The Pet Pig Podcast Autumn Whitacre

*** This episode is sponsored by Mikko’s Choice. Mikko's Choice is a small women owned business that provides high quality CBD for your pig. Use code pigpodcast to get 25% off your first order. $5 from every sale is donated to animal rescues. Go to Mikkoschoice.com or email info@mikkoschoice.com for more information.***
Does your pet pig love to graze in the spring and summertime? Most pigs love to be outside. What is there not to love? The sun, dirt, the breeze. There are so many  health benefits that our pig gets from being outside. They get minerals and vitamins and it also helps with boredom. SO being outside is really good for a pig. Especially a pet pig that lives in the house. Where we don't want them to be bored and destructive or snippy and wanting to eat all the time. It’s really nice that our pig can spend time outside. When it comes to our pigs spending time outside there are a couple things that we should keep in mind that are going to allow our pig to stay healthy, not get overweight, and not be exposed to things they shouldn't be.
Grazing is great but there are things about grazing that aren't so good.
1) Excessive grazing can cause a pig to gain weight. If your pig is gaining weight due to grazing you can do a couple things, cut back on their pellets and snacks. By cutting back on those they will be able to maintain a weight that is healthy for them. 
2) Grass causes bloating and gas. If they are not used to the grass it can cause digestive upset. We can help with this by slowly introducing them to the grass. 
3) We need to watch out for toxic plants in their grazing area. You will need to take a look around at the plants in your yard and gardens and make sure that they are not toxic to pigs in any way. And if they are toxic you need to keep it away from them. It is also a good idea to keep activated charcoal on hand. Activated charcoal is a binder so it binds to the toxins and it can save a pig's life. 
4) Remember that worms and other parasites can be picked up from grazing so a regular deworming schedule is needed. This will help with internal parasites. We also need to consider external parasites like ticks. If you live in an area that allows free range birds they will help control ticks but you can also dust their belly and legs with diatomaceous earth. I also have tick and mosquito repellent sprays that are all natural that I spray them with. 
5)  Pigs can easily wander off while grazing so it's important that we either keep our eyes on them or have them in a fenced in space. 
6) Your pig should have access to water at all times if it is hot outside. They should also have a shaded space to get out of the sun.
7) There is a fungus that grows on red clover and this fungus produces a toxin that stimulates the salivary glands and will result in excessive drooling.The thing to do is to keep them off the clover in the spring time because this is when this fungus grows. 
Autumn’s Links: 
Website:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/
Email:
Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com
Educational Membership Group:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/
Facebook: 
HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs
Mighty Networks:
https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA
Stan Store:
https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs
Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/hDNizT
 

Amelia currently lives in Northern Canada in Quebec. She has always been an animal lover in fact her first word was dog instead of mom or dad.  She has always been drawn to animals. Her parents saw that she was always drawn to animals as a child. She grew up having ADHD and animals helped her calm down and control her emotions better. She grew up with chickens and rabbits and eventually turned into a hobby farm. She ran the hobby farm and it was the beginning steps towards what she has now. Now, today she runs a sanctuary for farm animals. They have criteria to accept farm animals on the sanctuary which are, handicapped animals, animals in need who have been neglected, and animals that need emergency care. Their goal is to take in animals in need and to be able to offer them a loving, stable home for their entire life and then to use a select few to reach out to vulnerable people in their community to offer emotional support visits to lift their spirits. 
Amelia is also a teacher in an indigenous community in her area and her school is very open to letting her bring the baby animals into class so they can be fed their bottles throughout the day as needed. Amelia tells us about life as a teacher and how she has been able to incorporate animals into the class to teach her students lessons about kindness and acceptance and also about responsibility. She also tells us how her sanctuary came about and major challenges she came across with the sanctuary but how she was able to overcome it. She ends the episode with how the sanctuary is today and what her and her animals are up to these days. Amelia shares her goals for the future of the sanctuary. She tells us about her 3 pigs and how they are doing now and that she is about to get a 4th pig. If you would like to help Amelia click her links below and get her name out there. 
 
Amelia’s Links:
Website:
https://la-petite-fermette-du-mieux-etre-105161.square.site/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/lapetitefermette1
 
Autumn’s Links: 
Website:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/
Email:
Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com
Educational Membership Group:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/
Facebook: 
HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs
Mighty Networks:
https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA
Stan Store:
https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs
Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/hDNizT
 

Do you sometimes struggle to understand your pet pig's behavior? Does your pig have bossy behavior? Have they become aggressive? Are they snippy with you? Do they bite? Do they charge, headswipe, chomp or snap? If you are struggling to understand why your pig is doing these things, I have an answer for you! I just created a course called Understanding Mini Pig Behavior. The reason that I created this course, is because behavior questions is the #1 type of questions that I receive from people all over the world. My Instagram and Facebook DM’s are full of people asking for help with their pigs behavior. The problem is that most people don't understand why their pigs' behavior is happening in the first place. So it becomes almost impossible for them to fix it. I have been studying pig behavior for almost 20 years now. I understand what it feels like to be completely baffled about why my pig is acting a certain way. When I get a message from somebody it's really hard for me to be able to give a very detailed reason about why this behavior is happening and how to fix it. I like to give all the details so I decided to create something that allows me to give you the tools that you need to understand why your pig acts the way it does and the ways to teach your pig that this behavior is unacceptable. So let's talk about what is in this course.
 
Module 1 - Bossy behavior
Module 2 - Herd mentality
Module 3 - Understanding your pig
Module 4 - Training



Use discount code podcast for a 25% discount on this course. Click the link below so that you can have access to this course and start understanding why your pig acts the way it does and so you can change any bad behaviors that your pig has. 
 
Course Link:
https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs/p/learn-to-understand-your-pet-pigs-behavior
Autumn’s Links: 
Website:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/
Email:
Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com
Educational Membership Group:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/
Facebook: 
HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs
Mighty Networks:
https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA
Stan Store:
https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs
Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/hDNizT

*** This episode is sponsored by Mikko’s Choice. Mikko's Choice is a small women owned business that provides high quality CBD for your pig. Use code pigpodcast to get 25% off your first order. $5 from every sale is donated to animal rescues. Go to Mikkoschoice.com or email info@mikkoschoice.com for more information.*** 
 
Sarah has always loved animals but especially horses. She works at an animal rescue in the Miami area and that's how she was introduced to pigs and became obsessed with pigs also. The rescue she works at has a very strict vetting process for finding their rescues a good home. There is no time limit on how long animals can stay at the rescue so they are able to take their time and find a great home for each animal. That is how she got Oliver. Early January of 2023 Sarah was leaving work and her boss said she needed to go pick up a little pig. The next day when Sarah came into work she saw a tiny cute little baby pig and she thought he was so cute. The vet estimated him to be 2 to 3 weeks old. That time of year they can have some cold snaps in Miami so she offered to take him home so he could stay warm. Sarah put pee pads down in her room because she noticed in the stall that he would use a corner to go to the bathroom. So in her house he picked the corner he wanted to use and that's the one he stuck to. Sarah remembers being scared because the whole 24 hours she had him he hadn’t pooped. The minute she took him outside he pooped. She had it in her mind that she would just foster him. But at night she wanted to take him home because she didn't want him to be alone. There were a lot of people that wanted him but Sarah's boss was determined to not just place him anywhere. Sarah had him for 2 months and her boss had found a sanctuary that would take him but Sarah decided that now she wanted to keep him. She was able to adopt him and he has been with her ever since. 
 
Sarah tells us about Oliver and what his personality is like. She brings him with her to work every day so he is such a great pig and they have a great routine together. She tells us about how he is at the ranch that she goes to every day.
 
Sarah tells us about how things went when she first brought Oliver home with her and how he trained so fast so early on. She also tells us how Oliver is with her kids. We compare the hierarchy in the pig world and the horse world and how similar in that aspect. 
 
The biggest challenge Sarah has faced is trying to find an apartment that would work with her about having a pet pig even though he is registered as an emotional support animal. She tells us that her favorite part of having a pet pig is her relationship with him. He is just as important to her as he children. She loves that he is with her all the time and he feels like he was made for her family. 
 
The one piece of advice that she would give to someone who wants a pet pig is, pigs are an easy pet if you have the time and resources for them but they take a lot of work. They need a lot of attention and they need outside time. They are amazing pets to have.
 
Sarah’s Links:
instagram.com/oliverpiggy2023/
 
Autumn’s Links: 
Website:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/
Email:
Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com
Educational Membership Group:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/
Facebook: 
HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs
Mighty Networks:
https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA
Stan Store:
https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs
Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/hDNizT
 

Happy Spring! It has been a beautiful spring in Ohio so far, but it has been very wet and muddy. That got me thinking about how much mud everyone is going to have in their house right now, due to their pig going out to go potty or for eating or whatever. So I wanted to talk about how we can handle the rain when our pig doesn't want to go outside to go potty and the mud that they are going to be bringing into the house. How can we keep some of that mess outside? First of all, when it comes to rain, many pigs do not want to go outside in the rain. We need to be proactive to get our pigs to be motivated to always go outside. One way we can do this is to feed them their meals outside as long as the weather isn't extreme. Food is close to every pig's heart so if the weather isn't their favorite they may hesitate but they will still go outside. Something else that you can do is use really good treats to reward them for going outside. Going out in the rain is a hard thing for a pig so buy good treats to reward them well for doing hard things. If you start when your pig is young you can teach them to let you put a little jacket on them. It will keep the rain off of them so it's not as cold. I also have a space outside that is movable and has a little roof on it so once they get to that they won't have rain on them. 
When it comes to mud, I like to make sure that they are on fresh grass every morning and move it throughout the day so they aren't knee deep in mud. We also put straw down in muddy places so the pigs don't sink into the mud. We also put gravel or wood chips down in places that get really muddy on our farm. Some pigs love to walk through the mud and others hate to walk through mud. I keep a small tub filled with warm water in front of the door that they walk into the house through. I put a few Cheerios in the tub so they also clean off their snouts. They will walk through the warm water and will get most of the water off their hooves and legs. I try to keep their crates and blankets clean so their blankets aren't caked in mud. This will help with the constant buildup of dirt and mud that happens in the spring.
 
Autumn’s Links: 
Website:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/
Email:
Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com
Educational Membership Group:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/
Facebook: 
HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs
Mighty Networks:
https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA
Stan Store:
https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs
Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/hDNizT
 

Maribeth gives us an update on how the pigs are doing and how Tree Family Party Piggies is coming along. The reason I really wanted to invite Maribeth back to the show is because she had an experience with her pigs that was very scary and I wanted her to be able to share that with everyone because we can all learn from her experience. 
 
Maribeth and her pigs were coming back from a senior service that ended up totaling her car. There was a lot of damage but she is very grateful that neither herself or the pigs were hurt because she was traveling safely with the pigs. They have always had their pigs travel in the cargo or luggage portion of their vehicle and the pigs are always in a secured hard or soft sided crate. They were traveling in hard sided crates the day of the accident. The reason they are in a crate is because it really protects them from ejection or being severely injured. They have room to turn around in their crate but they are not able to just roam in the vehicle. The most trauma that the pigs experienced was having to be transferred from the crashed vehicle to a new vehicle after the accident. The pigs recovered great because they thankfully had no injuries and were laying down in their crates when the accident happened. She explained that she thinks getting the pigs back into their routine as soon as possible is what helped them the most. 
 
Maribeth's number one takeaway from this experience is that safely traveling in a crate in the cargo compartment of the vehicle saved her pigs from health issues, harm, death and was only mildly traumatizing to them. She also believes that the way she talked to them kept everyone calm throughout the process. I am so grateful she was able to share this experience with us, so we all can learn from it and keep our piggies safe.
 
Autumn’s Links: 
Website:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/
Email:
Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com
Educational Membership Group:
https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/
Facebook: 
HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs
Mighty Networks:
https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA
Stan Store:
https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs
Newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/hDNiz