Home of the Northeast's First Guinea Hog Breeding Farm
The Four Basics - Food, Water, Shelter & MUD!
The beauty of owning guinea hogs is that they are extremely easy to care for in all climates. Although indigenous to the southeast, they have proven to be highly adaptable to life just about anywhere from the New Mexico desert to the arctic-like temperatures that can occur in the upper midwest.
It is our philosophy here that as their stewards, we have an obligation to them to give them a bit of assistance since they are out of their element in New Hampshire. This is not coddling or babying them as that would be to their detriment, but it is important to provide them with solid, bedded shelter from the chilling rains, snow & cold winds that occur here. They have a bit of room to move about and have access to fresh water 24/7 in all seasons. They don't require much more except food and an eye on their general well-bring. We treat all our livestock the same.
Guinea hogs are known for their foraging abilities and their good growth on forage and mast but fence them in and that natural ability is taken away from them. The smaller the area, the more help they require from their keepers. It is plain common sense. You can keep them in whatever area you have available, just be sure to supplement with a variety of foods if they cannot forage on their own.
An animal cannot "live on air" if they haven't the room to breathe.
Boars - Young & Old
Fresh Water 24/7
A Little Bit of Room
Raising Hogs, North vs South “Here in New England the function and habits of the grunter consist entirely of eating and sleeping. How different the destiny and habits of his brethren in the South. There, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, he leads a life of labor and vigilance ... [He] traverses the fields and meadows and mountains from the rise of the sun to the going down thereof, in search of creature comforts, such as persimmons and acorns and nuts ... the Southern hog has time to grow and acquire the name of hog before he dies, weighing not more than 160 pounds at 18 months if it can be helped. Thus his flesh acquires a proper texture and consistency of hardness, as it is termed. It comes out of the smokehouse worth, as bacon, its weight in gold: red, juicy, savory and tender, and yet firm, neither too salty or too fresh, too hard or too soft.” - John Stuart Skinner, author of The American Farmer, 1819 FOOD - Guinea hogs love food as all hogs do. They are omnivores, a fact not to be forgotten. The terms "pasture raised" and "grassfed" are sometimes confused. Guinea hogs cannot live on grass or hay alone but they do thrive when raised in a communal, pasture setting where they eat grasses, roots, grub and more along with other available food.
As omnivores, hogs need a variety of foods like we do. We know there are nutrients all hogs require and, not being nutritionists, we supplement their diet with a small amount of commercial feed daily to be sure that they get some of the nutrients that may lakcing in our soils and plants. We think this bit of supplementation is important, especially in winter. To us it is a rational addition to their diet.
The guinea hog's reputation for being able to forage for most of their food is a true statement as long as they have access to a large enough area to do so, which is not the case on most small farms or backyard setups. Hogs may need to be contained to less-than-ideal settings for many reasons - ease of care, cost of fencing, sharing available land with other animals, etc. They do just fine but will need your additional input. They make excellent use of whatever foods you have available locally. Great resources for your hogs are vegetable gardens and orchards, your neighbors who may have excess garden goodies, your local market that may have produce that is expired, bakeries (breads, not sweets), cracked eggs from your henhouse and even a local dairy who may have expired yogurt and cream. In winter, providing hogs with good quality hay and commercial pellets along with household scraps will easily get them through. Our adult hogs (the largest ones) never get more than several cups of hog pellets each day in winter. We also toss them handfuls of whole corn in extremely cold weather to help stoke their furnaces. At all times, an eye toward their overall health is important.
WATER - We are strong advocates of making sure all our livestock have free access to water at all times, year round. Winter feeds and hay have low moisture content. We find that our livestock, guinea hogs included, consume more water in the winter than in the summer when they are getting moisture from grasses, other plants and the air. Winter air can be very dry. For guinea hog waterers, we generally use large rubber pans ranging from 6" - 10" high. They hold a lot of water, are easy to tip and clean and in the winter, they won't crack. Below freezing, each pan is equipped with a low-wattage, spoon-shaped heater much like you’d see used in a birdbath. They don't use much power and are worth it to us. If you only have a few hogs, one large pan should be sufficient. Guinea hogs are careful not to step into the waterers when it is cold so they do not get tipped over.
SHELTER - We make sure our hogs have adequate housing to protect them during the winter season. Doorways of Individual shelters should face away from the prevailing winter winds. A rubber flap on the door is a good idea. Many folks use a stall or other area in their barns. Anything is fine, provided the hogs are deeply bedded with straw or another insulating material. Guinea hogs do not seem to mind the snow and on a sunny day we find them basking in the midday sun. We think it is important to give all livestock a dry bed and the option of getting out of the elements, most especially southern ones. We cannot expect that within a few short years of breeding around the country that they will be able to withstand our temperatures. It took hundred of years of adaptation to have them thrive in their indigenous area. On the flip side, our hogs are not catered to! During the winter, their housing is located a brisk, long trot away (for them) from where we feed & water them to encourage them to get adequate exercise. Our breeding stock needs to stay in good condition and this is our way of keeping them in shape!
MUD & BODY TEMPERATURE - Pigs do not sweat, so they wallow in mud to cool their bodies. The mud also protects them from insect bites and from sunburn, although guinea hogs have dark skin making this a non-issue for the most part. Because they roll in mud, pigs often look dirty leading some people think that they are dirty animals. They are not.
Pigs must also have shade in the hot weather along with their "wallow", a water-filled divot in the ground. If you haven't provided one, you will soon see craters being dug wherever the dirt is coolest as the hogs try to find relief from the heat. This should be a serious signal that they need you to provide a wallow or other method of keeping cool. If you cannot provide a wallow, a kiddie pool will do but be prepared to fill it throughout the day, as they will climb in it, rub on it and spill it looking to cool off. The shallow pool water also gets hot in t he summer sun. Mud is essential to their health.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR HOGS CONTAINED - There are a variety of fencing methods for these hogs so utilize what you have as long as it is sturdy. Hog panels, wired onto T posts or other solid posts is the strongest and easiest to install but they can get expensive. Hog panels are low, so they are easy for people to reach over. The panel grids are graduated in size, the smallest squares at the bottom to keep piglets where they belong. If you have post and rail or other wood fencing, you can secure hog panels inside or you can use a couple of strands of electric wire about 8-10" and 18-24" off the gounrd. They quickly learn to respect it. We use electric around their pastures and so far, so good. They stay inside. Just remember that these are strong animals and can easily lift gates off posts, and poorly secured panel up if they feel the need to go somehwere. The smaller the area you keep them in, the more likely they are to test the fencing. We have never had a problem with adult hogs getting loose with one exception. We have, however, left gates open by mistake and occasionally do find a hog or two in the hens' yard, chowing down the chicken feed or sniffing around the outside of the feed yard. Rattle a grain bucket and they follow you right back into their pen!
We probably have more types of fencing than you will ever use! It doesn't have to be complicated, just sturdy. We were lucky enough to get a lot of chain link panels from a construction site and they are very useful here. We also installed livestock fencing, strung with electric wire at the bottom so that we can rotate other animals in our pastures. We can let hogs in them when the acorns drop as we have lots of oak trees.
It all works well, except for keeping in Samson, our geriatric, 16 year old lame boar. He can break through, and go under or over just about anything to challenge the other boars when there is a lady calling. Samson has pushed through the woven chain link, has lifted a gate post 3' out the ground, has pushed through welded wire and electric fence combos and has scaled our stone walls to show everyone who's boss. He doesn't break into the sows' area, he goes right after our youngest, strongest boar! We have finally learned that if he is kept near the sows and the other boars are elsewhere, life is good.
The pictures below are some of our guinea hogs from around the farm in all seasons and contained in various types of fencing. It is interesting to note the different sizes, shapes, snouts, and colors of guinea hogs - all different yet all "look the same". This is what a landrace, as opposed to a standardized breed, produces.
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