We give them three feeds a day, which is a slurry of water mixed with fruit and vegetable scraps (some fresh and some boiled), bread, a grain based pig feed and any dairy or egg based scraps. Their Lunch meal is really only optional, but as I'm home most days, I like to go down and check on the pigs, so I may aswell bring them a feed. The dish is always emptied fairly quickly, although there have been a few items they have not enjoyed much. They didn't eat orange pieces - even though my Mother-in-law assured me they would. They also didn't chow down on uncooked potato peelings, as these seemed to stick to the bottom of their food dish, making it difficult for them to scoop up. The farmer who supplied us the pigs also advised us against feeding cauliflower while the pigs are young. We were not told why, but we have adhered to this.
Food prep has been quite time consuming, but the best system for us has been boiling down some scraps, then using the stick blender to blend it to a semi-smooth consistency. This forms a kind of scrap concentrate. We then freeze the concentrate down, in empty plastic icecream containers. We then have fresh pig food (concentrate) to use as we need it. We mix this with grain feed, fresh scraps, bread, milk, eggs etc. to make a tasty meal which is easy for the piggies to digest and still has texture and taste. Even though it has taken time to prep their meals, I have found it quite therapeutic, especially chopping fruit and veg for 'pig salad' and knowing that there will be no complaints about it when I serve it up.
This week the pigs will venture out from their inside quarters to a large outside fenced area that my husband has worked hard to pig-proof. I'm looking forward to letting them out to free range, with my fingers crossed that they don't escape into the countryside!
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