Talk about bringin' home the bacon -- "Young and the Restless" star Kevin Schmidt just scored a solid $5,000 payday after his famous pig booked a television gig with HGTV.

TMZ has learned ... the network booked Kevin's micropig Yuma for an upcoming show called "A-List Pets."

Sources close to Kevin tells us ... Yuma spent the day on the set with the host Ian Ziering ... who took a serious liking to the unkosher creature.

Of course, Yuma's blossoming career was almost torpedoed when he appeared on "TMZ Live" ... and FELL OFF THE STAGE!!!


Fortunately, Yuma's tough -- she got right back on her hooves and finished the show like a true champ ... unlike our fearless leader who squealed like a little piggie when NFL star Adrian Peterson squeezed his hand a little too hard a while back. 

The economy is rough, even for famous people, so former "Young and the Restless" star Kevin Schmidt found himself a good old fashioned cash cow -- or in this case ... pig.

Sources close to Kevin -- who's also the bro of "Big Time Rush" star Kendall Schmidt -- tell TMZ the actor bought a micro pig (named Yuma) back in February for a cool $10,000.

The tiny pig became a sensation online and has amassed over 5,000 Twitter followers and copious YouTube videos dedicated to its very adorable existence.

Our sources say Kevin decided to capitalize on the pig's fame and started dropping $1,000/month to train Yuma. It's paid off and now the little guy rakes in $15,000 for public appearances (which Kevin attends) and $5,000 for movie and TV gigs.

All in all, we're told Yuma has made around $30,000 and now he's dropping a clothing line at the end of the month (below).



In other pig news ... Christmas is around the corner -- so don't forget to stock up on HoneyBaked Hams.