[jmarie]

I’ve never had pigs but I wouldn’t ever house them with my goats. Pigs are just super nasty and I wouldn’t want my goats with them. @Rancho Draco has pigs and goats but doesn’t house them together.

Thanks for the advice! There are many hog breeds I wouldn’t consider keeping with my goats. Are you familiar with American Guinea Hogs? I’m not really concerned about them being “nasty” and such, especially since they’ll be sharing 10 acres. If 2 small hogs mess up 10 acres, we will have other problems! Anyway, it’s also temporary until they move to their own pasture. They will also be with my adult bucks and wethers, not my does or kids. I’m really just hoping to learn more about parasites from someone with experience [emoji846]

 

[jmarie]

I don't personally house my pigs and goats together but I have met a few people that do. I'm not sure if parasites are an issue or not. The bigger pain is going to be finding a way to keep feed and minerals out of reach of the pigs and keeping water clean. Pigs will dump and/or climb in any open water source.

Thanks for the tips! I have definitely considered this and working out a solution for the water especially. It may be a bit of a pain for a while but the plan is for it to be super temporary. My main concern is introducing any parasites or disease to my goats, since I have managed to keep them healthy this far I would hate to create problems now[emoji28]

 

[jmarie]

Pigs are more prone to E. coli. That would be one main concern with keeping them together but pigs are usually pretty good about going potty in designated areas so if in a large pen or pasture not too much of a risk.
But as someone who let their pig go where ever they wanted, including with the goats, I really suggest not doing it. Pigs and goats have two totally different body languages. So if one or the other is showing that they are totally annoyed by the other the other species is going to be totally clueless. This will end in fighting in two totally different ways also. Pigs have SHARP teeth and goats have thin skin. It doesn’t take much for a issue. Also pigs have wonderful sense of smells, so when the does come into heat there can be a issue. I know plenty of people do keep the both together but I won’t ever do that again. It didn’t end badly per say but it was definitely on its way of going south fast.

Thanks for the tip on E. coli being a potential issue, that is good to know. And I appreciate you sharing your experience! [emoji4]

 

[jmarie]

I am a bit familiar with the breed but that only goes as far as knowing they are good homesteader pigs with good personalities. We’ve considered getting a few. Lol Now that you say they’d be on 10 acres, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal I don’t think. I can’t help with the parasite question though. Like Rancho Draco said, you just need to figure out minerals and clean water. Depending on how tall your goats are you could have higher water troughs or hang buckets on the fence. Then leave a smaller one for the pigs because if the goats are smart enough, they will go for the fresher water. And I don’t think minerals would be too hard to put out of the way either.

Well since you’re considering some, I’ll have to update you on how mine do! Lol hopefully all goes well but I’ve only ever heard good things about them!

The water will most likely be a huge annoyance to start with lol.. I keep chickens with my goats now so keeping clean water outdoors has already been a challenge for me, basically I freshen water a lot which is time consuming enough already ugh.. but the chickens don’t have access to the goat barns so the goats do have their own space and clean water too. And I do notice they don’t typically drink from any dirty buckets given the option, so that’s a good point about them going for the fresh water! I’ll have to rig something up.. Thanks for the great ideas [emoji2]

 

[jmarie]

I housed my kunekune boar with one of my Nigerian bucks.... for about 15 minutes [emoji23] My poor buck was absolutely terrified of the pig, he was running all around the pen trying to keep as much distance between himself and the pig as possible, and never took his eyes off him. Meanwhile my sweet mellow boar was just shuffling around the pen looking for snacks and I don't think he ever knew the goat was even there lol. I didn't want to stress the buck out so I just separated them.

Oh no lol! I can see mine being frightened at first too honestly.. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t a large area I also should specify that the hogs will have their own place to sleep, they’re just sharing the pasture space temporarily. The hogs are each young, 30-50 lbs currently and will be relocated permanently in a few months time.. If they were overly stressed then I wouldn’t do it either, but I’m finding it hard to believe that in several acres 5 goats and 2 hogs couldn’t find space to coexist [emoji28] the deal breaker for me is gonna be disease and parasite issues but I haven’t heard much about that yet so that’s why I’m most hesitant..

 

[jmarie]

I love American Guinea hogs. We raised 3 females as feeder pigs for a couple years. I don't keep them anymore, but they were quite friendly and docile. One even liked to have her belly rubbed. I preferred to keep my hogs seperate from my goats, but the breeder I bought the pigs from said she kept several large breed wethers (Lamancha and Spanish) in the pasture with her Guinea hogs--so I suppose it is possible. My original plan was to rotate fields between the goats and pigs as it was my understanding that the two did not share worm species. I ended up not doing that as I didn't want the pigs to dig wallows in the goats fields.

That’s wonderful! I’ve only heard great things about the hogs and I know many people keep them with other livestock with no issues (assuming they have plenty of room) but so far I’ve had a hard time finding much specific info on shared disease or parasites. So perhaps that’s correct then, they don’t share parasite species. And that’s my plan too, they’ll be rotating pastures with my bucks and wethers. I worried about the wallows too, but I think they have enough room to have wallows and ample clean pasture too fortunately! Thanks for sharing [emoji4]

 

[jmarie]

I honestly wouldn’t.

Yea I’m really worried about introducing anything I would regret to my goats.. in all their years I’ve never once needed to medicate them or use chemical dewormers.. really would hate to risk anything, hopefully I can learn more about it first!

 

[jmarie]

Pigs are a dead end for most goat parasites. With that said though housing them together...it can be an issue, especially when they kid. I have had a pig or two housed with my goats in the past. Apparently said pigs identified as freaking goats because they refused to stay with the other pigs. Instead they wanted to be in the pig pen. Long and short since we could not keep them in their pen they visited freezer camp. Kune cross pigs, It was a working situation until it wasn't. When it wasn't it was bad... this time for the pig. One of the goats gored her because she would not stay out of her feed pan. Lesson learned. That could have easily went either way. That pig could have killed the goat without an issue.

Oh my[emoji33] yikes, thanks for sharing your experience! My hogs won’t be with does or kids, not even within sight of them they’ll be on the other side of the farm with the bucks and eventually I’ll be rotating them in separate pastures. I will learn from your lesson too and feed them separately if I do have to keep them together for now. I have one buck in particular that I could definitely see starting drama with a hog [emoji849][emoji38] fortunately neither those goats or hogs would be getting grain on a regular basis, just hay and pasture. That’s very good to know about the parasites, thank you!!

 

[jmarie]

Oh no! Those silly pigs well I don’t have any dogs anymore ☹ so I guess I don’t have to worry too much about that.. I was definitely worried about them getting into too tight of spaces together tho where they might try to bite so I figured I will keep a separate home for them.. if the pigs will stay in their designated home.. that may be another thing lol. But I have Nigerian Dwarf goats and the door on their house they can fit into is probably going to be too small for the hogs very soon.. so maybe that’ll work out. But I’m thinking now I’m going to keep them in the same pasture, just separate them in a smaller space with panels until I see how the interactions go, and until I make sure everyone is healthy and such. Just until I get them set up next spring where they will be separated from goats [emoji846] but they will still be sharing the same pastures and fence lines, which is why I was extra concerned about health stuff. I actually am setting them up closer to my greenhouse and gardens so I can easily move the leftover produce to them, so between that and the lush pasture we have I’m hoping they keep busy and stay out of trouble! They will always be away from the does and kids for safe measure, I’ve even heard stories of hogs biting udders because they can smell the milk [emoji33]