'Young and the Restless' Star Kevin Schmidt -- Meet My Cash Pig!

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).