Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Smallhold Farming and Rural Living => Livestock and Growing on a larger scale => Topic started by: animal mad on September 24, 2010, 18:11
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My first pigs arrive tomorrow and i was wondering if there are any thing i should avoid giving them. for example carrot tops? i will be feeding them on pig nuts bit i have an allotment and would love to give them all the waste stuff from there as well, any thoughts.
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Come on, spill the beans..
What breed have you got? Where are you keeping them? How many? Post a photo!! :D
Sounds exciting - sorry I don't know what you can / can't feed them except that pig swill is now illegal (at a time when reports say 1/3rd of our food is wasted)
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I have 5 weaners middle white cross gos, about 4 months, they are being raised for meat, i also have a tamworth cross gilt who is maybe in pig and due in two weeks, but i am not sure she just looks fat to me, so i will keep you posted. It is the first time today that they have been on grass and they are having a really good time, such time wasters .
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My friend has kunekune pigs and sometimes a tamworth boar and they will eat anything. have to be pretty hungrey to eat onions & leeks but otherwise all is fair game. We save scraps but always avoid bones (they'll eat them but not sure about how sharp splinters from roasts go in what is essentially a digestive system very close to humans.)
The kunekunes do well on grass - I think they are the only pig that can get good nutrition from grass. Very cute with pushed in pug-like snouts, compact bodies and usually have wattles.
=Pip
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They love any type of veg really but mine love fruit apples and pears well anythin sweet really
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I've been told - no meat product (inc bones) and nothing from the onion family (ie leeks and onions). Otherwise everything else! Dairy is fine too.
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You're wise to avoid bones for any animal, even dogs. A friend who was a vet's assistant said that a lot of cases came in where the animals had eaten bones which splintered then perforated various internal linings and did serious damage....and very big vet bills.
My parents raised pigs for a while and grew some extra rows of veg just for the pigs. They call them that for a reason :D
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I thought i heard that you can't feed them uncooked potato as well. Oh and pleased to hear about your new pigs. We had two Berkshire gilts arrive on Saturday. Also don't be fooled by your Tamworth gilt. We have a GOS sow which we thought was pregnant and due in December. So we brought her in mid-December, still she didnt farrow. But we all thought she looked big so we kept her in for January and most of February as well. It wasn't until the vet came last week to check our cows when he said that she was not pregnant. So the sow had had a warm, clean bed, extra food and more care and attention for 3 months and had completely fooled us! Only thing i would say is keep your gilt in until you are absolutley sure she is not, otherwise she might give you a suprise!!!
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presumably NOT rhubarb leaves
R
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It's actually illegal to feed pigs any kitchen waste if they are being raised for meat, because of cross contamination from meat products.
they aren't allowed citrus fruit, raw spud is fine