KUNEKUNE PIGS HANDBOOK

Discover how to raise healthy, well-managed Kunekune pigs with practical guidance covering everything from housing and feeding to training, breeding, piglet care, health, and pasture management.
KUNEKUNE PIGS HANDBOOK is a complete practical guide for beginners, homesteaders, smallholders, breeders, farmers, and experienced pig keepers who want to understand and successfully manage this distinctive breed. Raphael Hartley provides clear, accessible information to help readers establish appropriate routines, prevent common problems, and develop a responsible long-term management plan.
Known for their compact build, distinctive appearance, generally sociable temperament, and suitability for many small-farm settings, Kunekune pigs have become increasingly popular among livestock keepers. However, successful ownership requires much more than providing pasture and shelter. Good nutrition, secure fencing, companionship, preventive health care, enrichment, careful breeding, and daily observation are essential.
Inside this handbook, you’ll discover:
• Kunekune history, breed characteristics, temperament, physical features, and natural behavior
• How to determine whether Kunekune pigs are suitable for your property, lifestyle, resources, and goals
• What to look for when selecting healthy piglets or breeding animals from responsible sources
• Preparing secure fencing, gates, shelters, bedding areas, water systems, and essential equipment
• Pasture planning, rotational grazing, stocking considerations, and protecting land from excessive damage
• Nutritional principles involving forage, appropriate supplementary feeds, minerals, and clean water
• How feeding requirements change with age, growth, pregnancy, lactation, activity, and body condition
• Preventing obesity and using regular body-condition assessment to guide management
• Understanding pig communication, social structure, rooting, exploration, play, and other natural behaviors
• Positive training methods for developing cooperative, manageable pigs
• Teaching useful behaviors for movement, routine care, transport, and veterinary procedures
• Enrichment ideas that encourage foraging, exploration, problem-solving, and appropriate physical activity
• Routine hoof, skin, coat, eye, ear, and body-condition monitoring
• Preventive health planning, parasite management, biosecurity, quarantine, and veterinary support
• Recognizing changes in appetite, weight, manure, breathing, mobility, skin, and behavior that may indicate illness
• Breeding preparation, selecting suitable animals, mating management, pregnancy, and reproductive records
• Preparing for farrowing and recognizing normal delivery and possible complications
• Newborn piglet care, colostrum intake, warmth, maternal bonding, growth monitoring, and weaning
• Managing boars, sows, piglets, and growing animals safely
• Record keeping for identification, breeding, farrowing, health, treatments, growth, and transfers
• Emergency preparation, temporary caregivers, financial planning, and responsible rehoming or sale
KUNEKUNE PIGS HANDBOOK emphasizes that their reputation as grazing pigs should not lead to a one-size-fits-all feeding program. Pasture quality, climate, age, reproductive status, body condition, and individual needs all influence nutritional management. Regular observation and appropriate professional guidance are essential.
The book also approaches breeding as a responsibility rather than simply a way to produce piglets. Prospective breeders should consider health, temperament, structural soundness, genetic diversity, suitable homes for offspring, and the resources required to care for every animal produced.
Whether you are preparing for your first Kunekune pigs, establishing a homestead herd, improving pasture use, planning a breeding program, or preparing for your first litter, this handbook provides a dependable foundation.