# Nutritonal value of pumpkins for pigs



## Guest (Oct 20, 2004)

Will feeding pigs some pumpkins give them any measurable amount of protien and/or carbohydrate. I can get plenty after halloween for free; thanx


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## rman (Oct 17, 2004)

cab said:


> Will feeding pigs some pumpkins give them any measurable amount of protien and/or carbohydrate. I can get plenty after halloween for free; thanx


I have thrown a couple in to my pigs. I threw them hard so that they cracked open. The pigs ate the seeds but weren't real interested in the flesh. Sheep on the other hand seem to love the things. Can't help you on the nutritional value. Probably not as good as pelleted feed but I always figure if the feed is free why should I care if they grow a little slower. And I firmly believe in giving them as much variety in their feed as I can. Who knows where they will find that trace nutrient that science can't measure but that they really do need?


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## GRHE (Jun 22, 2004)

They are a fine supplemental food, basically equivalent to squash. I don't know what the exact levels of ntrients are, but there are quite a few carbs, both sugars and starches, and as I recall tey are high in vitamin C. I had better luck heating them to soften them myself. Pumpkins are fairly hard and stringy, but y pigs were only about three month old when I gave them winter squash and pumpkins last year. They did not like them (other than the seeds like you said) until I softened them in boiling water. Then they went right to town on them.


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## dla (Jun 13, 2004)

I have read that you need to cook potatoes and squash (which I guess includes pumpkins) in order to feed them to pigs.

But I never know whether to trust what I read, since there are so many books out there... :no: 

Pumpkins are loaded with vitamin A (they are orange). The seeds would have protein, I guess...


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## boolandk (Sep 20, 2003)

I grow lots of pumpkins and squash for my animals. Right now the meat chickens are getting them. They eat them right down to the hard skin. After the chickens go into the freezer (two days, yeh!!) the pigs join in the feast. I just leave the pumpkins outside where they freeze. Bring them into the barn for a couple hours to warm up and they'll be plenty soft for the pigs to eat. No need to cook uless you want to. If you live in a warmer climate where it doesn't freeze hard outside, just put them whole in you freezer for a couple hours.


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## GRHE (Jun 22, 2004)

Freezing will indeed do the job for the pigs as well. I do not know of any reason they would not eat them other than the hardness. Mine love them once they were soft. I boilded to soften myself as I was giving other garden waste that needed to treatment. It is always recommended that if you are giving anything with mold or mildew you raise the temp to 180 first to kill most of the potential pathogens, so I did the same with the pumpkins just to soften them. They showed no signs of any digestive issues, and they ate quite a few over a three week period. They largely stayed away from their feed until the pumpkins and squash were gone.


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## breezynosacek (Nov 7, 2003)

We slice up potatoes for our pigs. They love them! We don't cook them, they eat them raw.


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## eastsider108 (Aug 24, 2004)

We had lots of cold weather this summer here in nw Wis. so not a great pumpking and squash year. The pumpkins were smallish and didn't get that really hard rind. Gave several to the pigs, just broke em up with a spade, and they loved em. They even abandoned corn for em. Who can figure. I was so cold here that we didn't get even one hubbard squash and only about half a dozen buttercups.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

We feed pumpkins to our pigs, sheep and chickens. They all love them. The pigs eat the most and fastest. We don't do anything special to the pumpkins. Most do break open when I toss them over the gate. It is a great late fall feed.


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