Pig Breeds, Least Maintenance And Health Issues?

So the title is pretty much everything.

I look at everything from a hands off, self sustainable focus. I want all animal breeds I have to be low maintenance and resist disease, as to me that's the biggest priority, so that my animals need less vet care, and less delicate nature, more sure food supply.

So what are your opinions on which pig breeds fit the bill?

I will start by assuring you that I have very little experience with pigs... just hoping to bump this a little.

Having said that, as a general rule, I see that the heritage breeds of animals tend to be more disease resistance and self reliant. My favorite pig breed that I want to get eventually are the American Guinea Hogs. Smaller, good on forage good temperament, and really good eating. Up there with the mangalitsa according to some... though I have not seen a side by side blind taste test.

We had a pretty pink pig that we got from a local lady for our daughter's 4-H projects.

Like the title says, that pig was all of those.

It even cleaned its house every day.  Really.

We had a three-sided building we built with a hay floor.

Every day that pig took all the hay out. Then it messed around until it felt like putting the hay back.

Talk to the people at your feed store to see who breeds pigs.

Seriously, look at your local pig breeders to see what breeds they have as those might be better suited for your area.

Best wishes for your pig hunt.

The most suitable breed is very dependent on context. For example, here in zone 3 an ideal breed is hardy in night time temperatures of -30C for weeks at a time, can plow through 4ft of snow to access forage for 6 months of the year, can cope with summer temperatures of 35C, is resistant to parasites, and can defend itself from bear and cat predation.

I'm not an expert on all pigs but I think most of them are pretty low maintenance. The only health issue I've experienced was an anal prolapse from a commercial breed pig. Seems this might be common if they don't selectively breed that out. I dunno. No expert on that and it's been years since it happened.

I have guinea hogs. You can look up my post on them. I love them.

I have to clip toenails occasionally. For the most part all their wandering around keeps their toes short but sometimes one of them will get long.

Yeah. I enjoy my pigs.

Matt McSpadden wrote:I will start by assuring you that I have very little experience with pigs... just hoping to bump this a little.

Having said that, as a general rule, I see that the heritage breeds of animals tend to be more disease resistance and self reliant. My favorite pig breed that I want to get eventually are the American Guinea Hogs. Smaller, good on forage good temperament, and really good eating. Up there with the mangalitsa according to some... though I have not seen a side by side blind taste test.

Ive heard mangalitsas referred to as the kobe beef of pigs, however the concern with them is that they are lard pigs.  That's not to say they only produce lard, but often with them you'll get more lard than you get meat, so if OP isn't the type of person who likes to render and cook with with their own lard, it might make sense to get a meat or bacon type pig.

We have American Guinea Hogs and I’m impressed with them for several reasons.  The boar is very gentle and comes when called (after training with food), and lets us pet him, never showing any aggressiveness toward humans.  We do keep him separated as he is not safe around the baby goats and runs the female pig constantly, which stresses her.  He is totally pastured out during spring, summer and fall, with water and minerals the only supplement.  The sow we have is so maternal toward everyone she is safe even around our newborn baby goats, and in fact if they get lost from their mother and start bleating, she comes running to check on them.   They often graze side by side, almost nose to nose.  

Our perimeter fencing is not the best and we’ve never had them get out,  except once when a delivery truck left our front gate open.   Miss Piggy was headed down the road, but I saw her and called and she came as fast as she could, waddling on her short legs and having to go more slowly because she was very pregnant and her belly almost dragging the ground.   She simply loves people and likes to hang out, very much the social butterfly...er...pig,  and sometimes flips over, begging for a belly rub.   We do feed the brood sow a little grain ration, butternut squash and other table scraps, but she primarily grazes too.  If you have plenty of clover, vetch, plantain or other high protein forages in the pastures, it means less outside input from other feeds.  She will even nibble on briers and other tough forages, probably due to the high mineral and vitamin content.  When we first purchased her she had never been on pasture, so it took a little training to get her used to a more natural diet.  I put grass clippings in a little yogurt, which she relished, then just rubbed yogurt on blades of growing grass.  She caught on fast.   When her piglets are born she allows us to pick them up and handle them any time, even when they squeal from being picked up at first.  She knows us and totally trusts us with her babies.   I don’t think all the Guinea Hogs are this personable, so it is probably due in part to being handled a lot when young.  

I recently visited mangalitsas with a friend who wants to have them in her food forest. They were outdoors but their little paddock was definitely too crowded.
We were told that they have more fat than other pigs, but they looked really slim. But we bought some smoked mangalitsa bacon and it indeed had a lot of fat.
They looked funny, with a lot of wooly fur. Various colours, from light chestnut to black, or piebald. They seemed startled when we first approached, but then curious. I wonder if they are always spooky, or just these particular ones.
Maybe we'll also visit an organic farm which has them, hopefully in better conditions.

Our favorite breed of pigs is a Yorkshire/Duroc cross.  We are in 7b.  These pigs put on weight well in a pastured environment.  We run them through the pasture, rotating them when the ground reaches a certain tilled up point.  We also give them feed that is always available as well as lots of farm scraps/leftovers from the garden.  We are not breeding them, just getting a couple of feeder pigs when we start to run out in the freezer.  In the past, we have only kept one for ourselves and sold the second one to pay for feed costs for both.  The reason we like them so much is the efficient weight they put on in a pastured environment and they reach the weight we are looking for in 6 - 8 months.  They have ranged from 400 - 600 pounds.  We get the amount of bacon we need as well as enough lard for cooking and soap.  They love pumpkins and tomatoes among other things.  As long as we get two, they don't seem to want to escape, but we run electric fence around the bottom of the fence, nose height anyway.  We run them through a paddock with permanent fencing that we further cordon off with electric fencing.

As far as maintenance is concerned, we have had no troubles whatsoever in the last 6 pigs we have raised over a period of 5 or 6 years with no health interventions on our part.  Of course pumpkins are good for worming, and we believe fresh food and a healthy environment goes a long way.  We do not encourage wallows, but we try to provide shade.  Sometimes they find a way to provided their own small wallows either when it rains or by running the water out of the barrel with pig nipples.  I do have to say that we have had to do some field maintenance as they do make some ruts.  In those times, we run the tiller over the field and re-seed with sunflowers, buckwheat and grass looking to provide for the cows and the bees which get the field after the pigs have gone to freezer camp.