Do you keep pigs with other livestock?

[RamblingCowgirl]

If we got any right now it would be a few feeder hogs. And they would have a large wooded area with a pond and shelter, eather to them selfs, or with a few horses. But I think I'd like to bred hogs at some point. Just a few pairs of a rare/uncommon breed. Like Herefords or Choctaws. And If I did that they would get mixed in with goats, sheep, geese...and who knows what else. Is it safe to keep them with smaller livestock?

 

[Beekissed]

If the hogs can catch the poultry and waterfowl, they WILL eat them. In a free range situation you may only lose a few but they will eat a chicken or duck just as fast a dog will. My sis tried to free range her large blacks with her horses and cattle but one of the horses kicked the boar and really hurt him...made him lame for awhile.

A pig will also prey upon newborn animals if the mother can't protect them~just depends on the pig and their individual nature or propensities.

 

[ksalvagno]

I would not keep pigs with any other livestock. They can really do some damage. Not to mention that ruminants can get salmonella from them.

 

[dwbonfire]

i strongly advise against keeping them with ANY other animals. even though a horse is much bigger, a pig can still do alot of damage to one, nevermind a smaller more defenseless animal. someone on here or BYC shared a story about thier horse getting hurt by a pig. i have also learned the hard way with pot bellies and sheep. ill spare you details unless you search for the thread where i described what happened. many people shared similar stories. good for you for asking first, i wish i had. but please take the advice serious and keep them seperate from all your animals!
good luck with your piggies!

 

[bheila]

I do not recommend keeping other animals with pigs. They have different needs as other animals and can be very distructive. I've had friends whose pigs have killed their chickens and goats. Our pigs have never killed any of our chickens who sneak in the pigs pasture but I would never knowingly keep them together.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Well I have to politely disagree with you all & I think breed of pig makes a HUGE difference. We have Large Blacks here along with St. Croix sheep, turkeys, chickens, geese & Milking Devon Cattle. Although we have several pastures there are Large Blacks in them all & the only thing they will do once in a while is eat a chicken. Some pig breeds we have had before were awful chicken killers but it is very rare a Large Black will kill one. Once we see it we move the offending pig to a pasture away from the chickens to discourage the habit! Apart from that our pigs have never injured another animal, ever.

It is also good to remember that parasites are host specific so worms for example from a sheep cannot infect a pig & vice versa.

Liz

 

[RamblingCowgirl]

It is also good to remember that parasites are host specific so worms for example from a sheep cannot infect a pig & vice versa.

Liz

I tend to forget that thanks.

I've asked about this on two forums now. I think I'm going to ask on another one, just to see. So far most people say no.
I've seen pot belly pigs with goats...all full grown and free ranging. Just the other day I saw some pigs with goats, mixed in and grazing together. I've also seen them from time to time with cattle.
I'm thinking that breed, space, and food has a lot to do with it. I know wild hogs will kill & eat calves, but I also know there are people who keep pet pigs with a mix of animals.

If I kept them with other stock it would be bucks & rams. No babys...and most likely no geese, chickens or anything. The guineas will be on their own though, they are the only thing {other then cats} that I let roam free.
I will say that having hogs is on the lower end of my animal wish list. So there is lots of time to think and get set up.

 

[animalfarm]

I have large blacks as well, and don't have any problem with them and other animals. The chickens are always in their pen picking around and are never bothered by the pigs. The cats sleep with them and they hang with the cattle. I had a few piglets escape and spend the day exploring/wandering through the coops and cow sheds before deciding to go back over the pen fence at feeding time and no harm done. (they are yarded during the winter)

My perimeter fences are good so I don't care if something gets out of its assigned slot for a bit of a walk about and all of my animals know each other. Even the horses meet the pigs as the winter pig pen is in the middle of everything and the fence is only 2 feet tall.

I would not keep them in my horse pasture though since the horses are dominate and like to play foot ball with anything smaller then they are. Since I know the horses chase the poultry, dogs ect... I would not risk pigs; even though they are large, they can't move fast. Horses are also hard on a pasture and would be bad in combination with pigs rooting. I also, would not keep them in with the cows at calving time since that is when the cows jump on everything that moves.

During the summer my pigs share the pastures with the cows and chickens. Since my boar cannot be kept with the sows when they are open, he is much happier if he has company of some kind and does well with the angus during those times and doesn't leave them to find other company.

Large blacks are a very docile breed; mine are raised from birth with other animals and so far have not been inclined to eat them or me.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

We do not have horses here but you are right I would be careful putting horses with pigs.

As I reread this thread this morning & goats were mentioned I remembered what happened on the farm once. When we first started with pigs WAY WAY back we just bought feeders (cross breeds of york/duroc etc - can't honestly remember what else was in them.) The first lot were fine but the second lot were AWFUL. They were so wild. We had to go away to a conference & left a friend in charge. At that time we had pygmy goats who were all due to kid whilst we were away - typical! We got news that the pigs had escaped & in fact kept escaping but of course nothing we could do hundreds of miles away. We came home of an afternoon to discover that the pigs had eaten ALL the newborn kids & they were chasing the chickens around trying to get them. The next day they got out again & chased down one of our registered does eating her alive. It was horrific! That was it! I made the vow that we would never have "wild" pigs on the farm again & that is when we started researching docile pig breeds most of which are heritage breeds due to their genetics not being messed around with. We settled on the Large Blacks (have also had GOS & Red Wattles) & apart from an occasional chicken have never seen that kind of cannibalism again.

Chickens are actually very healthy for your pig herd. When we moved to Missouri we had a terrible lice problem on the pigs. No matter what we used to treat it they, the lice, were very persistent. It was only when we increased our chicken herd (ours are all free range) that the lice problem disappeared. Chickens will peck at anything that crawls & will sleep/walk on the pigs looking for bugs. We have not had to treat for lice in a long time

It's a good idea, if you don't already do this, to train your pigs (and other animals) to electric fence. If trained at a young age they learn to respect it & then are much easier to contain. We train all ours from weaning age. Out in one of main pastures we have the tape at the highest level so the cows stay where we ant them but the smaller critters can go under it. If we want everything to stay out or in a certain area we use 2 or three strands - top tape & two lower ones wire.

Liz

 

[elevan]

I almost had to put down a horse due to the damage done by a full grown pot belly. Personally I wouldn't recommend mixing pigs with any other livestock.

There will always be exceptions were it will work but I will never tempt fate again, hog panels are easy enough to set up.

It's your farm and ultimately you need to decide what's right for you.