# Will pigs eat pumpkins



## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

I went to the feed store the other day, and the lady that owns it was taking down all of her 06 seed. She told me that she never uses year old seed to sell to her customers. She said the germination was fine, but she just didn't feel right about it. I asked her what she was going to do with it and she said all of it is going to the dumpster, so she gave it to me. I have two pounds of Wyatt Quarells pumpkin seeds. One bag is of the jackolantern type pumpkins, and the other is a pie pumpkin. I was thinking about raising a bunch of these to feed to my feeder pigs this summer. Would this work?


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## Guest (Jan 13, 2007)

Yes, they will eat them. Pigs love pumpkin!


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## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

Do they need to be cut up or can i just toss them in whole and let them do the damage?


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Dang! My pigs wont' eat them. They won't eat nothing out of the garden. Dumb pigs


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## Guest (Jan 13, 2007)

TSYORK said:


> Do they need to be cut up or can i just toss them in whole and let them do the damage?


 I used to toss them in whole. But if they've never seen them before, you might want to cut them in half the first couple of times just so they'll know it's food.


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## red hott farmer (Nov 13, 2006)

My 3 new Pot bellies i accquired Wednesday love Pumpkins. I throw them in whole and the pigs climb on top of them and roll them and bite them and growl at each other. They love em!! Butthe three pigs will not eat Radish's :1pig: :1pig: :1pig:


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## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

What else should I plan to grow this year that the pigs will love?


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

You could hog down some corn or turnips. I haven't tried this with pigs yet but you are supposed to get more than one grazing from turnips. Plant in spring and when they are a good height let the pigs in there for a short amount of time. Let them graze off the tops. Don't leave them in there long enough to eat any bulbs. When you take the hogs out the turnips should regrow tops. I don't know how many grazings you could get. I guess it would depend on the year and your typical growing season. At the end of the growing season, before the ground freezes hard, then you let them eat the bulbs. Any sort of legume would be good. Of course any excess garden produce they should eat. How about those zucchini?

Heather


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## GeorgiaberryM (Mar 30, 2004)

They'll eat virtually anything you will eat and virtually anything you won't eat. I feed corn (stalks and all), beans on the plants, all sorts of squash, greens that have gone to seed, cull tomatoes, potatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, just about anything from the garden and just about anything from the kitchen. I also feed them acorns and other nuts, weeds, grass, lots of stuff.

Husband o'G


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

Mine love al sorts of garden stuff - in fact, we let the piggies in there after we remove all the fruit and veggies. They till it up for us and get all the roots and all! Pumpkins get thrown in whole and they crash and brak up and then they go to town. They don't like citrus, green peppers and onions though they'll eat everything else!


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

We grow and feed pumpkins to our pigs. They are an excellent fall food. The seeds are a natural dewormer too. We just toss them to the pigs. They'll break them open, those that don't break on impact.


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## savinggrace (Oct 27, 2005)

Heck Yes!

I fed my hogs and chickens free choice mixed grain feed, but twice a day I threw them the over ripe produce collected from local farm stands. You can bet even though they had feed in front of them all the time, they LOVED the veggies, fruits and squash!

I am planting squash, pumpkins, and mangels this year as supplemental feed for my pigs, chickens and cows. 

A week after Halloween is when all the leftover pumpkins are trucked back to be dumped in the fields. I have already talked to a few pumpkin farms with farmstands and they said PLEASE come and pick up as many extras as you want!

I am going to feed the soft ones right away, but I am going to try and store as many as my cellar can hold for over winter.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

Tons of books and sites tell us what should be fed to humans, pigs, poultry, equine, cattle, etc. Each author has their own opinion. Those of us who have had a variety of domestic and exotic critters know that critters will eat just about anything, altho many won't eat something poisonous/toxic. I've watched the equine eat some grasses at one time of the year but not other times. Wild critters do the same. They're smarter than we are! )
Evidently equine aren't total herbivores since they've often stolen the hamburger I was eating!

I've seen dogs live 15 - 20 years when fed the cheapest feed in the store and sickly dogs when fed the most expensive.

None of us feed/tend our critters the same, yet look how many of us reach the bottom line we're looking for.

I didn't know that chooks aren't supposed to lay eggs and hatch well in the winter unless under lights until I got on these forums! It's not true for many of us. In the wild, critters don't have young in the winter when feed is scarce. Domestic critters always have feed available. And from what I've seen and experienced, all species do better when not confined. Not possible for some folks, however.

I do believe folks have been brainwashed into feeding commercial feed 'specially after seeing critters who aren't. The feeds were developed for the faster growth the big producers want. Many prefer their critters to grow naturally. But, follow the money.

When milking and/or eating the meat, some may be more cautious in what they feed due to the tastes they like.

I've asked my physician friends - who talk to you different when you're not a patient - why I'm still alive due to the way I've eaten for many years. Even before taking DE, I didn't catch colds, flu, other sickness and have had no diseases. Taking DE assures me I will continue on this path. They've told me I have good color, lots of energy, etc. and not to change a thing. They've advised NOT to follow the government's pyramid of foods to be eaten if I want to stay healthy. No problem there - I only eat what I like. I rarely eat veggies and can't remember the last time I had a piece of fruit. I'm big on meat. 

We and our critters are not supposed to be healthy; it would put too many out of business - doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, vets, researchers, health insurance companies, etc.

So folks, that's what I've learned thru the years. Follow the path that gives you the results you want. Experiment with different things to get you those results. Keep what works, throw out what doesn't. Do what works for you. It may be different than what works for others.


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## Turkeyfether (Dec 10, 2004)

YES, my dear, raise as many pumpkins as you can garden. My turkeys, chickens & duckies DECIMATED a HUGE pumpkin( my 17 yr old son had to drag via taboggen (due to it's weight) ), in1 week. It just disappeared!Then you have the seeds for next years' garden. Just grab them before the poultry birds git' em!


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## stoker46 (Jan 26, 2007)

How about fish ? What can a farm or garden raise that will feed fish ? I was thinking chicken parts, worms of course, corn or other grain ? Sorry to sneak in here but there's no forum for fish.


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## smalltime (Jan 26, 2007)

Depends on what kinda fish ur feeding? .... If ur farming Tilapia, Ducksweed is a good food source ...... hummmmmm a fish farming forum would be cool.


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## Guest (Jan 26, 2007)

smalltime said:


> Depends on what kinda fish ur feeding? .... If ur farming Tilapia, Ducksweed is a good food source ...... hummmmmm a fish farming forum would be cool.


 Welcome to the forum 

Maybe an aquaculture forum. That sounds like a good idea.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

In places where they have large amounts of fish waste (heads, guts, etc) they do feed fish. The pork apparently tastes fishy though unless they switch for the last month from fish to corn or some other sweeter feed according to the studies I have read. So, fish sound like they are great for the first four months of growing after weaning if you have an inexpensive source of fish.


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## zealot (Feb 6, 2006)

I thought "Heck Yes!" too. Some farmers feed their pigs field pumpkin, in fact.


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## smalltime (Jan 26, 2007)

ladycat said:


> Welcome to the forum
> 
> Maybe an aquaculture forum. That sounds like a good idea.



Thanx for the warm welcome ladycat, Aquaculture is exactly what I was refering too ..... Ive been running indoor hydroponic and soil less gardens for years.... Im just now concedering building a small scale aquaculter setup out back, Ive pretty much just dove headfirst into this homesteading thing .... for years ive wanted to do this ... and just recently I went out and bought 2 little chicks at the flea market :baby04: Now i have been on a mad dash to get info on how to care for them, Built a raised bed out back for my veggi garden this year, I have a bad back so... I put a 5' x 6' x 12" deep garden box on cinder blocks and will use that this summer, have a stack of tiers im gonna do spuds in and have begun setting up the compost ben, Ive done /nuthin but study and read this whole week.... and have learnd much.... Practical application of what ive learnd is another story


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