Potbellied Pigs

Copyright © Grenville Owen 2012

Overweight Pigs

Twinkie was rescued during the 2001 Foot & Mouth outbreak and there are several things you should be able to see quite clearly.The photo below was taken the very day we brought her from Colwyn Bay North Wales.  First look at the amount of fat around her neck and shoulders. Then look at the amount of fat around her rump. Finally look at the length of her hooves. She could only manage a few steps before having to stop and lie down. I was informed by the original keeper that she was fed tins of peaches and had 3 meals every day. The amount of oats she was getting was 3 times the daily dose for EACH meal.

Twinkie - Before

By comparison take a look at the photo below taken in 2007. This is the same pig but after being put on a strict diet for several years. Moving from being a house pig to living outdoors and having a bit of land to run around on also meant that by 2006 she was running around chasing Darcy. The one thing that never recovered fully was her eyesight which remained very poor. The curtains of skin seen swaying under her belly give some indication of how much weight she had lost. Notice she also has

Twinkie  - After

Again you can see how much weight Bruce was carrying in 2009 by his face and neck. He had quite bad eyesight but his brother Barney was totally fat blind.


Bruce was put on a diet and now in 2012 he can move around pretty quickly but his eyesight is still pretty poor.

Bruce

First thing we do when a pig joins us is to weigh it. The pig weigh seen in these photos we bought for £25 and they work brilliantly. Our pigs have an exact amount of feed every day. We know this because the feed in their feed tins is weighed. The amount of porridge they get fed for breakfast is weighed too. It may seem over the top but look at the results. Don’t think our pigs don’t get spoiled from time to time because they do. Every year as the local crops are harvested we fill our trailer with the farmers blessing. Some times its pumpkin and our pigs gorge themselves on as many as they want. Marrow, Tomatoes, Zucchini and all manner of veg and fruit come my way but it is only for a short period of time and our pigs do good on it.

The Pigrest Way