Grass and Herbage Versus Veg N Fruit?

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karenrgpr

Have posted this across from another thread because Michelle and I were going off on a tangent (thats southerners for you :) )

30 years ago my pigs had a totally different diet, their main diet was grass and any other forage/herbage I could find. Nothing got done until I had 'got grass' for the next day, I would walk for ages to fill up my box- rain or shine (the rain probably wasn't a good idea...). My bedding came from the stables and they got whatever was going spare, usually a lot of straw and some hay for them to eat. Dry food was Bran and Oats, but when it was gone it was gone until the end of the wheek. In the winter I bought a pound of maize to mix in with this.

One summer I grew Spinach for them which regrew a couple of summers afterwards and they had any garden 'waste' like cabbage leaves and lettuces that had bolted, but no other veg. I don't think they ever had fruit- they never got cystitis or bladder probs either. I used to bath them on the odd occasion because they were shown (mostly in the pet sections, and the p/breds were Abbys so bad idea to bath them if you wanted to win Roll Eyes ) Most if not all my problems were skin ones, I think mites, possibly some fungal but I just used to treat them with some dip.

Never used woodshavings because the horses didn't have them, usually kept a trio in an outside hutch and kept guineas with buns (usually the single males).

Not sure what that proves, but I know Urinary Tract infections were less common in my previous guins, I don't remember any.
 
Michelle's Post copied over ::)

Most if not all my problems were skin ones, I think mites, possibly some fungal but I just used to treat them with some dip.


was this dip a a pink liquid that stank you had to dip them in it leave it on them for half an hour wash off then repeat , I've got the name in the shed will look it up
tommorow , I agree my pigs diet was a lot different and I had buns as well they had boiled potatoe skins mixed with bran, pigs had mostly grass and dandelions and the odd cabbage leaf etc, No fruit and to be honest mine rarely have it now the odd apple or banana but as a treat mine never had cystitas or bladder probs either even today thats a rare occasion for my pigs so maybe fruit has a part to play , mine use to sleep on straw /hay mix
I'm def going to look up some old piggy keeping books and read where we went wrong becasue I can honestly say apart from skin ailments my pigs were def more healthy years ago,
 
Pinky brown, that came in a powder form for you to make up. One of my pens of pigs have been put on a grass and sunflower sprout diet, I've just cut out all their dry food which wasn't too difficult because they weren't that fond of it anyway. They'll get some oats and bran occasionaly, but bran is high in Phosphorus and not good to give too often (I think thats right, I know it shouldn't be given too often).

These days I'm just lazy, its easier to go down to Waitrose/Sainburys/the market and get veg than to go to the river with a bin bag.
 
I think piggies are bred a lot more differently now, which leads to different health problems (and sadly usually more of them) ::) :(
 
In what way do you think they are bred differently that affects them? 30 years ago my pigs were purebreds and Pets/Dolly Mixtures, many of them rescues and some some from the livestock market- kind of similar to the mixture I have now. Would be interested in an elaboration on this :)
 
I was discussing part of this with my boss this afternoon. Years ago when I first started keeping pigs I used to give them quite a bit of fruit and I especially found lots of problems with pigs with scabby lips amongst other things. I soon learnt not to give them to much fruit but they were still having lots of shop brought veggies. These days my pigs are at their healthiest, I occasionally get a problem with lice but other than that rarely have a pig get sick, in fact I cant even remember the last time I had to syringe feed a guinea pig :) At this time of year I dont feed much shop brought veg atall, my pigs get mostly grass and weeds, accompanied by a good quality pellet food and a variety of hay they seem to thrive on it. I am fortunate to know of a huge untouched field just 5 minutes drive from here that is packed full of "free food" for the guineas O0 I rarely feed fruit (maybe once a month if that) as they are often high in natural sugars which understandably could lead to health problems if fed in excess. When I do give them veg I stick to mostly dark leafy greens, only giving a little bit of carrot once a week.
I am not convinced breeding has a lot to do with it, you do get the odd exception like my little clover but all of the pigs here including cross breeds / inbred / pure bred are just as healthy.
 
This is very interesting :-\ If any of you that have had guineas for years have any of the old books, it would be cool to know what they say. I have often wondered about the veggies that I give mine from supermarkets. I always wash them but maybe pesticides have some part to play? Unless we buy organic (which would work out horribly expensive), we know veg has been teated with pesticides.
The question of breeding also could possibly play a part. I have seen many times on here that piggy owners have had more health problems with those bought from pet shops. Wether that is because they have had a bad start in life diet and care wise or because the breeders are of the backyard type and don't know what hey are really doing, I don't know :(
I rarely give any fruit to mine and like Karen, I collect grass and herbage and grow some in pots and give this as much as possible. If I was fortunate enough to live in the country, I would give these 90% of the time. My piggies are very healthy (fingers x) and I know that my 2 teddies came from a breeder who shows guineas and one was a baby from a reputable breeder but Lennie I imagine was a shop bought piggie.
 
I've never had guineas before, but apparently before I was borm my parents had piggies and they hardly ever (well not regularly) fed them vegetables or fruit - it was a diet of hay and things like grass, dandelions etc and some kind of dry food. Now at the moment my piggies get veg daily, aswell as grass daily (whether they go in the run of I pick it) but now I'm unsure what to feed..hmm XD
 
very interesting :)

Mine all have a handful of grass and dandelions sometimes with no fruit or veg and they have been fine :) Also always have given the potato skins (which to some people is a no-no), again with no problems.

I've always fed my piggies my ways - I don't always take on board 'text book knowledge'. And only lost piggies due to tumours, pneumonia. URTI's.

Ton at the moment has kidney failure and malocclusion which is no fault of mine, through feeding or otherwise. It's old age.

While I continue to have older piggies (5 years plus), I think my 'method' is going good :)

I have had pet shop pigs. coming from Do it all, as it was. Tonni and Icey and also Peanuts. The rest are pregnancies where I kept the babies - Rattie coming from a 'friend' , so son't know if she was petshopp bought
 
I think you'll find a few breeders use boiled potato skins in their Bran Mash Kelly.

I had a boar come in with scabs a few wheeks ago, he needed no treatment, just a few days of a 'normal' diet and they disappeared.
 
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