Pigs do eat feces at times, but how much depends heavily on age. It is mostly a baby-pig behavior, and for a grown pig, droppings are a minor snack at most, not a real part of the diet.1Canadian Journal of Animal Science. A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COPROPHAGY BEHAVIOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO B-VITAMIN STATUS IN GROWING-FINISHING PIGS In very young piglets, contact with the mother’s droppings may even do them good rather than harm.2PubMed Central. Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning
How Much Pigs Eat Feces at Different Ages
In pigs, eating feces peaks early. Week-old piglets in a litter spend about 4 minutes a day nosing and interacting with their mother’s droppings.3PubMed Central. Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning
Rooting is not the same as eating, though. Pigs root and sniff constantly, so a muzzle in the dung doesn’t always mean anything is being swallowed. Piglets often mouth and sample manure briefly rather than taking mouthfuls.
The habit fades as pigs grow. Growing pigs eat only a small amount of feces at around 10 weeks old.4Canadian Journal of Animal Science. A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COPROPHAGY BEHAVIOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO B-VITAMIN STATUS IN GROWING-FINISHING PIGS By 16 and 22 weeks, pigs show no apparent feces eating at all.5Canadian Journal of Animal Science. A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COPROPHAGY BEHAVIOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO B-VITAMIN STATUS IN GROWING-FINISHING PIGS Whether the pigs were kept on slatted or solid floors made no difference to how much they ate.6Canadian Journal of Animal Science. A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COPROPHAGY BEHAVIOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO B-VITAMIN STATUS IN GROWING-FINISHING PIGS
Age matters so much because very young piglets investigate the world largely with their mouths, so a dropping is just one more thing to taste. Once pigs eat solid feed regularly, their hunger is met and manure offers no extra reward. The scent that draws newborns to the sow’s droppings belongs to the early weeks, and an older pig doesn’t keep feeling it.
Why Piglets Are Drawn to Their Mother’s Droppings
Scent pulls piglets toward the sow’s manure from the first day. By 12 hours old, piglets prefer the smell of sow feces and of the sow’s teats.7PubMed. Sources of maternal odors and the development of odor preferences in baby pigs That’s because piglets learn their mother’s odor within their first 12 hours of life.8PubMed. Sources of maternal odors and the development of odor preferences in baby pigs They can even tell their own mother’s fecal smell apart from that of other sows.9PubMed. Sources of maternal odors and the development of odor preferences in baby pigs The preference holds through at least the first week, but it is not present right at birth.10PubMed. Sources of maternal odors and the development of odor preferences in baby pigs
A newborn piglet has weak eyesight but a strong sense of smell, which helps it find a teat and stay near its own mother. Her manure carries the same family scent her skin does, so following that scent around the pen naturally brings piglets into contact with her droppings.
Seeing piglets in the manure doesn’t mean they are underfed. In the first week it reflects scent learning and exploring, not a shortage of milk. Truly hungry or weak piglets cry persistently, hang around the sow without feeding well, and fall behind in weight.
Is Eating Feces Harmful or Helpful for Pigs
Piglets kept away from the sow’s feces did worse. Those denied access for their first week had about 25% fewer white blood cells, the cells that fight infection.11PubMed Central. Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning After weaning, piglets that had access ate more feed each day than those kept away.12PubMed Central. Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning They also gained more weight per day, about 0.54 kg versus 0.48 kg.13PubMed Central. Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning About four months after weaning, they were roughly 9 to 10 kg heavier.14PubMed Central. Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning This comes from a small preliminary study, so it suggests a benefit rather than proving one.
One plausible reason is the gut. A newborn piglet starts life with a nearly empty gut, which gets filled over the first days by microbes it meets. The sow’s droppings carry microbes from a healthy adult pig, so they are one source of those early bacteria. Early exposure may help prime the young immune system, which would fit with the higher white blood cell counts.
In older pigs, droppings aren’t a meaningful food. Pigs were once thought to get B vitamins such as B12 from manure, but in growing pigs, feces eating was only weakly tied to weight gain or B12 levels.15Canadian Journal of Animal Science. A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COPROPHAGY BEHAVIOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO B-VITAMIN STATUS IN GROWING-FINISHING PIGS They simply don’t eat enough of it for it to matter nutritionally.16Canadian Journal of Animal Science. A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COPROPHAGY BEHAVIOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO B-VITAMIN STATUS IN GROWING-FINISHING PIGS
The real risk is parasites. Manure can carry worms and other parasites, and pigs pick these up from contaminated ground. Dirty, crowded pens raise that risk far more than the habit itself does. For older pigs, deworming on a schedule your vet recommends keeps parasite loads down, and clean, dry bedding with manure removed promptly reduces the chance that eggs build up where pigs live.
Pigs and Other Animals’ Manure
Pigs scavenge manure that still holds food. On some mixed farms, pigs eat undigested grain picked out of cattle dung.17Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. What are integrated crop-livestock systems Keepers who graze pigs with horses report that the pigs clean up horse droppings in the paddock.18permies.com. Do Pigs Eat Their Own Feces and Why?
Cattle and horses don’t digest all the grain they eat, so some passes through whole. Horse droppings are fibrous and still hold plant material, which adds to their appeal.
Pigs have also long eaten human waste.19National Hog Farmer. Study proves pigs domesticated from South China wild boars, ate human foods, feces Their tendency to scavenge near people likely helped them live close to humans early in domestication.20National Hog Farmer. Study proves pigs domesticated from South China wild boars, ate human foods, feces
Mixed grazing needs a few cautions. Shared pasture can pass some parasites between species, so ask a vet which deworming plan fits a mixed group. Keep an eye on body condition, too, so pigs aren’t relying on manure instead of their feed.
Should You Stop a Pig From Eating Feces
Don’t over-clean the farrowing pen in the first week. Piglets kept away from the sow’s feces grew more slowly, so removing all manure that week may do more harm than good.21PubMed Central. Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning Remove wet, heavy soiling and keep bedding dry so the pen stays healthy for the litter, but you don’t need to scrub the sow’s droppings away the moment they appear.
For older pigs, heavy manure eating is a signal. Healthy pigs over 16 weeks barely eat feces.22Canadian Journal of Animal Science. A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF COPROPHAGY BEHAVIOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO B-VITAMIN STATUS IN GROWING-FINISHING PIGS Start with the ration: check that the feed is complete for the pig’s age and the portion is enough to leave it full. Make sure every pig can reach the feeder, since a low-ranking pig may get pushed away and go hungry.
Boredom and crowding can also drive pigs to root and chew at anything, manure included. Give more room if the pen is tight, offer straw or soil to root in, and remove manure daily so there is less to pick at.
Pigs naturally keep a separate toilet corner if given enough space. Clean that corner often so droppings don’t pile up, and keep feed and water away from the dunging area.
Some signs mean it’s time to call a vet: weight loss or a dull, rough coat alongside manure eating; diarrhea, coughing, or visible worms in droppings; or a sudden start of heavy feces eating in an adult pig. A vet can check for parasites and nutritional gaps.
Can Pig Manure Be Turned Into Pig Feed
In some farm systems, yes. Recovered manure solids can be fermented with ground sorghum grain into a feed ingredient.23Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG). Continuous solid-substrate fermentation of swine waste recovered solids for pig feed Fermenting holds the mix for days so that harmful bacteria die off. The researchers tracked a marker group of gut bacteria used to monitor contamination, and after about 4.5 days of fermenting it died out.24Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG). Continuous solid-substrate fermentation of swine waste recovered solids for pig feed Mixed with a nutritious supplement, the product was readily eaten by pigs.25Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG). Continuous solid-substrate fermentation of swine waste recovered solids for pig feed On a large farm this could recycle about 64% of manure solids and cut sorghum use by about 16%.26Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG). Continuous solid-substrate fermentation of swine waste recovered solids for pig feed
This is a controlled industrial process, not the same as letting pigs eat raw manure, which skips the step that kills harmful bacteria. It depends on tested fermentation and germ checks that a small keeper can’t easily do, and the savings only matter at the scale of a large farm. For a few pigs, proper commercial feed is the better choice.