# Should I get Pigs or Should I not



## gwill23 (Jul 12, 2010)

My first criteria for getting animals is can I leave on business for a week and not have to worry about my animals.  Therefore, I have a horse and 3 cows that keep the 30 acres we live on eaten down.  I send the horse out to my parents in the winter so I don't have to feed it and the cows will find a perminant place in my freezer come fall.  I also have 25 chickens.  They free range and have feeders that will hold a weeks worth of food and water.  I lock them up and night and they have enough of a run that a week away doesn't bother them too much.

So I love pork.  So I was thinking I would also raise my own pigs.  However, I would really rather just let them roam during the day and lock them up at night or when I am away.  We are only talking about maybe 3.  I would buy them in the early spring and butcher them in the fall.  However, much of what I have been reading seems to suggest I have to keep them penned up all the time.  I like the idea of letting them free range around like the other animals.  They all seem so much happier that way.

Should I just forget the idea or is there anyone out there that just lets their pigs roam for the most part?


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## jodief100 (Jul 12, 2010)

Some states, here in Kentucky for example you are required by law to have your pigs confined.  Pigs can be very destructive and tend to go feral.


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## Shiloh Acres (Jul 12, 2010)

This falls in the category of 2nd hand information (not personal experience) but I've heard from a number of people that pigs will catch and eat chickens. 

I'd like some too but fencing is the issue. I'd like to put them on a large grassy area but they would HAVE to be securely fenced to keep them out of my garden and chickens -- and everyone else's. I don't want to have to pay for the damages they would probably cause. Wild pigs are HUGE pests around here.


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## chunkydunk (Jul 13, 2010)

Yeah fencing will be your biggest concern.Now if you only keep 1 or 2 on that 30 acres and well enclosed witha automatic waterer and feeder you wont have any problems. Its when they are confined to a small area they get bored. Thats when they will escape. smaller pigs arent to much of a problem but when they get large enough to butcher Thats when they can tear down pretty much any fencing you can put up short of iron bars.


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