# What NOT to feed pigs???



## lauraganne (May 9, 2008)

Hi to everyone from Central New York! I've been reading past posts with interest as we just got our first 4 piglets. I was wondering, is there anything that you should _never_ feed a pig? 

I was also looking at everyone's posts on prices. We got ours for $40 each, which seems to be an awesome deal as we had trouble finding any for sale around here. The first people we contacted were supposed to reserve 5 for us and quoted $37.50. Then they gave us the run-a-round for almost 2 weeks and finally told us that they could only sell us 2 for $50 a piece. For now with food prices soaring the way they are, we took what we could get from the local "animal trader" down the road to fill our freezer. But, we would like to case out the exhibits at the local fairs this summer and look into some heritage breeds to start raising next year. 

We are trying to bring back to life my grandparent's old farm and it's just screaming for animals! 

Thanks for all the great info!

Laura from CNY
Rose Creek Farms


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Don't feed post-consumer wastes - e.g., plate scrapings.

Watch the pig's condition. If it is getting to fat, cut back the calories. If it isn't growing fast enough consider increasing protein or check for worms. Other than that a varied diet of as much as it will eat.

We keep ours on pasture and supplement primarily with whey/milk/cheese as that is what is easy to get for us. Occasional dated bread, boiled barley from the local micro-brewery and veggies we grow.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

We feed our pigs our plate scrapings. They love it. They wont eat onions, banana peels or potato peelings. Everything else ours will eat.


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## FL.Boy (Dec 17, 2007)

That's funny nathan104 my pigs just love banana peels :shrug:


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Oh, they love it for sure, Nathan. That is not the issue. The problem is there are a lot of diseases that pigs and people have in common so when you feed plate scrapings to a pig you run the risk of transmitting a cold that you have to your pig. This can make them sick, get a cold, the flu, go off feed, lose fertility, miscarry or worse. They can also retransmit it back to you, in some cases in a new an recombined form creating a new disease. These are reasons for avoiding feeding plate scrapings a.k.a. garbage a.k.a. post-consumer wastes to the pigs.


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## Kmac15 (May 19, 2007)

as long as you are not planning to sell your pigs, just eat them your self, I have no problem with plate scrapes. I would not do it if you or anyone in your family is sick. 
Pigs have been raised with scraps from the table for a long time.

I would not have that as the only food they get, a good all round pig food is also given to mine.

I love the fact that food I would normally throw away is now being recycled in a very tasty way.


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

Our pigs are for just us to eat. And, we dont get scraps from anywhere else, just from us. Like Kmac, I also really love not wasting all that food. If you have kids, you know how much food can be wasted. We give the scraps daily so it doesnt sit around or go bad. We also feed a quality pellet feed and cracked corn as well. The scraps are just an extra which they dont even get every day, just when we have them, and when we clean out the fridge of all leftovers every friday. We do throw away plate scraps if we are sick. All leftover milk from cereal is poured into a large cup and then poured over the pigs feed every evening when we feed them.


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## Gregg Alexander (Feb 18, 2007)

A pig will eat just about anything that want eat them first. As table scraps go , we put everything in the bucket and let them sort through it. Pluse fed shell corn, pasture, wood lot ect. A hog will find something to eat trust me.


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