I was reading somewher that the hungarians feed a mix of barley and maize.

Since then we have changed opur feeding to 50% pig nuts and 50% barley, the pigs are doing very well..... But we feed rolled barley and i was reading on (i think river cottage) that soaked barley is better ... any thoughts?

and what do you all feed?

This link address www.woolypigs.com/

is well worth a visit. Very informative, and if you click on to ABOUT and then scroll down to the Austrian farms, then select control the diet - it makes an interesting read - diet in the lead up to slaughter to effect the perfect marbling of the meat.

It's a toss up as to wether this belongs in the library or not!

We feed our Mangalitzas the same as all the other pigs - Farine d'orge, pignuts, seasonal fruits and veg. We have just started them on a new diet, mixed by a French Farmer who keeps outdoor pigs himself - a mixture of peas, wheat, ble, corn, mustard seeds, black wheat. This is fed after being soaked for 24 hours in water - 50/50 quantity. They seem to love it, and they are doing well on it. It also works out around half the price of the food we have been buying them.

We are deffinately going to consider an alternative diet for the Mangalitza's that are destined for meat - we just have to work out what with the resources that we have. We want to make the best Parma ham that we can, and the marbling is important, so we will try to duplicate the suggestion on the link and see how that goes. Will talk to John about Traceys diet as well.

Kate

Really interesting reading. Their diet has certainly been on my mind since you mentioned the marbling of the meat on another site. It'll be saved to favs! & read when I have some Mangalitsa for meat.
Donna