# Acorns for pigs



## Pig in a poke (Mar 27, 2013)

We have an abundant acorn supply on our property. I have started raking up acorns for feeding the pigs later this year. I threw a small handful to the pigs. They either don't recognize the acorns as edible food or spit them back out.

What gives? My horses gobble up the acorns when in the oak area. Are the acorns too green yet (not ripe)? Will the pigs learn this is good food? They are on pasture, but also get feed. Will I need to pull their feed in order for the pigs to decide to eat the acorns?


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## cooper101 (Sep 13, 2010)

Search for posts on the forum about them; there are some things you can do to make them more palatable. I tried giving them to mine. Had the same results. Quit trying. They ate some, but they weren't a favorite. They have too much other good food they prefer over the acorns.


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

Pig in a poke said:


> We have an abundant acorn supply on our property. I have started raking up acorns for feeding the pigs later this year. I threw a small handful to the pigs. They either don't recognize the acorns as edible food or spit them back out.
> 
> What gives? My horses gobble up the acorns when in the oak area. Are the acorns too green yet (not ripe)? Will the pigs learn this is good food? They are on pasture, but also get feed. Will I need to pull their feed in order for the pigs to decide to eat the acorns?


http://starvingofftheland.com/2012/10/operation-acorn/

My Yorkshire and Hereford pigs love acorn. They spend time in the woods each day rooting for acorns and other things. I have mostly White Oak and Red Oak They also eat the acorn off the Black Oak and some of the other Oak trees but they do prefer the Red and White Oak Acorns. The real green acorns that fall early they will eat but mostly will spit out the cap on the acorn as they don't care for the cap.

When i was growing up on the farm we would have 40-50 young pigs late summer. The pigs would live in the woods and follow the acorns until late oct. when we would round them up and ship most of them and butcher around 4 hogs for meat. They would be rolling in fat and weight about 300-400 lbs. Best pork possible.

http://www.mast-producing-trees.org/2009/11/acorn-finished-pork-an-ancient-tradition/

Spanish Ham a treat to remember.


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## DaziAcres (Jul 10, 2013)

gerold said:


> http://starvingofftheland.com/2012/10/operation-acorn/
> 
> They would be rolling in fat and weight about 300-400 lbs. Best pork possible.


I was reading in the Foxfire series that the old-timers would take them off acorns the last few weeks because the meat would taste bitter from the acorns. But then I've read other things that say the opposite.

So, does the meat get better, or bitter? 

We have a gazillion acorns and the pigs are eating them like there's no tomorrow.


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

DaziAcres said:


> I was reading in the Foxfire series that the old-timers would take them off acorns the last few weeks because the meat would taste bitter from the acorns. But then I've read other things that say the opposite.
> 
> So, does the meat get better, or bitter?
> 
> We have a gazillion acorns and the pigs are eating them like there's no tomorrow.


It may have something to do with the breed of pigs as how well they do on a full acorn diet. I really don't know about any of them with a bitter taste from eating acorns. However the ones we used to butcher on the farm after bring them in we penned them up and fed them whole corn and slop for about 30 days before butchering. 

I have butchered 3 boars and one sow in the past two years. They had a lot of acorns to eat also on different pastures and fed a corn/vit/mineral mix feed each day. (Yorkshire,Hampshire,Duroc) All young hogs. Very good pork. To answer about mainly just acorns diet i can't answer as i have never fed a pig just acorns as a main diet and then butchered it. I think the main reason we fed them corn the last 30 days was to put on more fat. Back then we cooked with lard.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Dif acorn types change bitterness. White v red?


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## Whisperwindkat (May 28, 2009)

Our acorns are very high in tannins which makes them pretty unpalatable if they have other food and aren't hungry enough. I found though that if I rendered the acorns the pigs would eat more of them, but even then they got tired of them and stopped after awhile. Blessings, Kat


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## DaziAcres (Jul 10, 2013)

highlands said:


> Dif acorn types change bitterness. White v red?


Ours are white.


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## Gravytrain (Mar 2, 2013)

highlands said:


> Dif acorn types change bitterness. White v red?


Acorns from the white oak family (white oak, swamp white oak, chestnut oak, bur oak, etc.) are much sweeter than those of the red oak family.


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

Whisperwindkat said:


> Our acorns are very high in tannins which makes them pretty unpalatable if they have other food and aren't hungry enough. I found though that if I rendered the acorns the pigs would eat more of them, but even then they got tired of them and stopped after awhile. Blessings, Kat


The Red oak is high in tannins. Less so in the late fall and winter after a few rains as the tannins leach out. 

Best,
Gerold.


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## CJBegins (Nov 20, 2009)

My pigs love acorns but this morning I noticed that they are spending all their time under the persimmon trees. That should make them yummy.


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## Pig in a poke (Mar 27, 2013)

Thanks for all the input! We have several varieties of oak. I'll need to figure out which is which. The most prolific oaks are dropping their acorns without the caps, which one of those posted articles claimed would be white oak. I haven't offered any of those to the pigs yet. 

Whispewindkat, how do you render acorns?


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

There was an interesting show my daughter and I watched recently where they said that the red oak acorn tannins are reduced as the nut matures through the winter and the white oak acorns are sweeter with less tannins earlier in the season but don't keep as well. All this is according to the squirrels who were interviewed by BBC in the Life of Mammals DVD series. Perhaps pigs have similar opinions. I unfortunately don't have oaks.  We have beechnuts, chestnuts and some others which the pigs do like.


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## Greyrooster== (Sep 9, 2013)

My hogs and all the wild hogs in my area will fight you over acorns. Live oak, water oak mostly. They also like to root out last years acorns from around the trees. Keeps the areas beneath the trees looking nice.


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## northeastcallin (Mar 11, 2013)

red oaks germinate the following spring after they fall, unlike white oaks which germinate when they hit the ground. the tannins help keep them over winter buy deterring predation, and probably some form of preservative as well. - CT forester


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## Pig in a poke (Mar 27, 2013)

That would explain why in previous years we have had a carpet of acorns left untouched by squirrels. Most of our oaks are red, I am discovering. 

What about giving hickory nuts (Shagbark) and black walnuts to pigs? These seem too tough to crack. (Maybe this should be a topic to itself.)


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