The feeding of pigs.............

Delila snoozing in the afternoon sun

The 3 Degrees tucking into some of their 5 a day

The first Mangalitza pigs arrived at Rectory Reserve in February 2007. For the next couple of years we fed them on a diet of proprietary pig feed - weaner pellets, finisher pellets, sow rolls.
We didn't overfeed them.
Nonetheless they developed considerable girths.
It's fair to say they grew fat.
The Mangalitza is a slow growing pig; unlike commercial animals which are 'ready' in 22 weeks or so, our boys go at 8 months and the girls can be with us for two years or more. All that time on commerial feed would make them enormous.
After a while we had a couple of gilts who were being 'custodianed' at a local school which bought feed from a local mill. It turned out that this feed was 'lower' in calories (and it was a bit cheaper since it was not pelletised)
 - so we duly switched suppliers. A years or so later it was possible to see that our pigs were definitely slimmer. There was a problem with the new feed, however. Unlike our original feed it was a 'powder'. As all our pigs live outdoors, this was not entirely suitable. Wind blew it away; rain washed it away and the pigs snorted much of it away in the act of eating. Indoors this wouldn't have caused a problem because the powder would have landed on a surface from which it could easily have been snuffled up. But that was not the case outdoors.
We switched back to feeding pellets - and compromised by feeding less.
That wasn't a solution though.  The pigs were not impressed. They can be very noisy when they are not impressed.
We's visited Mangalitza breeders in Austria who milled their own feed. That seemed a possible compromise... then one of them mentioned how their pigs thrived on a diet largely comprising vegetable waste.

"We're coming, we're coming"

"Aha" we thought. That's the thing. Here we are in the midst of one of the country's main vegetable growing regions so you'd think it would be simple to find a supplier - but not so; we needed it by the tonne not the box so whilst the local Fruit & Veg shop was more than willing to let us have their waste it was a mere morsel in the context of the pigs' dinner. Another chance meeting, however, led to an introduction to one of the country's major vegetable producers and packers.

A deal was struck whereby we would take surplus or substandard veg. for the price of collection and off we went with our horse trailer to fetch it.
In trugs (like the ones the supermarkets deliver your goods in if you order over the internet).
Which we loaded by hand.
About 130 of them -  piled high. But 130 wasn't enough to make a dent in the needs of 70 or so pigs. So lots of work for little effect. We scratched our heads again.....

Willy - the little blue vegetable truck

Then the Big Boss rubbed the magic lamp and, hey presto, along came our little blue veg truck. It was, and is, perfect for the job - more so since we can tow another trailer from it too. Result - lots of veg. and, more importantly, happy healthy pigs. Not only is it 'less fattening' for them but, unlike commercial feed which they wolf down in a matter of minutes, it gives them many more hours of activity and entertainment before it is all eaten up. Happy pigs and happy people....

Sadly, though, all good things eventually come to an end.............. our vegetable supplier is closing down the local 'depot' thereby ending our happy relationship and our regular source of veg.
We haven't told the pigs yet. What to do???
The Big Boss has been tasked with rubbing his magic lamp ............again................. he hasn't long to come up with an alternative......................   but he will, we know he will .....