The American Guinea Hog (AGH) is a great choice for a small farm or homestead looking to add hogs to their land. The AGH is easy to work with, fattens easily on forage or hay, can be very friendly and easy to manage, will not sunburn, and doesn’t get overly large.
This hog is considered a pasture pig – they consume forage from pasture and woods and have lower requirements for grain or other inputs. If moved around a pasture with electric netting or hot wire, they can consume a significant amount of their calorie requirements from pasture. We feed our AGH table scraps, eggs from the chickens, and any carcasses we have. We will supplement with X-cel Premium Blend grain mix, if necessary to make sure they have enough to eat..
The Guinea hog is also a “lard pig”. They put on fat quickly and efficiently. If you don’t watch their consumption, they may get overly fat and not be able to reproduce. They also take longer to grow to butcher size, depending on how large you want them to be. Boars can reach 300lbs with sows reaching 250, although they make take 18+ months to get there. Most will butcher at 10 months at a more reasonable 200lbs.
The AGH can be very friendly. Our hogs are like dogs – they will roll over and ask for a belly scratch. They also allow us to pet and scratch them at will – even during meal times as they jockey for the best scraps among each other. If you’re looking for your own hogs – be sure to visit the breeder and make sure they prioritize these traits. I’ve heard stories of people buying “unregistered” guinea hogs and having very poor experiences.
The Guinea hog does not sun burn. With their dark skin, they have a greater tolerance to the sun and summer. While they still require shade and a wallow, they are not quite as sensitive as pink pigs.
Last and not least, there is a great group of people in the American Guinea Hog Association. The members are very eager to help new AGH owners and provide support to make sure everyone is as successful as they want to be.