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Minecraft Pigs

Pigs are passive mobs found throughout the Overworld, though they only spawn in light levels of 9 and higher.

Upon death a pig will drop 0-2 porkchops and experience orbs, which grant the player 1-3 experience points. If a pig dies while being on fire, a pig will drop 0-2 cooked porkchops instead.

Occurence and Behavior

Pigs spawn in small groups of 3 or 4, though it is not uncommon to find several groups close together. Pigs can only spawn on grass blocks in a light of level 9 or higher, though they will not spawn in grass blocks placed in the Nether or the End. Pigs can only jump up 1 block and will try to do so when a block is in their way. Their AI isn’t very advanced, as they’ll walk into fires, but they will avoid high falls. Pigs are strangely capable of climbing ladders, though they’ll usually only do so by accident.

If a pig is (un)lucky enough to be struck by lightning (or 3-4 blocks away from it), the pig will turn into a zombie pigman. This includes pigs that are being ridden by players. This is the only possible way of a zombie pigman appearing in the overworld, besides the use of spawn eggs and mods of course.

Riding

Pigs are the only mobs that can be ridden by using a saddle on them. The player is unable to control the pig however, and is forced to travel wherever the pig goes, so be careful around fires and lava. A saddled pig can be placed in a minecart, which gives you a slight riding speed boost while the minecart is on minecart tracks. If the minecart is taken off of the tracks, the ‘pigcart’ can be controlled, though the movement controls are reversed. However, the speed of a ‘pigcart’ is very slow, which makes it a rather pointless method of transportation, but could make for a fun race with friends. You can still sneak while riding a pig. So while sneaking and riding a ‘pigcart’, one can stalk a player without being seen (when behind blocks), waiting for the perfect moment to “charge” in, very slowly.

Breeding

Like almost all passive mobs, pigs can be bred using wheat and will thus follow you if you walk passed them while holding wheat in your hand. Breeding pigs can be a nice way to farm a large amount of porkchops, though it’s recommended to breed cows instead, as they yield more pieces of meat and also drop leather.