Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin long known to help the body absorb and retain calcium and phosphorus – both critical for building bone – but the sunshine vitamin is also beneficial to:
– help control infections
– improve immune function
– reduce inflammation
– boost mood
– reduce cancer cell growth

If you’re high up in the northern hemisphere (like Canada), you’re probably not getting enough vitamin D throughout most of the year – and neither is your pig. The sun’s rays simply aren’t direct enough from autumn through spring, even on sunny days, to utilize our primary natural source of vitamin D – the sun. And especially if you’re pig doesn’t much like the outdoors when it’s cold out, you are definitely going to need to find a way to incorporate some vitamin D in the diet.

Unless your pig eats a lot of fish and egg yolk, there aren’t many food sources that naturally contain vitamin D unless artificially enriched. So how does one go about giving their pig enough vitamin D?

Supplements made for people work just dandy, and studies have shown that D3 has a better absorption rate.

You can start your pig with 2000mcg of D3 daily for the first week, then reduce to 1000mcg daily for indoor pigs and throughout the winter.

If you’d rather steer away from supplements, you can always install a “happy light” inside their enclosure. These lights, designed for people with seasonal affective disorder, can be of a great benefit to your piggies as well!

For the love of pigs!