Essential Guide to Pig Walking in the UK

It just crossed my mind.

If I wanted to take a pig out for a walk could I just do it?

Well, clearly not according to the strict Rules and Regulations in force in the UK for keeping a pig, even a teeny, weeny pet in the form of a micro-pig. I have studied and summarised the guidelines issued by Government which state as follows;

You are considered to be a pig keeper if you keep a pig or ‘micropig’ as a pet.

You have to follow the same regulations as pig farmers. ‘Micropigs’ are pigs bred to be small so they can be more easily kept as pets.

You cannot keep a pet pig at your home until you get a county parish holding (CPH) number from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). You must also tell the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) that you’re keeping pigs, within 30 days of your first pet pig arriving on your land.

APHA will give you a herd mark. Herd marks are 1 or 2 letters followed by 4 digits, eg A1234 or XY9876.

You will need this to identify your pig or micropig if you move it from your holding (apart from for walks).

You need to get a licence from your APHA to walk your pig outside your home or premises.

APHA may not approve your walking route if it poses a health risk, for example if it passes close to a such establishments as a livestock market , pig farm or a fast food restaurant.

You must have your licence with you whenever you’re walking your pig, and you’ll need to renew it every year.

You must tag, tattoo or mark your pig with identification details if you plan to move it away from your home or premises (eg for a walk under licence or to a market, pig farm or abattoir).

You must also report and record any movement of your pig ( I have taken this to refer to travel history rather than toilet habits)

You don’t have to report and record the movement if you’re only taking it for a walk under the terms of your licence.(ah, yes it does)

You cannot feed pigs catering waste from any domestic or commercial kitchen, including kitchens that only cater for vegetarians. Catering waste includes used cooking oil.

You generally cannot feed pigs material of animal origin or products containing material of animal origin. The following exceptions apply. You can feed pigs, liquid milk or colostrum produced on the same holding the pigs are kept on , former foodstuffs that contain rennet, melted fat, milk or eggs, as long as these materials are not the main ingredient ,milk, milk products and white water (water used to clean dairy equipment) in some cases (find out when you can feed milk and milk products to farmed animals) fishmeal, di-or tri-calcium phosphate, or blood products in some cases (find out how fishmeal, di-or tri-calcium phosphate, or blood products have to be processed before they can be fed to farmed animals).

You can get pig food from a premises that handles material that cannot be fed to pigs, but only if both of the following apply: the premises has a procedure keep material that can be fed to pigs separate from material that cannot be fed to pigs

Contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency if you’re still unsure whether you can feed something to your pig,

Happy Pig Walking after all that!!