Early grazing first for a true grazing pig
A Kunekune's morning should begin with the gate to grass opened early. Kunekunes from New Zealand are unusual among pigs for grazing like sheep rather than rooting like excavators, and a short grazed paddock is both breakfast and occupation for this breed. Let her out while the air is cool, and watch her move to the grass. A Kunekune who ambles out, drops her head, and grazes steadily has given you the first health report of the day. One who stays in the hut, moves stiffly, or stands apart needs a closer look before the routine continues.
While she grazes, do the noisy work. Rake and refresh the hut without a pig underfoot, and set out her measured supplementary feed for when she comes back in, rather than feeding everything at the gate in a rush.
Coat, skin, and wattle checks at supplementary feed
The hands-on part of a Kunekune's morning happens when she returns for her small feed. Run a hand through her coarse, often long coat, which can hide dry flaky skin, lice, or small wounds under hair that looks tidy from above. Check the skin at her belly and inside the back legs where she lies in bedding, and feel along her back for tenderness. Give the wattles, the tassels hanging under a Kunekune's chin, a specific look. Dirt packs around their base, and a nick or swelling there is easily missed because the wattles move as she eats and draw the eye away from the skin beneath.
Stroke and scratch her sides while you check. Kunekunes are famously people oriented, and a pig who leans into a scratch and grunts contentedly is also a pig who will accept foot checks and close handling on the day you genuinely need them. Look at her feet as she stands at the trough, noting overgrown toes or a foot she unloads, and check eyes and ears for discharge or head shaking.
Hut, water, and the low fence line
Bedding and water follow feeding in a Kunekune's morning. Pull damp straw from the hut corners where she sleeps pressed against the walls, add dry bedding she can nose into a nest, and check the hut roof drip line after rain, since a small pig spends long hours lying in one favourite spot that must stay dry. Scrub and refill her water, and in warm weather make sure she has a shallow wallow or shade she can reach, because like other pigs she cannot sweat to cool herself.
Walk the fence at Kunekune height, which means low. These pigs push under rather than climb, and a morning check along the bottom wire or board finds the worked loose gap before she widens it at leisure. Check the gate latch at snout height too, since a Kunekune learns quickly which latch moves.
Finish with grazing time and clear thresholds
End the Kunekune's morning routine by returning her to grass with the day set up, then watch for a minute from the fence. Steady grazing, normal droppings in the dunging area she keeps away from her hut, and her usual sociable approach when you call are the signs the morning is complete. Contact a veterinarian if she goes off feed, develops spreading skin redness or hair loss, limps persistently, breathes fast at rest in cool weather, or isolates herself from people she normally greets, because a friendly pig going quiet is a meaningful change in this breed.
Through KinsLe, Care Teams gives each Kunekune morning job, grazing, feeding, hut, and fence, to a named family member, so the gentle checks her coat hides needs for are never skipped.