We bought our American Guinea Hogs the first week in September, 2011. The sow, Charlotte, was so grossly overweight that she could hardly take three steps without collapsing, and though she had a litter of ten piglets, by the time we got her, she had already crushed six of them. Her hooves were terribly overgrown, due to lack of exercise, and we trimmed them the next day after bringing her home. The four babies we put in a small dog carrier and had them in the cab of the pickup with us so they would not get crushed, or cold, in the trailer on the 5 hour drive home with Charlotte, and our new dairy cow Gert and a three month old dairy steer, True, we bought for the freezer in a year. Here is Charlotte three weeks after we got her, on Oct. 1, 2011 and she has already lost a lot of weight, eating fresh grass and getting a lot of exercise.
Baby porkers October 1, 2011, about six weeks old: Lucy, Henrietta and Drake (he sounds just like a duck.) Our dear Onslow (from the British comedy “Keeping Up Appearences”) died a couple of weeks after we got him.
Avalanche waiting to happen? The fatty pants have eaten tunnels in the hay. December 24, 2011. Charlotte has slimmed down and they all enjoy sleeping in the sun during the winter days and in the barn at night, eating hay, alfalfa and kitchen scraps.
They are such friendly little hogs. Here is Lucy in May 2012, sitting on the porch waiting for a belly rub. She is 8 months old here.
And no matter how uncomfortable it is, anyplace to flop down for a belly rub, is just fine.
Enjoying the day on June 22, 2012, growing well on the lush green grass.
August 2, 2012, obviously very pregnant.
And August 3rd, 2012, Lucy trying to make her fat tummy feel better.
August 8th, 2012 Lucy had nine piglets this morning, four of them stillborn. The five are doing well, and it is about 1pm and Lucy seems fine, but has not gotten up yet. Still has signs of afterbirth not expelled.
grassfood. 
we just bought 2 pregnant females..love them waiting for piglets..what are things u can feed them and not feed them..
How exciting! Any pig can get way too fat, which is bad for their health, their feet and certainly for the piglets. Do you have pasture, or any growing grass? If you do, that is the best for them, as they graze very well, and also get their exercise. In the winter you would supplement with hay/alfalfa. At all times you can give them kitchen scraps, extra raw milk or skim milk if you are milking your own cows. Do not feed them any junk food (twinkies and donuts… were fed to our first girl by the first owner, and they kept her in a stall with no exercise. She got so fat that she could only take a few steps without falling, and out of her 9 piglets there were only 3 when we picked her up, as she kept falling on them. Good luck and congratulation. Search on Facebook for the American Guinea Hog group. Great people and info.
We just bought some guinea hogs and I was wondering how heavy yours got by 3 months? The ones we picked up are about 30-40lbs but ran wild so are quite skittish, they seem to be crossbred with potbelly…
Dear Nichole,
We love our Guinea Hogs, but you will definitely find that they do not grow as fast or nearly as large, of course, as larger breed pigs. The meat, lard and temperament is superior, IMO. Our sow dressed out at 163 pounds when we had her processed and she was over two years old. Our boar is at the processor now, so I don’t yet know what his hanging weight was. I don’t know how much our piglets would have weighed at three months, but they would certainly have been small. Ours are only grass-fed, where they graze on meadows and are fed alfalfa and hay in the winter while snow is on the ground, and I feed kitchen scraps and skim raw milk or whey. Why do you think they are crossed with potbellies? AGHs are such gentle pigs and if you put out a pan and give scraps, old fruit, pumpkins… things like that, yours will gentle down in no time and come up to you for snacks and belly rubs. I do know some people who feed their Guinea Hogs a pig ration, which we don’t do, but they would grow faster. They should not get too fat though. If you are on Facebook, there is an amazing American Guinea Hog facebook group, so google it and you will find wonderful people who raise lots of AGHs and they can give you lots of great info and advice. Good luck and let me know how they are doing. -Jamie
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