# How much does a PBP cost?



## Bedste (Aug 29, 2011)

I have a cute little 6-8 week old PBP that I am going to have to sell.  She is adorable and very sweet temperment but I do not think I can afford to keep her.  She is the cute little pig on the picture of the week.  All of our animals have a purpose , milk or eggs or LGD and I do not think I could ever process her.  She is so smart and gentle.  What is a fair price for little PBP?  If I have to part with her, I want to ask what she is worth.  I want her to be happy and live with other pigs.  She is the only pig at the JoyHouse.  It is a home for pregnant girls and we live on a tight budget.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Aug 30, 2011)

If you want to keep her, you can keep a pot belly very comfortably on table scraps from the house.  Especially if you are boarding people there, I imagine you go through a lot of food anyway and all the extra, scraps, veggie peels etc can go to the pig. 

Other wise I see them on craigslist for free to $300.  There are so many pots in the world I went the cheap or free route with the ones that were dropped off here. As clearly in our area you can't even give them away and need to dump them at somebody's farm  L.


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## Bedste (Aug 31, 2011)

How old do you have to be to start them on TABLE SCRAPS?  That is a GREAT tip....  She is apprx 7 weeks old and just started eating pig pellets


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Aug 31, 2011)

3 weeks ago L.. 


  As soon as they are on pelleted feed you can start them on table scraps.  I would continue to give her pelleted feed as a supplement through about 3-4 months old to help with bone development.  Lots of yogurt, milk, etc is also good.  

We pulled our batch of babies at 4 weeks old to wean them and they have been on a mix of table scraps and pelleted feed since then.


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## Bedste (Aug 31, 2011)

GREAT!  I gave JoJessica (PBP) table scraps this morning with her pellets.  She was so happy and gobbled it all up.  I still gave her goats milk too..  Do you think it is ok to cut back to one bowl of goat milk a day instead of two?   She is eating her pig chow better too.  It is medicated against the cocciodis so I really want her to eat it for a few weeks.  I am so glad to know that she can have scraps.. I am giving her scraps everyday from now on.

I am concerned if I cut her off the milk too soon so is once a day ok or should I keep up with the two bowls a day?


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Sep 1, 2011)

Naturally, they wean from the mother anywhere from 6-12 weeks. So at her age you can absolutely cut back on milk.  I would still give her a bowl a day for another month maybe to make sure she gets that extra calcium and protein but once a day is fine.  Commercial farms wean at 10 days but that's too soon in my opinion.   Our big pigs we separate from the sow at about a month old when they are solidly on pellets and scraps. Then they get milk from a local dairy for about another month.   

The babies we have here now are about the same age as your girl.


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## Jen4 (Sep 11, 2011)

I've had my Porkchop (pbp) since she was 3 weeks old, she will be a year old this month.  She is the only pig here... but she lives in the barnyard with the chickens, guineas, ducks & goats... she munches all day long on grass, weeds, leaves, grubs whatever she finds, she gets our healthy scraps, sometimes I'll give her some bread, she gets alittle sweet feed & she eats some of the layer crumbles when I feed the chickens.  You can see her H-E-R-E...  I love her, shes my baby & shes a sweetie.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Sep 12, 2011)

Pot Bellies are in that gray area. To many they are pigs which means meat. Also while they were not bred this way in America, they were originally an Asian breed and were a backyard meat animal that had a high lard percentage. It's actually a really nice fat.  It is also a soft fat similar to wild pigs which is (I have heard) healthier for you.  It will literally melt in your hand on a warm day.  


They are also super sweet, people oriented, friendly, intelligent, naughty, etc. All the things you want in a farm pet.  In my experience it's mostly a cute form of naughty.  Some do get nippy though so you have to be careful. 


But this is what they were bred for. To be a very friendly backyard pig that produced a high qty of fat to cook with or make soap with and they fit that requirement exactly.  They do quite well on backyard scraps/leavings/food waste and because they are small they don't take nearly as much caloric input as a larger hog.  And have a far better attitude to boot. 


Just because they started out as a meat pig though doesn't mean they don't make FANTASTIC pets.  You can clearly raise your piglet in the same fashion as a meat PB would be and then just never eat it.   Nothing says she can't be a composter for you that takes in kitchen waste and gives you lovely poop mixed with bedding to put in the garden after it cures.  Then she's helping provide food for your family by keeping the garden going and subsisting mostly on that which you would have thrown away.  


Also, pig poop smells the worst when it has a high protein output.   If she's getting more proteins/fats then she needs you will partially be able to tell because her poop will smell terrible.


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## Bedste (Sep 12, 2011)

awesome..... I love her so much.....  I put my finger in her mouth every day..... just to be sure she wont bite ....  she used to suck on my finger ... when she was being bottle fed.  She is such a cute little pig....  Thank you for all your pointers and suggestions.  She is a keeper..


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## Ron Bequeath (Sep 11, 2019)

Bedste said:


> How old do you have to be to start them on TABLE SCRAPS?  That is a GREAT tip....  She is apprx 7 weeks old and just started eating pig pellets


Please see my post, a pot belly pig only needs 3/4 to a cup twice a day, cut the scraps unless their part of the total, add lots of green leafy and roots just skip the potatoes.  When you see a 10 month old girl weighing 237, 23.7 pounds a month. Its sad.


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## promiseacres (Sep 12, 2019)

Ron Bequeath said:


> Please see my post, a pot belly pig only needs 3/4 to a cup twice a day, cut the scraps unless their part of the total, add lots of green leafy and roots just skip the potatoes.  When you see a 10 month old girl weighing 237, 23.7 pounds a month. Its sad.


This is an old post, doubt the op will see your reply.


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Dec 11, 2019)

I feed my PBP chicken feed...which...was recommended to me because they came to us from a bad farmer who went to jail for neglect...they were obese.  They needed to go on a high protein diet...not pig pellets.  We can feed them less and they are full.  They are closer to a healthy weight.  They are older pots and they both have bad arthritis.  My one, Portly, could barely walk...now she follows me around a ton!  If you we’re close to PA I’d gladly pay you the going rate for another girl...we plan to add two more this spring!


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