a veterinarian in regards to your mini pig*
Food is the number one thing to make sure you are doing correctly when it comes to owning a mini pig. Improper nutrition can lead to a shortened life span, an unhappy pig, a pig with medical issues, aggression, and more.
Please refer to the article, Bringing Home a Mini Pig, to become fully prepared before bringing home your mini pig.
Food
Food, that is what is on your pig's mind 24/7. I touched on what kind of food I feed Winnie in my Bringing Home a Mini Pig article, but lets go more in depth. The main goal when it comes to feeding your pig is to have a healthy balance of a good pelleted diet and a mix of vegetables to keep your pig at a healthy weight, provide the proper nutrients your pig needs, and satisfy the pig's hunger. If you do not want to get a commercial pelleted diet that is totally fine, some pig owners prefer to feed their pig a raw natural diet. If you want to feed your pig a natural diet I recommend reading this article from AMPA that goes into depth on natural pig diets. But since I feed Winnie a pelleted diet I will only give advice on what I know. Let's dive into pelleted diets that you can purchase at your local Tractor Supply, feed store, or online.
Pelleted Diet Brands:
Sharp's Mini Pig Food: This is the BEST food but very pricey. If you can afford this then I recommend it.
Mazuri Mini Pig Feed: They have three different bags that go by age, Youth (0-4months), Active Adult (4 months - older), and Mature Maintenance (1.5 years - older, for the less active mini pigs). This food is good but known to cause rust in your piggie.
Purina Nature's Match Sow and Pig Feed: can be fed from baby to adult. This is what I feed the pigs here and it is doing a great job!
Manna Pro: can be fed from baby to adult
Champion by Ross Mill Farms: can be fed from baby to adult
Nature's Best Organic Mini Pig Food: can be fed from baby to adult.
Those are the top brands I recommend when it comes to pelleted diets. The most important factor when picking a pelleted diet for your mini pig is that it is for MINI pigs and not hogs. The nutrients, supplements, and fat content are entirely different and mini pigs should not be on a diet other than specifically for mini pigs. This could result in an obese and unhealthy pig that lacks proper nutrients.
How Much Do You Feed?
Winnie weighs 6.6lbs right now and I feed her 1/4 cup of pelleted food twice a day. I will up her to 1/2 cup once she reaches 20-25lbs. Here is a good food chart taken from AMPA to refer to when it comes to feeding a pelleted diet: please note this chart is based off feeding Mazuri Mini Pig Active Adult. You can refer to the feeding instructions on the bag of the brand you purchase. You should be feeding 1-2% of the pig's body weight.
Here is another good reference for how much to feed taken from PAL:
MINIMUM Up to 25 lbs -1/4 cup 2 x a day pellets (no matter the mini pig brand) -healthy size salad *greens *veggies -healthy daily snacks 25lbs and over - 2% pigs ideal weight in pellets (no matter the mini pig brand) -healthy size salad *greens *veggies -healthy daily snacks
If you stick to feeding based off one of those charts then you will have a happy, healthy shaped pig!
Vegetables
The second most important part of your pig's diet is vegetables. There are SO many vegetables you can feed your pig, and fruits, snacks, etc. The AMPA has an awesome list of healthy foods for your pig. Check it out here. The vegetables that I feed Winnie and Nel so far are: cucumber, carrots, peppers, mix green salad (spring mix), peas, black olives ( occasionally), broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and other squash. I will continue to use the list from AMPA and change up the vegetables I feed her. Now, they weren't too keen on eating vegetables at first and were very picky on which ones they would try or eat, so I had to improvise and think of creative ways to get the veggies in the food so they will eat them. So I bought frozen, microwavable bags of vegetables, cooked them, and I have been mixing them in with the pellets every morning and evening. They eat it right up! This way I know they are getting the nutrients needed from the vegetables. As they grow up they will be more willing to eat vegetables whole and raw.
Fruits and Snacks
Winnie and Nel, and pretty sure every pig loves fruits and snacks. That is because fruits are high in sugar and snacks are super tasty. But the key to a healthy pig is to limit the amount of fruits and snacks you give. Trust me if your pig is so excited to eat fruits but hates vegetables it can be tempting to just give her fruit, but resist the temptation. Winnie and Nel eat a half of a banana every morning, mashed in with the pellets, and that is basically all the fruits they get for the day. They may get some other fruits like a pear here and there but I really try to limit the amount of fruits they eat. Snacks are also important to limit because too many snacks can quickly lead to an obese pig. Winnie and Nel get cheerios and nuts right now for snacks and ONLY gets them when we are training or they are doing an enrichment activity. We train several times a day so right now they are getting more cheerios than normal but training is also important so I limit the other fruits and snacks they are getting to supplement for the training cheerios. Once again refer to the healthy food list by the AMPA to know what fruits and snacks are good to feed your mini pig.
Supplements
Supplements are extremely important for your mini pig because the pelleted diet and vegetables will not provide your pig the correct amount of certain nutrients she needs. Here are the supplements I recommend and feed Winnie and Nel:
Below are highly recommended supplements: *If your pig is an outside pig and gets plenty of rooting in the soil time, supplements are not needed.
Flaxseed: 1 teaspoon once daily added in with her pellets
Coconut Oil: 1 teaspoon per 25 pounds once daily added into her pellets
Children's Flintstone Multivitamin with Iron: iron is extremely important for pigs. 1/2 of a multivitamin for baby pigs up to 6 months old once daily. 1 multivitamin for pigs 6 months and older once daily.
Vitamin E Supplement: 1 400 IU capsule once daily: the most important one to give!
Selenium: also very important! You can buy selenium supplements (150 - 300 IU) from your local grocery store or you can use a horse selenium supplement. It is called ElevateSe and can give given 1 teaspoon once a week.
Below are optional supplements:
Standardized Extract Cranberry Supplement: 1 capsule 500 mg once daily: helps aid the urinary tract and lower the PH of the urine
Vitamin C: 1 capsule 500mg once daily: NOT needed if given multivitamin and your pig has healthy skin. Helps with joints and skin.
Those are the supplements I give Winnie and Nel. I have to crushed them up and mix them into the pellets or else they will not eat them.
Winnie's Daily Feeding Schedule
Breakfast:
1/4 cup pellets
Breakfast supplements
1/2 banana crushed up into her pellets
Spinach
Green Beans
Lunch
They do not get a lunch but instead they get snacks throughout the day for doing commands or being on good behavior.
Dinner
1/4 cup Pellets
Dinner supplements
Vegetables blended up and mixed into her pellets
There you have it! Refer to the AMPA website for a load more of information on nutrition.
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