The Pig will kill your goat. We tried to pen them both in the same area once. Not a good combination.

Ditto.

Not sure what other animal than a pig would work. Maybe a mirror in the pen? Just a thought.

Eventually this farm pig will become an adult and will become agressive. This is why they are "farm animals".

Farm animals are called "farm animals" because they usually live on a farm. Animals don't become aggressive just because they're mature.

You pig might or might not harm other animals or birds. Ours haven't been a problem. We keep only one pig year round. The rest are raised for meat. She's a nine year old Gloucestershire Old Spot. She's by no means aggressive. Big and sometimes loud but not mean. She's living in a box stall in the hen house for the winter. She's old and alone after the death of our other GOS (old age) so we were concerned about her being lonely and getting cold.

The first thing Penny does when she gets up in the morning is look for eggs in the straw. She doesn't bother the chickens.

You can introduce your pig to a goat and see what happens. You'll want to be in control of the situation. You should check the food you'd plan to feed them to be sure one isn't bad for the other.

Pigs are intelligent. You can correct bad behavior. She might play with toys. We put big balls in the pen. You could also hide her food in different places in her pen so that she has to use some of her energy looking for it. That will keep her occupied for a while.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Gloucestershire Old Spot pig

I may give it a try with a goat and see what happens, I know pigs are smart and mine doesn't have a mean bone in her body. I also know that animals need to be cautiously introduced.

She's a bit arnry. She'll scratch her back on the chicken coop wobbling it back and forth until all the hens run out all worked up, all the while peeking through the chicken wire to delight in the ruckus she's causing . You haven't lived till you've seen a chuckling pig.

Beautiful swine and a great link.. (Your pigs must be be considerably less delighted by their own strength than mine if that fence is keeping them in place :)

That's all that keeps them in - but only because I run a hot wire around the inside of the fence in the spring. A zap is all it takes to remind the older pigs that the fence is hot. The piglets usually need a few zaps at various places in the pen before the figure out the whole thing is hot.

The only time I worry about Penny's strength is when I'm in her indoor pen with her. She loves people and a good scratching so she leans against you, wiggles and squeels while you scratch. I'm careful to give her only one leg to lean against and put the rest of her weight on a wall. She's a sweetheart.

I love the hen house story! That's a clever pig!

Robin,
Do us a favor - don't take on a bull calf as a pet - especially one of the dairy breeds, because they DO become aggressive when they mature, and we'd all hate to read your obituary.

I really do know better than to keep a bull. That's not what I was saying in my post.

All of the calves we've had have been bulls but they're never pets. We haven't had a steer since we started raising our own meat here. When we raised them with friends on their farm they were castrated because we kept them from spring of one year til fall of the next year. When we raise them now they're born the spring and are butchered in November. We don't keep them around long, especially as pets. About the time they stop being cute and begin to get a little pushy it's time for them to go to the butcher.

We've had dexters, belted galloways, Scottish highland, hereford and dexter/galloway crosses but never a dairy breed. What makes a dairy bull more aggressive than a meat breed? I don't need the amount of milk a dairy breed gives, and don't have good enough pasture for one, so we have dual purpose or meat breeds.

Dairy bulls are notorious for their aggressiveness toward people, but a beef bull raised from birth in that same manner *might* be just as bad. For all intents and purposes, a hand-reared bull has minimal to no fear of humans - he's been in close contact with them from day one - unlike the typical beef bull who's out on pasture with his mom and has a healthy respect/fear of humans and a fairly wide 'flight zone'.
Once the dairy bull reaches maturity, it's just a matter of time until he decides to challenge the human's authority, and in a battle with an 1800-2400lb mass of raging testosterone, bone, and muscle which sees you as a challenger/competitor and is intent on grinding you into the dirt, there's no human who can prevail.

Even the llama folks have what they call 'berserk male syndrome', which occurs in hand-reared intact males - comparable to what we see with dairy bulls.

I don't know if anyone is still following this particular post but I have both pygmys and a pig. My situation may be unique but still worth mentioning. The pig is a ferral pig that was "rescued" as a baby and has her own pen. She loves the dog, chickens and people but it seams she has times where she hates everyone. She tries to eat the chickens and the dog, tries to get a bite out of my foot and will try to bite the goats in the bun if they aren't paying attention. This doesn't last but a few minutes and I can't figure out what triggers it. She is wormed and Vaccinated, very friendly otherwise. But beware when it does happen. It's so fast and she is sooooo big! The pygmy's don't stand a chance with her so they are kept seperate at all times this is impossible with my free range chickens (good luck to them). Just my observations with one situation. Good luck!

I think a certain amount of nibbling must be a social behavior mechanism of pigs. My pig is sweet as can be, my three year old toddler feeds her treats and I don't worry at all. However she occassionally still bites my shoe and nibbles on peoples shirts and clothes as they hang out with her - have to keep a close eye on her. Stray cats and chickens wander through her pen all the time and she has never been aggressive at all.

I haven't found a companion for my pig yet and I've come to the conclusion that pigs are not animals that can live alone. I moved her to a pen that was closer to the hustle and bustle of everday activity around the house and that has helped some.

She is actually suppossed to be a working pig, and has done some marvellous work tilling my garden (phenomenal and unbelievable work really). She tilled up a 50x50 plot that I've been working hard on for 3 years / and did an unbelievable job. The soil used to be of the type you had to use a pick axe on to plant a tomato: now I can stick my hand 8 inches deep into loam.

Even her labor output has been poor lately. She'll dig a new area half heartedly and lay around like a potato unless someone goes out to keep her company. If I go out and play harmonica for her or just toodle around her pen doing odd chores she suddenly comes alive and turns into a two hundred pound mass of muscle and soil tilling machine: but I just don't have time to go sing to my pig so she'll do some work. The last area I had her till, I had to go set my preschoolers up with lawn chairs and popcorn next to her pen in order to get her digging with enthusiasm. They sat and watched her dig, better than a movie: but at this point it is just getting ridiculous.

That was absolutely hilarious! Thank you for sharing. And for what it's worth, I completely agree with you - pigs CANNOT be alone, they really do need some of their own kind to keep them company.

So, how much is a 200 lb. gilt worth (no papers but she is a dead ringer for a tamworth) ?

I was thinking of a posting a sign up at the feed store, seeing if I could get someone to swap me a pair of feeder piglets for her ( a boy and girl) - Does this seem fair? Anyway - she's out the door or on the table soon and I'll start over with some new piggies.

This time around I'm going to do things a bit better: I'm getting a pair for companionship. I need to get them younger, this pig was a couple months old when I got her - I don't think she bonded with me as well as little ones do.

I like pigs, theres something peaceful and satisfying about their company. And there is nothing quite like the site of a massive wild looking swine charging at you at 30 mph, and then skidding to a halt and sitting down to have its ears scratched. They are great gardeners helpers as well, God gifted digging machines. (they are a lot of work though if you plan on befriending them , they are not for the feint of heart or those who like things easy.)

Well, I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire discussion. What mental pictures these posts have created !
I have both pigs and goats,occasionally in common areas, and for the most part they simply ignore each other. This is probably due to the fact that all of them are with others of their kind; none are solitary. I would guess that whether someone successfully puts one of each together would depend more on the individual animal's temperment. I really don't think many species would be happier as an "only".

What about a Pot Bellied Pig? They too will plow land for garden (mine are working on my vegetable plot right now. Mine are friendly with dogs chickens and ducks, and the male I have came from a farm where he was kept with regular farm pigs

For what it's worth, I was always told that the smell or taste of blood can turn a pig wild to go after whatever it is that is bleeding. So, a good bite on a goat's bum could cause a big disaster. When my mom was a child, a sow bit her in the belly, if Grandpa had not been there immediatly it surely would have eaten her. My uncle was feeding his the "leftovers" from a fish farm for a while, but it made them too aggressive. Pot bellied pigs can be fun, but be sure to get the tusks removed. They are sharp, and will cut another animal.