What breed?

[manybirds]

Here are our requirements:

Small to medium in size
Fair to good producer of meat
Rare (or at least not comon)
preferably something different for color (not pink or pink and black)
a MUST is that it is very sweet and calm. We would keep breeders/pets that would get lots of attention
good natural mother
dosn't have to much of a tendency to lay on babies.

Any ideas please share them!

 

[77Herford]

What species, lol.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

I'd look at the Kune Kune or other small heritage breeds.

http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html

 

[manybirds]

What species, lol.

haha well I was thinking red and not something so big it would completly smush it's little babies

 

[manybirds]

I'd look at the Kune Kune or other small heritage breeds.

http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html

I kind of like the red wattle.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Red wattle are really cool but they don't qualify as small to medium size. Great temperament though and fairly good mothering but there is always a squish chance in that crucial first week.

 

[manybirds]

Red wattle are really cool but they don't qualify as small to medium size. Great temperament though and fairly good mothering but there is always a squish chance in that crucial first week.

what about the kune kune or mulefoot?

 

[doo dah]

Kune-Kune:
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/swine/kunekune/index.htm
http://www.suite101.com/content/small-pigs-meet-the-kune-kune-a83827
"Kunes adult weight is anywhere from 90-120 lbs, with boars sometimes weighing in at 200 lbs."
"Their coats come in an incredible variety of colors, textures, and patterns. They come in black, white, ginger (red), and brown. The coat patterns can be spotted, striped, solid, or marbled. The texture can be smooth, rough, long or short"

American Guinea Hog:
http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/guinea.html
http://guineahogs.org/?page_id=149
"Generally, the hogs were small, weighing 100-300 pounds, and black or bluish-black in color. They had upright ears, a hairy coat, and a curly tail."

Mulefoot hog:
http://www.maveric9.com/recent/american-mulefoot-hogs/
" A typical Mulefoot today will reach 400-600 pounds by age 2."
"Mulefoots are solid black with occasional white points (feet or nose), medium flop ears & a soft body coat."

The Mulefoot is far away from small size but I don't know what you consider medium. All three breeds are said to be docile and great mothers. All can and were used for meat.
Good luck!

 

[manybirds]

Kune-Kune:
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/swine/kunekune/index.htm
http://www.suite101.com/content/small-pigs-meet-the-kune-kune-a83827
"Kunes adult weight is anywhere from 90-120 lbs, with boars sometimes weighing in at 200 lbs."
"Their coats come in an incredible variety of colors, textures, and patterns. They come in black, white, ginger (red), and brown. The coat patterns can be spotted, striped, solid, or marbled. The texture can be smooth, rough, long or short"

American Guinea Hog:
http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/guinea.html
http://guineahogs.org/?page_id=149
"Generally, the hogs were small, weighing 100-300 pounds, and black or bluish-black in color. They had upright ears, a hairy coat, and a curly tail."

Mulefoot hog:
http://www.maveric9.com/recent/american-mulefoot-hogs/
" A typical Mulefoot today will reach 400-600 pounds by age 2."
"Mulefoots are solid black with occasional white points (feet or nose), medium flop ears & a soft body coat."

The Mulefoot is far away from small size but I don't know what you consider medium. All three breeds are said to be docile and great mothers. All can and were used for meat.
Good luck!

I do like the mulefoot alot but 600 ibs by age 2 dosn't exactly attract me, we want as little space area damage and food cunsomtion as possible. I like the guinea hog but since it just comes in black probably not (I'm begining to think i'm being a little picky) I'm stuck on the kunekune just so i can go around saying 'ya we raise koonee koonee's. Maybe a little unproffenional but i also read that they will thrive on nothing but forage in the summer and table scraps (we'de probably end up giving a little feed) in the winter they're good temperments and they're good taisting meat. Are the pigs hardy? I know it says the hogs are but the pigs? Any vacines pigs should have? How old do pigs live or a better way to put it is how long do they stay fertile and raise litters? Do boars get mean? Would it be better to keep a boar and use it for breeding or see if i can find someone elses boar to use? can you band pigs? Can you keep pigs togeater (I would seperate out the boar)?

 

[doo dah]

Well when people say a hog is healthy they usually mean the breed itself as a baby and adult.

"Can you keep pigs togeater (I would seperate out the boar)?" Yes! I have yet to see a non commercial producer say they keep the females separate; however boars are likely to fight each other if kept together. I can't answer many of your other questions. You should ask the breeding and banding questions in the "breeds and breeding" section, you'll get more answers and faster there.

"I like the guinea hog but since it just comes in black probably not" Mulefoot also only come in black, the possibility of white spots is very low and even then it's not enough to make much difference in color

"Maybe a little unproffenional but i also read that they will thrive on nothing but forage in the summer and table scraps (we'de probably end up giving a little feed) in the winter they're good temperments and they're good taisting meat." All three of these breeds are the same in this respect (mulefoot, guinea, and kunekune).

If you like the Mulefoot the most, I've been doing a bit of research and it seems that the Guinea Hog is very close to a miniature Mulefoot, minus the mule foot. Since you want a smaller pig, my research is going to concetrate more on the Kune Kune and Guinea Hog.

Some links I hope you find useful:
Kune-Kune:
http://www.rivercottage.net/forum/ask/pigs/22721kune-kunes-as-meat-pigs-the-verdict/
http://www.hollins-farm.co.uk/pigs.html

American Guinea Hog:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/guineahogs/ -the yahoo group, you can join and ask questions (couldn't find on for the kune kune)
http://guineahogs.org/?page_id=98 -The American Guinea Hog Association, I already gave you a link to it, but this page makes it easy to find information (Look at the "color in Guinea Hogs" page, you may find it interesting)
http://therealdeihlchef.com/?p=177 -This is the page that caused me to think of them as a mini mulefoot, as both seem to have excellent fat and marbled meat (yum!)
http://www.localharvest.org/american-guinea-hog-piglets-pork-C20746 -a tiny bit of info, I don't know if you'll find it useful