Alfalfa for a baby pig

[paula.m.moore]

I will soon be adopting three more piggies! Two of them are older (8 and 10 months) and the third is a baby (2 months). I know the little one will need alfalfa pellets but that the older girls shouldn't have as much (if any really) as the younger one, right?

So my question then is how to make sure the baby gets all the alfalfa she needs without letting the older girls have so much? They are all living together now and I'd rather not have to separate them because that means the little one will be lonely.

Any suggestions?

[Ly&Pigs]

Don't worry about alfalfa pellets. Just give the pup some alfalfa hay or calcium enriched veggies such as a bit of kale or parsley during laptime every day. It's not alfalfa they need but more calcium because they are growing.

[hydrohoki]

I'm keeping her pigs for a week. I have alfalfa pellets but nothing else (my pigs can't have it and I order the pellets by accident). Can I just mix a few in? Or should I go buy alfalfa?

[Ly&Pigs]

You can mix some alfalfa pellets in with the timothy based ones. I'd still give a bit of kale or parsley during laptimes.

[hydrohoki]

Parsley is easy. Thanks!

[fourboys4now]

Ly, I hated to start a new thread so I thought I'd ask on this one since you're checking it. I will be adopting a 4 week old piggy on Saturday. Is just the parsley and kale all I need to do differently in the little one's diet? How long would I need to do this? Thank you so much.

[Ly&Pigs]

There are other veggies like collard, turnip and mustard greens, dandelion greens. These are all calcium enriched veggies in addition to parsley and kale. I'd just give the young one a bit of one of these I just mentioned per day IF you aren't feeding alfalfa pellets or alfalfa hay. Or you can give a couple sprigs of parsley daily even if you are feeding alfalfa stuff. You want a higher calcium diet (not too high though) for the pigs first 6 months.

[luvsgiraffes]

Hi, I have a question I'd like to add on also.
I'm pretty sure my little Zoe is less than 6 months. (I will post pictures of her nails soon so maybe some of you can help me figure out how old she is. So I have put alfalfa hay in her cage (I introduced her and Bella who is 6-8 months a few days ago so they are now sharing a cage) and they love each other. But is it okay for Bella to possibly be eating some of the alfalfa hay? I have timothy based pellets.

Also... Zoe is still really afraid of me and mostly eats when I am not in the room... How would I give her extra veggies and make sure that she actually gets them and not Bella.

When I hold one and not the other Zoe usually cries for Bella.

Thanks!

[Ly&Pigs]

luvsgiraffes- are you providing grass hay as well? They must have grass hay as their main type of hay. The alfalfa is a supplement. I'd give a large handful of alfalfa about 2-3 times per week.

You could give extra veggies if needed during lap time. It will help the bonding process and make her less afraid of you.

[luvsgiraffes]

Thanks Ly&Pigs. If i knew how to do the thank you thing I would.
But, yes. They both get unlimited amounts of timothy hay and then a small pile of alfalfa hay that I've just been refilling a few times a week. So it sounds like I'm on the right track.

I also feed timothy pellets. (Oxbow Cavy Cuisine that I'm switching to Mazuri soon) And that is about 1/8C per pig or so... Then Veggies in the morning and night.